the bases, hits would be determined by distance. A cleanly fielded ball was an out. So, past the tree was a single, the mailbox a double, etc. We used to do it on really hot days sometimes.
I think the biggest difference today from when I was a kid in the 80s is smoking. I remember I actually got "smoking permission" from my parents when I went away to prep school *as a freshman*. I mean, think about that... I would never give my kids permission to smoke. But it wasn't that long ago that smoking was totally okay.
I also remember coming back to NYC on breaks from school and going to the deli and buying beer. I mean, WTF? No one ever thought twice about selling beer and cigarettes to kids.
On the other hand, I certainly wasn't ever exposed to the really troubling things I read about today. You know, like, the football team hazing (we did it but wasn't like some of the crap you read about) and the treatment of girls didn't seem nearly as indecent as the things I read about today. Or the bullying kids into suicide. We didn't have any of that.
Like most of my friends, I turned out pretty well and eventually joined the establishment.
that was the great thing, we would just make up games depending on how Â
many players we had. I remember we made up this offense/defense practice game for street hockey that we called starts. 3 guys were enough. The goalie played all. the other 2 played against each other. Each got 5 possessions, or "starts". A "start" ended if there was a goal or the goalie made a save. We'd play for hours in the cold. Sometimes we'd do it 2 on 1, or 3 on 2. Kids just don't do that kind of thing today.
Victor = We played baseball with distances instead of bases sometimes, but I think that was bigger in the 40s and 50s.
I played a lot of stickball though, where hits were based on which floor your batted ball hit. If the pitcher caught it off the wall before it hit the ground it was an out.
My mom smoked, but I sure as shit would have been grounded and probably beaten by my dad if I got caught smoking. Thankfully, I never even tried smoking and still haven't to this day. It's OK, my lungs are probably ravaged by years of second hand smoke fro my mother.
RE: Love it!! Great post Greg. In the '70s, not only did we not use Â
helmets on bicycles, we routinely did stunts in the street. ALONE! With no parents! Or parents watching us have fun and enjoying it.
During the Evel Kneival era, we would make a ramp out of cinder blocks and a 2x4 and do jumps in the street. We'd get arrested for allowing our kids to do that today.
Hey Victor, I remember getting picked up hitchhiking on Hudson Avenue (on the way to the Smithhaven Mall) when I was in 4th grade by my former 3rd grade teacher. She was in the passenger seat of a Camaro (her boyfriend was driving) and wearing hot pants and a halter top. It was a memory that stuck with me.
were more likely to sell us malt liquor than regular beer. So, we had a lot of 40s. Then wine coolers came out when I was in JHS or HS. Those, it seemed, anybody could by without question.
RE: RE: Love it!! Great post Greg. In the '70s, not only did we not use Â
helmets on bicycles, we routinely did stunts in the street. ALONE! With no parents! Or parents watching us have fun and enjoying it.
During the Evel Kneival era, we would make a ramp out of cinder blocks and a 2x4 and do jumps in the street. We'd get arrested for allowing our kids to do that today.
Hey Victor, I remember getting picked up hitchhiking on Hudson Avenue (on the way to the Smithhaven Mall) when I was in 4th grade by my former 3rd grade teacher. She was in the passenger seat of a Camaro (her boyfriend was driving) and wearing hot pants and a halter top. It was a memory that stuck with me.
No shit!! She would get fired and/or arrested today.
We used to walk through the woods on Old Nichols Road and come out on Moriches Road just past the Lake Grove School on the way to the Mall.
Who was the teacher? I had Mrs. Novick at Wenonah Elem in 3rd grade. She was a hag. I don't remember any hot 3rd grade teachers. Do you remember Mrs. Potter? Right out of central casting. Big old broad. Carried a whistle on the playground.
Do you remember the gym teacher Mr. Maloney? He lives near my brother, they ride bikes together sometimes, had some beers with him last summer.
smoking areas at the high school. Places where all the smokers went between classes and smoked a quick cigarette. We had a courtyard that was wall to wall between classes. Very surreal in retrospect when you think about all the 14 year old kids smoking as their teachers walked by.
I think her name was Miss Reichert or Schneider (or something like that). My second grade teacher was Miss Scharelli (sp?). I remember the name, Mr. Maloney, as the gym teacher, but I don't have a visual image in my head of him. I was only in Wenonah from 2nd to 4th grade and then we moved. We moved a lot, but we always stayed in Sachem District. After Wenonah, I went to Gatelot Avenue school, then Hiawatha, and then Grundy Avenue School.
The structured activities for kids of today, I get Â
We're orders of magnitude more knowledgeable about brain development today than we were even 10 years ago - never mind 30 or 40 years ago. This is especially true of early brain development.
Moreover, today's U.S. is far more competitive than it was 30 or 40 years ago. Back then, it would never occur to anyone that their kids would have to compete with peers from the rest of the world.
The combination of those two factors makes it understandable that parents currently go to these lengths to make sure their kids don't get left behind in a society and work force that decreasingly resembles the old middle class where you could slack your way through life and still be comfortable.
Stuff like the maniacal supervision of kids and ridiculous obsession with helmets, I agree, are going overboard.
I think her name was Miss Reichert or Schneider (or something like that). My second grade teacher was Miss Scharelli (sp?). I remember the name, Mr. Maloney, as the gym teacher, but I don't have a visual image in my head of him. I was only in Wenonah from 2nd to 4th grade and then we moved. We moved a lot, but we always stayed in Sachem District. After Wenonah, I went to Gatelot Avenue school, then Hiawatha, and then Grundy Avenue School.
Wow you made the run of the district. 2nd Grade was Mrs. Pasarelli? I had had her too.
smoking areas at the high school. Places where all the smokers went between classes and smoked a quick cigarette. We had a courtyard that was wall to wall between classes. Very surreal in retrospect when you think about all the 14 year old kids smoking as their teachers walked by.
Totally surreal in retrospect. We had place behind the school chapel called "the smoking shack". There was much mischief that went on in that structure.
"This poor kid is about to get rammed in the nuts by a goat.... Â
...and the nearby adult isn’t the least bit concerned."
OMG...ROFLMAOWTIME!!!!
That scene in MadMen, when Sally is running around with a dry cleaning plastic bag over her head, and her mother Betty is smoking a cigarette in the background, while on the phone, with absolutely not one single fuck to give....
But by the time I hit high school in 1990, that had long since been outlawed. Still, I remember flipping through old '70s yearbooks in the school library once and being amazed at all the pictures of guys openly smoking and drinking beers.
smoking areas at the high school. Places where all the smokers went between classes and smoked a quick cigarette. We had a courtyard that was wall to wall between classes. Very surreal in retrospect when you think about all the 14 year old kids smoking as their teachers walked by.
We had the same thing in our school. Times are certainly much different now.
Quote:
and "half-field" baseball games. You could play for hours with three guys per side.
Yes. Played all day
And ghost runners!
or Cowboys and Indians
us too
I also remember coming back to NYC on breaks from school and going to the deli and buying beer. I mean, WTF? No one ever thought twice about selling beer and cigarettes to kids.
On the other hand, I certainly wasn't ever exposed to the really troubling things I read about today. You know, like, the football team hazing (we did it but wasn't like some of the crap you read about) and the treatment of girls didn't seem nearly as indecent as the things I read about today. Or the bullying kids into suicide. We didn't have any of that.
Like most of my friends, I turned out pretty well and eventually joined the establishment.
Plus using wooden clothes pins to attach cards to our bicycle wheels.
Plus using wooden clothes pins to attach cards to our bicycle wheels.
Yep. Did lots of that too.
I played a lot of stickball though, where hits were based on which floor your batted ball hit. If the pitcher caught it off the wall before it hit the ground it was an out.
During the Evel Kneival era, we would make a ramp out of cinder blocks and a 2x4 and do jumps in the street. We'd get arrested for allowing our kids to do that today.
Hey Victor, I remember getting picked up hitchhiking on Hudson Avenue (on the way to the Smithhaven Mall) when I was in 4th grade by my former 3rd grade teacher. She was in the passenger seat of a Camaro (her boyfriend was driving) and wearing hot pants and a halter top. It was a memory that stuck with me.
Quote:
helmets on bicycles, we routinely did stunts in the street. ALONE! With no parents! Or parents watching us have fun and enjoying it.
During the Evel Kneival era, we would make a ramp out of cinder blocks and a 2x4 and do jumps in the street. We'd get arrested for allowing our kids to do that today.
Hey Victor, I remember getting picked up hitchhiking on Hudson Avenue (on the way to the Smithhaven Mall) when I was in 4th grade by my former 3rd grade teacher. She was in the passenger seat of a Camaro (her boyfriend was driving) and wearing hot pants and a halter top. It was a memory that stuck with me.
No shit!! She would get fired and/or arrested today.
We used to walk through the woods on Old Nichols Road and come out on Moriches Road just past the Lake Grove School on the way to the Mall.
Who was the teacher? I had Mrs. Novick at Wenonah Elem in 3rd grade. She was a hag. I don't remember any hot 3rd grade teachers. Do you remember Mrs. Potter? Right out of central casting. Big old broad. Carried a whistle on the playground.
Do you remember the gym teacher Mr. Maloney? He lives near my brother, they ride bikes together sometimes, had some beers with him last summer.
Moreover, today's U.S. is far more competitive than it was 30 or 40 years ago. Back then, it would never occur to anyone that their kids would have to compete with peers from the rest of the world.
The combination of those two factors makes it understandable that parents currently go to these lengths to make sure their kids don't get left behind in a society and work force that decreasingly resembles the old middle class where you could slack your way through life and still be comfortable.
Stuff like the maniacal supervision of kids and ridiculous obsession with helmets, I agree, are going overboard.
Wow you made the run of the district. 2nd Grade was Mrs. Pasarelli? I had had her too.
Quote:
2nd Grade was Mrs. Pasarelli? I had had her too.
That must be her. Dark haired, attractive, very curvacious?
Yes that's her.
Totally surreal in retrospect. We had place behind the school chapel called "the smoking shack". There was much mischief that went on in that structure.
OMG...ROFLMAOWTIME!!!!
That scene in MadMen, when Sally is running around with a dry cleaning plastic bag over her head, and her mother Betty is smoking a cigarette in the background, while on the phone, with absolutely not one single fuck to give....
NOSTALGIA!!!
We had the same thing in our school. Times are certainly much different now.