Please ban BASKETBALLS!

I'm sorry, but I have to find it funny when you post on the internet to complain that you got hit with a basketball. It's not like we're talking hitting you in the face at 50 MPH, we're talking about getting bumped with a rogue basketball.

Well, I'm guessing that if you had a child who was struck with a ball, your opinion on this would be quite different.

What? Isn't that how most people strike their children? ;)

It was actually an employee that started this off complaining about basketballs, and after working at the park in 2004, I have to agree. Basketballs suck. I hate them. I wish I could shoot each and every one of them flat.

Ben,

It's Glock time.

and Bersa time, too :)

hehe.... I was just thinking about how rounds cost too much. :( Maybe if we lined them up and took a shot...

Oh yeah, that's right. Yours is drastically more expensive to fire than mine. :)

Well, you can use mine then. Ammo is around $6 a box.

I think that it would make things a bit easier and more convinient if they would give you the choice to get your prize then or a certificate or something to show when you leave, like at a big prize-give-away-thingy, that way when you did win your 4-foot tall Spongebob (or hellraising basketball), you didn't have to lug him around for an entire day.

Lugging it around is the point, though.

That way people see it and think "oh man, I want to play that game so I can win that prize, too."

I doesn't work that way with vouchers.

I still think that giving away deflated basketballs would do the trick.

I say just make the basketball game harder to win. As it stands I think it is too easy (judging by the number of basketballs I see even on slow days). Make it harder and people will spend more money but we won't see as many basketballs.

djDaemon said:
Well, I'm guessing that if you had a child who was struck with a ball, your opinion on this would be quite different.

How hard can you be "struck" with a dribbling basketball? It's not gonna cause a bruise or anything, it doesn't even hurt.

And Jugga, maybe we're all just really good and/or spend lots of money. ;)

Bull**** a basketball doesn't hurt. I was shooting baskets the other day and someone took a shot and it bounced off my head. It hit so hard it cracked my neck.

It may not surt you if it's being dribbled, but when its being "passed" and/or thrown in the air, they pack a punch, especially to a small child.

Once again, I don't have a problem with dribbling at all. I just don't like show offs.

Ryan Mahaffey said:

All in all, basketballs are a horrible prize. Of course, so is a 5 foot tall stuffed Stewie or Brian from "The Family Guy" but who am I to argue?

It is called Family Guy not "The Family Guy" and Why Family Guy? What is so wrong with someone having a dog from a cartoon show, or a main character from a cartoon show? Just because its a cartoon show not made for little kids. There are other people then little kids at the park, that love that show including me. In facts its one of my favorite shows.

Now with basketballs if I was an employee and a person refuse to not bring his basketball on the ride, then I would say to that person that I would hold it but the truth would be that I wouldn't because I would hit him with it and then it will bounce back to me and then I would throw out of the station. I'm joking on the basketball thing of course. It would be nice to see some of the guests who are jackasses at the park get hit (not to hard to be injured) by a basketball.

Also, to the people on this board who has been hit with a basketball at Cedar Point? I know haven't, in fact I hardly see people have them at Cedar Point. Yes, I can see why people dribble basket balls in line, its because they have something to do. If a basketball hits you while it is being dribble it doesn't hurt, duh!. If its being thrown at you really hard then yeah it would hurt, you dont have to be a rocket scientist to figure that one out.

CP4eva'04 said:
Maybe if kids were taught common courtesy then maybe the problem would be solved.

That has to be taught by their parents, just like how their parents don't want to have their kids watch cartoon shows that they think are bad, they need to teach their kids or the parents need to change the station, or turn the TV off and do something. Another example is that their parents maybe need to watch their kids more at the park of the don't want their kid to have a stuffed toy from a cartoon show.
*** Edited 6/23/2006 6:16:52 AM UTC by MichiganStateFan***

Fastball84 said:

How hard can you be "struck" with a dribbling basketball? It's not gonna cause a bruise or anything, it doesn't even hurt.

Whether it hurts or not is irrelevant. For instance, if someone came up and pushed a child for no reason, would the parent get upset? Of course. Is the child hurt? No, but that certainly doesn't give someone the right to push him or her. And, if it were my kid that got hit by a basketball, I would launch that thing somewhere where it would never be retreived, and if the tosser of said ball had a problem, I would quite likely end up getting kicked out of the park.

I have no problem with people winning basketballs, and don't really mind people dribbling them around the park, when its appropriate (i.e. little or no crowds, nobody in close proximity, etc). However, it seems that most people under the age of 25 have no concept of what is and is not appropriate behavior.

Has anyone on here, on this forum ever been hit with a basketball at Cedar Point? I'm not talking about being hit in line while someone is dribbling the ball, that only hits your feet and didn't really hurt. I mean did anyone seriously get hurt by it? I know I haven't, and I'm know pretty sure that many other people haven't as well.
*** Edited 6/23/2006 11:47:49 AM UTC by MichiganStateFan***

You're missing the point. Completely.

Why should it have to hurt for it to matter? (that's a rhetorical question, by the way) I don't want to have to worry about getting hit by a ball, just as someone else doesn't want to have to worry about me peeing on their leg. Does pee hurt?

I actually don't have a problem with anyone winning a basketball and bouncing them around to themselves. The people I have a problem with are the ones that throw the basketballs to each other or actually try to play a game on the midways without any regard for anyone around them.

I have a 4 month old son and its my responsibility to see to it that his head doesn't get dented by a flying ball. If that means a basketball finds its way into the lagoon or in their rectum then so be it.

If the CP Police cracked down on the idiots who try to play a game on the midways I don't see any reason to ban them all completely. Although, it usually takes one idiot to ruin the fun for everyone now does it?

~Rob Willi

How many times at Cedar Point have you seen people, bounce around Basketball in the amusement park? I haven't seen it much.

Based on the comments in this thread, I would think its safe to assume its been seen too much.

They're more hassle than they're worth at a ride's entrance. After several dozen (oftentimes heated) confrontations a day involving basketballs, I think alternative ideas are worth discussing.

I like the idea of giving away deflated basketballs, this way they can be more easily stored. I thought momentarily a prize voucher system might work, except it would suck the fun out of games.

Basketballs were at the center of lots of spats between entrance employees and guests when I was working. It sucked for employees and guests alike because guests got (a) deservedly irate being told to walk hither and yon to find a locker for themselves or (b) deservedly upset when they discovered that, in spite of asking nicely, we simply could not ballsit for them (because it would set a nasty precedent involving half-eaten Dippin' Dots and pretzels. Ick.) Our solution in the latter case was to find a starry-eyed tyke and "surprise" them with a brand new basketball, which, to the basketball's original owner, was akin to us wasting their money. Not good.

I never thought any of this worked out very well, but I think people might be more inclined to keep a locker and less inclined to, say, dribble and work on their free-throw form if the ball didn't have air in it.

I don't necessarily think deflated basketballs is a great solution by any means, but if it means less people get hit by them, trip on them, have them handed away, lose them, throw them, dribble them, or get angry because employees can't watch over them, then it might not be the worst idea ever.