Quincy Pummels Freshmen at Dodgeball

With only two balls remaining, Quincy House brought down Elm Yard on Friday night and emerged as the champions of Harvard’s second-ever dodgeball tournament.

The extravaganza transformed the Malkin Athletic Center’s (MAC) fourth-floor gym into a mini-Madison Square Garden, replete with suit-clad announcers, screaming fans, and most importantly, crowd-rocking jams.

The boos and cheers could be heard a block away, but only inside could one truly appreciate the squeak of sneakers, the smack of balls on walls, and the sight of short shorts and sweat bands.

Throughout the evening, victorious teammates stormed the courts, high-fiving to the beats of their team’s theme songs. Every team had been asked to send in a theme song request, and those who didn’t were punished with such tunes as “It’s Raining Men” and “Do You Think I’m Sexy.”

Timothy J. McGinn ’06, a member of the victorious Quincy House squad, said the music was an integral part of the game.

“Our victory? It really had nothing to do with any talents or skills we, as a team, brought to the table. It truly was something more: destiny,” said McGinn, who is also a Crimson executive. “Every time we were about to lose, our team’s theme song, Europe’s ‘The Final Countdown,’ would begin to play over the sound system they had set up at the MAC. It was almost as if that song and that song alone propelled us to the glory that is being Harvard’s dodgeball champions.”

McGinn’s teammates included Andrew M. Brunner ’06 and Jack M. Marsh ’06, who are also Crimson editors. Their team christened them “The Yellow Dart” and “The No. 1 Stunner,” respectively.

The event, organized by the Harvard Recreation Department with the help of the Office of Student Activities, was planned in coordination with Junior Parents Weekend—and the many parents in attendance seemed to be enjoying the spectacle immensely. Many of them said they enjoyed the opportunity to meet other parents, see their children shine on the court, and reminisce with them about their own days of playing dodgeball on the playground.

“It’s a childhood event that everyone loves,” said Dunster resident Nnanenye N. Okochi ’06 of the game. “It’s a way of reliving your childhood memories.”

Although parent Heather Click commented, “this isn’t really our dodgeball, we had none of the intricacies,” most of the “intricacies” were actually rules lifted from the recent film Dodgeball, which her son, Adams House resident Benjamin E. Click ’06 called “weird.”

Parent Louis Schwartz recalled playing with much harder balls in his day, which made injuries common. No injuries were sustained on Friday.

Susan Kalloch, mother of Dunster resident Andrew L. Kalloch ’06, jokingly called dodgeball “the best sport at Harvard” and said that the lively Dunster mascot­—a giant moose—was the best part of the antics.

Dunster was the reigning dodgeball champion coming into the tournament.

One of the most touted matches was the meeting of the freshman and Dean’s teams—from which the freshman emerged victorious.

“It was like you were afraid if you didn’t cheer for [the Dean’s team] they would fail you,” said Mary C. Serdakowski ’06, a Lowell resident and one of the evening’s few female players.

Many students and parents said they were surprised by how competitive many of the players were.

“The girls have held their own very well,” said the elder Click, although she added, “there is definitely a lot of testosterone out there.”

Announcer Trey Kollmer ’07 peppered the arena with scoldings aimed at one disobedient player, who he referred to as “yellow-shirt,” and who Special Assistant for Social Programming Zachary A Corker ’04 later a called a “serial cheater.”

“Cheating is rampant,” Corker shouted at one point.