Posted: 10/8/2005 1:19:37 PM EDT
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I grew up in Eastern NC in a town of about 3500. In my neighborhood, there were never more than 8 kids my age to play football, baseball, etc. Consequently, we had to play many "pseudo-ball" games, such as -Smear The Queer (football) and -Roll The Bat. (baseball) I have posted on the "Smear The Queer" passtime before and, have found that nearly every boy child that grew up in the 60s-80s timeframe at least, played it under a fairly close name to that. For those of you unfamiliar, Smear The Queer consists of passing around a football in a loose circle of sorts, and, with each syllable, doing a "one potato-two potato" type of process to determine who the unfortunate one is that is the "queer". This poor soul then runs around in the yard like an idiot with the rest of the pack in hot pursuit until they are driven into the ground in the most painful way possible. There is no scoreing-Only pain. Now, I have a guy on my team from NJ who claims never to have played a derivitive of "Roll The Bat". This game consists of one batter, and, however many fielders dispersed in a open area. The batter tosses the ball intot he air and, hits it. If the ball is caught in the air, the fielder takes over the batters role. If the ball hits the ground, the fielder must throw the ball towards the batter, trying to hit the bat that the hitter has put down on the ground. If the ball hits the bat, then, the fielder and hitter change rolls. My question is: Was "Roll The Bat" gamesmanshi[p as widespread as "Smear the Queer?" |