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Silly things like gravity haven’t stopped the Muggle adaptation of Quidditch from taking flight, as the LSU Tigers finished fifth in the 2010 Intercollegiate Quidditch World Cup this past weekend.
The Cup featured 46 teams from 16 states, proving the ever-growing popularity of the Muggle-rules sport. The 757 Muggle athletes came dressed in mock-wizard wear and T-shirts — one of which read, “I got 99 problems, but a snitch ain’t one” — fusing wizard and Muggle culture.
Third-year LSU beater Chris Orf said the spectacle surrounding the event was welcome.
“It’s good for more Muggles to hear about it so they can come watch us,” Orf said. “It’s always more fun showing off our team magic.”
The Tigers flew past opponents Syracuse, Johns Hopkins, Franklin and Marshall and Yale but were grounded in the eighth round after falling, 70-40, to Vassar.
Unaided by magic, the Muggles found a way to adapt Quidditch for their own version of the World Cup. Muggle Quidditch doesn’t involve any flying, but there are broomsticks — held between the legs while running — bludgers and even a snitch. A tennis ball attached to a Muggle clad in gold replaces the snitch.
Third-year LSU team captain Nick Bertrand said the human snitch, much like a real snitch, will go to extremes to avoid capture.
“The weirdest place [the snitch] has been caught is in the lake right by our pitch,” Bertrand said. “The snitch dove in there to avoid capture one time.”
Bertrand said the Tigers, who are better known for their Muggle athletics, were the metaphorical house elves of the World Cup. He said one team in particular paralyzes others better than the stare of a basilisk.
“It was mentioned in one news affiliate we were the David to Middlebury’s Goliath,” Bertrand said.
Middlebury College is the 2010 champion and has won all of the Intercollegiate World Cups to date.
The carnage left behind by Middlebury wasn’t the only injury of the tournament. Bertrand said Muggle Quidditch, even without the risk of falling from a broom, is still a high-impact sport.
“I actually was playing chaser at the World Cup, and I got a concussion,” Bertrand said. “I went to tackle someone, and when I was bringing them down, my head hit the ground.”
Bertrand said the intense nature of Muggle Quidditch is what draws him to the sport.
 
 
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Contact Erin Henley at [email protected]