Games People Play

When you are blessed beyond measure to have two healthy, active, inquisitive boys, you play a lot of games.  Sure, there's Sorry, Trouble, Candyland (always a staple), Guess Who, UNO and, lately, Life.  What I've been thinking about lately, though, are the games J.P. and Joe have made up and played over the years, with Jude, me or each other.

Usually, these games last for a little while before they're forgotten by the boys, only to be remembered fondly by Jude and me as we recall days and times past.  I thought it might be fun to list and describe a few of these games, in no particular order.

Hallway Hockey

This was a huge game in our old house on Elliott Avenue.  Huge.  From the age of 3 years old, J.P. played hockey in the downstairs hallway of our house.  Over the years, the sticks grew longer until he was using a regulation hockey stick.  For pucks, he used everything from "official" NHL hockey balls to a soft pock to a souvenir hard puck.

The fact that the hallway is not a long one is proof positive that kids will find ways to play games and entertain themselves wherever they are with whatever they have on hand.  The rules were simple, as J.P. would stand at one end of the hallway and try to hit the puck through my (or Jude's) legs.  Then, we would do the same, all while keeping up a running commentary of the game.  J.P. was almost always the Predators and Jude or I would be another team. J.P. always won.

As soon as he was old enough to walk, Joe picked up Hallway Hockey, and he and J.P. played together at time.

Sock Baseball and Pretend Baseball

This is a recent game invented by Joe, after we moved into the new house on Linden Avenue.  I think Joe started playing it during the Vanderbilt baseball team's run to the finals of the College World Series, as we were watching a lot of the game.

In its original incarnation, we played in the den, with a sock for the baseball.  There were 3 positions - catcher, batter and pitcher - and we all took turns playing each position.  The catcher sat in one of my "man chairs," with the batter standing next to him.  The pitcher "pitched" the sock and the batter hit it with his hand.  Then, the pitcher got the sock and tried to hit the batter with it as he (or she) ran through the den, kitchen or bedroom.  You get the picture, right?

The more comical version of the game involves the same rules, but with no sock for a baseball.  It's truly "pretend baseball" and can be played anywhere.  Literally anywhere.  We've played it at restaurants, parties, J.P.'s baseball or soccer games, the beach, etc.

Home Run Derby

We haven't played this a lot, but man is it fun!  J.P. and I took our wiffle ball bat and several balls (with one piece of blue electrical tape strategically placed on the middle of the ball) to the large, grassy, sunken courtyard of sorts at the old apartment complex on Belmont Boulevard, down from Bongo Java.  We set up home plate so the batter, when he made good contact, could hit a home run over the wall and onto the sidewalk or into the street (Belmont Boulevard).  As an added incentive, I told J.P. I would buy him a Las Paletas popsicle for every home run he hit.  Good stuff.

Upside Down Basketball and Alley Oop Basketball

Man, this was one of my all time favorite games in the old house.  In what can only be described as a stroke of creative genius, Carley (our nanny and friend) set up a small basketball court in J.P.'s room, complete with tape on the floor for a free throw line and a 3-point line.  J.P.'s room wasn't big and the basketball court was wedged between the end of his bed and a chest of drawers.  The basketball goal (a modern day version of a Nerf hoop from my childhood) was attached to a door that opened up into a small crawl space.  The door itself was about half the size of a normal door, like something a hobbit might walk through, so it was the perfect height for 3-year old J.P. and, later, Joe.

I think that basketball goal provided J.P. and Joe with more hours of entertainment than anything in our old house.  Initially, J.P. couldn't reach the rim, as hard as he would try.  As he grew older and taller, he was able to dunk the plastic basketball, tentatively at first, then with authority.  We reenacted many, many NBA and SEC basketball games, complete with the announcement of starting lineups, jump balls, halftime speeches and lots of basketball.  It was awesome.

J.P. and I invented a game called "upside down basketball."  To play, he or I laid down on his bed, with our head at the foot of the bed, near the basketball.  And we tried to make a basket upside down. If he or I hit a basket, the other "dog piled" the shooter on the bed.

Later, we played lots of "alley oop basketball," where I laid on J.P.'s bed and threw him countless alley oops that dunked in the basketball goal.  Bounce pass alley oops, off the wall alley oops, etc.  Hours of fun.

One of the saddest moments of our move, for me, was when I pulled up the blue tape from the basketball court in J.P.'s room.  It had been there so long that it stripped the finish off the wooden floor so I could see where the basketball court had been.  Fitting, I think.