Things that make you feel old

Don't give up. Just find a new crowd. I'm nearing mid 50's and I still run full court every Sun. night. Of course its 4 on 4 on an elementary school gym, about 15 ft short. I control the participants so I enforce two rules (1) no a-holes; and (2) no one gets hurt. This means everyone puts this in perspective (we're going to work tomorrow) and there are no one tries so hard that they put people in awkward positions. We respect EVERY call made, right or wrong. So no arguing.

I can't give it up; love the dynamics of full-court too much. I drive much less these days and shoot jumpers for the most part but damn its fun.

 

Courtland High School, Spotsylvania, Virginia.

Up until just two or three years ago, the old man in the pressbox would fire the gun mid-play and everything. No fucking idea what problem was ever solved by the starter pistol, but it sure was annoying.

 

Yes. This sounds like the group I was with once a week on Fridays. 60-90 minutes at a small college gym. Often had former college players which upped the level. No A-holes.

Until this year when the college built a new gym and the group plays there. However, the days of the free run are over. Now it's $600 a year, except alumni are free.

So now... it's an alumni game.

 

People reminiscing about SJ.com history.

 

Restart the run; rent a gym somewhere.

I've got to rent the gym weekly (very reasonable) and pay for insurance. But everyone pays (either lump sum quarterly payments or weekly) and it works out without me going out of pocket too much every year. (Another reason to not have any a-holes.)

 

This. When I was about 11 or 12, right at the height of the arcade game craze in the early '80s, we got dragged to visit my childless great aunt and uncle for the day in Fernandina Beach, Fla. Those visits were usually excruciatingly boring and if it wasn't a beach day, every hour felt like a week. And it was raining that day. But we saw a promo in the paper for the grand opening of an arcade in downtown Fernandina -- 3 hours in the afternoon of all the free games you could play, free popcorn you could eat and free soda you could drink. My brothers and I got dropped off for the whole duration. And it was a fantastic arcade -- every game imaginable. Made the Aladdin's Castle at the mall seem like a couple of pinball machines at the gas station. Probably 1 of the 10 greatest afternoons of my life. I try to explain it to my 12-year-old and he doesn't understand why it was a big deal.

 

You have to go to Funspot Arcade in New Hampshire if you love arcades.

 

Even into the early 90s arcades were a thing. I remember people being stacked 20-deep around the cabinet trying to see the new fatalities when Mortal Kombat 2 came out, and spending ungodly amounts of money on Street Fighter 2, and that was when I was in high school.

 

Google tells me it's shut down now, but DisneyQuest at Disney World was amazing if you love arcade games.

Five stories of classic arcade games. Pricey to get inside, but once in, the games were all free.

 

There's an Arcade "museum" nearby. $10 for the day to play stuff like Punchout ("Glass Joe, Raging Bull, etc.", Centipede, Missile Command. So much fun when I have to take my kids.

 

Loved Missile Command, Robotron, Galaga and that football game with the X's and Os on the screen that you controlled with a trackball.

 

X-Hack, I dated a woman long ago whose grandparents lived on Amelia Island.
Some of the bars were just the kind that would still have vintage arcade cabinets.
I loved the town.