# Tether, tie ups and missing teeth? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 16, 2024, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tether-tie-ups-and-missing-teeth/998930 "2024-03-16T22:12:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2024, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tether-tie-ups-and-missing-teeth/998930/1 "2024-03-16T22:12:27Z")
My yard could be a unionized, professional, approved and on a “must see” list in a travel guide. We have corn hole, playground apparatus, basket ball goal, badminton(seasonally), a nice pond/dock (plenty of worms), a deck with an ice chest(full), picnic tables and a tree house(must sign an acknowledgement of implied danger to go up). And of course pets. There was a trampoline and a sandbox but I’ve had those removed for various reasons. Son-of-a-wrek insists the kids need a tether ball. The pole is there. “We just need the ball-on-a-rope.” Sez, he. My thinkies show black eyes, missing teeth, busted lips and cryin’ grandkids. I see Son whacking it where the rope wraps around the pole and some psychic energy impaling the ball on top the pole. Wilson, the ball in Castaway, in effigy to bad choices. And it just staying that way in a gruesome fashion, for all to see. Forevermore. I really think I can live without this small pleasure. I just know there’s no way to make it a fair game for the size and age range of kids around here. I’d hate to see the young adults deciding, after a few cocktails, let’s have a game of ol’tether ball. This worries me.🤔 ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2024, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tether-tie-ups-and-missing-teeth/998930/2 "2024-03-16T22:18:49Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Son-of-a-wrek insists the kids need a tether ball. The pole is there. “We just need the ball-on-a-rope.” Sez, he. > > My thinkies show black eyes, missing teeth, busted lips and cryin’ grandkids. I choose your side for the win @Beckdawrek. When I was 9ish, with permament teeth in, I was playing tetherball at my elementary school playground during recess. A classmate hit the ball _quite_ hard, and being insufficiently prepared, I took it to the face. I I have a chipped lower front tooth to this day because of it. Since this was the mid 80s though, my parents panicked, the school paniced, but in the end the dentist filed the tooth, and no one ended up sued or with excess drama past the first week or so. So, and in borrowing the 80s theme of my story: Just say no (to tetherball)! ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2024, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tether-tie-ups-and-missing-teeth/998930/3 "2024-03-16T22:33:55Z")
I played tether ball everyday when I was in elementary school back in the 1960s, and I’d still be playing it today with my grand-kids, but I don’t see them around any more, perhaps because too many kids got hurt, or they just got unpopular and were replaced by basketball courts? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2024, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tether-tie-ups-and-missing-teeth/998930/4 "2024-03-16T22:52:52Z")
I have many find memories of paying tether ball. One of the few competitive ball games i was okay at. But you may be right. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2024, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tether-tie-ups-and-missing-teeth/998930/5 "2024-03-26T04:36:34Z")
Tell Son-of-Wrek to install a tether ball at HIS house. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2024, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tether-tie-ups-and-missing-teeth/998930/6 "2024-03-26T05:42:08Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I have many find memories of paying tether ball. One of the few competitive ball games i was okay at. Same here! If tetherball had been an Olympic sport, I’d have been a medalist. I have no idea how or why I had this mystical tetherball ability - I’m generally terrible at anything athletic, and I’m just a smidge on the short side of average height. But damn … I won almost all my tetherball rounds. Just something about the opportunity to smack that ball as a stand-in for all of life’s frustrations, or something. Anyhow, I played tetherball all the time as a kid, and I don’t remember anyone getting hurt. I’m sure it happens, but perhaps rarely. If you accept a trampoline, surely a tetherball is no big deal? Kids are constantly hurting themselves on trampolines. ETA: [Ahem.](https://www.springfreetrampoline.com/blogs/beyond-the-bounce/trampoline-injury-statistics#:~:text=Over%20100%2C000%20trampoline%20injuries%20occur,in%20children%20ages%205%2D15.) … but to be fair, also [this](https://playgroundprofessionals.com/playground/things-you-no-longer-see#:~:text=Tetherball,became%20extinct%20on%20most%20playgrounds.). ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2024, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tether-tie-ups-and-missing-teeth/998930/7 "2024-03-26T05:46:15Z")
This is why we got rid of the trampoline. Too many bumps and bruises. It was a matter of time before someone had a cast or stitches. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2024, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tether-tie-ups-and-missing-teeth/998930/8 "2024-03-26T10:52:44Z")
Just keep repeatedly creating a slow leak in the ball. Problem solved! ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2024, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tether-tie-ups-and-missing-teeth/998930/9 "2024-03-26T16:53:15Z")
This is exactly the advice I need. Thx…😊 I heard…get a video game version of tether ball or… Replace the tether ball with a nerf ball. I love creative people. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2024, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tether-tie-ups-and-missing-teeth/998930/10 "2024-03-26T17:01:01Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Wilson, the ball in Castaway {…} I’m not a big Hollywood buff, per se, but talk about getting royally screwed out of an Academy Award… ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2024, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tether-tie-ups-and-missing-teeth/998930/11 "2024-03-26T17:10:11Z")
Heh. Best support actor, Ever. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2024, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tether-tie-ups-and-missing-teeth/998930/12 "2024-03-26T20:49:28Z")
There was a memorable … Idunno … _buoyancy_ to his performance. Clearly, a remarkably well-rounded performer, in any case.