60s ---- we played real TACKLE football not the sissy flag football ---- no protection at all. We would get a broken arm every now and then. Everyone would sign the white plaster cast.
In the late 70s and early 80s, we played "smear the queer" and "king of the mountain" (wherein we threw each other off a 7-foot-high tower onto the hard ground and the last one standing won).
We didn't need reasons to try to kill each other, just something to call the game. There were no bike helmets or knee pads. Hell, in grammar school, we had this gigantic swing set and we'd all swing as hard as we could to try to make it fall over. Never did quite make it, but a 40-lb kid can launch like a rocket when swinging that high. Good times.
We had some 50 below zero days a couple of times, and let me tell you, that is some cold weather. Instant frostbite in minutes. School would be canceled, not because of the snow, but because the busses wouldn't start.
When we heard it was going to warm up to 10 below, we hatched a plan to go to the bus yard and unplug the buses the night before so they still wouldn't start.
It turned out to be just a childhood plan that we never followed through on. We still fell asleep dreaming of our genius to get one more day of school off though. Boy were we smart.
60s ---- we played real TACKLE football not the sissy flag football ---- no protection at all. We would get a broken arm every now and then. Everyone would sign the white plaster cast.
In the late 70s and early 80s, we played "smear the queer" and "king of the mountain" (wherein we threw each other off a 7-foot-high tower onto the hard ground and the last one standing won).
We didn't need reasons to try to kill each other, just something to call the game. There were no bike helmets or knee pads. Hell, in grammar school, we had this gigantic swing set and we'd all swing as hard as we could to try to make it fall over. Never did quite make it, but a 40-lb kid can launch like a rocket when swinging that high. Good times.
We did that too decades later, but mostly in the snow. We could instantly ice down any injuries.
Texas ---- Our area doesn't get much snow.
When it does get cold --- it's windy at sea level ---- feels cold as shit. Sometimes we get nasty ice.
We had some 50 below zero days a couple of times, and let me tell you, that is some cold weather. Instant frostbite in minutes. School would be canceled, not because of the snow, but because the busses wouldn't start.
When we heard it was going to warm up to 10 below, we hatched a plan to go to the bus yard and unplug the buses the night before so they still wouldn't start.
It turned out to be just a childhood plan that we never followed through on. We still fell asleep dreaming of our genius to get one more day of school off though. Boy were we smart.