Ball State University - Orient Yearbook (Muncie, IN)

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2 2 ¢Tug-O-War Masters of mud-making Pigs proven cleaner than students eby Janie Tuttlee “Be sure to wear your oldest, un- wanted clothes because they won't be spared. And neither will you,” she warned. At that point, the memories came flooding back...until then, my first year as a participant in the An- nual Theta Xi Tug-O-War had for- tunately been forgotten. But now, as 19 other girls and | listened to our activity chairman prepare us for “the tug,” scenes from the previous year flashed through my mind--the cold, wet mud hanging on clothes, stretching them out of shape; the dust flying through the air from dried mud on matted hair; the look of that ominous mud pit as girls were pulled screaming into its gooey, dark bed. | was crazy to be doing this again. The weather on that fateful day was unusually warm for October--near 80 degrees--but rain had fallen early in the morning, making the air humid and the mud pit all the more goopy. Members of Theta Xi fraternity busi- ly worked on perfecting the texture of the mud. They seemed to have devised an art of the practice of “mud making” since the creation of this an- nual event 23 years ago. A hose ran into the center of the 20’ by 40’ pit, and men ran full speed and hurled themselves belly down in- to the goo. Many came up with brown smiles and running noses, but others managed to escape clean from the neck up. Another team of men standing at the pit’s end held one end of the rope and pulled a single man through the mud, a strategy adopted to mix the mud and make it uniform. Many girls got their feet stuck by the mud’s suc- tion; shoes would certainly be lost somewhere in the murky depths as the day wore on. The music rocked as the captains of the first two teams were called to the announcer’s stand for a coin toss to determine who would get first dibs on their favorite end of the pit. One end was much more slippery than the other from victims’ clawing their way out and drooling mud on the grass. And although sand had been spread to add traction, the un- fortunate team stuck tugging on that end still had the disadvantage. Keeping this in mind in their strategies, teams in the Independent division competed first, serving as guinea pigs for the rest. The array of team names made me chuckle as the announcer read them off. Alpha Phi Number One was among the milder names, while titles like Tri Koppa Buzz and the Wet-n-Wild Swimmin’ Women leaned toward the wild side. Some teams were visibly so much larger than their opponents that the outcome of the tug seemed easily predictable, and | silently hoped my team wouldn't have to tug against them. But to my amazement, the “big” teams often lost due to slipping, fall- ing or simply giving up. | began to have some hope for my team’s suc- cess. That is, until our turn came up... continued - i Rocky Rothrock

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Gregory Shaver Larry ‘Bud’ Melman and one of his bloride ‘‘Melmanettes’’ fire up the crowd at Emens Auditorium during the Homecoming talent search. The show’s audience suffered through numerous technical difficulties, but the comedian had the crowd laughing at his ‘‘Melman Strength Test.’’ continued formed and President Worthen asked the students to support the Cards at Saturday's game. The much-heralded performance by Larry “Bud” Melman at Friday’s Stu- dent Talent Search was dampened by his late arrival at Emens Auditorium and his less-than-friendly remarks when he could not read his cue cards. The show experienced technical dif- ficulties, and Indianapolis senior Brian Adamson had to give his rendi- tion of “Desperado” twice because of sound problems. Adamson won the first place award as best male vocalist. The true bright spot of the week was Ball State’s performance against Northern Illinois. The Cards shut out their opponent 29-0 in their first Homecoming victory since 1981. Coach Paul Schudel praised the players for their “mistake-free” play- Homecomin queen Becky Krebs is escorted by Brett Prather after the halftime crowning ceremony. The Cardinals defeated Northern Illinois 29-0 to cap the week of events. Rocky Rothrock Weather dampens festivities ing and said the team played an im- pressive defensive game. Despite the quality of the game, the crowd of 10,125 thinned noticeably at half time. While the weather played havoc with the “best-laid plans,” the Student Center Programming Board gave an extraordinary effort to Homecoming and scheduled so many events that some, such as the “Surfin’ BSU” din- ner, were overlooked by most of the residence hall members. Although at times the weather seemed to flounder, Valparaiso junior Robert Flude, director of publicity for the Homecoming steering committee, said sales from Homecoming items were strong. Unlike the weather, 1500 buttons bearing the slogan, “I got leied when Ball State played,” gave a predictable performance and sold out early. @ Homecominge 1

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Fit for an appearance in a Tide com- mercial, Blaine Dixler, meeds a shower after his unsuccessful strug- | gle in Theta Xi’s annual contest. Rocky Rothrock After a bath in the mud, Blaine Dixler and Jim Sims review their loss from the shore of the mud pit. The two were among the many valiant but los- ing contenders at Tug-O-War. With a squeal, an ‘‘about to be un- successful team’”’ loses the strength to keep from the pit. The team show- ed there was no room for pride on the muddy costume of defeat. i ai Rocky Rothrock Tug-0-WareLo