We used to play Off the Wall,…
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We used to play Off the Wall, which we called Flies Up, in East New York, Brooklyn in the ’80s. We also had a very mean version called suicide. In this version, if you touched the ball but didn’t catch it you had to run to the wall and yell “SUICIDE” before someone picked up the ball and threw it at you. If you got hit by the ball before you touched the wall, you had to take your lumps. You had to stand nose to the wall while each player took turns throwing the ball at you. The meaner kids would take a running start and throw the ball as hard as they could either at the small of your back or your butt. Once each player got a chance, play resumed with with you being the new “it” and throwing the ball.