Comments on: Saying good bye to summer and baseball http://cultureby.com/2004/08/saying_good_bye.html This Blog Sits At the Intersection of Anthropology and Economics Wed, 08 Feb 2012 08:43:22 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Ennis http://cultureby.com/2004/08/saying_good_bye.html/comment-page-1#comment-7435 Ennis Sat, 04 Sep 2004 14:12:26 +0000 http://localhost/wp_culture/?p=1129#comment-7435 Dodgeball didn't quite extensive skills training, nor did it have adults who were pushing their kids into it, so there was more of a level playing field. Contrast this with baseball or basketball, where it really was about how much time your dad spent teaching you the basics. But I didn't like team dodgeball. What we played most of the time was elimination. You'd throw the ball up, somebody would get it, they could take 1 step (I believe) and then would have to throw the ball at somebody. If it hit somebody without them catching it, they were out. If somebody caught the ball, then the thrower was out. Games were short, people were happy to play again and again. There was a bit of pain, but unlike baseball, very little boredom. Oh, here's another thing. Nobody was ever excluded from the game. In team sports, if you're no good, you don't get a chance. You're off in left field watching the dandelions. In Elimination, someobody has to throw at you, in which case you always have a chance to either dodge or catch. So it was far more inclusive and also egalitarian, since surprising things would happen. No wonder we played it :) I hadn't thought this through. I did team sports through a local company that would collect us all after school in a minibus and take us to the city playing fields and organize games. I had no skills and was bored silly. How strange, things I hadn't thought of in ages. Dodgeball didn’t quite extensive skills training, nor did it have adults who were pushing their kids into it, so there was more of a level playing field. Contrast this with baseball or basketball, where it really was about how much time your dad spent teaching you the basics.

But I didn’t like team dodgeball. What we played most of the time was elimination. You’d throw the ball up, somebody would get it, they could take 1 step (I believe) and then would have to throw the ball at somebody. If it hit somebody without them catching it, they were out. If somebody caught the ball, then the thrower was out. Games were short, people were happy to play again and again. There was a bit of pain, but unlike baseball, very little boredom.

Oh, here’s another thing. Nobody was ever excluded from the game. In team sports, if you’re no good, you don’t get a chance. You’re off in left field watching the dandelions. In Elimination, someobody has to throw at you, in which case you always have a chance to either dodge or catch. So it was far more inclusive and also egalitarian, since surprising things would happen.

No wonder we played it :) I hadn’t thought this through. I did team sports through a local company that would collect us all after school in a minibus and take us to the city playing fields and organize games. I had no skills and was bored silly. How strange, things I hadn’t thought of in ages.

]]> By: Grant http://cultureby.com/2004/08/saying_good_bye.html/comment-page-1#comment-7434 Grant Fri, 03 Sep 2004 17:58:23 +0000 http://localhost/wp_culture/?p=1129#comment-7434 Dodgeball! I remember thinking, "this is a game? Hunting humans for sport?" Paintball seems to be roughly the same sort of thing, but it doesn't hurt so much. Thanks, Grant Dodgeball! I remember thinking, “this is a game? Hunting humans for sport?” Paintball seems to be roughly the same sort of thing, but it doesn’t hurt so much. Thanks, Grant

]]> By: Ennis http://cultureby.com/2004/08/saying_good_bye.html/comment-page-1#comment-7433 Ennis Fri, 03 Sep 2004 17:15:50 +0000 http://localhost/wp_culture/?p=1129#comment-7433 See, I was an urban kid. No kick the can, and only organized baseball. What we had was dodgeball/elimination (elimination was the every man for himself version where you got to take only a few steps with the ball before you had to throw it). There was also some handball. Kids in other neighborhoods played alot more hoops, stickball, and roller hockey, but not me. See, I was an urban kid. No kick the can, and only organized baseball. What we had was dodgeball/elimination (elimination was the every man for himself version where you got to take only a few steps with the ball before you had to throw it). There was also some handball.

Kids in other neighborhoods played alot more hoops, stickball, and roller hockey, but not me.

]]> By: Grant http://cultureby.com/2004/08/saying_good_bye.html/comment-page-1#comment-7432 Grant Fri, 03 Sep 2004 10:08:28 +0000 http://localhost/wp_culture/?p=1129#comment-7432 Liz, wasn't kick the can grand? And real kid culture, passed down generation after generation, uncodified, unsupervised, completely engaging, and dynamic, with advantage shifting continually to the "kickers" as darkness fell. Thanks, Grant Liz, wasn’t kick the can grand? And real kid culture, passed down generation after generation, uncodified, unsupervised, completely engaging, and dynamic, with advantage shifting continually to the “kickers” as darkness fell. Thanks, Grant

]]> By: Liz http://cultureby.com/2004/08/saying_good_bye.html/comment-page-1#comment-7431 Liz Fri, 03 Sep 2004 00:35:08 +0000 http://localhost/wp_culture/?p=1129#comment-7431 me, I never played baseball...I don't think any of my boy cousins did either. Oh, but kick the can in the gloaming...or freeze tag...oh and the dirt clod wars in the spring, with lovely forts and tunnels in the giant mustard fields, due to be disked up when the dirt had dried enough. No parents in sight anywhere, no rules except the rules we decreed. You see, I don't think it's the uniforms and the regimentation of pre-teen sport that sucks the life out, it is the rules being imposed and frozen. So the negotiations and the special invocations (such as when you had to include the little kids or lose the dessert promised later) and how the game was handicapped on the fly. me, I never played baseball…I don’t think any of my boy cousins did either. Oh, but kick the can in the gloaming…or freeze tag…oh and the dirt clod wars in the spring, with lovely forts and tunnels in the giant mustard fields, due to be disked up when the dirt had dried enough.

No parents in sight anywhere, no rules except the rules we decreed. You see, I don’t think it’s the uniforms and the regimentation of pre-teen sport that sucks the life out, it is the rules being imposed and frozen. So the negotiations and the special invocations (such as when you had to include the little kids or lose the dessert promised later) and how the game was handicapped on the fly.

]]> By: Tom http://cultureby.com/2004/08/saying_good_bye.html/comment-page-1#comment-7430 Tom Thu, 02 Sep 2004 19:35:17 +0000 http://localhost/wp_culture/?p=1129#comment-7430 And I was tending net in roller-hockey in The Bronx, with pillows as pads and a genuine Jacques Plante facsilimile mask, while doing my best Gump Worsley impression! And I was tending net in roller-hockey in The Bronx, with pillows as pads and a genuine Jacques Plante facsilimile mask, while doing my best Gump Worsley impression!

]]> By: Grant http://cultureby.com/2004/08/saying_good_bye.html/comment-page-1#comment-7429 Grant Thu, 02 Sep 2004 11:42:57 +0000 http://localhost/wp_culture/?p=1129#comment-7429 Kevin, I was busy playing football when, as a good Canadian, I should have been tending a net. And, yes, whiffle ball is bad for your reflexes in the same way that badminton is bad for your tennis game. But then I am beginning to think that that call from the Detroit Tigers is never going to come, so I am just going to take the risk. Thanks, Grant Kevin, I was busy playing football when, as a good Canadian, I should have been tending a net. And, yes, whiffle ball is bad for your reflexes in the same way that badminton is bad for your tennis game. But then I am beginning to think that that call from the Detroit Tigers is never going to come, so I am just going to take the risk. Thanks, Grant

]]> By: kevrob http://cultureby.com/2004/08/saying_good_bye.html/comment-page-1#comment-7428 kevrob Thu, 02 Sep 2004 00:46:09 +0000 http://localhost/wp_culture/?p=1129#comment-7428 Grant, I was a LL catcher. When we played pond hockey - a much more ephemeral recreation when attempted on an island warmed by the Gulf Stream, then on a frozen slough north of 49 - I naturally gravitated toward goal. Hows by you? I had a classmate in grammar school who played in a neighboring league, who also caught. When the most skateable part of our local lake froze, the two of us would show up with goal sticks. The great Tretiak called it "the noble position." My Dad, a high school baseball coach, warned us off playing "whiffle ball." It screws up your reflexes, as the ball's speed and weight are so different from that of a hardball, as is the sound. Softball does this, too. You can mess up the rhythm of your swing, and find youself slumping on the "real" diamond. Kevin Grant, I was a LL catcher. When we played pond hockey – a much more ephemeral recreation when attempted on an island warmed by the Gulf Stream, then on a frozen slough north of 49 – I naturally gravitated toward goal. Hows by you? I had a classmate in grammar school who played in a neighboring league, who also caught. When the most skateable part of our local lake froze, the two of us would show up with goal sticks.

The great Tretiak called it “the noble position.”

My Dad, a high school baseball coach, warned us off playing “whiffle ball.” It screws up your reflexes, as the ball’s speed and weight are so different from that of a hardball, as is the sound. Softball does this, too. You can mess up the rhythm of your swing, and find youself slumping on the “real” diamond.

Kevin

]]> By: Grant http://cultureby.com/2004/08/saying_good_bye.html/comment-page-1#comment-7427 Grant Wed, 01 Sep 2004 17:04:48 +0000 http://localhost/wp_culture/?p=1129#comment-7427 Tom, exactly, and the debate seems quite heated enough with mixing in doctrinal issues. But you know, now I am worried. I used to play catcher, so of course I called my mitt a mitt. But I could swear it was also a term I used for my glove, the thing I wore, as an outfielder, on my head, while staring in the wrong direction. Hmmm. Nice spot. Thanks, Grant Tom, exactly, and the debate seems quite heated enough with mixing in doctrinal issues. But you know, now I am worried. I used to play catcher, so of course I called my mitt a mitt. But I could swear it was also a term I used for my glove, the thing I wore, as an outfielder, on my head, while staring in the wrong direction. Hmmm. Nice spot. Thanks, Grant

]]> By: Tom http://cultureby.com/2004/08/saying_good_bye.html/comment-page-1#comment-7426 Tom Wed, 01 Sep 2004 16:27:58 +0000 http://localhost/wp_culture/?p=1129#comment-7426 Another of those American-Canadian distinctions that seem to be bringing so much heat these days! Another of those American-Canadian distinctions that seem to be bringing so much heat these days!

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