"Sandlot Sports" does anyone play anymore?

[Tsyroc]

Remembering when I was a kid I started to wonder if anyone plays non-organized sports anymore.

What I mean is that during the summer besides playing organized little league etc... the neighborhood kids used to play variants of baseball all the time.

Rarelly would we ever have enough people for two full teams but you played with what you had. Sometimes someone for the team up to bat had to be the catcher (lob pitch so no big deal), sometimes we'd have to have ghost runners because there weren't enough people on one team to be on all the bases and bat at the same time. That also meant we might be playing "slugger" where if you hit it into certain areas it was an automatic out. That way we only had to cover a small portion of the field.

If there weren't enough people for even limited baseball there was "Pickle". One runner and two defenders trying to keep the runner from stealling bases. Score was kept by how many bases could be stollen before the defenders got the person out 3 times. Basically this was good practice for the real thing since it helped build defensive skills and base running skills.


Summer time wasn't the only time we played "Sandlot" sports. Football was a big one to play in the backyard. All you needed was a football and at least 3 people. Ocassinally we'd get enough people together to play on an actual football field but very rarely did we ever try kicking for extra points. They were way too easy to block.

I guess my question is do many people still play backyard sports anymore or have they been replaced with other stuff. Video games are usually considere a prime culprit but my cousin played a lot of in-line hockey, but then he played organized roller hockey and ice hockey as well. I'm sure there are other outdoor activities that might have taken over for the ones I've mentioned.

Part of the reason I am wondering about this is because of the constant media attention to how children in the US have gotten so fat. Usually they focus mostly on diet and briefly mention inactivity but looking back on my life I'd say inactivity is a big one. Not only don't I burn as many callories when inactive but I also tend to eat more because of that inactivity (boredom, access etc...).

In the case of baseball I think other activies and video games are going to slowly kill the sport. Why play the game in the fashion I mentioned if there's a cool video game version or something all together to play?

Part of my perception of this may be colored by my currently living in Arizona. I didn't grow up here and besides being freakin' hot during the day in the summer I just don't think there are many place for kids to really play sports in the fashion I mentioned. Desert landscape is not fun to play most things on, especially with all of the cactus around, but there is also the problem of the majority of yards being fenced in. No putting two backyards together to make a football field.

Sure there are parks, and a lot of them are lighted at night, but that's mostly for the organized sports. I just can't see myself or the guys I grew up with waiting all day to go play baseball at 9:00PM.

[J]

Some kids still, I still do, but it's definitely on the decline. I remember when I was a kid we'd always be getting together in each other's backyards or the local park to play various games, baseball, frisbee, tag, catch, and who knows what else. The local parks were always full of kids running around playing various pick-up games, and unless it was raining or something we'd spend our summers outside getting sunburned. We even got together in the winter to have snowball fights!

Nowadays the parks by my house are mostly empty, I rarely see any kids playing games there unless it's part of some day camp or organized league. Sure we have kids biking, rollerblading, and skateboarding around my neighbourhood but that's about it, I rarely see any kids playing pick-up games like we used to.

Moving down the parks that make up a riverside greenbelt a few minutes from my home, I see much the same thing. While I do see people tossing around frisbees and footballs they're mostly older guys, guys who are within a couple years or so of my age (I'm 23). I see the occasional 10 year old playing catch and that's about it.

Yup, the good old days....

[RedImperator]

It's definitely declined in my neighborhood. When I was a kid, we'd play football every weekend in from September to March in the schoolyard across the street. Now it's mostly empty. At night there are a lot of bored teenagers hanging around acting stupid, but it's not the same.

[Howedar]

Declining in my neighborhood, but thats because a whole lot of the kids got older and moved away. There aren't as many younger kids anymore, hence, less playing.

[TrailerParkJawa]

Except for basketball I dont see kids playing sports outside of school and leagues. Moms dont let them run around like ours did, and many of them are sitting in front of the computer.


At my last job we would play lunchtime volleyball. They still do, and Ive gone to join them a few times.

[Nathan F]

We had various varianst (heh, various variants...) on Football, Baseball, and Kickball back in school we would play during recess and sometimes after school. Fun games, the less rules the better.

[Nathan F]

Except for basketball I dont see kids playing sports outside of school and leagues. Moms dont let them run around like ours did, and many of them are sitting in front of the computer.


At my last job we would play lunchtime volleyball. They still do, and Ive gone to join them a few times.

And more and more the soccer-mom generation is destroying our children's childhoods. You see, part of growing up is doing something stupid, getting hurt, and knowing not to do it again. Stuff like trying to jump your bike over ramps, playing football on asphalt, etc. Now mom's are running around behind their kids picking them up before they fall. I say let them smack their ass on the ground a few times. Heck, I have seen moms treat a skinned knee like it was on the verge of a critical care situation. I remember the times I was a kid, I would go in, douse it down in Hydrogen Peroxide, wipe it off, and go back to what I was doing.

[J]

Except for basketball I dont see kids playing sports outside of school and leagues. Moms dont let them run around like ours did, and many of them are sitting in front of the computer.

So true, kids just seem so sheltered these days. Seems like every kid gets driven to school until they're old enough to drive themselves, whatever happened to walking & biking to school or taking the schoolbus? I can understand a parent's concern for their children with the media frenzy over roaming pedophile, child snatchers and such, but I find it hard to believe that it's all that more dangerous out there now than when I was a kid.

When I was growing up we'd often ride around town on our bikes after school and when the weather was warm enough we'd head down to the beach and play there. Everyone's parents knew where to find us since all the parents knew the local play areas and hangouts, and everything was good, and if we stayed out too late one of the parents would find us and we'd all soon find our way home.

[aerius]

And more and more the soccer-mom generation is destroying our children's childhoods. You see, part of growing up is doing something stupid, getting hurt, and knowing not to do it again. Stuff like trying to jump your bike over ramps, playing football on asphalt, etc. Now mom's are running around behind their kids picking them up before they fall. I say let them smack their ass on the ground a few times. Heck, I have seen moms treat a skinned knee like it was on the verge of a critical care situation. I remember the times I was a kid, I would go in, douse it down in Hydrogen Peroxide, wipe it off, and go back to what I was doing.

Tell me about it. Funny thing when I was kid, every single time when I went in for my annual doctor's checkup I'd have a skinned knee or elbow and/or a nice scab or cut on some part of my body. The doc would always joke that I'd fallen off my bike again and we'd all have a good laugh about it.

We did so many things as kids that would have soccer moms shitting their pants. We climbed trees and fell out of trees, we jumped off swings and whipped crab-apples at each other, and we had playfights almost every day. We even learned how to climb onto the school roof so we could pick up all the tennis balls that other kids had roofed by accident. Yeah we took our bumps & bruises and some of us got stitches for our more crazy stunts, but no one got killed or seriously injured, and everyone had a shitload of fun.

[Tsyroc]

Is anyone surprised that they still have monkey bars and jungle gyms on school playgrounds?

We used to do some crazy shit on those playing tag. The only thing the teachers wouldn't let us do was walk across the top of them (we could crawl though). We did jump from one side of the bars to the other. If your hands were all dusty you were going to slip off and end up falling flat on your back.

A lot of the girls used to do "monkey drops". They'd hook their knees over a bar with their head hanging down. They'd get swinging and then drop, trying to pull their legs under them to plant a landing before falling on their heads. Bet the soccer moms love that kind of stuff.

[Nathan F]

Is anyone surprised that they still have monkey bars and jungle gyms on school playgrounds?

We used to do some crazy shit on those playing tag. The only thing the teachers wouldn't let us do was walk across the top of them (we could crawl though). We did jump from one side of the bars to the other. If your hands were all dusty you were going to slip off and end up falling flat on your back.

A lot of the girls used to do "monkey drops". They'd hook their knees over a bar with their head hanging down. They'd get swinging and then drop, trying to pull their legs under them to plant a landing before falling on their heads. Bet the soccer moms love that kind of stuff.

Or jumping about 350 feet though midair out of the swings. At least if FELT like 350 feet. Still though, all I know is that I would get the sucker up as high as I could, then, at the apogee of it's forward swing, go flying out of it.

[Tsyroc]

Or jumping about 350 feet though midair out of the swings. At least if FELT like 350 feet. Still though, all I know is that I would get the sucker up as high as I could, then, at the apogee of it's forward swing, go flying out of it.

I think merry-go-rounds have seen a decline for a similar reason. The primary use of those was to get them going as fast as you can and see who could hang on the longest before flying off.

One of the junior high schools in Iowa City had this "mouse wheel" thing. Basically it was a small building that had a wooden wheel inside. It was wide enough to maybe fit 4 kids max. The point was to get it moving just like the wheels in a hamster cage. It was kind of hard because the thing was heavy and it wasn't lubricated that often. Considering the last time I was on it I got my finger stuck in a small hole between the slats I think it was probably torn down for being too dangerous. Usually the main danger was after you got it going someone wouldn't be able to keep up and then they'd whipe out while the wheel was still going. That would take out everyone else and leave a pile of kids in a moving wheel.

[Howedar]

I flew off of one of those onto asphalt once. It hurt like hell.

[Tsyroc]

I flew off of one of those onto asphalt once. It hurt like hell.

As does flying off into gravel, but you didn't die did you?

[Howedar]

No, but it hurt like hell.

I was like 3 at the time, and my dad had been spinning the thing up a hell of a lot. I ended up hanging off the edge at probably 30 degrees to the horizontal, it was going so damn fast. Flew like 10 feet.

[Darth Wong]

And more and more the soccer-mom generation is destroying our children's childhoods.

You rednecks just love bashing soccer moms, don't you?

What the fuck is so bad about being a soccer mom? My boys play soccer, and I don't see their childhoods being destroyed by the fact that my wife takes them to games, for fuck's sake.

[Drach]

You rednecks just love bashing soccer moms, don't you?

What the fuck is so bad about being a soccer mom? My boys play soccer, and I don't see their childhoods being destroyed by the fact that my wife takes them to games, for fuck's sake.

I think he meant mothers that baby their children too much. The ones that try to shelter their kids to the point that they don't have the 'growing pain' experiances. I remember the good old playgrounds too, metal bars and plain dirt playgrounds. Now its all plastic and they don't have even half the cool things I did growing up. No merry go rounds, no jungle gyms, monkey bars, etc.

And as for the redneck comment. Get off your high horse son, you were one of the first to complain about my north vs south comments then you go calling folks rednecks, apparantly without seeming to understand what he was getting at.

[Darth Wong]

You rednecks just love bashing soccer moms, don't you?

What the fuck is so bad about being a soccer mom? My boys play soccer, and I don't see their childhoods being destroyed by the fact that my wife takes them to games, for fuck's sake.

I think he meant mothers that baby their children too much. The ones that try to shelter their kids to the point that they don't have the 'growing pain' experiances. I remember the good old playgrounds too, metal bars and plain dirt playgrounds. Now its all plastic and they don't have even half the cool things I did growing up. No merry go rounds, no jungle gyms, monkey bars, etc.

And plastic playgrounds with safety bars destroy their childhoods?

And as for the redneck comment. Get off your high horse son, you were one of the first to complain about my north vs south comments then you go calling folks rednecks,

He proudly calls himself a redneck, jack-ass.

apparantly without seeming to understand what he was getting at.

Blow me. I know exactly what he's getting at. This is not the first time he's taken a social issue and used it as a flimsy excuse to bash his favourite bogeyman evilsoccermomleftwingliberalguncontrolsocietyisgoingdownhill bullshit. It is a recurring pattern, and it's getting to be fucking annoying.

[Gandalf]

Or jumping about 350 feet though midair out of the swings. At least if FELT like 350 feet. Still though, all I know is that I would get the sucker up as high as I could, then, at the apogee of it's forward swing, go flying out of it.

I used to love doing that, I'd try to fly over to the slide, it was like 10 metres away, but I didn't care.

As for the "sandlot sports", we see a little of that here, but many parks in suburbia are filled with lots of drug users and such, so sport is rare there.

[InnerBrat]

Y'know, Mike, in some ways being overprotectvie can be harmful to your kids' development. The obvious example is building up their immune system (antibiotic detergents are particularly guilty here).

Not that I agree with Drac's seeming claim that metal bars are good for a child, but childhood is a risky business, and having fun while a child is riskier still.

Not that I know what a Soccer Mom is, but if she's the woman who drives her kids half a mile to school in a 4 by 4, may she rot in Hades with the man who invented bullbars.

[Drach]

Not really saying metal bars are good for a child, just that the growing up process that involves the everyday bumps and bruises that some parents are trying to totally protect their child from. Yeah I have a few small scars on my person from growing up, but when I did what ever to get that scar, I learned not to do that again. /shrug

[Peregrin Toker]

Hmm... to me it seems like that "sandlot sports" still exist - but now they are just played in the schoolyards during recess times, not in parks after schooltime.

[aerius]

I was talking with my dad about the good old days when he went to school and the kinds of things they did for fun. Well, they didn't have the playgrounds and sports equipment and toys that I grew up with so they had to make their own fun. They'd climb trees and go swimming in the ponds and rivers or play hide & seek and wargames in the forests and fields. If they were lucky someone would have a ball of some sort and they could play soccer or catch or some other ballgame, but for the most part they had to make up their own games to play.

They also made slingshots from old inner tubes and had loads of fun plinking various targets, and if they got lucky they'd shoot themselves dinner, or if things got rowdy they'd shoot each other. He says that even though they didn't have much they had a ton of fun and the friendships they developed were pretty much forever.

But things change, I know that. My generation is probably the last to enjoy the fun of daily unstructured playtime and neighbourhood pick-up games. Sure our parents tried to make us soccer or hockey or whatever, but few of us had any real interest in organized team sports. We just wanted to be outside with friends playing and goofing off all day.

[Nathan F]

And more and more the soccer-mom generation is destroying our children's childhoods.

You rednecks just love bashing soccer moms, don't you?

What the fuck is so bad about being a soccer mom? My boys play soccer, and I don't see their childhoods being destroyed by the fact that my wife takes them to games, for fuck's sake.

It isn't the sport soccer, or parents who take their kids to soccer. When we mention 'soccer moms', we talk about the one who don't let their kids be kids. Hell, read above and you will see what I mean.

Just because your kids play soccer doesn't mean that your wife is a 'soccer mom'.

BTW, I am not the only one who has said something about soccer moms, why do you pick me out to ridicule. Mike, you know exactly what I mean when I talk about 'soccer moms'.