Spazzy white guys wearing prescription eye wear, gosh, I never would've expected that.

Spazzy white guys wearing prescription eye wear, gosh, I never would've expected that.

One of the subplots of the Harry Potter books is a game called quidditch, in which students at the wizardry academy ride flying broomsticks around after ball that flies through the sky of its own accord.  Now, thanks to precious students with too much time on their hands at at expensive Northeastern private schools, it’s not just a side plot in a children’s book, it’s a “sport”.  Well bust out your sunblock and hemophilia medicine, Madison, because the Quidditch World Cup is coming to New York City next week. It’s all the poncey exclusivity of lacrosse with 50% less date rape!

Next weekend, more than 60 different teams from high schools and universities across the country are expected to gather at De Witt Clinton Park in New York City for the fourth annual Quidditch World Cup.
Harvard University, M.I.T, Yale, Penn State, Duke — several prestigious universities are registered for the World Cup and count quidditch among their extracurricular activities.

University of Maryland student Valerie Fischman isn’t satisfied with quidditch’s current status, however. She’s waging a long-shot campaign for recognition from the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
Fischman originally joined the team because she was a huge Harry Potter fan, not because she was particularly interested in playing a sport. Now she’s a chaser on the University of Maryland team and also serves as its co-vice president.

Wait, you’re saying she joined the Quidditch team despite not being very interested in sports?  Excuse me while I retrieve my monocle, for in my surprise it has fallen.

Quidditch players have to thread several other hoops to make theirs an NCAA sport. There must be official quidditch clubs at a minimum of 50 colleges across the country. Then, athletic directors from those colleges must individually petition the NCAA. It’s a process that could take years — if it happens at all.  Fischman admits it’s not an easy task. She’s hoping for help from her university’s athletic department — as well as the International Quidditch Association.  That’s right, there’s an International Quidditch Association. [via (who else) NPR]

[Said Harvard Co-Captain Stacy Rush]: “The teams great. It’s so much fun flying around on your broomsticks. Now, they look like they don’t fly. In practice, we don’t fly around on them because we’re surrounded by Muggles. And we can’t break our statute of secrecy which is our code of law in the wizarding world.” [IvyGate]

I hope this does become an NCAA sport.  First, because it’s still less lame than ultimate frisbee, and second because I’d someday love to hear, “Ooh, that Rooney Sanchez-Davis, she thinks she’s sooo hot, just because she’s dating the captain of the Quidditch team.  She even wears his inhaler around her neck to rub it in everyone’s face.”

College Quidditch-match 2 College quidditch-dorks College quidditch-muggle Quidditch

“We call outsiders ‘muggles’ because they’re always stealing our lunch money.”