rohmen

Yesterday I was biking through a pretty bad part of town on a bike lane (near the United Center for those in Chicago) when two 11 or 12 year old kids (one of them carrying a soccer ball) started to jay walk across a four lane street a little bit ahead of me. Right after I pass them I hear a woosh sound past my left ear and see a soccer ball land in the street a few feet away. When I slowed down and looked back, I almost got hit in the face by two decent size rocks. Not sure if they were trying to knock me off the bike to take it, or just being stupid kids.

I did a hell of a lot of stupid things when I was young, but intentionally trying to hurt people wasn't one of them. Sorry for the rant, but it kind of kills the fun out of a ride when someone pulls this type of crap.

AGGRO

That would justify a 911 call. Keep them in sight and wait.

littlewaywelt

perfect example of parents not doing their jobs

Artkansas 

Well the soccer ball might have been stupid kids. But followed by rocks, the intent was definitely evil. It's a rough world.

timmhaan

some kids have an astonishingly evil streak to them. i remember one day seeing a small gathering of kids outside my apartment window. they were all yelling excitedly and shouting and kicking at something on the ground. when they finally left i saw a dead cat lying there on the sidewalk with it's head crushed in.

littlewaywelt

That type of behavior shouldn't be so easilly dismissed.
Abusing animals, bed wetting (post adolescence) and pyromania are all part of the triad for those that commit homicide. If they have two of the three they might be eligible for future serial killer status. This isn't stepping on ants. Killing a small mammal that most see as a defenseless and affectionate animal is indicative of a serious problem. In all seriousness, if you know the parents you might consider speaking to them while intervention is still possible.

alicestrong

...and seriously against the law.

Please do something if you witness this kind of abuse.

paulrad9

I don't know how to respond. There are so many things wrong with what they did

robmcl

I am not exactly sure where you were by the United Center but the Westen Ave. N. of the Ike area is where a cop was shot and another cop shot a kid trying to rob a pizza delevery guy in the last year. Not a nice part of town.

CommuterRun

So? Pick up the soccer ball, flip off the kids, and ride away.

oboeguy

Not sure if I posted this when it happened but... going north along the Hudson Greenway, next to the water treatment plant, Riverside Drive is a good, what, 50ft above with a convenient overlook for peds? Perfect location to toss a missile at a passing cyclist. Somebody barely missed me with a Snapple bottle or something (don't remember) this one time. Nobody visible by the time I was able to look back and up. People do stupid @#$% like that, it sucks.

timmhaan

no kidding. it was an incident that hurt me to see. i was, and still am, very shaken by it.

JonathanGennick 

Bed wetting?

Really?

Can you cite a source?

Edit: Never mind. Took about 30 seconds of Googling to find plenty of information. Bed wetting appears to be off the hook though. Here's what I found:

"A study done in 1940 attributed firesetting to fears of castration in young males, and speculated that adolescents who set fires do so to gain power over adults. The 1940 study is important also because it introduced the notion of an "ego triad" of firesetting, enuresis(bed-wetting), and cruelty to animals as a predictor of violent behavior in adult life. Subsequent studies have found that a combination of firesetting and cruelty to animals is a significant predictor of violent behavior in adult life, but that the third member of the triad (bed-wetting) is not."

The above quote is from https://www.minddisorders.com/Py-Z/Pyromania.html . The final sentence is key, asserting that bed wetting does not correlate to violent behavior as an adult.

Basically, violent and troubled kids grow up to be violent and troubled adults. I guess that's to be expected.

I_bRAD

haha.

aMull

That's horrible

quittaboy

Thanks for the heads-up. I take the Damen route past the United Center on my commute.

unkchunk

Did they miss do to accuracy or distance? In my day, we would have hit you at least twice, with in a twenty yard range. I mean jeeze... zero out of three is just plain pathetic! It's like missing a layup. Two out of three, that's 66.7%, was a minimum standard back then. One had to have at least an 80% hit rate to be considered a real juvenile delinquent. Slipping standards and the kids today... it just breaks my heart. I blame pro athletes, like Shaquille O'Neil with a 65% free throw percentage, that have set a poor example.

rohmen

It was around Damen and Lake, so technically right before the bike path starts on Damen heading north. You're right, the area is sketchy, but that is the first time I have ever had a problem and I have been biking that route a couple times a week for 4 or 5 months (its also pretty heavily traveled by other bikers). May look for an alternate route after this. Problem is Damen is one of the best streets to ride north on if you are that west of Halsted IMHO.

Their aim was piss poor luckily. I guess I could have called the cops, but given their attitude I'm sure its only a matter of time before they become intimately aquainted with the CPD.

1ply

You're right. No professional athlete who's 7 feet tall should be able to miss a basket which is almost twice the size of the ball from a distance of about 11 feet (one foot up and 10 across). Anyone can miss, just not 35% of the time

Almost goes with the other story on here where the cyclist shoots the motorist - 1/3 and in the shoulder - sad percentage there. And that's with something that you just point and shoot. From 10 feet away the driver should be dead. Three times.

robmcl

On second thought I don't want to scare you either. There is a group of commuters in Oak Park that ride east-west through all of the cr@py areas. Some of them have been doing it for years. Fortunetly I ride the other way and don't have to deal with it but I travel through it by car or El alot on the weekends.

Bklyn

As a fan of the beautiful game, though, I find it encouraging that they even had a soccer ball.
Silver lining, I know.

mupedalpusher

I would have to agree with the lack of parenting theory. We talk a lot at our house about being caring and kind! I truly believe there is a breakdown in families and that many kids are never taught to be nice. Think about the drivers who do stupid things to us when we ride our bikes. Theyintentionaly get too close, yell profanity, flip us off...it's probably their kids who threw rocks at you! Kids do learn by example.

bandrz

I've been in that part of town. It is a "hood" when I ride I REALLY try to avoid those areas. The people who live around there have no respect for anyone or even for themselves. Sad but very true.

sethw

I got a "hey, a white boy" while riding through my 'hood today.
But my wife and I have had stuff thrown at us before. Stupid. Stupid.

mwrobe1

Plus infinity. Its gotta be the "Westsider" wanna-be bad-***** mentality. Shoot, the people on the road and in the hoods down Marquette road from Marquette Park to the lakefront (on the weekends when I want to do a loop from my house to the lakefront path/Grant Park) have caused me NO problems.

Shoot, my commute route takes me through Cicero, Berwyn, and right past the LeClaire courts near Cicero and I-55. Never have had anyone do anything THAT asinine.