Middlebury Quidditch in MTV ad

Colleges and Universities A-Z Middlebury College
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<p>My respect for the students at Midd just went down about 10%. Personal attacks are uncalled for. </p>

<p>And while it is none of your business, my son was not a recruited athlete despite his skill on the field. There were no bumps or slots or anything else sent his way. He was told quite honestly in fact that if he got in on his own they’d love to have him play, but all recruitment was pretty much complete during EDI. Most important to us was that He wanted to attend a school where he could get the education he wanted and felt he had earned through his work in the classroom, and he had plenty to choose from when acceptances came in. More important to this conversation, however, is that he is very much a kid who respects all people and their interests, even if they are different than what he might personally enjoy. In fact, the diversity of interests and backgrounds at Midd was a deciding factor in his attending Midd. The degree of stereotyping as shown above just tells me something about your character and apparent inability to see someone more for who he is than for what he does. You will miss out on a lot of interesting people in your life with that attitude. Mostly, I guess I am only sorry that my kid wont enjoy the same degree of mutual respect he consistently affords others and that will be paying over 50K for it. </p>

<p>So to be really clear: Thinking something is goofy, like playing quidditch, would not in any way affect what he thinks about the person who plays it, nor would it prevent him from getting to know the person who plays it. To say playing quidditch is odd, does not automatically make the PERSON who plays it odd. This is not a case of having embarrassing classmates in any way, shape or form, so quite leaping to that conclusion.</p>

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<p>I just want to point out that this makes absolutely no literary sense whatsoever. It is not witty, ironic or creative. Not to mention that your apparent prejudice towards athletes without knowing anything else about them (including whether or not they’re far smarter than you) makes me question how someone of such narrow-mindedness like you was accepted in the first place.</p>

<p>This thread is dead.</p>

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<p>Swimmingjew: no embarrassment of my classmates. Embarrassment for my alma mater. And even that, not exactly - more like just not getting why my alma mater promotes its Quidditch roots and involvement when it has so many other unique aspects to feature. </p>

<p>I asked offspring #2 if a college or university’s promotion of itself as ground zero for college Quidditch would make her more or less likely to want to apply. She said neither. Spouse, on the other hand, thinks promoting Quidditch is stupid. So on that very scientific sample, it’s apparently generational. </p>

<p>As I said earlier, I’ve never seen college Quidditch played. I intend to remain open-minded and try to watch an intercollegiate Quidditch match in my area if one exists. If not I can use flue powder and disapparate to one. </p>

<p>The ad hominem attacks on Modadunn were uncalled for.</p>

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<p>I think Jedermann was just trying to show another side to the same argument, not necessarily attack Modadunn.</p>

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<p>I don’t think Jedermann was attacking anyone, nor do I think he was portraying his own views. Note that he/she never made interjected his opinion in his post, i.e. “I think [insert what you’re accusing him/her of].” Just because he’s telling you what other people think doesn’t necessarily mean he agrees with it.</p>

<p>I have to say though Jedermann, that last sentence was pretty good ;)</p>

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<p>I just love the double standard and hypocrisy in this. Had I even hinted that quidditch players were social misfits or tripped-out geeks and freaks, I would have been blasted and rightfully so. However, equating all football players with drug use is perfectly acceptable and “pretty good”? Why not attack all the intellectuals as they sit around and smoke pot pontificating about the meaning of the universe? It’s just as absurd in my book. Disparaging anyone because of the activities they may participate in (and knowing absolutely nothing else about them) is an attack. It is just one small step away from “he’s black so he obviously got in because of affirmative action or athletic ability cuz every one knows ‘those people’ just aren’t smart.” If you think that sentiment is pretty good, shame on you. You’ve lost all credibility.</p>

<p>The below reports the history of Quidditch in a archival way and is actually pretty interesting. For what it’s worth, it looks like it’s developed into quite the party scene.</p>

<p>[College</a> Quidditch - College Quidditch](<a href=“http://collegequidditch.com/]College”>http://collegequidditch.com/)</p>

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<p>I have no relationship to Middlebury, but I do have an abiding love and admiration for the school. I spent a week in Middlebury last year for professional reasons and adored visiting the school.</p>

<p>In the interests of full disclosures, I am a Williams parent.</p>

<p>I adored the video and think Quidditch is really funny. I think those that play it know it’s silly, and it reflects a kind of droll sense of humor, a quirky zest for life and a real love for Harry Potter.</p>

<p>Now as an English Prof Harry Potter is not my favorite literature, but I am always touched by what these books mean to people. They got my own son really reading at seven.</p>

<p>About Quidditch I say, “Play on.”
About Middlebury I say, “You’re awesome.”</p>

<p>And about this thread, I do think there is room for opposing opinions. The students who are offended by some recoiling at Quidditch need to chill out a bit. Learning to accept points of view that differ from your own with civility is the basis of all conversation and certainly what college is about.</p>

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<p>Modadunn,
I think Jedermann was referring to your original post in which you said an ink stain is less embarrassing than a drug problem or other ailment. He or she was not accusing all football players of having a drug problem!</p>

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<p>^ I still don’t see it that way, however, I will accept that I MIGHT have been somehow misunderstood in my trying to explain the variant definitions of embarrassment (from a blush all the way to outcast) and asking people to not take it all so literally. But to say, “an equal number of people at Midd who are embarrassed that your son got in because he can run around with a football” was absolutely personal and an attack made doubly inflammatory when he/she goes on to equate football players to a drug problem in the same post. How anyone can defend what was written as understandable or acceptable (and continue to defend it) is pretty offensive all on its own. </p>

<p>In any event, I fully and whole heartedly agree with mythmom on this subject (this very same son has a first edition of every Potter book written). I will not be commenting further.</p>

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<p>I wasn’t agreeing with his “attack,” as you call it, on the athletic students at Middlebury. I was simply complimenting him on his snark on you for your highhanded method of lecturing to me about your “varying degrees of embarrassment.” Don’t assume that I think anything, especially all this you’re accusing me (and him) of because I definitely don’t believe any of that. And of course, you’ll point out that I most obviously do believe in all that nonsense and concretely state that everything is the way you’re saying it is.</p>

<p>This is childish, I swear.</p>

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<p>

It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense mathematically either.</p>

<p>The 2008 Middlebury football [roster[/url</a>] consisted of 70 men. According to the 2008-09 Middlebury [url=<a href=“http://www.middlebury.edu/NR/rdonlyres/1DE1CC19-8DF2-4557-90DE-01B37B456F6E/0/CDS2008_2009.pdf]Common”>http://www.middlebury.edu/NR/rdonlyres/1DE1CC19-8DF2-4557-90DE-01B37B456F6E/0/CDS2008_2009.pdf]Common</a> Data Set](<a href=“Middlebury College - Official Athletics Website”>Middlebury College - Official Athletics Website), total male enrollment at Midd in October 2008 was 1,197. So the football roster was only about 5.8% of the male enrollment.</p>

<p>There are some small LACs where the football team does approach 10% of the male enrollment, but Midd is not a particularly small LAC.</p>

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<p>I object. My snarky comment was a literary masterpiece!</p>

<p>You are correct, hohum, my comment was a play on Modadunn’s own words. I find it humorous that she didn’t get it.</p>

<p>Corbett - the official roster does not take into account:

  1. Recruited athletes who don’t make the team
  2. Athletes who get hurt sometime during their 4 years and are no longer on the roster</p>

<p>I stand by my estimate of 10%.</p>

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To get to 10%, there would have to be 50 guys in categories 1 and 2, in addition to the 70 on the roster. This number strikes me as implausibly high.</p>

<p>But even if it is correct – why is it “embarrassing” ? It is well known that:</p>

<p>(a) football teams require a lot of male players, typically around 70 for a DIII squad, and
(b) liberal arts colleges have small enrollments, typically around 1000 men and 1000 women</p>

<p>Given points (a) and (b), any LAC football team will represent some 5-10 % of the male enrollment. If a LAC has a football program, this result is inevitable, not cause for embarrassment.</p>

<p>Furthermore, Midd actually has a lower “football team ratio” than most peer institutions. Schools like Williams, Amherst, Bowdoin, Bates, Colby, Trinity, and Hamilton all have football rosters comparable in size to Middlebury’s. Yet they also have significantly smaller undergraduate enrollments (1600 to 2200, vs. 2400 at Midd). Mathematically, this means that football players represent an even higher percentage of the male enrollment at these other schools. So why should Midd be embarrassed?</p>

<p>I will admit that there are some other selective LACs in the New England / upstate NY area that do have a much lower “football team ratio” than Midd. Midd’s ratio could be considered “embarrassing” – if your standard of comparison is Wellesley, Smith, Mt. Holyoke, Vassar, Skidmore, or Connecticut College. </p>

<p>But I think comparison with Williams, Amherst, or Bowdoin is more realistic.</p>

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<p>Hey! We were dumping on Quidditch here! Focus, gang, focus!</p>

<p>LOL</p>

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<p>Don’t like Quidditch? Then focus on the aspects of Midd that you DO like.
It’s just something fun, quirky and original that has gained a following. Any promotion of it is just to show that Middlebury is an interesting place where Harry Potter fanatics and football players can co-exist (gasp!). We have awesome sports teams and a Quidditch team too. On any given Sunday you can grab a bite to eat in Ross, mosey over to Battell Beach to revel in the craziness of the weekly Quidditch matches, then head over to the athletic complex to catch a football game.
Quidditch is just a fun game, a joke that caught on. The people who participate don’t take themselves too seriously. And honestly, what’s there to be embarrassed about? Crazier stuff has certainly come out of college campuses.
This deliberate provocation and antagonism is ridiculous and should stop. I’m proud to go to a school with great athletes (who cares exactly what percentage of the student body is made up of football players?) and people creative and funky enough to actually make Quidditch into a real game. Here’s to hoping that Midd mops up in football and in Quidditch next year!</p>

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<p>I wouldn’t want to go to a school where students don’t support each other for their interests, however quirky they are. Quidditch doesn’t make Middlebury look bad, those opposing it do. Why make so big of a deal – in fact, a bigger deal – out of something so trivial? It’s pathetic.</p>

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<p>Agreed and agreed. Most people are disappointed because Middlebury doesn’t get more press for its more “interesting aspects” but, seriously, who cares? No one in Arizona knows what “Middlebury” is, more or less that it has a Quidditch team. If anyone here ever did hear that Quidditch was associated with Midd, I would just be glad they know that my school exists.</p>

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<p>I kinda like Klink’s take best.</p>

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<p>at the risk of being pedantic, Middlebury plays its football games on Saturday, not Sunday.</p>

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<p>I wish Klink had posted a LOT earlier!!! I like it best as well.</p>

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<p>Not to resurrect anything negative… here’s a little article that truly made me smile!</p>

<p>[Quidditch</a> For Chemists | Newscript | Chemical & Engineering News](<a href=“http://pubs.acs.org/cen/newscripts/87/8726newscripts.html]Quidditch”>http://pubs.acs.org/cen/newscripts/87/8726newscripts.html)</p>