Fun n' Games (Part 2)

When we went out for recess at our elementary school, most often we played in the "Battlefield." Who knows how it got the name, but it was a large grassy ballfield at the bottom of a very steep hill, below the paved playground. We would play softball there...sometimes choosing sides, but most often playing either work-up or 500. In both of those games it was an individual hitter against the other players and in each case players could work their way up or earn their way to the hitting position. Since recess was a short time period, it was a perfect way to get some action without having to choose sides and wait for balls and strikes like a regular game.


Winter was when the Battlefield hill turned to ice from all the kids sliding on it. Not many sleds with runners, and some saucers; mostly scraps of cardboard and plastic. They were faster and of course, that's what turned the slope to ice. A few kids, Davy included, would try to go down the icy hill standing up and sliding only on the soles of their shoes. It was a must that you have leather soled shoes to do this, so you can imagine how much the moms enjoyed seeing their kids come home with soggy, beat-up shoes from sliding down the Battlefield hill. Speaking of moms and teachers, when I look at this activity from my perspective now as a parent and adult, I am certain that parents of today would raise hell and teachers would fear for their jobs if such things as sliding down a sheet of ice standing up were allowed to occur at on school property.


I had a friend named Butch (yeah, guys had nicknames like that once) who I'll always remember with a bloody face. He was the kind of kid that always wound up with the bloody face if there was one among us that was to be so afflicted (the designated bloody face). More than one of his bloody faces occurred on a slick Battlefield hill. Today, the school, the teacher, the City, and passers-by would all be sued if poor Johnny was bloodied through such activity.


So, what's the point of the story? I started this out thinking there might be a point to be made about life choices related to outdoor, sports-related activity and indoor, media-centered entertainment. But, now I'm not sure there is a point to be made. We had a B&W TV by the time I was 5, and I remember Saturday morning cartoons and westerns very well. Our kids had a lot more media options to explore, but they also spent a great deal of their free time outdoors in their elementary years. What is important is that kids do what their friends do and it's called socialization. I remember playing work-up and 500 with the kids, but I think they did it to humor the old man. So instead, just think of this as a story about what the old man did as a kid with his friends.