Author Archives: Streetplay Discussions

I overheard a conversation…

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I overheard a conversation between my son and his friends about their Pokemon cards. My son had just got a very valuable card “Charizard,” a holigraphic card. His older friends (9 year olds) were shocked. “You got Charizard? How much did you have to pay for it?” At first he said “I don’t know,” then he said “oh yeah 10 bucks,” which is actually not so far off for the pack of ten. They as surprised at how cheap it was as we were realizing how expensive this could be. All the boys then proceeded to beg him to trade. He didn’t at first, but finally the temptation overwhelmed him and he relented to a deal. The other boy quickly called “No tradebacks.” As the details of the transaction spread around the block, the children concluded that the older boy had taken advantage of my son and the pressure began. “You should give him back the card,” they sai “I called no tradebacks.” “We’re not going to play with you anymore. We won’t even talk to you.” Evil potions were concocted made of soap, grass and leaves. The pressure was on. At first JJ claimed he had lost the card, but finally relented and the cards were re-exchanged. Everthing was back to how it had been and order was restored in the universe for the young children on the block.

Does anyone remember Stickball…

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Does anyone remember Stickball Steve from Rochdale Village. Steve recently passed away from cancer. Steve was a good freind of my brother. Steve always carried a stickball bat and whenever he came around a game was formed. I do not remember much about Steve, however, it was not until recently that I realized how much he added to the fun of my youth. In many ways he was the pied piper of stickball. Please respond if you have memories of him.

July,1939,The Bronx. Six…

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July,1939,The Bronx. Six of us were playing a pickup game on Daley Ave. (between Tremont and 178th St)right in front of the “Mad Doctor’s” house because it always ticked him off. This day he called the cops. As the Squad car rounded the corner, someone yelled, “Cheese it, the Bulls” We scattered to various spots on the sidewalk and tried to look innocent, so that the cops would just keep going. But they didn’t. The stopped in front of the Doctor’s house who came out and began fingering the guys. The cops herded five of the six ( and the stick) into the Squad Car and hauled them down to the 48th Precinct Station. The 6th player (me) had ducked into a doorway and escaped notice. As soon as the coast was clear, I (like Paul Revere)sounded the alarm to a few parents who had to pay a nickle (each way) to take the Tremont Ave. trolley to the police station and “bail out” their kids. The lectures and the warning didn’t impress us because we were back the next day, right in front of the Doctor’s house playing stickball, curbball, stoopball, slugball, and/or boxball. In those days, we paid 5c for a Leader and 15c for a Spaldeen. One day we found a golf ball and used it to play stoopball until I got a great hit that broke a neighbor’s window. We scattered because we knew she was an old grouch and wouldn’t give back the ball.

In answer to Russian Ten…

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In answer to Russian Ten (I think there was also Russian Seven), I don’t remember the order but some of the things you had to do were throw the ball against the wall and clap once, throw the ball against the wall and clap over and under your leg, throw the ball against the wall and turn around and throw the ball and clap in front and then behind you. These are the only ones I remember. Did you have to catch the ball on a fly or was it allowed to bounce? We used to play that if you could get to five without getting out then you could start you next turn on whichever one you got out on. If you didn’t make it to five then on your next turn you had to start over from one.

I grew up playing touch…

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I grew up playing touch football with the boys in the street and still have a pretty good pass (when it’s on, of course). When I was about 7 months pregnant with my last child, I taught my then 5-year old son and his friends how to play the game (just so they wouldn’t kill themselves playing tackle!). Now as an adult, I’m generally the token women at the paddleball courts (4 active courts going!). So, in answer to the question, yes, and I still am!

half ball as u yankees call…

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half ball as u yankees call it is called half rubber. played on the beaches of the southestern coast for years. we are the champs of this game! I would love to talk to someone about this game. email me Rick

Hello all, Welcome…

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Hello all, Welcome to the exploding world of skully! My first draft of the Official Skully Rules are now available in .PDF format only (too tired to do a decent HTML treatment right now): http://www.westnet.com/~hmcnally/skully/skullyrules.pdf To read this document, you’ll need the popular Adobe Acrobat Reader, available at: http://www.adobe.com/ (just look for the yellow “Get Acrobat Reader” button on Adobe’s home page). I’m sure there’s mistakes, and maybe stuff you disagree with, but it’s a start! Let me know how you like it!