KANSAN.COM / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / THURSDAY, APRIL 29. 2010 / SPORTS
MLB
7B
Students recreate Quidditch for muggles
UWIRE
POUGHKEEPSIE, NY - A player scoops up the ball and starts to sprint towards the goal. Juking past potential assailants and vicious adversaries, the player eyes the target and rears back, ready to score.
Suddenly, "WHAM!" a flying blur appears out of nowhere, blindsiding the player, and leveling him to the ground. The player smashes into a soggy puddle of brown mud and wet grass, sliding a few feet until finally collapsing on the ground in a heaping mess of limbs, dirt, and broomsticks. Broomsticks? That's right, this scene did not take place at a Rugby game — it unfolded during a quidditch match Sunday as a part of The Second Annual Butterbeer Classic at Vassar College.
A sport that is derived from J.K. Rowling's famed Harry Potter
series, the muggle form of quidditch was invented in 2004 by students at Middlebury College, and has been growing in popularity on college campuses throughout the country. Vassar has developed its own following here, hosting the second iteration of its tournament, the Butterbee Classic on Sunday.
Vassar's squad, the "Butterbeer Brooers," took the title in the round robin tournament, but many agreed the day was more about making friends and living out childhood wizardry fantasies.
Though J.K. Rowling clearly defines the rules of quidditch in her books, things become kind of complicated for those who can't do magic. Poor muggle who want to engage in the sport have to find ways around their fortunate shortcomings, thus, the rules to the land-based game are slightly different that the one's in the wizarding world.
Like in the books, each team has
seven players on the field: three chasers, two beaters, a keeper, and a seeker. Chasers move the "quaffle," which is usually a soccer or volleyball, downfield and attempt to throw it through one of the other team's three mounted
nua hoops, which is defended by a keeper. If the chasers prove successful their team is awarded 10 points. Opposing Chasers are charged with tackling the ball carrier or stripping them in order to obtain possession, while all players must
Bossert. "Naturally, there are
sound to be some injuries."
Three students were taken off the field in ambulances at the Quidditch World Cup at Middlebury College earlier this year. Watching the action play
"Quidditch is, somewhat surprisingly,a rather intense sport."
hold onto their broomsticks at all times. This is where the game gets interesting.
"Quidditch is, somewhat surprisingly, a rather intense sport," said sophomore captain Daniel
DANIEL BOSSERT Vassar College student
out is like watching a combination of handball, dodge ball, basketball, and rugby all meshed into one.
ever ball they are holding and run back to their own hoop, symbolizing the amount of time it would take to fall of an aerial broom and remount.
Two beaters on each team can use "bludgers" (kick-balls) to pelt the other team. After being hit by a bludger, a player must drop what-
While all of this is going on, the
seekers have an important mission — to catch the snitch.
"While Rowling's snitch is a magical, flying, walnut-sized golden ball, a muggle snitch is a cross country runner dressed in a ridiculous amount of golden and yellow clothing with a tennis ball in a sock tucked in the back of his or her shorts," said sophomore captain Molly St. Clair.
The Snitch is encouraged to taunt, dance and anger the seekers.
The Snitch can be caught anywhere, however he is encouraged to return to the field every 10 to 15 minutes so everyone can witness the spectacle of the chase.
"While my inner nerd and my outer athlete brought me to the Butterbeer Broooers," St. Clair said, "it was the glorious people I met on the team that kept me there."
Ethan Shanley writes for The Miscellany News at Vassar College
MLB
Angels win with ninth-inning bunt
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Howie Kendrick's bunt single with two outs in the ninth run drove in the winning run, and the Los Angeles Angels beat the Cleveland Indians 4-3 Wednesday.
Torii Hunter hit a tying, three-run homer in the sixth, then legged out a double leading off the ninth against Joe Smith (0-1).
Hideki Matsui was intentionally walked and reliever Rafael Perez got Kendry Morales to ground into a double play, moving Hunter to third. After an intentional walk to Juan Rivera, Kendrick surprised reliever Chris Perez and everyone else with a push bunt to the right of the mound.
Angels closer Brian Fuentes (1-1) got the win with a scoreless ninth, retiring Asdrubal Cabrera on a flyball and Grady Sizemore
on a groundout with runners at the corners.
Indians starter Jake Westbrook allowed three runs and four hits over six innings. The 32-year-old right-hander is still looking for his first victory since undergoing Tommy John surgery on June 12, 2008, and sitting out the entire 2009 season. He is 0-2 with a 5.53 ERA in five starts this year.
Hunter, who came in 10-for-41 lifetime against Westbrook with no home runs, hit his second homer of the season. He connected after a one-out single by Erick Aybar and a walk to Bobby Abreu.
Westbrook retired his first 11 batters before giving up a two-
out single in the fourth to Hunter — one of only two players in the Angels' starting lineup who faced him on Apr. 8, 2008 at Anaheim, when he got his last victory in the majors with a complete-game 4-3 decision over Ervin Santana.
Santana allowed three runs and six hits over 6 2-3 innings and struck out eight. He remains 0-6 lifetime against the Indians with a 5.71 ERA in eight career starts — including a 13-4 loss at Cleveland in his major league debut back in 2005, when he gave up a triple, double, single and home run to his first four batters.
Austin Kearns, who homered and drove in five runs during the Indians' 9-2 win Tuesday night, led off the second inning with a double for his 10th hit in a span of 20 at-bats. He advanced Travis Hafner's groundout and scored the game's first run on Jhonny Peralta's sacrifice fly.
Indians No. 9 hitter Lou
Marson doubled off the top of the 18-foot wall in right center leading off the Indians' two-run sixth. Manager Manny Acta came out to ask the umpires to look a replay to determine whether it was a home run, but the call by second base ump Paul Schrieber stood following a short trip to the video room.
Marson scored on an RBI single by Sizemore that snapped an 0-for-13 drought. Shin-Soo Choo beat out a bad-hop single before Santana walked Kearns and hit Hafner on the foot with an 0-2 pitch with the bases loaded to give the Indians a 3-0 lead.
Angels manager Mike Scioscia was ejected by third base umpire Rob Drake in the second inning. Drake ruled on an appeal that Matsui's bat had inadvertently crossed the plane of home plate as he skipped out of the way of an 0-1 pitch at his feet and tried to brace his fall with his left hand.
MLB
Twins beat Tigers after six-run inning
DETROIT — Brandon Boesch hit a go-ahead double shortly after a disputed play that got Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire ejected, and the Detroit Tigers rallied for six runs in the sixth inning to beat the Minnesota Twins 11-6 Wednesday night.
The Twins took an early 6-1 lead, and still led by a run in the sixth. With one out and a runner on first, Johnny Damon hit a deep drive and center fielder Denard Span appeared to make a running catch.
Span, however, lost the ball after taking two steps in the left-center field alley. After a lengthy discussion, the umpires ruled Span hadn't held the ball long enough for an out, and Gardenhire was tossed for arguing the call.
Detroit's rally started in the fourth when Inge led off with a homer. Damon added an RBI groundout later in the inning and Ordonez followed with a two-run single.
Associated Press
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Phillies win 7-6, avoiding sweep
SAN FRANCISCO — Wilson Valdez doubled home the go-ahead run in the 11th inning, jayson Werth's three-run double with two outs in the ninth rallied Philadelphia after Tim Lincecum left the game, and the Phillies beat the San Francisco Giants 7-6 on Wednesday to avoid their first sweep of 2010.
Ryan Howard snapped a career high 65 at bat homerless streak in the fifth when he sent the first
MLB
pitch from Lincecum into the left-field seats.It was Howard's first homer since agreeing Monday to a $125 million, five-year contract extension.
Linecum, the two-time reigning NL Cy Young Award winner, struck out 11 in outdueling Cole Hamels and was poised to win his fifth straight start to begin the year until closer Brian Wilson blew it.
Nate Schierholtz had an RBI double in the bottom of the 11th for his career-high fifth hit but it wasn't enough on a day the Giants stranded 16 baserunners.
The reigning NL champion Phillies avoided their first fourgame skid since dropping four straight at Houston last Sept. 4-7. They fell out of at least a share of first place in the NL. East for the first time all season Tuesday night and wrapped up a disappointing 4-5 road trip.
MLB
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Toronto, which has lost nine of 12, was shut out for the second time in four games.
Darnell McDonald scored one run and drove in another to help the Red Sox win their sixth straight game in Toronto. The Red Sox swept consecutive series of three games or more in this city for the first time since 1981 and 1982.
TORONTO — Ion Lester struck out 11 in seven innings and the Boston Red Sox beat the Toronto Blue jays 2-0 Wednesday night to complete a three-game sweep.
Jonathan Papelbon worked the ninth for his seventh save.
Red Sox hold Blue Jays scoreless
Lester (1-2) came in winless in four starts with a 6.23 ERA but was brilliant in this one.
He allowed just one hit, a lead-off double by Vernon Wells in the second, and followed by retiring 14 straight batters, a streak that ended with Mike McCoy's two-out walk in the sixth. Lester finished that inning by striking out Aaron Hill, and ended his outing with a
Daniel Bard took over in the eighth and gave up a leadoff double to Alex Gonzalez, then struck out pinch hitters Adam Lind, Fred Lewis and Travis Snider.
Jonathan Papelbon worked the ninth for his seventh save.
1-2-3 seventh.
With Lester silencing the Blue Jays' offense, Toronto fans didn't have much to cheer about. One of the loudest ovations of the night from the 15,276 fans came when word spread that the Montreal Canadiens scored a third-period goal against the Washington Capitals in Game 7 of their first round playoff series.
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