I remember when...

I was thinking the other day about things I missed about growing up.  Call me reflective.  Call them the good ol' days.  Maybe it's just because I'm now in my 40's.  Here are a few of my favorite reflections:

• I remember when a pack of Topps baseball cards cost .50 at Templeton's Grocery and the first card would have that bubble gum sugar on the face.  The gum was hard and lost it's taste after 3 minutes, but it was pure gold.
• I remember when the most risque show on television was The Dukes of Hazzard and mama's wished that Daisy would wear longer shorts.  
• I remember when baseball players were heroes because of their hard work and ability and not because of what substance they took.  You could see your favorite players stats without an asterisk next to them.  My heroes were Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, and the Big Red Machine.  Pete's character later caught up to him, but there was no better pure baseball player on the field during his time.
• I remember being a kid and playing outside from 9:00 in the morning till 9:00 at night.  It was 99 degrees, but we didn't care.  When it got hot, we drank from the water hose and stripped off our shirts.  We weren't as obese as kids are today mostly because we played outside all the time.  Mama didn't want us messing up the house, so we invented games.  We were Indiana Jones and Luke Skywalker and we loved it.
• I remember when the greatest advancement in video games was Space Invaders.  Atari has that difficult joystick that rubbed blisters on your hands, but to us, it was life-changing.  Without a doubt, the greatest video game to date is still "Super Tecmo Bowl".  The only rule was that nobody could be the Raiders because Bo Jackson was unstoppable.
• I remember when dinner was something that your parents actually cooked and expected you to eat at a table in the dining room instead of fast food out or in front of the TV.  I remember that I was expected to eat things that I didn't think I liked and that didn't taste as good as chicken nuggets and Mac n Cheese.  However, if it was put on the table, I was expected to eat it anyway because it was the right thing to do.
• I remember when playing baseball as a kid was about having fun, playing your best, and if you did really well, your team won the league and got a trophy.  I never played in a league where everyone got a trophy.  I also never played in a league where the best players were pulled out to create star teams that travelled around like mini-pros with extreme pressure to win.  I remember that it felt good to win and felt bad to lose, but either way, those feelings were usually gone by the time we got to McDonald's for dinner.
• I remember my dad waking me up at 6:00 on Thursday mornings in the summer to give me a sausage biscuit and take me fishing.  We would fish in the hot sun and catch more brim and crappie than we imagined and then take them to the widow ladies on his postal route.  
• I remember when the only time you got to watch cartoons was Saturday morning because there were no 24-hour kids channels.  My idols were the Justice League of America and Scooby-Doo, not Hanna Montana and the Jonas brothers.  I also remember the thrill of getting the fall TV Guide to see what new Saturday morning cartoons were coming.  "Captain Caveman?  What's that about?"

These are just a few things I remember.  What about you?