Missing sports? They’re still safe at home

OK, we don’t have any live sports to watch or play. But that doesn’t mean we can’t make our own, right?

If you’re struggling to figure out how to have a ball in the comfort of your own living room, driveway or yard - here are some ideas.

Nerf Basketball — Really, Nerf anything. Remember the epic battles you had on the Nerf hoop in your youth? Doctor J’s Rock-the-Baby jam had nothing on that Superfly Snuka-inspired leap from your bed to the closet. Everyone transforms into the Incredible Hulk of indoor dunk artists when they’re playing Nerf basketball. (“Don’t make me angry … you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.”)

Just watch out for the fans. They’re vicious.

Not the cheering kind. The ceiling fan kind.

Wallball — Sometimes known as Butts Up or Spread Eagle, depending on where you grew up. I suspect the rules also differ from town to town, but here’s how we played it when I was a kid.

You toss a palm-sized ball — like a pink bouncer or a tennis ball — at a wall, preferably a brick wall outside a house or building. Players catch the ball with one hand, and toss it back at the wall. Should it bounce or skip before it hits the wall, you have to run touch the wall before one of the other players throws the ball off the wall. If you don’t make it, that’s a strike against you. Three strikes, and you head to the wall and assume the position — spread eagle as players take turns trying to pelt you with the ball.

When we played this in the schoolyard, I kid you not, we’d have teachers join the mix whenever a kid had to take his licks. Especially if that kid was a class troublemaker.