Tap-Tap
Lake Street in Garden Grove California was long and fairly wide as residential streets go. It was lined by houses that were identical on the inside with different exteriors displayed to the world.
A few homes were owned and occupied by ancient retirees (whom I probably wouldn’t regard as all that ancient now) and in others there may have been singles, or couples without children but the majority held at least three kids, and most had considerably more that that. This is now almost an astonishing thought in itself, the very idea of two and even three children sharing one small bedroom. But then there was only one bathroom for the kids and a single television set for the entire family.
Presiding over the children were two parents, married to each other with mom almost always staying at home and dad going off to work each day. A street full of traditional families. This isn’t the only way to arrange a family, but it is, I think, the best way.
Along with the sun rising and setting and old Walt across the street coming home drunk on Friday night, something we could count on seeing every afternoon on school days and all day long on weekends and holidays were the kids occupying all those houses playing outside on the sidewalks and in the street.
Girls played with dolls and pretended to be mothers, pushing small strollers around or pretending to drink tea with each other. The fiction didn’t go so far as to include chain-smoking Lucky Strikes while vacuuming or doing laundry and ironing and this was probably just as well. They must have done other things, but at this point in life the boys didn’t have much interest in the girls. It is astonishing how much that would change in just a few years.
But today on Lake Street the boys were interested in street football and street baseball. The primary difference between these games and their sandlot versions was the participants layout, that is to say the games, especially baseball, had a longer and thinner configuration because the street was narrower than an empty field. Also, the game play would have to be suspended more frequently in the street versions because of traffic.
Before each game the different participants would try to gain possession of the ball and while holding it they would say “Tap-Tap”. This would be followed by some self-serving modification of the rules such as “Tap-tap, no stealing second base.” I loved the practice, although I never used it myself because tap-tapping was a wonderful way to learn the opponents’ weaknesses and strengths. The motivations for different announcements were usually obvious. There wasn’t much that could be done during the present game since tap-taps had an almost biblical force of law on Lake Street.
But in future games, all that needed to be done was prevent these individuals from gaining access to the ball. No ball, no pronouncements. Some might suggest this was a silly way to decide who could modify the game, but it was a powerful tradition, and one the boys were loath to change. I suspect if someone had suggested simply playing by the rules as they were originally written without tap-taps, the others would decry such an idea as being deviant and even dangerous.
But I think the other boys liked the tradition for the same reason I did. Taking the long view, it was a win-win process. Players with good listening skills and long memories could gain an advantage. Weaker players could, at least temporarily, provide themselves a safe harbor from areas of weakness and hopefully enjoy the game a little more.
I think it is best to simply play by traditional rules because I think it provides an optimal game experience. That said, if others agree to play by different rules, in their own ball games, I don’t see what business it is of mine. The game I’m playing is just fine.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment