Stuff that used to work...

"Let me hold the ball lil' man, I ain't gonna take it."

I was just thinking about things we used to do that would get you punched in the grill these days. As bad as somethings may have been we at least knew hot to follow rules...most of the time.

Snatch Pops - Remember this you'd have something like some chips or something and someone would take them and and yell snatch pops. Meaning that them taking them was all good and you really couldn't do anything...definite punch in the mug today.

Line jumping - Honestly this move didn't always work. You're in line and your man wants to get in so you let him jump in front of you and then out of courtesy he lets you jump in front of him. At one point in time this used to seem logical but, the older we get it was less so.

Letter B - This used to be my favorite game. Everyone one bet in and then if you say a word that begins with the letter B any participants get to hit you until you say "letter B". My favorite thing to do was to wait until the end of the day when everyone forgot we were playing and get my hits in. One time I had a well placed shot to the diaphram on this "tough guy". That's one place that will produce tears. Can't play this game anymore.

"My Cousin..." - For some reason in Baltimore back in the day, everytime someone wanted to jump somebody or take something from you they always brought up their cousin like so..."Yo, you look like the dude that beat up my cousin" or "Somebody took my cousins shoes and they was about that size." This only worked for a little while...by the time I was eleven and a stranger started talking about their cousin you either ran or started swinging...depending on the odds.

"Taking the Loss" - The cruel cousin of Snatch Pops, this is where you have some food in your hand and someone smacks your hand and makes you drop it. I have seen some fights over this but mostly people just waited to get revenge.

"Fag Tag" - This only happened when I was in middle school with a lot of white kids, but if you recall some shirts have what looks like a horizontal belt loop on the back. These were called fag tags and promptly ripped off of your shirt. Would not work today.

"Bus Co-Op" - I kind of miss this one, but I remember back in the day when the bus was crowded and no one was into the gentlemanly practice of giving the ladies a seat, girls would just sit on your lap...some of the finest times of my childhood.

"Slow grabbing" - This one is hard to do cause of lack of opportunity, really dudes usually have their sites set higher now. Those wonderful school dances were a coming of age. When the D.J. would slow things down and you'd find that special girl and ask her to dance...then you'd spend the rest of the dance seeing where you could get away with putting your hands. The last time I did this I had a full two-handed grab going and didn't know it until a third party came and moved my hands. I guess it was a muscle memory thing.

"Trading" - Oh how I miss this, when people would trade lunch, toys or whatever else there was. The only downside was when your mother got pissed cause you weren't concerned with the cash value of what you traded away.

"Truth or Dare" - Now people may still do this, but it's a whole different level nowadays or rather at this age. This used to be the ultimate "let's get it started" game. I used to always be so nonchalant and so amped for this one. I did have a list ready in my mind though. I wouldn't bring this game up if I had a gun pointed to my head now. For one I keep my business out of the street. Two, I'm not a horny young boy anymore, I'm a horny young man and we use different tactics.