OT MLB to PDX: We're talking baseball to PDX

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kjironman1 said:
I agree on this. Kids don't play in the streets because of the nature of the game. Getting 18 kids all together to play a game takes coordination and playing 4 or 5 on 5 would even have it's challenges in the current neighborhood atmosphere. People simply don't let their kids at 8 years old go down the street to the park alone any longer but they do allow them to play in front of their house at a hoop set up on the street. Certainly not inner city and If they do they usually aren't looking to play an organized game of baseball.
However there are a bunch of new fields being built and I-9 youth sports programs are jam packed for both baseball and soccer as well as basketball. Don't fool yourself into thinking because 8 or 10 kids don't go play baseball on the old sand lot (which no longer exists) that baseball and softball are dead. That simply isn't the case.
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and i hate to break it to everyone...but kids arent playing shit outside on the streets or at playgrounds like they used to. Go drive around and tell me how many courts are filled with pickup games.
 
GoZers said:
and i hate to break it to everyone...but kids arent playing shit outside on the streets or at playgrounds like they used to. Go drive around and tell me how many courts are filled with pickup games.
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Depends where you are located. I see kids outside playing in the streets all over in ruralish parts of Oregon.
 
JFizzleRaider said:
Depends where you are located. I see kids outside playing in the streets all over in ruralish parts of Oregon.
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Yeah there is one of those pop up hoops with the weight on the bottom on my street. A couple kids shoot there quite a bit. I actually showed them how to play horse. I thought it was weird they never heard of it.
 
GoZers said:
and i hate to break it to everyone...but kids arent playing shit outside on the streets or at playgrounds like they used to. Go drive around and tell me how many courts are filled with pickup games.
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Where the hell do you live?
 
THE HCP said:
Where the hell do you live?
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We will just disagree if you think kids today spend as much time outside on basketball courts as they did when we were kids. That phones and other distractions have not impacted it. That structured sports year round for athletes hasnt decreased the time for free-play and random pickup games. That basketball courts are still full in 2025 like they were in 1990.
 
GoZers said:
We will just disagree if you think kids today spend as much time outside on basketball courts as they did when we were kids. That phones and other distractions have not impacted it. That structured sports year round for athletes hasnt decreased the time for free-play and random pickup games. That basketball courts are still full in 2025 like they were in 1990.
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Ummmmm, did you know about something called the NES back in the day? I played that a bunch and then would go outside and play ball too. I think the more astute observation is that people feel unsafe letting their kids run around by themselves. Hence why in more ruralish towns away from a bunch of possible traffic, there are a ton of kids in neighborhoods running around or on their stupid ebikes.
 
JFizzleRaider said:
Ummmmm, did you know about something called the NES back in the day? I played that a bunch and then would go outside and play ball too. I think the more astute observation is that people feel unsafe letting their kids run around by themselves. Hence why in more ruralish towns away from a bunch of possible traffic, there are a ton of kids in neighborhoods running around or on their stupid ebikes.
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I havent said there are no kids outdoors anywhere in the world. I am saying basketball blacktops arent used like they used to be. I grew up in CA and OR. When I am those places now, it isnt the same. When I talk to HS basketball coaches now they all say the same thing. People dont play basketball recreationally like they used to - because there is much more structured (club, etc) basketball. We had free time. They dont, and when they do they have other things they can do to stay occupied, like their phones for example.
 
I think one think that is different is now a days kids are playing sports year round. In the past you played basketball for your team in the winter and the rest of the year you were playing with your friends. Now they are traveling year round and not in the parks during the offseason. Same with baseball and just about all sports.
 
GoZers said:
We will just disagree if you think kids today spend as much time outside on basketball courts as they did when we were kids. That phones and other distractions have not impacted it. That structured sports year round for athletes hasnt decreased the time for free-play and random pickup games. That basketball courts are still full in 2025 like they were in 1990.
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That’s not what I was replying to. You said NONE of this in your post.
 
GoZers said:
Go drive around and tell me how many courts are filled with pickup games.
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Irving Park, Beaumont Middle School,Oregon Park, Laurelhurst Park, Wallace park……… JAMMED daily with pick up games. Like they were when me and the crew used to play back in the day. Get out and about more.
 
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twobullz said:
I think one think that is different is now a days kids are playing sports year round. In the past you played basketball for your team in the winter and the rest of the year you were playing with your friends. Now they are traveling year round and not in the parks during the offseason. Same with baseball and just about all sports.
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Very well thought out post. Travel and club teams have definitely changed the landscape.
 
THE HCP said:
Irving Park, Beaumont Middle School,Oregon Park, Laurelhurst Park, Wallace park……… JAMMED daily with pick up games. Like they were when me and the crew used to play back in the day. Get out and about more.
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I drive up Powell at least twice a week, and (at least during the summer) there is almost always someone shooting hoops at the court kitty corner from Cleveland High School.

For HCP: Kitty Corner means something diagonally across from something else. Diagonally means something in a diagonal direction. Diagonal means a straight line joining two opposite corners of a square, rectangle, or other straight-sided shape.

Cleveland High School is a high school in Portland. Portland is the city that is currently on fire and super scary!

High school is a building where kids are taught how to hate America, typically from ages 14-18, or in your case, 14-20.

America is what idiots call the United States because they're arrogant enough to think that the United States IS America.

Arrogant means cocky.
 
julius said:
I drive up Powell at least twice a week, and (at least during the summer) there is almost always someone shooting hoops at the court kitty corner from Cleveland High School.

For HCP: Kitty Corner means something diagonally across from something else. Diagonally means something in a diagonal direction. Diagonal means a straight line joining two opposite corners of a square, rectangle, or other straight-sided shape.

Cleveland High School is a high school in Portland. Portland is the city that is currently on fire and super scary!

High school is a building where kids are taught how to hate America, typically from ages 14-18, or in your case, 14-20.

America is what idiots call the United States because they're arrogant enough to think that the United States IS America.

Arrogant means cocky.
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All you had to say was across from BurgerVille!
 
THE HCP said:
Get off the internet search wagon! There’s 4 kids outside my house right now playing 2on2 with another 5 kids waiting to get in!
And as I went for a walk down at our neighborhood high school this afternoon….. courts down there were packed. You need to move to a more active city my friend.
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Why aren't they playing 4 on 4?! Amateurs...
 
THE HCP said:
Then you should have posted your prom picture if laughs is what you’re aiming for son! #BAM
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Ha! shows what you know, I didn't GO to prom.

(redacted)
 
It's more than the year long sports though, at least here in Texas, if they aren't playing on a team, they are in these massive training gyms with small group instructors, if not one-on-one private coaching. There is very little chance for just organic play. We have a couple of courts that you will see pick-up games at night but even driving through our young neighborhood, you very rarely see kids just out and about. When I go on my runs I see a handful of hoops outside and only one or two that are ever seen being used.
 
THE HCP said:
Get off the internet search wagon! There’s 4 kids outside my house right now playing 2on2 with another 5 kids waiting to get in!
And as I went for a walk down at our neighborhood high school this afternoon….. courts down there were packed. You need to move to a more active city my friend.
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the point remains. the fact that your street is apparently living in 1965 is irrelevant. Congrats. Truly. Its nationwide as indicated by the many links/references/sources that state unstructured, disorganized, random "play" has decreased. That was all I am saying. They dont do it as often. I am not talking about your driveway.
 
bigbailes said:
It's more than the year long sports though, at least here in Texas, if they aren't playing on a team, they are in these massive training gyms with small group instructors, if not one-on-one private coaching. There is very little chance for just organic play. We have a couple of courts that you will see pick-up games at night but even driving through our young neighborhood, you very rarely see kids just out and about. When I go on my runs I see a handful of hoops outside and only one or two that are ever seen being used.
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No but that cannot be true. Theres a Junior high in northeast Portland with games all the time.
 
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