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bullfrog_alumni_02
08-25-2004, 04:22 AM
Dear Kids of America:

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were when they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning uphill both ways through year 'round blizzards carrying their younger siblings on their backs to their one-room schoolhouse where they maintained a straight-A average despite their full-time after-school job at the local textile mill where they worked for 35 cents an hour just to help keep their family from starving to death!

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up there was no way I was going to lay a bunch of $h!t like that on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it. But.... Now that I've reached the ripe old age of forty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! Compared to my childhood, you live in a freaking Utopia! And I hate to say it but you kids today you don't know how good you've got it!

When I was a kid we didn't have The Internet -- we wanted to know something, we had to go to the library and look it up ourselves! And there was no email! We had to actually write somebody a letter -- with a pen! --and then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there! And there were no MP3s or Napster! You wanted to steal music, you had to go to the record store and shoplift it yourself! Or we had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and mess it all up!

You want to hear about hardship? You couldn't just download porn! You had to bribe some homeless dude to buy you a copy of "Hustler" at the 7-11! Those were your options! We didn't have fancy stuff like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal! And we didn't have fancy Caller ID Boxes either. When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was. It could be your boss, your mom, a collections agent, you didn't know! You just had to pick it up and take your chances!

We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like "Space Invaders" and "Asteroids" and the graphics sucked! Your guy was a little square and in order to have any fun you had to rely on your imagination! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen forever! And you could never win, the game just kept on getting harder and faster until you died! When you went to the movie theater there no such thing as stadium seating! All the seats were the same height! A tall guy sat in front of you, you were out of luck. And sure, we had cable television, but back then that was only like 20 channels and there was no on screen menu! You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! And there was no Cartoon Network! You could only get cartoons on Saturday morning. Did you hear what I said you lazy little freaks? We had to wait all week for cartoons! That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980! .....But I don't want to lecture you.

sorry if the fourth paragraph offends some of you, but this was pretty funny

Ranger Mom
08-25-2004, 08:27 AM
LOL!!! That was GREAT!!:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

JasperDog94
08-25-2004, 09:34 AM
Man! That was awesome!!!:clap: :clap: :clap:

coiled2strike
08-25-2004, 10:16 AM
THAT WAS AWESOME!!!
funny, too
should have added something about toughness...seems kids today aren't as tough as we were...no swats in school, WHAT
we got swats once a week just because

Ranger Mom
08-25-2004, 10:45 AM
(This next bit of info came directly from a knee specialist)

We also didn't have all the knee injuries that you hear so much of today.

Back in the 80's we RODE OUR BIKES - EVERYWHERE! No dirtbikes, no ATVs, no golf carts!

The above knee specialist blames the majority of sports related knee injuries on the fact that in todays society kids just don't ride bikes like we did....we are raising a bunch of week-kneed kids!!

coiled2strike
08-25-2004, 11:16 AM
ty for the info...
note to self...when maddie(my 7 month old daughter) is old enough, get her a bike...side note, the golf cart is for me only...
thanks again...

CheerMom
08-25-2004, 11:23 AM
Ditto, to all of the above!!

WOS1
08-25-2004, 11:41 AM
Sadly enough, Mario and Luigi have taken the place of Pat and Bend. And your kid is going to piss and moan so much about you MAKING her ride her bike that she'll wind up in the golf cart anyway.

We used to have pick-up football and baseball games in my hood damn near every day. Now... when my kids have pick-up games, I have to play with them. If I don't, they may play for 30 minutes and then there back inside latched on to my leg. We would play ALL DAY and raise hell with Mom when it was time to come in.

We used to get all fired up about who had the newest bike or getting new parts to "trick" our bikes out. Now kids are fired up about this newest version of Madden. It's a damn shame and the main reason our kids are fat and out of shape. It's also the reason kids are dying on the football field so often. They lay around in doors all summer long then when it comes time for football they can't take the August heat. We are slowly killing our society.

coiled2strike
08-25-2004, 11:48 AM
off topic...sry

JasperDog94
08-25-2004, 12:00 PM
Originally posted by WOS1
...Now kids are fired up about this newest version of Madden... I was with you until right here.;) Actually I haven't played Madden since Madden 2000 or 2001.

footballgal
08-25-2004, 02:30 PM
Great stuff!! ahh the memories :)

WOS1
08-25-2004, 02:34 PM
LOL... well, it's OK for us old guys to like it because we've already done our growing up.:D :D I guess a good rule of thumb would be that if you're not old enough to BUY the game with your own money then you shouldn't be spending all day inside playing it.

ej2525
08-25-2004, 02:50 PM
Don't forget fashion disasters... ie: parachute pants!! ;)

hsfootballrules
08-25-2004, 03:54 PM
I think everything is well described and has a point......Question though If you were growning up in today's society would you be doing the samething your kids are doing.........Or would you do stuff you did when you grew up in the 80's......Not being rude I hope just asking

D. R. Hooks
08-25-2004, 04:12 PM
The 80s rule...

http://www.dukefarm.com/images/boarsnest.jpg

WOS1
08-25-2004, 04:31 PM
Originally posted by hsfootballrules
I think everything is well described and has a point......Question though If you were growning up in today's society would you be doing the samething your kids are doing.........Or would you do stuff you did when you grew up in the 80's......Not being rude I hope just asking

There's no doubt, I would be doing what the other kids are, but that doesn't make it healthy. We, as adults have let this happen and it cannot/will not be easily undone.

The basics of childhood have changed. In our day, playing outside was riding your bike around the hood or playing pickup ball of some sort (required exercise). Today, playing outside means riding the 4 wheeler around (not exercise). I'm as much to blame as anyone.

My stepdaughter doesn't want to have to take athletics because they "have to run a mile". So... do you force her to take it for her own good or do you let her make her own choices???? My daughter gets in the car just a little while ago and asks, "are we going to play kickball today"? Of course I'm going to play because I want them to learn to enjoy sports and get exercise, but why can't they do these things on their own? We played flag football yesterday with the neighborhood kids, when I had to go to my softball games, the game ended. Why can't kids these days do these things on their own? We never had adults playing with us. I mean, if it keeps them playing I'll keep doing it, but it amazes me how kids today can't do **** on their own.

Wait a minute... my Stepdaughter just came in and got my 5 year old boy and they are out back at this moment hitting baseballs... how about that!!! Oh nevermind...

mwynn05
08-25-2004, 04:48 PM
Originally posted by WOS1
There's no doubt, I would be doing what the other kids are, but that doesn't make it healthy. We, as adults have let this happen and it cannot/will not be easily undone.

The basics of childhood have changed. In our day, playing outside was riding your bike around the hood or playing pickup ball of some sort (required exercise). Today, playing outside means riding the 4 wheeler around (not exercise). I'm as much to blame as anyone.

My stepdaughter doesn't want to have to take athletics because they "have to run a mile". So... do you force her to take it for her own good or do you let her make her own choices???? My daughter gets in the car just a little while ago and asks, "are we going to play kickball today"? Of course I'm going to play because I want them to learn to enjoy sports and get exercise, but why can't they do these things on their own? We played flag football yesterday with the neighborhood kids, when I had to go to my softball games, the game ended. Why can't kids these days do these things on their own? We never had adults playing with us. I mean, if it keeps them playing I'll keep doing it, but it amazes me how kids today can't do **** on their own.

Wait a minute... my Stepdaughter just came in and got my 5 year old boy and they are out back at this moment hitting baseballs... how about that!!! Oh nevermind... good post it was funny too

Ranger Mom
08-25-2004, 06:11 PM
Out of my 5 kids, there is only one who even HAS a game system.

The rest usually stay outside, riding their horse, roping, building a pen, working on their car, or in my daughters case, walking about 5 miles around the house with the phone stuck to her ear!:D

4 out of the 5 NEVER go to their room unless it's to sleep. It's strange how that one child out of the 5 stays in his room glued to his X-box, while the others have absolutely NO interest in it!:thinking:

PPHSfan
08-25-2004, 07:35 PM
I heard that Sony is coming out with a new video game that has a Dad and Son playing catch.

slpybear the bullfan
08-25-2004, 07:45 PM
LOL, that was good PPHSfan...

Bulldog92
08-25-2004, 07:58 PM
It is pretty sad kids' idea of a pick-up game involves two headsets and they aren't even at the same house. I often wonder what will become of this generation of kids who call the cops every time they're disciplined and start swearing as soon as they can talk (another can of worms, entirely). They have no protection when they get out in the real world. They've been given so much that a lot of us never had and you would hope they would take advantage of it and go farther than most of us will. I'm not saying all kids are like that, but there are way too many. It makes me sad. The best thing a kid can learn is to mind his/her parents and respect everything they are given.

PPHSfan
08-25-2004, 08:19 PM
I want everyone to take a breath and remember something. There are still some good kids left in this world. They are not all fat and lazy. As a matter of fact, I personally know several that would be able to flat out whip the seventeen year old version of myself, and I was very active. Before we get too high up on our horses because we didn't have the cool video games that are availabe today, let's remember that for every few dozen teenage couch potatoes out there, there is at least one kid who can still play basketball outside in the heat all day long. And for every football bulletin board internet junkie out there, there is probably some kid on the street that can school you in the weight room. We can talk all we want about how tough we were when we were younger, but remember this. There are highschool quarterbacks out there today, that are bigger faster and stronger than some of the defensive linebackers were in the 1980's NFL.

BrahmaMom
08-26-2004, 08:34 AM
The trip down Memory Lane made me laugh. A few comments, my older kids (now 23 and 19) weren't allowed to have a game system till high school. Even now, it's use is limited, not by me, but because the younger ones still at home have other things to do. The son who tore his ACL wore out FIVE Big Wheels when he was little and rode a bike everywhere when he got older, so I have to dispute the knee surgeon's theory. I think the knee injuries and injuries in general have become common because our athletes muscles are too big and strong for their frames, thus ripping and tearing muscles, tendons and ligaments. What I wouldn't give for a basic fracture!