Category Archives: Street Lifestyle
Many things come to mind…
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Many things come to mind when I think of skelly. Here are a few: 1)New Jersey, 1964. We stopped at Tony’s Hot Dogs near lake Hopatcong on a Sunday as I recall. I asked the man behind the counter, actually my dad asked the man, if we could have some bottlecaps. I guess some meant all because he filled up a couple of paper bags full. It was a great ride home as a 7 year old digging out all of the cork and couldn’t wait to show my friends my motherlode of caps. 2)I can still remember the smell of melted crayons in my friend’s garage as we readied our bottlecaps for action. We lived in the Canarsie section of Brooklyn and if it wasn’t stickball or Spud it was all day skelly marathons. 3)About 1970 or thereabouts during my last glory days as a pre-teen and the end of skelly as a pasttime, I pulled one of the biggest miscues of my life, to that point. My dad had just bought me a new pair of Pro Keds and I proceeded to wear out the sides in a matter of days due to several skellythons. Needless to say, it was back to discount sneakers for me. I wish this generation could experience all of the great street games that I grew up with in Brooklyn and Queens.
Man, these used to be the…
Didn’t see anyone here from…
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Didn’t see anyone here from my Brooklyn… I think that is cause most of the people are still there saying, “Yeah I live in Brooklyn, so F***ing What???” Since I was born (Brighton Beach 1968) till I left (Williamsburg 1999) I lived in Brooklyn all my life. Most of my childhood I lived in the Sheepshead Bay area, From Kings Highway to Graves End to the Bay. Man, it was hard, fun, wild, sad and wonderful. So much to say about it, for the things everyone remembers Wed. fireworks (think it was wed. or maybe Thurs.) at Coney, to the things people would like to forget, like seeing a black guy get his ass kicked, just because he was black or for that matter, me getting my ass kicked cause my friend had a big mouth. Learned a lot growing up there about people and life. I can’t see myself having grown up anywhere else. Miss being young there, skelly and Peas and butter, asses up, off the wall, Also, off the wall in mellet park, kick the can, ringaleavio, War, red rover, all the different tag games, the local drug store that sold the best eggcreams, Wonderful Mr. Iseman (hope I’m spelling it right) who used to run a few movies theaters in Brooklyn like the Kingsway and fortway, who used to let me in for nothing cause my brothers used to work there, to getting my first job that Joe’s Pizza on ave. U (that was a good slice), BLOCK PARTIES!!! Remember those?????? Wow… man… Halloween in Bklyn was always a blast, there was the house on AVE X and 15th or something and they alwasy put on a show, then you have 4th of July, where some blocks you couldn’t even get through because if the big fire in the middle of the street with the mats and block busters going off (got a few wax loads in my gut, from time to time). Anyone remember Sheepshead Bay Roller disco? How about Romeo and Juliet’s Disco? All the bars in Bay Ridge? Calm houses at the Bay? Spumoni Gardens? Man, I can go on and on. I’ll tell you, from 1974 when I was only 6 to about 1988 when I was 18, was some of the best times and the worst I have ever had and I miss it all.
I am the current President…
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I am the current President of The New York Emperor’s Stickball League, Inc. (NYESL) located in the Bronx. We have been in existence 16 years now where the Florida Kings with Barbara and the Pizzaroz boys; the San Diego Knights with Bobby and Paul Ortiz, Willie Blas, and Jim Strickland; the Puerto Rico Tainos with Pepin and Noble and the various other teams from the tri-state area have become and will always be considered extended family to me on a personal level and to the members of my organization on a competitive level. We are always trying to increase awareness of the game we have all grown to love so much. This summer, 2001, we will start, for the first time ever, the first organized children’s stickball league. With funding from the NYC Children’s Services and assistance from the Bronx YMCA and radio talk show host Curtis Sliwa and the volunteer efforts of the members of NYESL, the dream of reintroducing the game of stickball to a new generation will become a reality. Check out our website, www.nyesl.org, for updates on this and other events going on in the world of stickball.
While we all played and…
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While we all played and had fun all year long, the Summer months usually brought special memeories. What are some of yours? I remember the distinct smell when it rained on a hot summers day – rain, and concrete and asphalt was a unique experience of the senses that one couldn’t experience anywhere else but in NYC. Remember the steam coming up from the streets? I also remember going to Yankee and Met games with the local PAL…I think we had to pay a buck which included transportation, lunch, and the ticket! I also remember the moths and bugs swirling around the street lights on a steamy, hot, Summer’s night…and Mr. Softee music and the light from its truck in the background. Banana boats were under a buck…wow! I also remember making genies by emptying the gunpowder from leftover firecrackers from the night before on the 4th of July…we called it the 4th. I also remember eating those freeze pops in the plasic sleeves…may favorite was blue ice, what was yours?….not to mention the chocolate eclair or creamsicles from the Good Humor man or Bungalow Bar. And what about jamming ourselves in the boys and girls entrances in the schoolyard until the rain was over….one last powerful Queens memory….going to Weiss’s and Lenny’s clam bar on the way back from Rockaway beach. Oh, Summer in NYC, I wish I could have just one day back again!
Remember the mars Attacks…
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Remember the mars Attacks cards? I remember trading someone a pen, a dollar, and some baseball cards for the whole set…wish I still had them. When we had the drills where we had to “make like a turtle and crawl into a ball under your desk” in school, I would wonder if we were under attack.
PS 66 in Richmond Hill Queens…
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PS 66 in Richmond Hill Queens had everything from punchball, stickball, slapball (“Slap”). basketball, off the wall, asses up, ringelevio, coco-monster, chinese, handball, whiffleball, errors, 5 boxes, hit the penny, strikeouts, to softball. I even remember the “non athletic” kids playing checkers, chess, or cards off in some corner. Out in the street were skelly games, I Declare War, Tops, and kids doing unbelievable things with yo-yos. Soemtimes we would use nearby Forest park fo ringelevio…and of course one of the Queens meccas, Victory Field. What memories. This experience of playing led me to my wonderful profession – a Physical Educator.
Hey Dave, Be careful…
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Hey Dave, Be careful with that Stunt Pogo-ing, your mom might want to have grandchildren one day. Ha, ha. Ripping pogo sticks in two, were you listening to hardcore on your portable dvd while riding? sounds like an repressed agression issue…aka a guy thing. My young son exhibits this fuhrer too,in sports. I do remember needing to do any sport I was into until I felt like I would nearly burst a lung… laps in an olympic pool, skating, laps on the track… inexhaustible energy. But seriously, enjoy your youth! I know I sure did.
Howdy. I teach kids fitness…
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Howdy. I teach kids fitness classes as well as adults. What I have found is that adults love the kids classes more than the kids do!! I use hoola hoops, moon shoes and am thinking of incorporating hippity hops and pogo sticks. I also use agility ladders and use bands as a form of “chinese jump ropes” remember them? Thanks for the tip on how to make my own hoola hoops…heading for the hardware store tomorrow…do you put beads or anything in them? ellen (43 and still playing)