Wednesday, May 26, 2010

A Metaphor For Puberty

Tetherball was not a big sport where I grew up in Pennsylvania. I would go so far as to say it is not a big sport on the entire east coast. I always thought it was designed as a way for only children to play catch by themselves. It looked vaguely like a torture device and I can remember cutting a wide path around the few that I encountered (I said encountered) as a kid. I imagined in Los Angeles, where there were lots of only children, kids stood on manicured lawns in the hot sun and pounded the ball with their little fists, only to have it come around and smack them in the head while their parents smoked joints and drank sangria around the pool with Warren Beatty and Michelle Phillips.

After moving to LA, though, I found out that tetherball actually requires two people and the object is to try to punch the ball as hard as you can hopefully smacking your opponent in the face and causing a bloody nose. It is a battle not only of physical superiority but of will.

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