Do kids no longer have basketball hoop in their yard?

[Snackmaster]

I see those portable hoops around town, but most of them look broken and unused. When I was a kid, we played football, basketball and baseball for hours. I hardly ever see kids outside throwing a ball around around town. Are they all playing video games or on their phones?

[RamenAddict]

Originally Posted by rokuremote

Never liked those, you're just asking for garage door damage.

Not to mention that a lot of people don’t or can’t place their cars into the garage- and it’s wildly impractical to use them if your cars are parked in front of the garage. I am also in the Chicago suburbs and they are popular, but typically the portable ones on the side of the driveway nearer to the sidewalk. If you miss, it just goes into the yard and not the door or possibly a window depending on how the garage is oriented.

[wac_432]

Originally Posted by Snackmaster

I see those portable hoops around town, but most of them look broken and unused. When I was a kid, we played football, basketball and baseball for hours. I hardly ever see kids outside throwing a ball around around town. Are they all playing video games or on their phones?

Can't speak to other kids.

Ours are practicing ballet, swimming, piano, a second language, and team basketball.
When they are home, they are studying, eating, reading, or sleeping.

When I play basketball with them, we walk, ride, or drive down to the local middle school. They have a half-dozen full-sized concrete courts and hoops where we can play full 2-on-1 games.

The same thing applied to playgrounds after they passed the age of 2. Instead of wasting money on a rinky-dink home playset, we went to parks with big expansive playgrounds and lots of other kids to play with.

The parks in our town are pretty busy. The basketball courts at the highschool are in pretty much constant use. The ones at the elementary and middle schools are emptier, but I think that's because nobody with kids can afford to live in those parts of town.

If you're anyplace even somewhat urban or suburban, there are probably parks or schools nearby with better courts than a hoop hung over a garage. I would guess that is where the kids are. If you are in a high COL area, it's likely that parents are opting for public parks/pools/courts over the expense of installing smaller/lesser-quality ones at home. Those old broken freestanding hoops are probably leftovers from a bygone era.

[Ceece]

The ones on the house are too loud, the freestanding ones tend to be abandoned for years before being removed, the nets are always the first thing to go so they end up looking trashy. At one point we had 4 in a cul-de-sac with 11 houses, now we don't have any. I've been in my house 32 years so I'm familiar with the cycle...

[Signs9]

My next door neighbors have one in their driveway and I can hear them using it every morning before they go to school and in the evenings as well. They are a family with three boys ranging from 9 to 14 and all three are heavily into baseball. Their lives are all about baseball so if they weren't gone all the time at games and practices, I'm sure I would hear the pounding of the basketball more often.