Summer! What To Do While Waiting For the NCAAs To Begin ?

As I talked to another person who had their car plowed into by a texter yesterday, I started to wonder about the things we used to do before electronics were wrought on our society.  One thing was to drive with more care than today.  Another was to keep your private conversations to yourself.  But I'm a curmudgeon on these things. Not quite as bad as the Unabomber, but he was probably right about just that one point!

My mental wanderings gravitated to the kids I saw on the way home from work, all of which were ignoring those around them while staring at a 2 x 3 inch glowing screen, their fingers on the keyboard putting out their most important thoughts, all of which are carefully being saved by our government of no-bounds in a huge facility in Utah.  Thank goodness we will have historic conversations like this one forever:

A: Wat U Dewin?

B: Nuttin.

A: LOL!

B: OMG Did ya c wat  H is werrin?

A: Ya!!!

I ended up remembering the things I did with my friends many summers ago, before Atari came to be, all of which are far better than Angry Birds.

1. Kick the Can - A mutant version of the game requiring hiding, seeking and mysteriously, no can.
2. Glow Ball Tag - On dark, moonless nights.  This ended when two players ran into each other at high speeds.  We spent hours with flashlights looking for a lost front tooth until it was found in runner A's forehead!
3. Dirt Clod Battles -  This was back when homes were being built all around, an easy source of said weapons.
4. Burning Ants - The big magnifier on a hot day made you a god among ants.
5. War - Most times with the cousins.  Older cousins got "knives" and the young ones got "guns" that were 100% accurate from any distance.  The older cousins always won anyway.  These wars were bounded by 4 or 5 blocks, although sometimes the whole town was fair game.
6. Wiffle Ball - With 2-man teams.  The rules became really complicated about ground ball outs, imaginary runners tagging up from third on fly balls and whether the septic field was "in or out" of play despite being right in the middle of center field.
7. Tag Football - With trees, bushes and the septic field definitely in the field of play. Football became much more fun once the sewers were put in!
8. Building Bike Ramps - No bike ever left the confines of Earth, however.
9. Porch Soccer - A version of the worlds most popular game in the confines of the irregular 8 ft. x 15 ft. fenced-in "turf"  Scores were usually 40-36 or so.  Much better than the real version. There were always arguments as to who touched the ball last and had to chase it when it went out-of-bounds.