cheshire42

The Game With A Politically Incorrect Name...

What am I talking about? Set the wayback machine to the mid-1970's... and check it out, cause we're talking about Smear the Queer.

Ah, what a game. For the uninitiated, it goes like this -

There's a ball (usually a football, but any ball will do). Someone throws the ball up in the air. The person who catches the ball becomes "the Queer". The queer must then avoid being "smeared" (i.e. tackled) by the rest of the participants. The longer the queer can remain standing, the better. Once smeared, the Queer throws the ball into the air once more, and the game continues.

This game was a blast. Countless recess hours were blazed away by one game of "STQ" after the other. Anyone could play. Girls would play. Big kids, little kids. If you had the guts to catch the ball, you were in. Getting smeared was no big thing, cause you knew good and well you could get in on the smearing as soon as you got up, dusted off, and threw the ball up for the next victim. The fact that 'queer' was slang for gay evaded us; it was a word that rhymed with 'smear'. Kids are funny like that.

Maybe I took a few too many shots to the melon back then, but I remember this game with an almost Cosby-esque fondness, the same way the Cos remembers a game from his childhood called 'Buck Buck'. I also miss the fact that growing up seems to exclude people from such fun and games. How... dull.

Needless to say, if there's anyone up for a pickup game of STQ, I'm your huckleberry. Throw that ball up and bring it, punk...