Today I was watching TV and all they talked about was Hostess Twinkies. One of the experts being interviewed was saying in a way it is a good thing. He said Twinkies were one of the causes of childhood obesity. Personally I think that’s bull. They had Twinkies when I was a kid and we ate them. The heroes we got from Defonte’s or Pop’s were a hell of a lot bigger than the ones that subway puts out and we ate them. We had Tony’s Pizza and we ate it. Why weren’t we obese since we ate probably more than the kids eat now? It’s because we played outside. I remember going down to the fields with a bat, glove and ball. There would always be games going on. We sometimes started at eight in the morning and played 8 or 10 hours. Stopping only to eat or hit the head. If we weren’t playing ball then there was handball, paddleball, stickball and football both touch and tackle. We spent hours in the pool. Not laying in the sun but swimming and playing. We walked everywhere from the movies to Prospect Park. I remember walking from Red Hook to the Empire State Building. Why did we do that? Because someone said let’s do it and it seemed like a good idea. Kids now want to be driven two blocks to a friend’s house to play video games. That’s if they even want to leave the house since they can just play on line. Not only were we in better shape but we had more fun. It just seems a bit sad to me that kids are playing with their friends on-line. Laughing and playing alone in a room is not the same as joking around with your friends between games while eating one of Pop’s heroes and having a Pepsi. We bonded with our friends today they bond with a monitor.
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kevingcox 
So True, could not have said it better. The kids today have no clue what real creative play is. How lucky we were.
I think maybe we had more becausewe had less.
you are so righ kid O we ate dirt too (home plate dirt) and never washed our hands until dinner which in my neck of the woods was called supper.
We had to be in for dinner or supper then it was out again to be back in when the street lights came on.
That is so true! Kids today are also sicker. We never got sick like they do. We played outside in all kinds of weather and everything wasn’s antibacterial. We built up a tolerence which kids today do not.
A lot of the fun of being a kid then was getting dirty. Coming home with you pants rippe from play.
Another great article, Kevin…and so true! We were always outside playing…jumping rope, double-dutch, hopscotch, stoop ball, kings, kick the can, hot beans, coco levio (sp?), walking everywhere, and we were happy and healthy! The weather never stopped us from playing outside…we only came home to eat, and then back outside. We would have a Twinkie and a glass of milk, and go back outside to play. Thanks, Kevin!
Remember the size of the heres from Nick’s or Pops on Richard street? We ate lunches that were 2000 calories and stayed thin because we ran it off.
You hit the nail right on the head. We were always on the go back then.You bring back so many great memories,some things I haven’t thought about in years. I used to go to Red Hook Pool @ 10 AM for free (Swimmimg lessons too if you wanted),then dried off went outside at noon, paid a dime and stayed there until it was time to go home for supper, then I went down to the “fields” by the stadium to play a little ball until it got dark!Great Job!
We were also better ball players than today. Do you remember when you didn’t have enough kids so there would be no left fielder or right fielder. If you hit there you were out and had to chase down the ball. We learned bat control.