Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Late in the afternoon today, May 20, 2012, half of North America is in for a bit of a celestial show — an eclipse of the sun known as a “ring of fire.” A ring of fire happens when the moon passes in front of the disk of the sun but does not fully cover it, leaving a thin ring of sunlight to escape around the edges of the moon. Where I live in southern Washington state we will miss out on the full ring of fire, but the eclipse will still cover over 80% of the sun’s disk. Just a six hour drive to the south, Medford, Oregon will get the full show, along with Las Vegas and other parts of the Western United States.

Safely viewing an eclipse can be a bit of a trick. The first rule of thumb for any solar viewing is never look directly at the sun. The UV radiation doesn’t do good things for your eyes. This is even more important if you are using any kind of magnifying device, such as a pair of binoculars or a telescope. To understand why, simply remember the childhood trick of using a lens to burn ants on the sidewalk. By pointing a telescope or binoculars at the sun you are pointing a lens at the sun. When you look through that lens without having a properly purchased and installed solar filter your eyeball can easily become the ant, and you can do permanent damage to your eyes.

However, even if you didn’t manage to purchase a pair of eclipse glasses, there is a simple safe way to view the progress of the moon across the sun for anyone, even if you don’t own a telescope or binoculars. All you will need is two pieces of sturdy card stock. In one piece of cardboard use a pin to prick a hole. If you find it difficult to get a clean pin prick, you may choose to cut out a larger circle of cardboard and tape over it a small piece of aluminum foil. Then put the pinhole in the aluminum foil. Now use one hand to point the card stock at the sun. Using the other hand hold the other piece of card stock behind the pinhole. The pinhole acts as your projector, and the second piece of card stock acts as a screen on which you project the image of the sun.

You can see an illustration on how to build a pinhole projector on eclipse.org.uk, which was set up for an eclipse that arrived in 1999. If you do own a telescope but do not own a proper sun filter, you can also create a wonderful projector using the lens of your telescope. Kathy Ceceri has a post on how to do that over at GeekMom.

Whether you build a viewer or not, if you are on the Pacific coast today make sure to notice the dimming of the light between 6 and 7 PM. Just make sure you avoid the temptation to look directly at the sun. The permanent damage to your eyes isn’t worth it.

When I was a kid, we played outside with the other kids in the neighborhood with most of our free time. We also made the most of recess at school. We kept ourselves quite occupied without any of today’s modern technologies. Listed below are some no-tech games that you may have enjoyed as a kid. I sure did. Some can be done indoors. Some can be done by yourself or with just one friend. But most of them are best when done outside with a group of people. Also, most of these games can be changed or improved by making up your own rules. Use your imagination!

Hide and Seek: Everyone has played this one. Most parents have played with their kids, since hiding and finding is a common interest of small children. I’ve heard of all kinds of variations on this game. Sometimes you count to twenty, sometimes ten, sometimes one hundred. Sometimes there is a home base that you can run to and tag, becoming “safe,” sometimes you just wait to be found. The general idea is that one person is “it,” that person closes his or her eyes and counts to a certain number without looking and then he or she tries to find the others.
Number of Players: Ideally at least three.
Equipment: None.

Kick the Can: This game is a variation of tag and hide & seek. One person or a team of people are designated as “it” and a can is placed in the middle of the playing area. The other people run off and hide while the “it” covers his or her eyes and counts to a certain number. “It” then tries to find everyone. If a person is tagged by “it”, they go into a holding pen for captured players. If one of the un-captured players manages to kick the can, the captured players are released. The game is over once all the non-”it” players are in the holding pen.
Number of Players: Ideally at least three.
Equipment: A metal can.

Capture the Flag: This game is most fun when played with a large group. Split the group into two teams, each team having a flag or other marker at the team’s base. The object of the game is to run into the other team’s territory, capture their flag and make it safely back to your own territory. You can tag “enemy” players in your territory, sending them to your jail. They can be sprung from jail by a member of their own team running into your territory, tagging them and running back, with one freed person allowed per jail break. It is sometimes played that all the people in jail could hold hands and make a chain back toward their own territory, making it easier for members of their team to tag them. We also played a similar game called Steal the Sticks. It had almost the same rules, but several sticks were used instead of one flag.
Number of Players: A large group.
Equipment: Two flags or other markers.

Parachute: Fun for kids of all ages, this game involves a large round parachute, preferably with handles, with people holding the parachute all around the edges. It helps if someone is in charge telling people what to do. Players can just ruffle the parachute up and down a little bit, they can go all the way up and all the way down, or all the way up and then run underneath, sitting on the edge of the parachute, which can create a bubble of air with everyone inside. Players can also place light objects such as wiffle balls or beanbags on top of the parachute, and make them jump by ruffling the parachute. Also, one person can sit in the middle of the parachute and everyone ruffles it near the ground. If there is a smooth floor and a light child, the child can sit in the middle on top of the parachute and everyone else can walk partway around still holding the parachute edge. Then everyone pulls backward, spinning the child. There are countless variations.
Number of Players: Depends on the size of the parachute, but usually eight to ten.
Equipment: A play parachute. These aren’t as hard to find as you would think. Try here and here.

Traffic Cop: This game works best on a street with little to no traffic, or in a large paved area of some kind. You need bikes, wagons, pedestrians, scooters or whatever is available. One person directs traffic to make sure kids don’t run into each other. It is more fun than it sounds, and helps kids learn about waiting to cross the street and about traffic safety.
Number of Players: A small group.
Equipment: Bikes, wagons, scooters, anything on wheels.

Four Square: This ball game is played on a square court further divided into four smaller squares, numbered one through four. One player stands in each of the squares, with the highest ranked player in number one, lowest in number four. You bounce the ball among the players, bouncing once in the other person’s square before that person catches it. When I played this as a kid, we had countless additional rules to choose from. The person in square one got to choose the rules. Anyone who violates the rules will have to move down in the ranking, or be eliminated with another player rotating in to square four.
Number of Players: Four, unless you take turns.
Equipment: A four square court or sidewalk chalk, a playground ball.

Image credit: Wikipedia

Hopscotch: Use some sidewalk chalk and make a hopscotch grid. Number the squares from one to nine. Pick a rock that is good for tossing. Small ones can bounce too much, and larger ones are hard to throw. Start by tossing the rock onto Square 1. Hop over the rock and hop with a single foot or both feet (to follow the hopscotch pattern) all the way to the end. Turn around and come back, stopping on Square 2. Balancing on one foot, pick up the rock in Square 1 and hop over Square 1 to the start. Continue this pattern with Square 2. And so on. If you toss your rock and miss the correct square, your turn is over. This game can be played with any number of people, but only one person can go at a time. If it’s raining or dark or too cold, you can get indoor hopscotch mats or foam pieces, or just find a pattern on the floor to follow, perhaps using a beanbag instead of a rock.
Number of Players: One at a time.
Equipment: Hopscotch grid, rock or beanbag.

Jump-Rope and Double Dutch: One of the biggest ways I spent my recess time as a young girl was jumping rope. I got quite good at it for my age, both in speed and in skill. It was fun to jump by myself, but it was even more fun to have a long rope and jump with a couple of friends. That’s where jump-rope rhymes come in. They turn a simple exercise into a fun game, to compete against yourself and others. Then there’s double dutch. I was always in awe of the older girls who could do double dutch. The first time I tried it, I got tripped up almost immediately. However, once you understand how to do it, it isn’t as hard as it looks.
Number of Players: One for single jumping, three with a longer rope or for double dutch.
Equipment: One or two jump-ropes.

Chinese Jump-Rope: This game requires three people, or just one or two people with really good chairs. It is easily done inside, assuming a sturdy floor. This game resembles regular jump rope in that you jump. A lot. But you jump in a pattern. Two people (or chairs) put their feet inside the rope and stretch them out, standing far enough apart for the third person to jump between them. The third person, or jumper, faces one of the people holding the rope and jumps in a pattern of left, right, inside, outside and on the ropes. What pattern you use is up to you, but all the players should use the same one. The game is started with the rope around the ankles. Once the jumper does the jump correctly, the rope is moved up to the calves. Then to the knees, then the thighs. Usually it doesn’t get any farther than that. Once you miss, it is someone else’s turn.
Number of Players: Preferably three, but it can be done with one or two.
Equipment: A stretchy-type rope or 5 to 6 meters of rubber bands tied together in a circle.

Jacks: This game can be played on any flat surface, indoors or out. The player scatters the jacks on the playing surface, often by just tossing them out of one hand, as if rolling dice. The ball is then tossed up, is allowed to bounce once, and is caught before the second bounce. The player tries to scoop up jacks and catch the ball with one hand before the ball’s second bounce. The number of jacks to be picked up goes in order. First you pick up one (“onesies”), then two (“twosies”), then three and so on. There are many variations to the rules of this game including things like “pigs in the pen” and “double bounces.” Jacks is one game I wish I had played as a girl, but it was much more common when my mom was a child.
Number of Players: Any, taking turns.
Equipment: A set of jacks and a small rubber ball.

Marbles: The general rules specify that you draw a circle in the sand or on the sidewalk, and then take turns trying to knock each other’s marbles out of the circle with your one large marble. As with the other games, there are countless variations. I haven’t played this game at length, though, because I always seem to hurt myself flicking the large marble into the ring! You can also use a marble mat which contains different point zones.
Number of Players: At least two.
Equipment: Chalk, large and small marbles.

Red Light, Green Light: With enough room, this game can easily be played inside. One person is the traffic light at one end, and the other players are at the other end. When the traffic light faces the group, he or she says, “Red light!” and everyone must freeze. The traffic light then turns his or her back and says, “Green light!” while the group tries to get as close to the traffic light as possible. The traffic light turns around quickly, again saying, “Red light!”, and if anyone is spotted moving, they have to go back to the starting place. The first person to tag the traffic light wins and gets to be the next traffic light.
Number of Players: A small group.
Equipment: None.

Mother, May I: This game is set up in the same way as Red Light Green Light. One person in the group asks the person in the front, “Mother, may I take <insert number> steps forward?” The person at the front then says, “Yes, you may.” or “No, you may not.” You can vary your requests by including options such as taking baby steps, spinning steps, leaps or whatever strikes your fancy. Again, the first person to tag the person in the front wins and is the next person in the front.
Number of Players: A small group.
Equipment: None.

Simon Says: This game can be played anywhere, even in a car or other small space. One person is Simon and starts by saying, “Simon says, ‘<insert action here>.’” Everyone must then do the action. However, if Simon makes an action request without saying, “Simon says” to begin the request, anyone who does that action is out. The last person still playing in the end will be Simon for the next round.
Number of Players: A small group.
Equipment: None.

Tag: It seems that everyone knows how to play tag, but just in case it wasn’t in your childhood game playing repertoire, here is how you play. A group of kids decides who will start out as being “it.” That person chases the other people around, trying to tag one of them with their hand. The newly tagged person is now “it.” There is often the rule of “no tag-backs” where you can’t tag the person who just tagged you. The game ends when everyone is tired of playing.
Number of Players: Any size group.
Equipment: None.

Shadow Tag: In this fun version of Tag, you tag each other’s shadow with your feet instead of tagging their body. Thus, it must be played on a sunny day. The closer to noon, the greater the difficulty.
Number of Players: A small group.
Equipment: None.

Freeze Tag: This is a variation of Tag where if the person who is “it” tags you, you have to freeze where you are. Another participant can tag you to unfreeze you.
Number of Players: A small group.
Equipment: None.

TV Tag: A variation of Freeze Tag where the person unfreezing the frozen player has to call out a TV show title. That show then can’t be used again during that game.
Number of Players: A small group.
Equipment: None.

Marco Polo: This variation of tag is played in a swimming pool. Whoever is “it” closes their eyes and yells “Marco!” The other players then yell “Polo!” The “it” person has to tag one of the others, and then that person is “it.” Be sure to play in a pool that is not too deep for any of the players.
Number of Players: A small group.
Equipment: A swimming pool.

Blind Man’s Bluff: A favorite game in Tudor and Victorian England, this game is yet another variation on tag. The person who is “it” wears a blindfold and tries to tag the other players. Be sure to play this in an area safe from obstructions and other hazards.
Number of Players: A small group.
Equipment: A blindfold.

Red Rover: Divide everyone into two teams, each forming a long line, holding hands, facing the other team. The two teams should be around 20 or so feet apart. The teams take turn calling out, “Red Rover, Red Rover, let <insert child’s name> come over!” That child leaves their team’s line, runs as fast as they can toward the other line and tries to break through the held hands. If they break through, they get to take someone back to their team. If they don’t, they join the new team. When a team only has one person left, that person tries to break through the other team. If they do not, then their team loses. If they do, they gain a player and play continues.
Number of Players: Any decent size group.
Equipment: None.

Heads Up, Seven Up: Dating back to at least the 1950s, this game is one we played in elementary school. In my experience, it was usually done in the classroom with everyone at their desk. To start the game, seven players go to the front and the teacher says, “Heads down, thumbs up!” Everyone still at their desk puts their head down, extends an arm and stucks their thumb up. The seven kids that were at the front go around and each press one person’s thumb down. Then they all go back to the front of the room and the teacher says, “Heads up, seven up!” The players at the desks raise their heads and the seven whose thumbs were pressed down stand up. Each in turn names the person they think pressed down their thumb. If they are correct, they change places with the presser. Then the game can start again.
Number of Players: Minimum of 14.
Equipment: Desks at which to sit.

Spud: This outdoor game is a lot of fun. Every player gets a number and crowds around the person who is “it” for that round. “It” then tosses the ball straight up and the other players run away. As the ball reaches the top of its toss, “it” calls out the number of one of the other players and then runs away also. The player whose number was called must run back and catch the ball (or chase after it if it is bouncing around). Once that person has the ball, they yell, “Spud!” Then everyone else must freeze. The person with the ball must try to hit one of the players with the ball. If they do, that new person gets a letter (first S, then P, then U, then D) and is now “it.” If they miss, the person who threw the ball is “it” for the next round.
Number of Players: A small group.
Equipment: Playground ball.

Button, Button, Who’s Got the Button?: Played inside or outside, the group sits or stands in a circle and holds their hands together in front of them. One person takes the button and goes around the circle, pretending to put the button in someone else’s hands. They actually deposit the button in one person’s hands, but then continue the rest of the way around the circle, pretending to put it in everyone else’s hands. Then going around the circle, each player tries to guess who has the button now. Before each person’s guess, the group asks together, “Button, button, who’s got the button?” Then the player can state their guess. Once the player with the button is finally guessed, that person distributes the button during the next round. Because a button is used in this game, be sure that all the kids playing are old enough so as to not choke on the button. In another version of this game (and the one that I am more familiar with), one child stands in the middle of the circle, and the button gets passed around the backs of the rest of the group. Those without the button pretend to pass it. When the passing stops, the player in the middle has to guess as to who actually has the button.
Number of Players: Any size group.
Equipment: A button.

Cat’s Cradle: This incredibly portable game can be played anywhere. If you are playing alone, you can make various string shapes on your own hands. With two people, you can play a bit of a game, transferring the shapes back and forth and creating new ones. Learn from someone if you can, but otherwise there are some good books on the subject. Make your own string, or buy a book on how to do it, which often comes with a string!
Number of Players: One or two.
Equipment: A string, approximately 36 inches long, tied in a circle (length varies, so find one that works for you!).

Hand-Clap Games: The first hand-clap game most people have played is Pat-a-Cake with their parents. Songs and patterns get much more complicated from there. Usually there are two people involved, doing a series of clap patterns on their own and each other’s hands while singing or chanting a rhythmic song. There are many rhymes listed online, but if you can learn from someone else or see it in a video, that is best, so that you can get the notes of the song and the rhythm of the clapping. From “Miss Mary Mack” to “Miss Susie” to “Say, Say, My Playmate,” there are countless hand clap games to learn.
Number of Players: Usually two, but creativity can allow for a third or fourth person.
Equipment: None.

Crack the Whip: Though often played on ice while wearing skates in the winter, this game is much safer, though possibly less fun, when played on grass. All the players hold hands in a line. The person at one end of the line skates or runs around, changing directions quickly. The tail of the “whip” of players tends to get moved around with a lot more force than players closer to the front. The longer the tail, the harder it is to hold on. If the players at the end fall off the end of the tail, they can attempt to get back on, perhaps in a position closer to the front.
Number of Players: A small group.
Equipment: None.

Musical Chairs: In a circle, arrange chairs facing outward to total one fewer than the number of players. An additional player needs to be in charge of the music. When the music starts, the players walk around the chairs. When the music stops, players sit down in the nearest chair as soon as they can. The one player who does not have a chair is out. One of the chairs is then removed, and the game continues in this manner. The player that sits in the final chair is the winner. This game is traditionally played inside, but it can also be played outside with outdoor furniture and a portable music player.
Number of Players: A small group.
Equipment: Music player or person making music, chairs.

Telephone: This game is one in which most people end up laughing quite a bit, so if you’re in the mood for silliness, give it a go. Players sit in a circle. One person thinks up a sentence or phrase and whispers it to the next person. That person repeats it to the person on their other side. This continues around the circle. When it finally reaches the last person, that person says the sentence out loud. Hilarity ensues. The ending sentence is usually quite changed from the beginning sentence, since errors tend to compound as they go around the circle.
Number of Players: A small group.
Equipment: None.

Freeze Dance: Choose one person to be in charge of the music. When the music starts, everyone else dances, the crazier the better. When the music stops, the dancers must freeze in their position. Anyone caught moving after that is out. Play continues until there is one person left, the winner.
Number of Players: Any number.
Equipment: Music player or person making music.

[This list originally ran during "Unwired Week" in 2009, but we thought it was perfect to bring up again as summer approaches. Enjoy!]

This weekend is a major first for me. I’m not talking about my first trip to San Francisco, which has been awesome. I am talking about my first Maker Faire, and I couldn’t be more excited. The anticipation is palpable, and I imagine this is what Charlie Bucket felt like before he passed the gates into the great Wonka Chocolate Factory.

Most GeekDad readers at least know about Maker Faire and what it is all about. For several years now I’ve watched the tweets, reports, and videos from various Maker Faire events and this year I decided that I would watch from the sidelines no longer. So, what am I so excited about?

Innovation – I adore innovation. The innovation seen at Maker Faire is astonishing, and since innovation is contagious I will see the seeds of next year’s great projects.

Creativity - Similar to innovation but distinct. I have never seen myself as being very creative, at least not in the way many of the makers at the Faire can get that spark of inception. I can be innovative but I have trouble being truly creative. Maker Faire is a great place to see this creativity and will give me tons of creative fuel.

Wow - The pure wow factor of the displays. When you have Tesla coils tuned to play music, and that is just one of the items that rates high on the wow-index, I see myself saying “Wow!” a great deal this weekend.

People – In addition to hanging out with other great members of the GeekDad and GeekMom crew, I will be surrounded by people who get it. The “it” being the three factors I mentioned above as well as all of those things that I can’t even put into words.

If you’re going to be at the Bay Area Maker Faire this weekend, come by the GeekDad booth in the Expo Hall. If you won’t be, check out my tweets this weekend and watch for articles after this weekend as I predict I will get plenty of article fodder. Also, the Bay Area Maker Faire isn’t the only Maker Faire, so check out the website to see the other Faires and mini-Faires and try to get to one near you. I know this won’t be the only time I come to the Bay Area event and won’t be the only Maker Faire I attend. This is just a start for me.

I’ve got a Golden Ticket…

The MoonBots Competition is back and it’s better than ever this year. The contest challenges teams of kids from around the world to think about the moon and answer questions about space exploration. A second phase of the competition challenges the teams to create a robot using Lego Mindstorms to overcome lunar trials.

What’s more, there’s some exciting news this year because the robotics portion of the contest is going to allow teams to design their own game and the judges are looking forward to some really creative entries. Top it all off with some pretty great prizes and the solution is simple — if you’re into robotics, space, or just love science, go register today!

Photo by Alan Light; used under Creative Commons license.

It’s been 22 years since the world lost Jim Henson, and I still can’t think about it without tearing up a bit. His death at age 53 was sudden and catastrophic, like being hit by lightning on a cloudless day. Along with countless others around the world who had never met him, I felt like a close friend was gone.

Five of my fellow GeekDads and I put together this article two years ago as a tribute to his memory on the 20th anniversary of his death. On the following pages are our thoughts on that anniversary of his passing, and at the end are videos from his memorial service in 1990, which are some of the saddest and most wonderful things you are ever likely to see. Please take a few minutes to read and watch, and then add your own tribute in the comments.

Photo by Jonathan Liu

This is my now-six-year-old, back when she was about 2 1/2, at the Children’s Museum in Portland, Oregon. They were having a Sesame Street exhibit, and in one of the stations, kids could dress as a furry Muppet. There was also a bit with a blue screen behind a brick half-wall, so you could appear on the TV with various Muppets, just like other little kids from the show. My daughter at this point hadn’t watched much TV before, but she loved being on TV and it didn’t seem to bother her at all that there wasn’t an actual Muppet next to her.

I remember growing up with two Sesame Street books in particular: The Monster at the End of This Book (starring Grover) and Cookie Monster and the Cookie Tree. I managed to find copies of both books when my daughter was little, and I loved reading it to her and doing the voices. (I can manage a pretty good Grover and Cookie Monster, sometimes Ernie, and I get by on the rest.) More recently, when I was helping with an after-school program and trying to read books to second- and third-graders, I discovered one day that the only thing that got them to sit still and listen was when I read a book as Grover. They were immediately hooked.

— Jonathan Liu

Dork Tower #1070 by John Kovalic

Read all the Dork Towers that have run on GeekDad.

Find the Dork Tower webcomic archives, DT printed collections, more cool comics, awesome games and a whole lot more at the Dork Tower Website.

One of my many reference shelves. (Image: Brian McLaughlin)

When I get started on a new project or endeavor, I become a voracious consumer of information. I start reading everything I can get my hands on that will introduce me to that subject and give me a good foothold. If I am already well versed on a subject but I am going to be working with a new facet of that subject, I deep dive on that specialized topic and become really intimate with the details. What is always frustrating for me, however, is where to start. What is a good reference versus what is a dated or frowned-upon reference? I want to kick off a GeekDad Reference Library for topics of all sorts. It will be maintained on the GeekDad Community website and submissions will be accepted from the greater GeekDad community. What are your favorite references? What do you think a good starter point is for your geeklings to learn a topic? Let us know. To get this started, here are some of my favorite electronics references that I go to on a regular basis.

The Art of Electronics – Far from a beginner’s book on electronics I have heard this referred to as the electrical and computer engineering bible. You want to deep dive and really know why that component works the way it does? You are going to find it in The Art of Electronics.

Forrest Mims is a great author, in general, to reference. He has written numerous books on electronics and projects and some of my earliest memories of learning about electronics are from Forrest Mims books. Some great examples include:

• Getting Started in Electronics – I have the 1983 edition of this one.
• Timer, Op Amp, and Optoelectronic Circuits & Projects
• Forrest Mims Engineer’s Notebook

Principles of Electronic Instrumentation - This is actually one of my wife’s textbooks that I have absconded with and keep in my office and bring home a lot too. It is a great introduction to the way a number of sensors are read out and how to properly amplify and detect signals.

ATMega328P Complete Datasheet & ATTiny85 Complete Datasheet – So far, when it comes to microcontrollers, I got my start with the Arduino so I am partial to the Atmel chips. The ATMega328P is the controller on the Arduino Uno and the ATTiny85 and its family are actually easy to program through the Arduino IDE. Important since I run an all Mac household and Atmel Studio requires Windows.

The Arduino Language Reference – I am constantly going back to this site to check on the finer points of some of the Arduino functions. I also can never keep in my head how many bits are in some of the data types. Always good to have a language reference handy.

The Sparkfun Electronics Tutorials – The Sparkfun Electronics tutorials and Department of Education sites provide a great wealth of information on any number of subjects for projects you may want to build.

Adafruit Tutorials – Great tutorials on many different subjects. Get some ground under your feet and feel that you know what you are talking about, maybe you’ve earned one of Adafruit’s Skill Badges?

So what are some of your favorites? We aren’t just talking electronics here, whatever the subject is that you geek out about, let’s hear it and I will cultivate a knowledge repository at the GeekDad Community. Go to my submission page and let us know your favorites! Once I have reached a decent number of entries I will start posting over at the GeekDad community.

How does a parent reconcile the greatness of sports with its underbelly? (photo: Kevin Makice)

Dave Duerson was one of the good guys. The NFL celebrated the former Chicago Bears safety for his play on the field with Pro Bowl appearances and Super Bowl rings, and honored his sense of community off the field with the NFL Man of the Year Award. After retirement, Duerson continued to serve his peers as a member of the union’s disability panel, detailing individual cases of debilitated former players. In early 2011, however, it became clear that Duerson himself had been debilitated when the athlete committed suicide with a bullet to his chest.

Last week, as NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell handed down player suspensions in “Bountygate,” another well-respected football star, Junior Seau, also killed himself. The two suicides are similar, with fatal wounds intended to preserve their football-battered brains for posthumous study. Evidence is accumulating that links concussions suffered playing the game they loved — and the sport I most enjoy watching with my kids — with declining mental health after the physical punishment has ceased.

More than any other revelation about the sport, the death of Duerson is forcing me to reflect on why I continue to watch NFL football. Giving it up would mean not just abandoning my 27-year-old fantasy football team and about three hours of potential euphoria each week, but also losing my connection to afternoons spent with my father trying to point the antenna to Milwaukee to watch blacked-out Bears games on TV. Now a father of three, I am challenged to reconcile this dark side of the game with the Sunday afternoon rituals in the fall where I encourage my kids to help me cheer for big hits.

Inspiration can be found in how other fathers handled their own disconnect between sports and parenting. In late 2007, author Jim Gullo faced a similar dilemma, albeit with a different sport and different scandal.

“We Would Cream Everybody”

Shortly after the Mitchell Report was released in December 2007, Gullo noticed that his then 7-year-old son, Joe, was arranging his growing baseball card collection in a disturbing way. Having listened to enough dinnertime conversation to understand the impact of widespread steroid abuse detailed in the report — 89 MLB players were named as users of performance-enhancing drugs (PED) — Joe scrutinized career stats on the back of player cards and made a pile for cheaters.

Troubled by the way baseball’s steroid abuse invaded his home, the elder Gullo began a quest to get answers from the sport he loved: Why would players seek help from banned drugs, and why was the profession so ready to ignore it? Gullo, an Arizona-educated journalist who previously worked for New York Magazine, wrote an article about the impact of steroids on the Seattle Mariner organization. Not satisfied with the response from MLB, he brought his son along on his journey, now chronicled in Gullo’s latest book, Trading Manny.

The title character is Manny Ramirez, a World Series MVP who in 2004 helped end the Curse of the Bambino by bringing the Boston Red Sox their first championship in 86 years. Ramirez was a dangerous hitter, winning the Sliver Slugger nine times, including eight straight seasons (1999-2006). A poster of the All-Star outfielder hung above Joe’s bed, and Ramirez was the recurring focus of the family trade speculation for the home team Mariners (“We would cream everybody,” Joe predicted).

That changed in 2009 when Ramirez, traded the previous season to the Los Angeles Dodgers, was suspended for 50 games as part of the league’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. That first strike turned Ramirez into a journeyman, playing for two more teams before Strike Two made him one of just three players to be hit with a 100-game suspension. He retired from Tampa Bay in 2011 instead of serving more time. Now with the Oakland A’s as a minor-leaguer, Ramirez is enduring a reduced 50-game suspension to start the 2012 season in an attempt to jump-start his career.

The Gullos effectively gave up on baseball in early summer 2009, about a month after the first Ramirez suspension was announced and before lawyers leaked a report that listed 103 major-league players — including Manny — who failed their drug tests in 2003. Their disinterest lasted about a year, until a pilgrimage to the hometown of a former star, the draw of spring training, and a growing relationship with minor-leaguer Dirk Hayhurst helped restore interest in the game.

One key moment came when Hayhurst gave voice to an answer Gullo had hoped his son would hear:

I wouldn’t take steroids because it’s cheating. Baseball is just a game and just a job. Anyone who tries to tell you that this is a magical experience is lying. Baseball is an entertainment experience. You have to wonder why you’d do something to yourself just to make a bunch of money and get paid. At the end of the day, there are more important things than what you did in a baseball game.

Hayhurst, whose quest to make the majors resulted in a writing career, was the most successful of several attempts by Gullo to get a direct response from baseball.

Although the game is recovering, the Steroid Era is trapped in baseball history. It cannot be Skazinskied, a term Joe learned at baseball camp where an entire career is expunged from the record books. When he shares his knowledge of baseball with kids in the neighborhood, Joe inevitably qualifies relevant statistics by including steroids in the conversation. He continues to question aberrant performances he sees. On Philip Humber’s recent perfect game, Joe admits: “If he tested positive, I wouldn’t be that surprised.”

Ramirez has been dethroned. Joe’s favorite player is Prince Fielder, the Detroit Tiger first baseman who may come the closest to feats of the Steroid Era sluggers. “For Joe, the juice era set the standard pretty high,” laments Jim. “A guy who doesn’t hit 55 home runs these days didn’t have a good year.”

“It’s always cool to watch somebody hit a homerun,” says Joe.

No Ton of Bricks

Steroids threatened Gullo’s ability to endorse the sport to his son in a way other scandals had not. Past drug problems seemed isolated (e.g., Darryl Strawberry or Steve Howe). Steroid abuse was everywhere at once.

“The Mitchell Report was shocking in its pervasiveness,” recalls Gullo, “that so many players were named and they represented such a cross-section of the game. If we had found out that 45% were testing positive for cocaine in the 1980s, that would have been a shocker. They were isolated instances.”

Even the “greenies” (amphetamines) of Jim Bouton’s Ball Four revelations in 1970 were different. “Nobody hit 70 home runs on greenies,” claims Gullo. “Darryl Strawberry didn’t hit .385 and win a triple crown because he was a cocaine user. The steroids took away the level playing field. They made a serious impact on the stats, which is really the foundation of the game. We can no longer compare Barry Bonds or Mark McGwire to Jimmie Foxx.”

The most problematic aspect of baseball’s response to steroids is the perceived absence of treatment. “When Strawberry had a cocaine issue, he was suspended and treated. People talked about it that he had a problem,” remembers Gullo. “Nobody has done that with the steroids guys. A-Rod was not put into a counseling program.”

“This all combines to make the steroid era a lot more sinister than it is given credit for,” says Gullo.

What turns a mistake into a scandal is an organization’s inability to respond. An NFL investigation revealed the New Orleans Saints operated a bounty system to reward players for hard hits and injuring opposing players. Then Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams got an indefinite suspension for his part in the scandal, which included giving speeches about who to hurt and where to hurt them and urging his team to stay silent about bounties. Commissioner Goodell sent a strong message by suspending coaches and players alike, and while his decisions drew fire — and did not address how widespread the practice may be — the actions taken by the Saints have been widely denounced.

“Seeing football’s response to this Saints scandal is telling,” says Jim Gullo. “They came down like a ton of bricks to a perceived problem. We haven’t seen that kind of response from baseball [about steroids] at any level.”

The position of commissioner was created to protect the integrity of sports. In 1921, Kenesaw Mountain Landis became the first commissioner of baseball specifically to deal with the Black Sox scandal, in which players on the Chicago White Sox conspired to throw the World Series. Landis banned everyone involved, including those who knew of the payoffs but did not speak up (e.g., Buck Weaver). Goodell’s ruling is not as heavy-handed as that of Landis, but it is clearly more than a warning shot over the bow of the NFL.

The Mitchell Report, however, arrived only with a promise of further investigation. “Discipline of players and others identified in this report will be determined on a case-by-case basis,” said MLB owner-turned-commissioner Bud Selig. In the league’s eyes, according to Gullo, only two cases (Jose Guillen and Jay Gibbons) warranted sanctions: a 15-day suspension.

In Trading Manny, Gullo likened Selig to a shop teacher that looks the other way in response to student transgressions. “A different person in charge with a different mandate from the owners would have handled it in a different way,” speculates Gullo, citing how Bart Giamatti handled Pete Rose’s gambling. “Baseball has not dealt with its scandals as punitively as football just did.”

Cheating won’t be stopped with better drug testing, argues Gullo. “It’s the culture of the game, a culture that all of us embrace, from the fans to the commissioners office. It still feels like that culture is, ‘Don’t get caught.’ I don’t think my book would have happened if they had done more.”

“It Scares Me as a Dad”

The rituals inherited by modern sport are not limited to tailgating, fireworks after home runs, and marking scorecards in ink. They also include the closed fraternities of the locker room and hazing of new members of that club. Technology, medicine and economics evolve the context of professional sports, begging the fraternity to change in kind. While strong traditions have the power to connect generations through shared experiences, the other edge is a reluctance to give up what is familiar for what may be right.

Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels exemplified this old school mindset by admitting to throwing at rookie outfielder Bryce Harper on purpose. The honesty drew a quick five-game suspension from the league, but the intentional violence — which likely also included the retaliatory third-inning pitch thrown by Jordan Zimmerman that hit Hamel at the plate — remains in the fabric of the sport. For an implicitly violent sport like football, that line is blurred.

Whereas steroids damaged the integrity of baseball stats, and did physical damage to the individuals who took them, the game of baseball can easily be played without PED. Football, on the other hand, becomes a different game if it turns out the only way to prevent concussions is to stop tackling. It isn’t enough to have a commissioner say emphatically not to intentionally injure other players. The NFL may need to do a significantly better job incorporating evolving brain science into their rules, equipment, and support after players leave the game.

Tony Dorsett is one of three Hall of Famers and over 300 former NFL players who are suing the league and helmet manufacturer Riddell for damages due to in-game concussions. Dave Duerson’s family has their own lawsuit to force these institutions to take responsibility for their role in chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), the progressive degenerative brain disease that leads to memory loss, aggression, depression, and dementia. To their credit, the NFL under Goodell is taking concussions more seriously, but the legal and economic implications are significant barriers to being more proactive about change.

Suicides of players like Duerson and Seau haven’t deterred some fathers from encouraging their sons to play the game. Others — like former NFL quarterback Kurt Warner — are more cautious.

Informed by his own experiences, Warner is taking a conservative approach with his own sons, one of which has already suffered a concussion playing football. In a statement that drew backlash from his peers, Warner told Dan Patrick that he would prefer his kids do not play football:

It scares me as a dad. I just wonder — I wonder what the league’s going to be like. I love that the commissioner is doing a lot of things to try to clean up the game from that standpoint and improve player safety, which helps, in my mind, a lot. But it’s a scary thing for me.

When a potential Hall-of-Fame quarterback hesitates to let his sons play his game, and when 8-year-old boys can spot unusual stats trends from the backs of baseball cards, professional sports need to endorse new traditions.

Talk to Your Kids

For sports geeks trying to infuse their geeklets with a preference for Sunday afternoon armchair quarterbacking while wrestling with dark side of sports, the only absolute is conversation. Here are four things to bring up with your kids while sitting on the couch or sideline watching a game together.

1) Expect help from your team
Seau’s suicide prompted new Bears wide receiver Brandon Marshall to turn the conversation from inevitable brain damage to leveraging community to provide better supports for mental health. “In sports,” he wrote in a Chicago Sun-Times editorial, “those who show they are hurt or have mental weakness or pain are told: ‘You’re not tough. You’re not a man. That’s not how the players before you did it.’”

When participating in sports, your child’s team includes more than the other kids who share the field, or the coach who guides the development of their skills. It includes family, non-sports friends, relatives, mentors, and domain experts. Speculate about the input A-Rod might have received from his own team in making his decision to take steroids, and where else he might have looked for better support. Make sure your child understands that a strong and diverse network is more resilient and usually more intelligent, but that it only brings dividends if they use it.

2) Good doesn’t excuse the bad
The criticism to Warner’s comments about his sons playing football might be summed up as, “You should be grateful about what football has given you.” It is not impossible for one to be both grateful and concerned. Acknowledge the many charities and causes that professional athletes are put in the position to endorse, and then ask whether those efforts could be directed toward addressing the warts of the sport.

3) Look harder for role models
The criteria for heroism shouldn’t be eclipsing the 50-homer mark in a single season. Sometimes, it is as simple as giving an honest answer, like Dirk Hayhurst did for Joe Gullo. The minor leagues are filled with stand-up and accessible players. Go to the smaller ballparks and find some.

Better yet, look for peers at the local level, someone with whom your kids can open a real dialogue. For as much athletic success Mesa Prep freshman Paige Sultzbach is bound to have over the next few years, she is probably looking for support from her network after the school’s opponent forfeited a championship game because the second baseman is a girl. It’s possible that those providing inspiration are also going to need some back.

4) Expect changes
When August rolls around, I plan to break out a new Peyton Manning Broncos jersey (after my Chicago Bears beat him, of course) and share his comeback story with my kids. I’ll enlist their help if GeekDad sports creates a fantasy football league, and I’ll scrimp for enough funds to take them to a live game in the fall. I will do so, however, with an eye on Tony Dorsett and the Duersons, and an expectation that the NFL will address their valid concerns.

If not, I’m sure my kids will help me point our antenna in another direction.

Cover to Fury's Big Week, issue #2

If you’ve already seen The Avengers multiple times and still want more, Marvel Comics has a solution.

For those wanting direct tie-ins for the movie, there’s Avengers Prelude: Fury’s Big Week. This stars the exact characters from the movie only it gives readers a glimpse into what happened prior to the movie’s events. The story weaves S.H.I.E.L.D.’s activities behind the scenes of the stories in Iron Man 2, The Incredible Hulk, and Captain America. Fans of Fury, Agent Coulson and, most prominently, the Black Widow will enjoy this.

Detailing events a little bit further in the past is Avengers: The Road to Marvel’s Avengers.. It contains the stories of the first two Iron Man movies, fills in some events in between the movies, particularly in providing background on the Black Widow, and includes a prequel to the events of Captain America’s tale.

In short, Black Widow fans are going to like these two books. Their only disadvantage is that they rely somewhat on a reader’s knowledge of the events in the Marvel movies.

Avengers Solo: Hawkeye collects Avengers Solo #1-5 and Avengers Academy #1-5. This is the Hawkeye from the comics, not Clint Barton from the movie, but their personalities are close. It’s a good story involving a long-ago conspiracy and crosses over with the kids attending the new Avengers Academy. Warning for new readers is that the Academy issues are somewhat steeped in Marvel history.

For a solo Black Widow adventure and a trip through her long Marvel history that’s also a great espionage tale, read Black Widow: Deadly Origin by Paul Cornell of Doctor Who fame. Great action and the story tells you all you need to know about Natasha Romanoff.

Captain America: Man Out of Time is so close to the movie Cap that many readers won’t notice the difference. It covers Steve’s reactions to waking up so long after he’s been presumed dead and his fear of the modern world, which can be summed up in Dorothy’s famous plea: “I want to go home.”

Iron Man has had a number of terrific stories throughout the years but I’m going to go very old school and recommend Demon in a Bottle because that, to me, is the essence of the character that embodied so well in the movies. Tony battles enemies, lovers and allies along with alcohol.

Thor’s recent solo series by J. Michael Straczynski puts the realm of Asgard in the American Midwest, leading to both a lot of trouble and a lot of fun as Asgardian and human customs collide. Those wanting more gods versus gods and mythology are going to find the Walt Simonson Thor collection has just what they want.

Hulk is somewhat of a problem for writers who want to go beyond “HULK SMASH!”

He’s used by Joss Whedon very effectively in the movie, and we all remember the television show, but I’ve never been that interested in his solo stories. However, Bill Mantlo’s take laid the groundwork for the more modern characterization of Bruce Banner and Peter David’s run on Hulk expanded the ideas first presented by Mantlo and Roger Stern. My favorite David story is Hulk: Future Imperfect which sends the most powerful force on the earth into the future where he encounters someone at his power level, only with far more experience.

Lots of Hulk smashing in that one.