Today, I experienced something that was kinda amazing. The Quidditch World Cup was in New York City this year and the field less than a block from where I work was transformed into Quidditch fields. Now for you who are daft, Quidditch is the fictional game that JK Rowling created in Harry Potter. This is the fourth year that there has been a World Cup, next year's competition is in Scotland. But it was here this weekend and it was like walking into another world. A world where it's okay to be a Potter fanatic and it's okay to believe that the game you're playing right now is real. Kids dressed as Harry, commentators just like in the movies, MTV was there filming it for a segment to air next week when the new Potter movie comes out...I mean, this was a big deal. And it was fascinating, something that I am overjoyed that I got to experience because of how strange the whole thing is. Well, and the best thing were all the Ivy League schools that were involved with it. Yale and Harvard both had teams there! LSU, Texas A&M, Villanova and NYU all had teams there too. There were teams from all over the world. So - while I may not have been able to make it to the theme park yet, I have been to the Quidditch World Cup and seen all that there is to see there. Wow.
Pre-game interviews, post-game interviews with the coaches, strategy interviews. All in a day's work for the Quidditch player.
Merchandise for sale. Obviously.
It wouldn't be a Potter event without owls right?
The best fan poster I saw all day.
Okay. Clarification. The guy in yellow is the snitch. You can see he's got that blue ball attached to his belt and that's what they are trying to get. So it's sorta like capture the flag mixed with flag football. The rest of the game works basically the same as in the movie. BUT - at the beginning of the game, the snitch takes off running...through the streets of NYC and they have to chase him. It was kinda awesome because this guy in yellow would be running down 11th Avenue while a guy or girl with a Harry Potter broom between their legs would be chasing after them. I mean, that's a good scene.
The Aggies preparing to take the field.
Possibly the best shirt I've EVER seen.
You can see the three rings there that they have to get the dodgeball through.
Yes. There were mascots (even though this one looks like a sunburned "human being" from Community.)
What an incredible afternoon. It was the most perfect fall day in the history of fall days and there was a heaping helping of ridiculousness poured out all over the park on 52nd street. Awesome.
No comments:
Post a Comment