Jerkball

From The Extended Group

Jerkball was an activity briefly popular towards the end of high school.

Origin

The game begin sometime around the summer between Junior and Senior year, and evolved out of situations in which there were two cars present at a group hangout, usually when meeting at a park or other outdoor public location. The "jerk car" would conspire among its members and then pile inside the vehicle (if not already there), and then would speed off after yelling to the bewildered remaining group members their intended destination.

Controversy

Unfortunately, there was almost always confusion when this activity was attempted, especially as the iterated rendezvous point was rarely heard or understood by those left behind. This lead to a series of frustrating episodes in which the initiating car would speed off to some destination (usually a school somewhere in Shoreline), and idle there with giddy anticipation, while the remaining group members would sit around and complain about "what jerks" the others were, assuming they had simply been ditched. The situation was doublely complicated by the fact that this was before most group members possessed cell phones, meaning that there was no way to resume communication once the group had separated.

Eventually jerkball activities led to increased hostility and tension within the group, and many began to call for it to end. The game was phased out in favor of more traditional "car tag" and eventually more sinister activities like Stuartball and Stuart Young Ball.