Other than the the sandlot games at the George W. "Buddy" Fortune Backstop, we played Tennis Ball, Full Contact Basketball, Touch Football, Pass Patterns and numerous invented games we will discuss later.
Tennis Ball was developed by Craig Christopher and played in the power line right of way behind his house. Because of the amount and shape of land only two bases and home plate were used. A tennis ball was used instead of a baseball and the basic rules of baseball were applied.
Touch football was played every Sunday at Alice Keith Park. Everyone knew there was a game and just showed up. It was an All passing game. You had four downs to complete three passes for a first down. Everyone on offense was an eligible receiver. There was a short period of time (circa 1963-1964) that we moved the game into the high school stadium. During this time we had some black athletes from nearby join the game. Several of the players went on to play in the NFL (Bubba and Lawrence Smith, Johnny Fuller). This game only lasted a couple of months as the school officials locked up the stadium so we couldn't get in. At that time the area was still segregated and I always felt the field was locked because some local adults objected to us white kids of Highland Ave. playing with blacks, but never heard anyone admit it. I played in this weekly game until I graduated from Lamar and moved to Tennessee. I understand it continued many years after that.
Other times, games were invented for the circumstances. In order to satisfy our competitive juices whiletraveling on a road trip each person would select a particular animal specie and we would count road kill. Whoever had possums usually won. However, rabbits, armadillos and raccoons could be competitive.
Over/Under bets are always popular. Number of home runs hit in a college game, how many minutes late someone will be, number of trips someone will make to the bathroom, etc.
While attending a NASCAR race a female C&W artist was scheduled to sing the National Anthem. My friends got up a bet on whether or not she would display cleavage. Then they argued over the results.
Once I even challenged my son's friend, Steven Roby, to a fete of strength or maybe it was an endurance event. In any case, Steven, who was an under aged teenager at the time kept bugging me to give him a beer. We were riding back from a weekend at Crystal Beach and I told him if he could hold his hand in the ice and water of the cooler for two minutes, I would let him have a beer. Steven proved his "manhood" and made it to the whistle.
There were many other modified sporting events of competition invented on the spot and still are today. Usually the competition is among really good friends and the winner has bragging rights until the next event. In fact, Fantasy Football, is a modified sports competition.
All of the above were real and conducted in SE Texas. However, they all pale in comparison to the Greatest Modified Sporting Event Ever. I will share this in my next blog
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