Your formative years

[Harlan Huckleby]

I got to thinking about the experiences that got me where I am today in the football world. The first one I remember is reading "Instant Replay" in the back of a station wagon on a vacation trip. The other was a game played in the living room called "bulldog." It involved my brother as the QB with a couch pillow football; me as the defensive lineman kneeling one foot from him. He would call out the signals with incredible violence and drama, then run into me. That was the whole fucking game. I think we were about 16 or 17. No, actually about 6 or 7.

[George Cumby]

Oh yeah. Goal line stands in the den. Over and over. Rug burns, black eyes, torn jeans, bruised feelings and tears.

The drama.

[texaspackerbacker]

We had a big back yard, so the neighborhood tackle football games were usually there - no pads, no helmets. I remember running the ball and getting really tuned up by older kids a few times. I also was able to dish it out occasionally too. It was the most fun in the snow, as that slowed down the fast kids.

[Fritz]

My brother and I would be inspired watching NFL football playoffs, and we'd go out into the yard at halftime, in the middle of winter, and roll up four huge snowballs then line them up - the linemen. (Four snowballs, always - the 3-4 defense hadn't been invented.) He'd stand on one side (the running back) and I'd stand on the other - Ray Nitschke - and we'd go at each other like a couple of young rams.

Good times.

[Maxie the Taxi]

We used to play tackle football in the school yard at recess at St. Joe's in Fond du Lac. All the grades played together. I was the smallest guy out there being a third grader. I remember baiting the 8th grade QB into throwing an INT. The ball hit me in the chest and almost knocked me down, but I returned it until I was creamed by all the big guys 10 yards downfield. The first piece of football equipment I ever owned was a leather helmet my dad got me for Christmas. I wore it playing pick up games in the neighborhood. Felt like a real pro. lol

[Harlan Huckleby]

I'm hearing a lot about tackle football played without helmets by future right wing FYI posters.

[pbmax]

Recess football was great because you could have as many kids as you needed to field a complete team. You also had a full field. As a player in organized ball, it drove me nuts that no one wanted to play with an O line, and that meant 8 kids out in a pass pattern. Loved drawing plays in dirt, but even back then it was hard to find a QB.

The funny thing I remember about backyard football was the problem with brothers. A family wth three boys was a god-send because if they were home and could play, you had almost half of what you wanted for numbers. But they always brought their family arguments to the field and they ALWAYS interrupted the game. :lol: We learned quickly that the bothers could not be responsible for the game ball because there was a good chance it would leave after the argument, ending the game before regulation time. Very unprofessional.

As we got older, fewer wanted to play, so we invented a form of kill the guy (with the ball). Everyone had a home base that was their goal. You got points for touching the goal while in possession of the ball. Those without the ball had to bring you down before you got to the hydrangea bush. So it could be 3 or 4 on 1. Brutal goal line practice :D

[pbmax]

I'm hearing a lot about tackle football played without helmets by future right wing FYI posters.

Helmets are part of the problem.

[Harlan Huckleby]

Helmets are part of the problem.

helmets don't make idiot posts, people make idiot posts.

[pbmax]

helmets don't make idiot posts, people make idiot posts.

Compared to CTE, skull fractures and some lacerations are a small price to pay.

[Harlan Huckleby]

Compared to CTE, skull fractures and some lacerations are a small price to pay.

I knew what point you were making.

stop killing my jokes. you're stepping all over comedy gold.

[pbmax]

I knew what point you were making.

stop killing my jokes. you're stepping all over comedy gold.

My apologies. Thought it was my turn to overreact.

[Maxie the Taxi]

What's the old saying about explaining a joke being like dissecting a frog?

[Maxie the Taxi]

"I had 17 foster brothers; my mama taught me how to play football...I grew up a running back. I grew up watching Walter Payton and just the way they finish runs, and Earl Campbell—it's just in me."
-- Ty Montgomery

[gbgary]

slow motion games in the yard with my brother and fake john facenda narration. lots of brutal hits. lol...classic nfl. lots of Packers and chiefs names thrown around.

[Zool]

helmets don't make idiot posts, people make idiot posts.

Art imitating life imitating art.

[George Cumby]

"I had 17 foster brothers; my mama taught me how to play football...I grew up a running back. I grew up watching Walter Payton and just the way they finish runs, and Earl Campbell—it's just in me."
-- Ty Montgomery

I love that Ty knows of Earl Campbell, but ECs career was over before TM was born, no?

[Cheesehead Craig]

Played football all the time in the park by my house. The neighborhood kids just knew to be there on Sat afternoons in the fall. Never was a problem having a game of 5v5, sometimes more.

[pbmax]

Played football all the time in the park by my house. The neighborhood kids just knew to be there on Sat afternoons in the fall. Never was a problem having a game of 5v5, sometimes more.

Bunch a fancy pants skill position boys.

[Rutnstrut]

Neighborhood tackle football games in my parents yard all fall and into the winter. We played in the street a lot also, but that was 2 hand touch. Well unless you felt like laying someone out;) In Junior high we would sneak our helmets and shoulder pads home on the weekends to play weekend games. Funny we seemed to have more injuries when we had the right gear. Although most of us all had the Sears Packer helmets and chincy shoulder pads and pants with hip/knee pads. We rarely wore them. Smear the queer with the ball was a favorite playground game. But so was king of the hill. Just the the mention of such games would send todays kids running for their safe place.

[Cheesehead Craig]

Funny we seemed to have more injuries when we had the right gear.

That's because you were TT-quality soft!

[Harlan Huckleby]

Rough sports like football are made for kids. They rarely get hurt badly. Grown men, pumped up by year round weight training, smashing into each other is kinda nuts. MMA is nuts. Australian rules football is nuts. But I suppose we are descended from a violent species.

Now I like a violent game of ping pong.

[MadtownPacker]

I'm hearing a lot about tackle football played without helmets by future right wing FYI posters.Dont derail you own thread dumbass cuz you will only have yourself to blame.

[RashanGary]

My best friend/neighbor and I played backyard football seemingly every day. He was a 49ers fan and I a Packers fan. He was always joe Montana during our sessions and I was sterling sharpe. Then, it became a situation where all the neighbor kids played backyard football. Tackle, of course. I'd go home and brag about my bruises. I felt so tough.

Then one day I went to school and got to play with the older kids. My first route was straight fucking Seam route. They left me mostly uncovered. The star quarterback, who looking back, had to be about the size of a full grown Andrew luck Unloaded a deep rainbow in my direction. I turned around, jumped up and got two hands around the ball. The weight of the ball pulled me back. I landed on my back, still holding the ball. It hurt like hell but I pretended I was fine. In today's NFL it would have been a lung contusion for sure, but I shook it off.

All of the older kids were saying, damn, this little kid can play ball. They were all patting me on the back and cheering. I've never felt so damn proud in all my life. I was a total hero.

[Fritz]

Neighborhood tackle football games in my parents yard all fall and into the winter. We played in the street a lot also, but that was 2 hand touch. Well unless you felt like laying someone out;) In Junior high we would sneak our helmets and shoulder pads home on the weekends to play weekend games. Funny we seemed to have more injuries when we had the right gear. Although most of us all had the Sears Packer helmets and chincy shoulder pads and pants with hip/knee pads. We rarely wore them. Smear the queer with the ball was a favorite playground game. But so was king of the hill. Just the the mention of such games would send todays kids running for their safe place.


This reminds me of something from my own childhood, in the late 60's and early 70's. For Christmas one year, my dad - god bless his soul - somehow got his hands on two very high-quality football helmets for my brother and me. My brother, of course, received a Lions' helmet, and mine was - thank you, dad - a Packers' helment. Where, in the age before the internet and the spread of NFL marketing like the plague, my dad found a Green Bay Packers helmet, I will never know. But he did. It was my prize, my treasure - I kept it in my room on a shelf, and was very proud of the scratches and streaks of silver smeared on it from where my brother and I had butted heads.

But the neighborhood kids hated it when we had those helmets. My parents insisted we wear them when playing games in our very large yard, and of course we used those helmets as spears. Nobody knew anything about tackling or safety; we just rammed kids with our helmeted heads. So there were many injuries, and in today's world, it was not only unfair to the other helmetless kids, but dangerous, too. But back then it was just an advantage we had, and a cool one, too.

The sad post-script, however, is that when (like everyone in Michigan in the late 70's) my brother and I moved to Houston, my mom, who was going through menopause, I think, sold our helmets at a garage sale.

I would kill to have that Green Bay helmet back. Or at least head-butt someone.

[pbmax]

Fritz's helmet story reminds me of a kind of kid I actually didn't meet until college. Always wanted to play safety, even if it was 5 on 5 and everyone else was playing man. He thought he was Gary Fencik. But he was really just an honest cheap shot artist.

Hated that guy so much I used to make a beeline to Barbre his Matthews. And that brings up the part I still don't understand; he thought THAT was unfair. :lol:

[Fritz]

But do not forget, PB, that being neighborhood games, my brother and I were taken down, many times, by the facemask. So there were advantages both ways.

One kid used to like to try to swing me around by the facemask. Got him back one day, though. Ran right through and over him.

[Harlan Huckleby]

Dont derail you own thread dumbass cuz you will only have yourself to blame.

I should not have singled out any political persuasion as having played too much football without a helmet. Any tendencies towards brain damage shown in this forum are purely coincidental. I apologize, hope we can move past this.

[pbmax]

But do not forget, PB, that being neighborhood games, my brother and I were taken down, many times, by the facemask. So there were advantages both ways.

One kid used to like to try to swing me around by the facemask. Got him back one day, though. Ran right through and over him.

That kid playing "safety" in a pickup game was simply a prima donna who didn't like to be made a fool of.

You and your helmets would have been resisted in our games. In the end it would only matter how many players we needed.

It was always easier to get kids to play baseball.

[Patler]

Grew up in northern WI farm country, but we could put together 12 farm boys and usually about four pretty athletic farm girls for softball and baseball games in the summer, and tackle football in the fall, all within a bicycle ride of our farm, which was sort of centrally located for the group. Didn't have a single piece of football equipment between us except the football, and we shared baseball gloves because there weren't enough to go around.

The kids covered about a six or seven year age range, and the group varied as the older ones left and younger ones became involved. To get us all together, we would find who would be working the latest baling hay or whatever, and some of us who could would all go over to help so we could get done early enough to have some time to play before dark. Whatever game we played, the older ones would go after each other full go, but involve the younger guys to their abilities. Lob them the baseball, let them catch the pass, fall over "tackled" when the little guy hit you.

Score never mattered, we often never even kept track. Just had the chance to play, and enjoyed it well past dark whenever we could Monday through Saturday nights, or Sunday afternoons that were usually free, unless the family had plans (usually visiting an aunt or uncle for a few hours).

Good guys, all of them. Good times working with them and playing with them. Most never had the chance to play high school sports, because practices were after school, and there were farm chores to do, let alone the transportation problem with the school 20 miles away. A few who had younger siblings to do the farm chores did play sports as Juniors or Seniors, when they could drive the beat-up old wrecks they had for cars. Most who did play excelled at wrestling or football, some at baseball. Tough SOBs who knew how to work, and were much stronger than the average high schooler in the days before high school weight rooms with more than a bench and a set of Sears weights.

[pbmax]

^ Country strong really did mean something back in the day.

[Harlan Huckleby]

^ Country strong really did mean something back in the day.

In my favorite sport of wrasslin it was real tragedy when they decided to split competitions into school sizes. The small school farm kids were usually the best wrestlers, and it was the "Hoosiers" movie every tournament. Maybe now that weight training is so prevalent the city slickers have caught up with the hay balers.

[Harlan Huckleby]

I just remembered something. When Jim Gibbons, the wrestling analyst for the Big Ten Network, wants to say a wrestler is strong, he calls them "prison strong." So I guess weight lifting has in fact replaced country strong.

[Patler]

I just remembered something. When Jim Gibbons, the wrestling analyst for the Big Ten Network, wants to say a wrestler is strong, he calls them "prison strong." So I guess weight lifting has in fact replaced country strong.

A few years back when we discussed hockey players, we called some "country strong" and others "weight room strong". The country strong kids (many from from northern Canada) were strong in all situations, off balance, whatever. The weight room strong kids from the prep schools, AAA programs in the big cities and the like were strong in line, but not always when extended, reaching, etc. You could see it during action in front of the net, etc. In open ice, there wasn't much difference.

Maybe it was just differences in attitude, but their backgrounds seemed to be involved too. Maybe it was just being stronger on their skates; but kids who were naturally strong from their life styles seemed to fare better than kids who developed their strength in the weight room, even if they were equals in testing.

[Fritz]

That kid playing "safety" in a pickup game was simply a prima donna who didn't like to be made a fool of.

You and your helmets would have been resisted in our games. In the end it would only matter how many players we needed.

It was always easier to get kids to play baseball.

Well, the roundabout point I was making or trying to make was that our parents made us wear those helmets as a safety issue, yet nobody ever thought about how safe it was to play football with a helmet but no other pads, or that some kids had helmets and some didn't. Or that spearing kids with your head might be unsafe.


But that was also back in the days when nobody had ever heard of the phrase "stay hydrated." We just drank water from the garden hose when we got thirsty.

As for Patler's recollection, it sounds like a good time and place to grow up. He probably played against Letroy Guion's grandfather.

[Harlan Huckleby]

A few years back when we discussed hockey players, we called some "country strong" and others "weight room strong".

Jim Gibbons grew up on a farm in Iowa, and four of the Gibbons sons became championship wrestlers, two earning Olympic medals.

So if Jim Gibbons respects prison strong, why that's good enough for me.

[Patler]

Jim Gibbons grew up on a farm in Iowa, and four of the Gibbons sons became championship wrestlers, two earning Olympic medals.

So if Jim Gibbons respects prison strong, why that's good enough for me.

Damn pig farmers! You really need to up your standards HH! (You might have to be a WI dairy farmer from the mid last century to get that!)

I wasn't demeaning his evaluation, just mentioning another category we had years back. I haven't looked seriously at hockey players for 20 years or so, and I think the fact is that training methods have improved. I suspect if I looked at players now I might not see the same distinctions that we saw then. Athletes train their fine muscle strength (is that term still used?) better than the did, in effect better emulating the hard physical lifestyles that made kids "country strong".

[Fritz]

Jim Gibbons grew up on a farm in Iowa, and four of the Gibbons sons became championship wrestlers, two earning Olympic medals.

So if Jim Gibbons respects prison strong, why that's good enough for me.

I thought "prison strong" was a reference to someone's sphincter.

[George Cumby]

Ain't no strong like Country Strong.

Throwing hay bales, lifting from awkward positions, rotational lifting, lifting in unstable environments, long hours.

There's no substitute. I would wager that "training" in that environment results in more motor unit recruitment when compared to power lifting or the Olympic lifts.