1097852 As a youth we used to ride our bikes off the dock at my family's property south of Seattle. We may have invented X Games but there was no cable then so we weren't able to exploit this for any financial gain. Plus, it was murder trying to swim to the bottom and retrieve the bikes. We learned from this experience and made key adjustments. The next phase of our extreme game had us tying a rope to the bike and then fastening that to a ladder on the dock. At some point the rope would become fully extended and this would be injurious to our young necks. CHILDREN SHOULD NOT BE AS DUMB AS WE WERE. NO ONE SHOULD EVER DO THIS. To keep from being injured we would time our jumps and disembark from our Sting Rays (those were bikes back in the late 60s, kids) before the rope became fully extended. No one was ever hurt. At that game. Dumber still and something NO ONE SHOULD EVER DO was when we threw rocks at each other on the street while riding bikes. The rock throwers were prohibited from throwing their rocks at anything higher than the bike tires. This was because we wanted to play it safe. Sadly for me, one of my friends wasn't an expert thrower. He hit me in the head with his rock. It bled. I drove my Sting Ray full bore down our gravel driveway (which we later used for pretend horse racing--tree branches acted as whips) to my sister Nancy for medical attention. These days one facing such a situation would call 9-1-1 or at least check in with the family doctor. Nancy put a wet towel on my head. Other than that, Nancy was very protective of me and used to take us to Valu-Mart to purchase Wiffle Ball equipment. <p> <object width="440" height="361"><param name="movie" value="http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/player.swf?mediaId=3792173"/><param name="wmode" value="transparent"/><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"/><embed src="http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/player.swf?mediaId=3792173" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="440" height="361" allowScriptAccess="always"></embed></object><p> I never know if people read these before or after seeing the new episode. If you've seen the episode all of this daredevil behavior description makes total sense. If not, please click on our little episode and it will. If not, the key thing to remember is do not drive your Sting Ray off your parent's dock if it is attached to a rope and don't have your friends throw rocks at your bike unless your friends have more accurate arms than mine did. <p> I'm not absolutely certain, but I think on New Year's Eve a guy is going to jump over 500 school buses while on a Sting Ray attached by rope to my parent's dock. I know my sister Nancy is not involved. I think Joe Tessitore is going to be the host of the program and I know it is in Las Vegas because Joe loves to play casino craps. Press the Hardways Joe. <p> Speaking of nothing why does the front page bio on me suggest I went to high school for like six years? I may be stupid at this point but back then I'm certain I was sharp enough to get through 10-12th grades in three years. Somebody should maybe change that. But don't change it until this is printed because no one will know what I'm talking about. true 2008-12-26T10:44:27Z 75626 1 2008-12-26T10:44:27Z