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	Skully-playing Yogi shows man can't live by baseball alone.

The coming and going of these "minor seasons" was one of great mysteries of childhood. What made something appear in the neighborhood and then just pass on? Take tops. All of a sudden it was "top" season (as in "spinning like a top"), and each one of us would just have to have one. We'd go down to the store, buy a top, break it, buy another, break it and within a week or two, no longer care because it was no longer top season. Perhaps we were now on to yo-yos or had declared something else entirely like "punch ball season."

So what brought it about? TV commercials weren't as pervasive back then. Was it the candy store guy pushing a promotion from one of the toy companies? Our own theory is that aliens from a super advanced civilization were experimenting with various methods of mind control to see how they could infect the youth and later control our planet. Interesting theory, but tough to prove. In the meantime, we're going to fly a kite while bouncing on a pogo-stick and doing the hoola hoop.

Talk about your favorite outdoor toys and games in our discussion area!