No dodgeball

[hesaias]

To lame
It seems that the freaks who decide whats harmful to children have targeted dodgeball, duck-duck-goose, and musical chairs for the ban list. It seems that "the bigger stronger faster kids target the smaller, slower, weaker kids and make them human targets"
Duh~! Thats the point of the game!
Its a freaking game!
What about lack of adiquate after school programs?
Under paid, poorly trained teachers, and a plethore af over sexed, drugged out hollywood rolemodles from TV land instead of decent men and women who just happen to be thier PARENTS at home?
No way! We just cant have any wholesome people as someone for the kids today to look up to, they might turn out to be.......
Well, I"ll not go there, someone might get offended.

Who pays for these studies, anyway? OH yeah, us taxpayers:rolleyes:
Sheeesh.

[Vilas]

nono, it's not just limited to kids!!
I know of one case (*cough*) where a complatley unstable, SCARY woman was kept at her job during layoffs, despite only working ~6 hours/week (SALARIED to boot!) because..
The company saw her bipolar disorder, mood swings, and severe depression as covered by the blooming Americans with Disabilities Act!

So now we can't play games, we can't fire psychos who are harming our companies...uh.

And I'm a bleeding heart liberal to boot. Some of the cr@p on both sides makes me sick.

(and as far as the @#$#@ on TV and movies..I don't own a TV. I don't go to movies in general. It's beyond making me sick. How is showing kissing/sex - being an expression of love - wrong, and showing murder - an expression of HATE - okay?)

[Dave]

THATS THE WAY IT IS NOW.
I WISH I HAD THE MONEY TO DO A STUDY.

[Joez]

You're right, as usual, Scott.

Think there'll be a backlash, or will we just be PC-ed to a whimpering death?

[Sea Dragon]

Dodgeball was a stupid game!!! There's was always one fast kid on one team that no one could hit, so all the other kids had to sit and watch for the rest of the class. I hope they ban it forever!

[hesaias]

Sea Dragon,
Can we safely say someone here (besides me) was a loser at dogeball, hhmmmmm?;)
Yeah it stinks being the first one out every time, been there, done that.

Joez,
I think that death by PC-ness would be worse than death, so prolly they'll go that route.

[smiller]

Let's make the world a better place for our kids by teaching them that life is a level playing field and that when you get into the real world everyone will be "fair" to you. Hogwash. Life is not always easy.

[jimhobbs]

Dodgeball was SOooo intimidating...The agony, the presSURE!...Everyone watching the slower, geeky jimhobbs; with his glasses and fishbowl in hand:D

"Easy out!...Easy out!"...The chants would start:eek1:

The ball would FLY...The bowl would drop...Should I catch it or DODGE???

Barely, I caught my little fishy; only to be BLASTED in the side by that mean ole red rubber ball;)

That's ok
At least I got fishy to keep me company in the LOSERS area:D...Now that us nerds are in charge of the education of children, we must BAND TOGETHER to stop this injustice!;) Never again will geeky people be automatic TARGETS in the game of life...We, the people of MOTHER earth will ensure that all's fair EVERYWHERE...Before going to war, we will make sure both sides have the same weapons; and that all weapons will not KILL you, only make you feel GUILTY for wanting to fight in the first place:D

All games will end in a TIE
No one will ever have to feel the AGONY of defeat...All are equal in the game of LIFE...We must seize all assets of the ball holding rich and give them away to the poor!...We must look to the IRS to be the Robin Hoods of the new age that is dawning:eek1:
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I think I'm gonna be sick:D

[Doug1]

AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[katspaw]

Am I the only one, while in School that never played this game. I was the fat girl with thick glasses that no one would even pick to be on their team, in elementary anyway.:)Then I grew into my weigh and became the tallest kid in class for Junior High. But none the less a geek.
Tracey

[aragorn]

Read "Harrison Bergeron". Let's handicap anyone who happens to be better at anything so that EVERYONE is equal!

[Sea Dragon]

If we're talking survival of the fittest, let's not restrict it to athletics. I'm sure I am not the only one who heard the phrase "don't skip ahead" in school. Would have been cool if the dodgeball mentality were applied to academics and the smart kids could go outside and play when they get an answer right. I could have finished high school by the age of 14 if it worked that way. The one thing that was most frustrating in math and science classes was listening to the teacher explain things over and over and over to the dumb kids. When it comes to grades, anyone who happens to be smarter is handicapped to make everyone equal.

Btw, I was actually pretty good at dodgeball but the game has nothing to do with who is the best. It's just a matter or getting on the best team. :)

[Autumn]

Originally posted by katspaw
Am I the only one, while in School that never played this game. I was the fat girl with thick glasses that no one would even pick to be on their team, in elementary anyway.:)Then I grew into my weigh and became the tallest kid in class for Junior High. But none the less a geek.
Tracey

[laughing] I know that feeling... Only I never really outgrew mine. I'm <b>still</b> short, round, geeky, and bespectacled. I just developed a pretty fearsome underhand pitch and good aim.

It turns out that the aiming skills learned as pure self-defense for dodgeball serve me pretty well now on a volleyball court. Go figure.

Didn't you guys know that *EVERYTHING* is bad for kids these days? It seems like just about everything we thought was fun when we were munchkins has been put off-limits by paniced parents.

My god-daughter's mum won't even let her ride her bike around the park without suiting up like an astronaut! She's not allowed to have processed sugar, caffinated drinks, non-organic fruit and veggies, or anything pre-packaged. She's not allowed to watch TV (I got read the riot act for watching 'Fantasia' with her one night- Even though we skipped the scary Bald Mountain bit), get near the computer (pedophiles on every web site and blood and carnage in every single game, don't yah know-), or keep a pet (It might die-).

Sigh.

How in the world did I... the liberal, geeky, blue-stocking god mother... suddenly become a Bad Influence?

[Steve Richardson]

*sigh*

We called it bombardment. :D I think its a great game. The thought police that cant tell the difference between 'violence' and competitive games need to relax and not take themselves so seriously.

The only time I ever had any thought whatsoever that it was in any way questionable.. was when I saw an incident in (get this) 5th grade.

There was one kid who was seen as a punk. Some of the teachers didnt like him. The teachers would also occasionally play bombardment with us.

During the game... all is fair pretty much. So the 'punk' gets up and started taunting one of the teachers on the other team (toungue sticking, na-na-na-na-na nahhhh... you get the idea) - The teach then promptly screamed a blistering jellyball at the kid sending him sprawling after the ball made a resounding 'kathwomp' off his head. The kid sort of teetered off the court after scraping himself off the floor - I suppose that teacher would get his butt sued off for assault these days.


Anyway, that has nothing to do with the merit of dodgeball... but it seems to me that the critics are the same people that dont want to keep score when little kids play any sort of sporting activity, or dont want do give out actual grades or anything.

As soon as having success in a an activity becomes an entitlement rather than an earned prize (just like getting an 'A' in a class) then you really have severely missed the point and are doing more damage than good. Building character depends equally on someones ability to accept both failure and success with grace and to acquire the desire to better yourself, as opposed to expecting that everyone else should conform to your needs.

babling,

[Vilas]

Autumn, my fiance's sister is one of those. She's an ultra conservative stay at home mom, I think she's gotten a bit wonky from not leaving the house for so long.
Yes, literally. They stay in the house. Her 4 year old is NOT ALLOWED TO PLAY OUTSIDE! In the middle of the fricking countryside! I was watching him once, and put him on the ground because he was asking to see the fallen leaves. We stood on the grass and looked at the colors, and she freaked, ran over, swooped him up, and explained that since we don't know what's been on these leaves, he's not allowed to touch them! She dosen't like going to the grocery store, even. Who knows what her kids might pick up there..

I worry about America's children. What's so scary about childhood that parents, schools, the government, everyone, feels the need to try to stop it at all costs?

Course, I grew up running around naked in the woods, covered in mud, reaching into puddles and tide pools at the beach. So perhaps I'm a bit biased. :)

[Sparrow]

OMG I loved Dodgeball. It was the one thing I looked forward to playing at gym class when we had a substitute teacher. Floor hockey was pretty cool too. I remember one time I was in summer camp and they stuck us with some older kids(I was like grade three). Man, were we target practice! They whipped the ball at zipping speeds and all I remember is thunk and we got pegged left, right, and center. It was amazing though we lost almost every single time.

I see nothing wrong with the game, it enhances not only your hand-eye coordination, as well as your motor skills, but there was a lot of strategy. Aim for the clusters of people and your bound to hit someone.

BTW, for all those who feel the nostalgia of dodgeball...
http://www.circusx.com/games/ultimate_dodgeball.html

Wow. the memories. ;)