By Jim Silver (Follow Jim on Twitter)
I’ve been playing sports since I was 5 years old. We would play football, basketball, softball, baseball, street hockey and stick ball. One of my favorite things to play was wiffle ball.
Throwing a wiffle ball allowed you to feel like a major league pitcher. Y
ou could throw rising and sinking fastballs, or a curveball that really broke. It’s one of the most underrated games ever made.
While the Wiffle ball continues to be popular, there’s a new version of the wiffle ball called the Junk Ball. The Junk Ball is the size of a real baseball, but you can pitch and make the ball do magical things. You can also buy cool accessories like a “Strike Zone” for calling balls and strikes.
For the young football fans, there’s nothing like the Vortex. Often a football is too big and difficult for smaller hands to throw. Young kids get frustrated and no longer want to play. The Vortex has a tail so the ball corrects itself to a spiral, and allows you to throw further. The first time I threw the original Vortex, I was able to throw the ball 67 yards (I have witnesses!). Instant gratification.
Sports toys are often underutilized. They introduce kids to different sports and allow them to have more success than if they were playing with the “pro” version.