Mirror Lake, Bigger than Beer Bike?

Four years of Beer Bike at Rice taught me that college tradition spurred students into actions that the rest of the world viewed as crazy or absurd.  Each March hundreds of students fly around the track at speeds that threaten to send them into the stands. Last year one student took a turn too fast and drove right into the alumni tent, and another clipped another girl's wheel and sent her tumbling. The race inspired cheers and speeches. As Tyson Heller would say "Beer Bike could bring you unparalleled glory, or it could rip your heart out and leave you bleeding." A little extreme, yes, but that is Beer Bike. For more details including WRC's 2009 sweep check out Jen Cooper's site.

I thought I had seen it all when it came to college tradition, but last week I saw OSU's own version of tradition, Mirror Lake Jump. Walking back from the math department late Tuesday night, I noticed that more drunk college students stumbling around than usual. As I continued walking I noticed that all the students wore practically nothing. Girl donned tank tops and guys went shirtless. I got a hold of one stumbling sophomore, and ask him "Why so many students would run around half naked on such a cold night (it was 27 degrees)?" He only yelled an insult directed at Michigan and ran away.

The students gathered to make a sacrifice to the sporting gods. Each year since 1990 about 12,000 undergraduate students at OSU jump into Mirror Lake in hopes that their action will lead OSU to victory over rivals Michigan. The event approaches riot like proportions. Three times I saw groups of girls dragging a friend to force her participation. I saw a drunk guy sprint into a chain fence. I saw thousand of students in freezing water chanting "USA, USA, USA" (Why they weren't chanting OSU I don't know.).  I learned some new songs appropriate if I ever want to insult someone from Michigan. There were even police on horseback equipped with riot gear in case things got out of hand (They weren't already?).

The event awed me. Never had I seen so many people in one place act with so much mindless energy.  Mirror Lake jump certainly beat Beer Bike in terms of participation, but it could not compare with the glory and passion that Beer Bike inspires. For Beer Bike, participants train for months and spectators engineer a water balloon battle prior to the race with thousands of rounds of ammo of water. For Mirror Lake, participants simply get drunk and jump in a pond. No fair comparison can be made. Mirror Lake bigger Yes, but better No Way.