Quidditch World Cup

Yes, my friends, you read that title correctly.  Not only is Muggle Quidditch now an official sport, but it is a big enough sport to have a World Cup -- an event in New York last weekend where 100 teams competed for the championship.  

Now you're probably asking yourself, "Who do I know that might possibly be cool enough to attend such a historic event?"

You're looking at us!  Of course we went!  What else would we do for our anniversary weekend?

Maybe stay in a little bed and breakfast in a charming Connecticut town?  Okay, so we did that too.  JoDee and Brandon watched our big boys while we stayed in Ridgefield and then headed down to Randall's Island for the World Cup.  

Excitement was palpable as we entered Ichan Stadium and saw all the teams, college kids, families, and crazy people, all joining together for one purpose -- to make a once-fictional sport come to life.  And to watch some people do really really ridiculous things.

There were 9 different pitches with Quidditch matches being played at all times.  We bought a day pass and just wandered around to different matches and watched a bunch of different teams.  We supported Harvard, Boston University, University of Utah, and the "Jet Pack Ninja Dinosaurs."  No kidding.

You can check out the IQA website to see the official rule book, if you want all the details.  I'll try to give a condensed version.

First of all, all players have to run around with a broomstick between their legs.  They have to hold it in place with their hands or legs -- no cheater broom-holding contraptions!

The Beaters try to hit their opposing team with Bludgers (the yellow dodge balls).  If a player is hit with a Bludger, they are temporarily "knocked off their brooms" and are removed from play until they return to their own side's goal hoops (BTW: this is University of Utah vs. Kansas).  

The Chasers try to throw the Quaffle (the red and white volleyball) through the hoops to score points (10 points per goal).

And of course, the Seekers try to capture the Golden Snitch.  The Snitch is a tennis ball inside a yellow sock, dangling out of the back of the Snitch Runner's shorts.  The Snitch Runner can leave the pitch for a good portion of the match and reappear at random.  They can also do pretty much anything (ride a bike, spray silly string, do cartwheels, physically manhandle the seekers) to disrupt the match and distract players.  When one of the Seekers finally snatches the Snitch, their team gets 30 points and the match is over.  

With all of that going on, it turns out that Quidditch is a REALLY fun sport to watch.  There's always something crazy going on.  The teams we watched were enthusiastic and really into their game.

And the announcers were from some improv comedy group in NYC, so even when nothing was happening in the match, there was something funny to listen to.  This match was UCLA vs. Yale.  The announcers pretty much just joked the whole time about how rich and smart the Yale kids are.  "Well, I have no idea who's going to win this match, but I do know that the Yale players are all going to end up with really high-paying jobs by the time they graduate!"

In addition to the games, there was a lot of Potter-mania going on.  My favorite thing was when we were driving into the stadium and saw a car with this bumper sticker:

I just about jumped out of my seat for the excitement over all of the crazy Potter-obsessed people we were about to see!

This guy was just wandering around giving autographs and getting his picture taken.

Mrs. Weasley just couldn't help but show up.

Not sure exactly who this was supposed to be.

I think we spotted some Death Eaters among the fans.

At the stadium, they had a few of the Harry Potter "Wrock" bands playing live music (there are now over 750 bands dedicated to HP, including the famous "Harry and the Potters," "Are You Sirius?," "Hungry, Hungry Hippogriffs," and "The Death Eaters").


This was the "Womping Willows."

I have no idea where they found this car, but it looks exactly like the flying car from the film.

This was the teams-only section where they had tents set up -- reminded me of the Quidditch World Cup from the HP books and all the people camping out!

There were a bunch of tents in the main area with people selling HP merchandise: brooms, wands, capes, scarves, ties, chocolate frogs, Bertie Botts' every-flavor beans, etc.

One major oversight was that the IQA didn't anticipate the large crowd they would get, and they only had TWO food vendors for the entire event.  And each vendor only had one cash register.  We waited in line for 90 minutes for a hot dog!  Unfortunately, we saw this guy a few minutes too late.  He was wandering around selling peanut butter and honey sandwiches and had about 20 people lined up to buy one when we saw him.  Genius!

Sam was the ONLY baby we saw the entire day.  He got a lot of attention for his Gryffindor tie.

And when we let him roll around on the grass like a little puppy, we got a lot of crazy looks from people who either couldn't figure out what sort of creature he was, or people who thought we were inadequate parents for putting our child on the ground.  I guess we all have our own brand of crazy, right?  I personally think he makes a pretty cute (blue) puppy.

By late afternoon, Sam finally gave up and just fell asleep in our arms.  That was our cue to drive back to JoDee's, where we left Sam and had a dinner-and-movie date all by ourselves.

A perfect anniversary, if you ask me!