HI RIchard,
We could be brothers..... my parents, brother and I played a lot of Monopoly when I was young and then we added Risk into our repertoire.... My Dad had two co workers in London, ( I think, that were up all night one night during the week playing the board game Afrika Corps) that made an impression on me although that particular game seemed to be above our collective pay grade --- attention span.
I played lots of chess with my brother and friends in grade school... and my Mom was commenting just a few days ago how a number of friends used to congregate in our basement in Mendham and we played lots of poker... " for small money"..... we also had table tennis down their and a speed bag... as well as one of those old 1930's pinball machines......
I had a core group of friends Dave Donohue, Martin Sheen, Frank Opalski, Jerry Doninni....Andy Clemency ... Craig cooper Ray Marsh, Tom Wilks...... and I know several of us would be on the phone each weekend..... making odds on the NFL football games.... we either adjusted the point spread in trying to make a deal.... or I would sometimes mix it up by giving or getting 4 to 1 payout odds if the favored team one by say 20 1/2 points when the official line was favored team by say 5......
Since, several of the friends had some teams they wanted and would overpay to bet on them I loved it when I could get say Baltimore and give 2 points with one person.... while I had it worked out that another friend would let me take the underdog Balt. was playing and give me 5 1/2... and thus I was hedged and had a small window where I could win both bets if Balt won by 3 or 5 points....... I loved that stuff.....
Now when we got into the Odds you really had to get the old mouse spinning in the wheel... but it was all really great practical Math, Statistics and Probability.... and learned in more of a " street smart" fashion....
battleships, stratego...( I think that's the name) break the ice.... lots of fun games...and since we had big backyards that had been a cow pasture two years before... and the entire 20 acres just north had not yet been built there was lots of outdoor sports and games to play........
I have the fondest memories of growing up in my little one stop light town, with not a single fast food restaurant and a population of 4,000..... It's the type of experience I hope to write a book about....
I had a bunch of great girls too, Monica Keenan, Susan Ackerman, Dawn Wollinger, Debbie Steiner, Susan Courtney... with those sleepy doe eyes.... Libby Polititi, Alison Tamberlane.... who's dad was a dentist... Beth Muir.... Robin Hall... who became a true blond haired beauty in 7th grade and wore these incredibly entices really short plaid dresses...... The teachers were even very cool... Mrs. Peirera and her very hot ...very beautiful Miss Sievers... who I had a big time crush on..... she married the science teacher after a few years and became Mrs. Zambor.... Mr. Lambert who was so cool he had one of those big super bowl cross boards right in his class room.... This was at a school they had just built the year of so before I got to Mendham.... it was Mountain view elementary..... with a great view of the local Mountain....
enough nostalgia for now
John |
