PANTS!!

Today a kid "pantsed" another kid at lunch time!  The teachers were talking about it in the staffroom.  It was an impulsive move by an impulsive kid and though I felt for the victim, who found himself in front of his whole class with his pants down, but because I didn't have to discipline the "pantser," I found myself giggling a little.  It kind of reminded me of the days when we used to think it was funny to pull down each other's pants.  By each other, I mean, my sisters, my dad and I. By funny, I mean, it was a game and we all (victims and perpetrators) thought it was funny!  We used to watch the Harlem Glob Trotters, you know, the comedy basketball team, on TV with mom and Dad.  One of the signature moves of this silly b.ball team, was to wait for a player on the opposing team to set up for a foul shot.  Once the player had bounced the ball and was standing with his arms up ready to take a shot, one of the Harlem Globe Trotters, would run up and pull down his shorts revealing outrageous boxer shorts!  It was just as hilarious to those of us watching from our living room as those watching live, from the stands.  Anyway, the laughter the basketball players got, intrigued us and one day we just started running around pulling down the pants of anyone in our family not on the defensive!  If we were lucky enough to catch someone by surprise, we would yell "HARLEM GLOBE TROTTERS" at the top of our lungs!  This game was funny to us and it stayed in our home, the only players, our family members, all willing participants.  Participants under the age of 10, all wearing lovely flowery undies.  No Dad wasn't under 10 and I am pretty sure his gaunch didn't have flowers on them, but I wouldn't know for sure as we never ever seemed to get his pants down, no matter how hard we'd yank.  (He never told us his secret, but I finally figured it out...drawstring!)  Remembering my own personal experience with "pantsing" got me on a little trip down memory lane over the lunch hour and one story led to another.  Before long, I was remembering out loud, another game involving clothing that our family used to play.  Giving eachother wedgies was a game Dad taught us.  He showed us how to grab the waistband of someone's underwear and pull up on it as hard as we could forcing the underwear to bunch and ride up...where the sun don't shine.  He would chase us around, grab our undies, pull up and yell "Indian Underwear!!!"  Not exactly politically correct, or logical, but for some reason seemed to make perfect sense and be funny as heck to us kids back then.  Ofcorse giving someone a wedgie was easier if you were taller than your "victim." That way you could get some good leverage, which meant Nic, being the littlest got more wedgies than anyone else! 

Our parents conveyed to us that these games were appropriate to play at home and NOT anywhere else.  There was no way any of us would have found ourselves suspended from school for "pantsing" someone.   I did playe on a school basketball team, but I never once, left my defensive position to pull down the shorts of someone taking a foul shot! I had lots of friends shorter than myself, but I never once grabbed the waistband of their panties in order to give them a wedgie. Somehow our parents were able to teach us what was appropriate and I thank them!  Still I gotta admit, when Marty bends over and his Fruit of the Looms stick out above the waist band of his sweats, part of me wants desperately to grab that elastic and yank on it hard as I can, but I don't because he is a lot bigger than me and though I know I can run farther than him, I am not convinced I can run faster!!!!!