Low Tech to No Tech

We were low tech
When I was a just a boy we never had all the fancy doohickeys (they still use that word right?)that the promising children of the present have nowadays. My nephew had earphones on and was staring into his PSP 2 inch screen directing the Planet of the Apes on another adventure. Me at his age - PONG!

I do however have fond memories of the spending countless hours with the guys playing the best hand held video game of all time: Mattel Electronic Football
How cool was that game. The Offensive Team was the 'Thin" red light and the Defensive team the "Thick" red lights. I can still remember pressing the < > key so much my hands and fingers would start cramping. Run..Thin Red Light..Run.

I can still picture, Mario, Lenny, Kenny and I kneeling for hours, screaming and yelling for our teams to score during the most realistic football board game known to man. I give you: Electronic Vibrating Football.
As you probably remember, most of the 22 players would end up in a cluster somewhere on the sideline while the remainder ran in circles in the center of the field. But sometimes , just sometimes your running back with hit the opening your buzzing lineman created perfectly and he would be in the clear, buzzing along, you hoping that he does not pull a "TURN LEFT NOW" at the last second. No other player within 20 yards. He.. could.. go...all.. the.. way!
It was pandemonium when he crossed the goal line.

Well that was about it for us kids electronically. The rest was up to us.
At the bus stop we played a made up game of curb ball. Using baseball rules, it was throwing a ball onto the corner of the curb so that it flew across the street to where the other team was playing defense. Just throwing was not the way did it, some of us would stand 3 or feet away and throw it at the curb, some would take a running start(that always makes it faster, right?) and some of us would just stand right above the curb and fling it as fast as we could. Games were always quick (the bus was coming remember?) and some times painful. We used a tennis or racket ball. The tennis ball was more forgiving. One time, I thought I was going to see everything for the rest of my life with a little tint of yellow fuzz the first time the ball ricocheted from my hand to the curb to my eye. The girls at the bus stop got a kick out of me crying on the bus. Stupid girls

With boredom comes "Kick the Can". This was the simplest of games. Lets see if I can remember correctly... one oil can(it once came in cans)... me and my friend 50 feet apart from each other... kick the can... have it stand straight up.... SCORE!
I never said it was rocket science. But I can still see the can flying, oil spraying then getting bent because half of that oil was on my pants. Holy cripes! I smelled like a grease monkey for the whole school day. How stupid. How fun.

I think Kenny came up with this doozey to play. How is this for using that pent up 10 year old energy. The event: Around the Block Run. We would time ourselves like they do during a 5K run, cept our run was up Blue Point Road(I swear its like 70 degree hill) then down Rose Place (help me, I can't slow down!)I used to hate to play this game but wound up loving it. 10 years old , whatever it takes, right?

The Gladiators or Ninja Warriors had nothing on us kids. Our obstacle course, went a little something like this.. run from the Lombardos driveway thru the Lombardo gate, around their pool(two times), jump or take the ladder over the Kubicskos back fence, and then over their side fence, around their house back through their side gate, over the Mucci fence , jump over the Lombardo fence then back over it, run through the Mucci gate, run down the Lombardo lawn and slide into the home base.
No wonder I slept like a baby at night.


?kaerfstrops a uoy a erA