The summer celebration of Independence Day, along with the hopeful departure of monsoon season here in the Buckeye State, are the inspirations for another "10-4 Good Buddy" list: The Top 10 picnic/beach leisure games over the last four decades. The emphasis here is leisure: no activities that create sweat-soaked T-shirts or Kevin Durant Achilles ruptures.

No. 10: QUARTERBACK TOUCHDOWN. While doing my research for this hard-hitting piece of journalism, I came across this game where you throw mini-footballs at an upright target of nine pockets arranged like a tic-tac-toe board. I was a kid who spent endless hours throwing balls against walls and garage doors. I even pitched to the living room couch once as a first-grader, which led to a high fastball going right through a large window. I already have a big crush on this ball-chucking target game. I better bring along my No. 19 Bernie Kosar jersey.

No. 9: KAN JAM. You throw Frisbees at a black can that resembles a flat snow sled before assembly. You either thread the flying disc through a tiny rectangular slot in the can (an occurrence that is as rare as a Hue Jackson coaching victory), or have your partner bat errant throws into the top of the open can. My lack of Frisbee skills taint my view of this game.

No. 8: CUP-STICK. Another Frisbee-based game (I don't know the actual title) where you throw your target a stick with a red Solo cup at the top. You hope to knock the cup off the stick. If I remember correctly, the opposition is then supposed to try to catch the descending cup. My knowledge of this game is limited due to my aforementioned Frisbee phobia, I do know that you are required by sports law to be holding a beverage while playing.

No. 7: SPIKE BALL. I have new-found respect for this game after a recent Panama City beach visit where I was a chaperone during a high school church camp. Two brief takeaways from this trip: 1. A 20-hour bus trip is about as miserable as watching Kenny Britt or Dwayne Bowe as Browns receivers, as rare as it was to see that happen. 2. Like previous generations, high school boys are complete slobs when living without motherly supervision.

Anyhow, this game basically follows the rules of volleyball. But instead of hitting over a net, you and your partner have up to three hits to bounce a ball off of a mini-trampoline.

No. 6: CROQUET. A set of mallets and colored balls was once a staple of every garage in America. You gotta get your ball through the wire hoops, hit the wooden stick, and eventually become "poison." I remember that the best part was placing your own ball -- while also stepping on it -- against an opponent's ball and then hammering their ball across the yard by incorporating Newton's Three Laws of Motion.

No. 5: LADDER BALL. Known as "Hillbilly Horseshoes" in more refined pockets of the nation, this is the game where toss two rubber golf balls connected by a string at a plastic three-tiered ladder in hopes of wrapping the string around one of the steps. Gotta put on your thinking cap to keep track of the scoring.

No. 4: JARTS. Lawn darts were the perfect embodiment of the carefree 1970s, when seat belts were a widely considered to be an inconvenience, bike helmets were practically non-existent, and children would be sent outside to roam the neighborhood unsupervised from dawn to dusk. The object of this game was to try to toss your large dart into a round yellow hoop. Early versions of these projectiles had heavy metal tips before eventually converting to plastic. It was a very fun game, but errant shots into wandering, unsuspecting children led to injuries, lawsuits, and the eventual extinction of this classic game.

No. 3: HORSESHOES. The grand daddy of almost every game on this list. Your goal is to get a ringer, where you wrap your metal shoe around the stake. I remember my childhood hometown actually having a horseshoe league. This game has now fallen largely out of style due to the jart-like dangers, as well as having to dig up your yard some to create proper landing pits.

No. 2: BOCCE. This all-time classic is still popular today. The goal is to see which team can roll their colored balls closest to the little white ball (the pallino). I recently watched a tournament battle at an Italian-American festival. I got a kick out of watching partners in deep strategic discussions before each roll. The gray-haired veterans ended up schooling a pair of Millennials.

No. 1: CORNHOLE. This recent upstart has quickly become the undisputed king of backyard games. You can even watch it on ESPN. One thing that I have learned from viewing the pros is whoever gets to 21 OR MORE first wins. There is no going backwards for going over the 21, the way we amateurs do at backyard cookouts. However, as a math teacher, I do appreciate the mathematical thinking that is encouraged by those house rules.

No. 1 in the year 2030: BEAMO. I created this game during a boring day at the beach, and expect it to spread like a diaper rash once this article gets out to the masses. All you need is a heavy cloth Beamo flying disc about 20 inches wide with a 10-inch hole in the middle. Your partner throws it to you from about 25 feet away. You get one point for catching it, and three points by catching it with only your head. And if you catch it either without having to move your feet to chase it down, you double the points.

You will thank me when you try this at your next get-together. I eventually expect to be inserted onto the Mount Rushmore of game creators along with Milton Bradley, Dr. James Naismith and Carl Cornhole.