LA Writer Learns Not All Quidditch Players Are Harry Potter Nerds
Robert Ito has a fun piece over at Salon about the recent Quidditch tournament held in Los Angeles. The Western Cup brought together eleven college teams at Cheviot Hills Park for a weekend of real-life Harry Potter gamesmanship.
The two major reveals of Ito’s piece are: 1) A league-wide absence of reported groin injuries, despite the presence of broomsticks on the field; and, 2) A healthy west coast team player mix of Potter fans and people who could care less about J.K. Rowling. UCLA political science major and Western Cup tournament director Harrison Homel explains:
“I came from a Harry Potter place, but I know a lot of people who didn’t,” he says. “There absolutely are players who haven’t read the books. For some, this is the only Harry Potter-related thing they do. The game is sort of able to bridge that gap between people who otherwise aren’t playing any sports, and people who are very, very active, but maybe aren’t as interested in nerding out about Harry Potter.”
It’s hard not to like a league whose top trophy in 2010 was a plastic wizard fastened to the top of a vodka bottle and which is only just now getting around to putting together a referee guidebook.
