Backyard ball. How did you play? | The Boneyard

Backyard ball. How did you play?

Jaydumo20

Jaydumo20

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While we wait for AK's decision. Instead of arguing with each other about what drink Tom Moore prefers at weddings, let's talk about why we love sports in the first place.

Outside of rec league/little league/travel league/pop warner organized sports, what did you play most as a kid, with your friends?

HORSE
Stick ball
Street Hockey?
It could be a number of different things, or maybe a way to play a sport that was totally unique.

We have a wide variety of fans on here and I always find it cool to see how some of y'all grew up.
 
My neighbors had an 8ft hoop above their garage. As a ten year old that was all I needed. We'd take one of those pizza hut final four mini basketballs and have dunk contests, with judges, and C+C music factory playing in the background. I pumped up my Reeboks just about every summer day in that driveway.
 
Basketball in the park. Half-court. Make it take it. Call your own fouls. 3s are worth 2. 2s are worth 1. Inordinate amounts of trash talk. My brother and I went to the park with friends a lot. Starting at maybe age 12 after school and play with whoever was there.

Who I really learned from was a group of guys that felt ANCIENT (probably 40) at the time. They'd all play together Sundays, Thursdays and Fridays At 5pm. Would switch to some church during the winter. They'd let the kids play with them and guard each other. When we were younger they'd just put us in the crappy runs that weren't very competitive. When I was in hs and college, I'd go and take it easy on them back.

There were these two brothers and their father who was still playing at 60+. Brothers were D2 and D1 players, dad had played at the Air Force Academy in the Vietnam era. The dad would sit games with me and talk me through different actions, what someone should have done, how to communicate on defense. I'm guessing he saw how much more serious I was than other kids.

I used to go to that park EVERY day all summer and take 500 3s. I would not miss a day and I would stay until it was pitch black and even if it was raining unless my mom came and got me. I'd go, shoot a couple hundred, play pick up for 2 hours and then shoot the rest. My parents couldn't afford AAU (and it wasn't so popular then) so I was just neurotic about become a shooter.
 
Depended on the season. Football in the fall, basketball during the winter, if we could get a gym, and baseball in the spring. Late spring through the summer was swimming and fishing (and later sailing and then water skiing) since I grew up down the shore.

With modern sensibilities, those football games were pretty sketchy. We played full speed and no pads. When neighborhoods played each other, sometimes things could get pretty heated. I don't remember anyone ever getting a concussion, though back in the day if you "got your Bell rung" you would just shake your head a few times and keep playing. But for the most part, I think it was just because people were smart about it. You'd hit with your shoulder and tuck your head in tight when you tackled.

I don't remember this for football, but for baseball you just grab your bat glove and a ball and start knocking on people's door until you had enough to field two teams. Pretty much the only time you would call somebody was if they were further than you felt like walking.
 
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CL82 said:
Depended on the season. Football in the fall, basketball during the winter, if we could get a gym, and baseball in the spring. Late spring through the summer was swimming and fishing (and later sailing and then water skiing) since I grew up down the shore.

With modern sensibilities, those football games were pretty sketchy. We played full speed and no pads. When neighborhoods played each other, sometimes things could get pretty heated. I don't remember anyone ever getting a concussion, though back in the day if you "got your Bell rung" you would just shake your head a few times and keep playing. But for the most part, I think it was just because people were smart about it. You'd hit with your shoulder and tuck your head in tight when you tackled.

I don't remember this for football, but for baseball you just grab your bat glove and a ball and start knocking on people's door until you had enough to feel two teams. Pretty much the only time you call somebody was if they were further than you felt like walking.
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Yeah. The safety factor is crazy to imagine. I remember if it was snowing we'd play tackle on the street.
 
husky429 said:
Basketball in the park. Half-court. Make it take it. Call your own fouls. 3s are worth 2. 2s are worth 1. Inordinate amounts of trash talk. My brother and I went to the park with friends a lot. Starting at maybe age 12 after school and play with whoever was there.

Who I really learned from was a group of guys that felt ANCIENT (probably 40) at the time. They'd all play together Sundays, Thursdays and Fridays At 5pm. Would switch to some church during the winter. They'd let the kids play with them and guard each other. When we were younger they'd just put us in the crappy runs that weren't very competitive. When I was in hs and college, I'd go and take it easy on them back.

There were these two brothers and their father who was still playing at 60+. Brothers were D2 and D1 players, dad had played at the Air Force Academy in the Vietnam era. The dad would sit games with me and talk me through different actions, what someone should have done, how to communicate on defense. I'm guessing he saw how much more serious I was than other kids.

I used to go to that park EVERY day all summer and take 500 3s. I would not miss a day and I would stay until it was pitch black and even if it was raining unless my mom came and got me. I'd go, shoot a couple hundred, play pick up for 2 hours and then shoot the rest. My parents couldn't afford AAU (and it wasn't so popular then) so I was just neurotic about become a shooter.
Expand ...

This is literally my exact story. However, I bet the 40 year old guys were really only like 30.
 
Jaydumo20 said:
While we wait for AK's decision. Instead of arguing with each other about what drink Tom Moore prefers at weddings, let's talk about why we love sports in the first place.

Outside of rec league/little league/travel league/pop warner organized sports, what did you play most as a kid, with your friends?

HORSE
Stick ball
Street Hockey?
It could be a number of different things, or maybe a way to play a sport that was totally unique.

We have a wide variety of fans on here and I always find it cool to see how some of y'all grew up.
Expand ...
We used to play a bunch of horse, some street wiffle ball, tag, etc. Some nerf gun fights here and there. Those were the days.
 
bjc42 said:
We used to play a bunch of horse, some street wiffle ball, tag, etc. Some nerf gun fights here and there. Those were the days.
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Buddies of mine used to shoot each other with BB guns. The only rules were that 1) it could only be BBs no pellets 2) you could only pump the gun once and 3) no head shots.

eventually, they realized that something bad was going to happen and stopped. I heard about it after they stopped doing it.
 
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I was only three blocks from Hyland Park in Hartford. We played everything depending on the season.
We used to play double or nothing if we didn't have enough for baseball. We sometimes played with as little as two on a side and you had to choose your field, second base and over.
Played a lot of basketball, sandlot football, street hockey in the schoolyard.
When it was cold enough, we would go to the cemetery a half mile away and play ice hockey.
Built a bobsled run one year for our sledding and used those plastic boats to go down the run.
Also golfed a bunch at Goodwin Park with our golf cards for a quarter. Also swam at Goodwin.

We were always busy. Never spent time indoors if we could help it. Much different than today.
 
We played a ton of knockout. 2 on 2 on an 8’ adjustable hoop. A lot of pickle in the middle of the street. Football at my house or the Darbys house. Wiffleball tourneys in the dead end circle. My neighborhood was loaded with kids.
 
I grew up in Newtown on a cul de sac. We played baseball at the end of the street. Wiffle ball in the backyard, basketball in the driveway, and pond hockey on a small pond in the woods. We also had streams, ponds and lakes for fishing within walking or biking distance from home. We used to box in our neighbors basement, and ride sleds down a trail through the woods. We also played full court low hoop basketball in one of the town parks. I also played some tennis on a clay court which was different. Newtown was an awesome place to grow up.
 
I had a hoop in my driveway. It was an old basketball hoop my dad picked up when he was driving by a playground that was being torn down and they gave it to him for free. This thing was a sturdy as they get and it was about 9 1/2 feet.

We played teams, 21, HORSE, 2 bounce, Oop-Bounce, 5-3-1 and something we called Andru-Ball which was a variation of 21 where unless the ball was out on the low scorer, the ball would go to the lower scorer any time their was an out of bounds. There weren't a lot of kids in our town and the skill levels may greatly vary on the day so it kept everybody engaged.
 
CL82 said:
Buddies of mine used to shoot each other with BB guns. The only rules were that one. It could only be BBs no pallets and two, you could only pump the gun once.
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You’ll shoot your eye out kid.

I was hit in my chest from a BB shot using a slingshot. Not very pleasant.
 
Tackle football on the grass

Horse and knockout in basketball

Wrestling in a room in the dark, everyone for themselves

Camping - when it came to camp outs did a lot stupid things with fires, such using bug spray to expand them, throwing lighters and full soda cans in the fire and watching them explode, was a pyromaniac
 
Spaceman213J said:
I had a hoop in my driveway. It was an old basketball hoop my dad picked up when he was driving by a playground that was being torn down and they gave it to him for free. This thing was a sturdy as they get and it was about 9 1/2 feet.

We played teams, 21, HORSE, 2 bounce, Oop-Bounce, 5-3-1 and something we called Andru-Ball which was a variation of 21 where unless the ball was out on the low scorer, the ball would go to the lower scorer any time their was an out of bounds. There weren't a lot of kids in our town and the skill levels may greatly vary on the day so it kept everybody engaged.
Expand ...
Andru-ball. I love it. It's such a cool thing to see how people played the same game but with different priorities.
Not that it's exactly the same thing but I remember that when we played pickup 3 on 3, nobody cared about who hit a 3, or made a 360 reverse layup. The glory was to the kid who would make a Tim Hardaway type no look bounce passe, or a mark price behind the back dump off to the big kid down low. A no look pass was where the glory was.
 
Jaydumo20 said:
Andru-ball. I love it. It's such a cool thing to see how people played the same game but with different priorities.
Not that it's exactly the same thing but I remember that when we played pickup 3 on 3, nobody cared about who hit a 3, or made a 360 reverse layup. The glory was to the kid who would make a Tim Hardaway type no look bounce passe, or a mark price behind the back dump off to the big kid down low. A no look pass was where the glory was.
Expand ...
I still remember to this day a friend of mine on the other team missing a 3 and there was a long rebound out near my area near a 3 point line we used a yard stick and rope to draw around the driveway. IF an opposing player hit the rim, you had to take to the 3 point line before you could go score. Anyways, I saw a teammate all by himself under the hoop and so I walked after the rebound so the other team didn't speed up to pick us up defensively. I made eye contact and collected the rebound facing away from the hoop right at the 3 point line and threw a two handed over the shoulder bullet pass right on the money for an easy layup. I never even say the shot. Didn't need to. I just remember hearing a bunch of my friends all saying "Holy crap!".
It's funny how you remember things like that and still put a smile on your face. That was like 35 years ago.
 
Back then we’d ride dirt bikes a lot. That was sooo fun. When we got back, sometimes my friends would call me a name, and I’d shoot them with BB guns. (They’d have their goggles on, so I would shoot wherever I thought I could hit as they rode around on 125’s.

And, if they took name calling too far, I might chase them with things you don’t want to get hit with. Started chopping a tree down that somebody climbed to evade, before he jumped out of it. They knew I was pissed if they used that name, but it was fun. Glad I didn’t kill any of them!
 
Hoophound said:
This is literally my exact story. However, I bet the 40 year old guys were really only like 30.
Expand ...

I don't see older guys mentoring younger players any more. I'm sure this is just me being a curmudgeon, but I played at charter Oak in Manchester a lot until Covid and then stopped. All you see is ego ego ego. No kids around. No defense. No skill, just 20% 3s and flashy stuff. No back cuts, no screen and rolls, no handoffs, no off ball curls... nothing.
 
3 on 3, half court, at WCSU. We would play all summer on courts in back of the Westside dorms. All football players so it was physical. One of the best times of my life.
 
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