The Michigan Daily I michigandaily.com I Thursday, October 21, 2010

weekend
essentials
Oct. 21 to Oct. 24
ON STAGE
"(UofM)2," an exhibit
featuring works by
MFA students at the
University of Minne-
sota and the University
of Michigan, opened
this week at the War-
ren Robbins gallery.
The exhibit, which will
move to Minneapolis
in January, discusses
broad themes like the
exchange of ideas and
dialogue between indi-
viduals and institutions.
"(UofM)2" will be on
display here until Nov.
12. Admission is free.
AT THE MIC
Celebrate Halloween
early tomorrow by
watching local bands
dress up as famous
bands at the Blind Pig's
annual Halloween Band
Masquerade. Tomor-
row's show will feature
Suicide By Cop as Black
Flag, Counter Cosby as
Primus, Bantha Fodder
as Weezer and Deet-
rick Furrys as Ween.
Doors are at 9:30 p.m.
Tickets start at $7.

The Michigan Quidditch Team beats, seeks keeps and
chases its way to victory and fandom
By Proma Khosla 1 Daily Arts Writer

FILM
You know who you are.
You have a pair of fish-
net stockings in your
closet. You fight the
urge to yell "Asshole!"
and "Slut!" at every
movie you see. And
every time you jump
to the left, you always
take a step to the right.
You're a member of the
"Rocky Horror Picture
Show" cult, and this
Friday and Saturday,
the State Theater
will indulge your sick
pleasures with the
help of The Tickled
Fancy Burlesque Com-
pany. From $10; shows
start at 11:30 p.m.
CONCERT
The University's Sym-
phony Band, Concert
Band and the Michi-
gan Marching Band
are "band"-ing togeth-
er for the Band-O-
Rama Dance Mix this
Saturday at Hill Audi-
torium. Expect great
tunes that will get you
on your feet before
you can say "Go Blue!"
Tickets are avail-
able at the League
Ticket Office or
online. From $5; show
starts at 7:30 p.m.

Inthe shaded seclusion of Nichols Arbore-
tum, a few shouts break nature's silence.
"Brooms down, eyes closed!" calls out
LSA junior Emily Byl. "The Snitch is released!"
And so begins a game of Michigan Quidditch.
Of course, Quidditch is the beloved wizard
sport in J. K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" books,
but it's sneaking into the Muggle world. The
'U' team is amongthe most recentlyregistered
in the - wait for it - International Quidditch
Association.
"This actually started two summers ago
when my friends and I were really good
friends with someone from Eastern (Michi-
gan University)'s team," Byl said. "We were
looking and looking and trying to find our
Quidditch team, and we realized that it didn't
exist."
In the year that followed, Byl and her
friends familiarized themselves with the IQA
* rulebook, which specifies everything from
forbidden maneuvers to standardized brooms.

In September, they set up a Michigan Quid-
ditch table at Festifall on the Diag.
"Festifall drew way more support than we
had ever fathomed," Byl said. "We realized
there was a niche for it because a couple peo-
ple e-mailed me right when the group started
- whenIregistered thegroup, I got 1Oe-mails
frompeople who were interested - but we had
about 300 people at Festifall register. It was
absurd. Our booth was continuously crowded
with people and we really weren't quite ready
for that capacity of interest."
"To me, it just sounded interesting because
youwonder how they translate thegame," said
LSA freshman Robert Morgan, who signed up
at Festifall. "Obviously we don't have magic
and can't fly, soI was like, 'Wow, how are they
gonna pull this one off?'"
As it turns out, there aren't too many dif-
ferences between the wizard and Muggle ver-
sions of Rowling's sport. College Quidditch
still has seven players: three chasers, two

beaters, a seeker and a keeper. On either end
of the pitch are the goals, each made of three
hula hoops duct-taped to tiki torches and
wedged in the ground. The Quaffle is used to
score, and the Bludgers (three instead of two)
are used to hit and confuse other players. For
these, the Michigan players currently use
dodgeballs featuring Disney characters. The
greatest challenge posed by bringing Quid-
ditch to life is the Snitch.
"The concept behind the Snitch is that it's
essentially ... a runner," Byl explained. "Some-
one dressed in all yellows or bright colors."
The "Snitch Runner" sticks atube sock con-
taining a tennis ball into his or her pants.
"So to catch the Snitch you have to grab the
ball out of the Snitch's pants," Byl said. "The
Snitch can hide, the Snitch can climb trees ...
it's pretty fun."
At the moment, LSA freshman Mark Wag-
ner plays the part of the Snitch. Wagner ran
cross country in high school and participated

in the Detroit Free Press Marathon this past
Sunday, so playing Snitch came easily to him.
"This is a good way to stay in shape," Wag-
ner said. "Igo on runs too, but this way I just
get to run around the Arb and have people
chase me."
Catching the Snitch ends the game and
earns the respective Seeker's team 50 points.
In the books, catching the Snitch is worth
150 points, but the IQA feels that this puts too
much pressure on Seekers and risks trivializ-
ing the rest of the game.
Though the IQA began as the Intercol-
legiate Quidditch Association, it changed
its name to reflect the participation of high
schools and institutions in other countries. To
date, the IQA has registered more than 400
colleges and 300 high schools everywhere
from the United States to New Zealand.
When Byl and her teammates began scrim-
mages in the Arb, the team drew quite a bit of
See QUIDDITCH, Page 4B

PHOTOS BY ARIEL BOND, DESIGN BY MARISSA MCCLAIN