The word "marshmallow" comes from the mallow plant species (Althaea officinalis), an herb native to parts of Europe, North Africa, and Asia which grows in marshes and other damp areas. The plant's stem and leaves are fleshy and its white flower has five petals. It is not known exactly when marshmallows were invented, but their history goes back as early as 2000 B.C. Ancient Egyptians were said to be the first to make them and eating them was a privilege strictly reserved for gods and for royalty, who used the root of the plant and to soothe coughs and sore throats, and to heal wounds. The first marshmallows were prepared by boiling pieces of root pulp with honey until thick. Once thickened, the mixture was strained, cooled, and then used as intended.
It become more of the candy we know today in the early 1900s.
Marshmallow was weaponized in the mid 1970s when a young Charlie Weis smuggled three bags of marshmallows into Notre Dame stadium for a second half snack and his roommate grabbed a bag and began throwing them at fellow students, much to Weis’ dismay.
mah best good fren’.
I was co-chair of Pangborn Freshman orientation and VP of the dorm that year. My co- chair set up a marshmallow roast with Le Mans Hall. We had 40 bags of marshmallows and were all set until a tornado warning caused it to be cancelled. For some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to take a few bags to the game. Since we had the 1812 overture at the end of the 3rd quarter, I chose the end of the first quarter as a good time to do it. The first time we did it was hysterical because obviously no one saw it coming. At first people were pissed about getting hit, but once they realized what they were hit by, it really took off. We did it every game that year and each game it got bigger. As you can imagine, the ushers were pissed. I assume it is now only tolerated once a year because it makes such a mess. Someone mentioned it being pirated from Penn State. I live in a area choking in the filth of that cult. I would never do anything to emulate that place. They may have been doing it, but I was unaware of it.
I have a hard copy of it. Was not able to locate it in their archives. I didn't own up to it at the time because I had already been before Ann Firth and the residence life posse for a dorm hosted tailgater that year.
My friends in Zahm did it in1985. Sorry to burst your bubble.
I know what I know. Never saw it happen in 1985. It couldn't be missed in '86.
We'll just have to agree to disagree. No reason for the tone of your reply.
Meant no offense
when I was there in '66 and '67. Hold the roll so that the paper sort of hangs over the back of your hand and stretches down past your wrist, aim high, and use the fingers to apply a bit of a spin.
They would arc high over the student section, sometimes dozens at a time, pulling their growing tail behind them.
I never did this, of course.
being 6'4" and in the lower seats I got pretty good at catching those suckers. Of course I returned them to senders.
If I remember correctly in 1990 we tried to recreate the throwing of oranges at the last home game in anticipation of an Orange Bowl bid. It was not well received as people were getting clobbered by oranges and injured. I think I remember the flying marshmallows at the last home game the following year. We figured nobody could get hurt by marshmallows, but if I recall correctly there were issues with people loading up them with coins or little rocks to make them go farther. It was definitely more prevalent when I was in law school the following years.
grad student there and witnessed that stupid activity there in Beaver Stadium. Thought to myself, “I’m sure glad ND students have more intelligence than to descend to that level of behavior!”
OH WELL!!
I recall the whole student body participating in marshmallow fights at halftime for every game. Sure, I think it was supposed to be more a senior thing and certainly was heavier in that section, but all sections had at least some amount of marshmallows. Well, that was true until my senior year (season of '98) where in what I believe was the 2nd home game of the season (Purdue), there were 2 toads and an octopus being thrown around the student section. One of the toads had an errant throw that ended up hitting a child in the adjacent section who needed medical attention. This led to an outright ban on marshmallows for the remainder of the year. How, you ask? They told anyone caught throwing marshmallows or anything else would be ejected from the stadium and face Res Life consequences.
I can't recall if it was the following home game or the last home game of the season (want to say last one) that the seniors participated in an imaginary marshmallow fight (i.e. pretending to throw marshmallows but actually having nothing). What a sight that must've been to people who knew nothing of what was going on!
Edit: Shows you how good my memory is! As shown by an Observer link in this thread, the game was the 2nd from last home game!
From the press box came the following, "the throwing of maritime animals is strictly forbidden!"
Still laugh about it...
Exactly what part of a frog, even when thrown, will cause a facial laceration?
My senior year (86 football season, Lou’s first year), some idiot threw an empty 2 liter bottle down and hit me in the head.
but it's just sugar, for chrissake. (I never brought them, but re throwing them was no big deal...) It was only the last game.
And it's a HELL of a lot better than the short lived "Let's throw all the cups" around phenomenon. Those suckers hurt if they came down from row 50 or so.
Do remember one getting almost to the TV time out guy...
Late 90s, early 2000s.
The highlight (er, lowlight?) was in 1999 when the upperclassmen weren't satisfied with mere marshmallows and started bringing huge fish, octopus, and other crazy things in. I believe it was the Halloween game in 1999 when a student was captured in an Observer photo swinging an octopus over his head.
I was there, and remember the Octopus.
"SMC changes marketing strategy to focus on women"
An all-women school, focusing on women. Breakthrough thinking from the SMC chicks in '98.
In that photo.
I may have gotten stopped by a priest one section over for swinging the octupus one time.
He held my student ID for a half, but then gave it back before I left with a small penance.
One leg for each regular season victory.
On that day, however, I also wore a huge banana suit. It was Halloween...
An octopus is not a squid, Michelle.
I also enjoy the headline on the article below: "SMC Changes Marketing Plan to Focus on Women." You do wonder if their admission rate went up a lot after they stopped marketing to men.
taking a shot at disgraced former Atlanta Braves GM John Coppolella.
Now I want to know what he wrote about his fellow “banned for lifer” Pete Rose
I was curious to read his discussion about the best baseball teams of all time, as the 2018 Red Sox have obviously rendered those debates meaningless. Although he was talented enough to become a MLB GM, he could not predict that in the future one team would come and put the debate to bed for eternity.
Man, those halftimes were crazy.
in 88. Back when men were men and cups (sometimes with ice) raining down on your head was pure joy.
Those were the days! What's this namby-pamby marshmallow crap?
...Another one of the talented offspring of our own CJC wrote about it 5 years ago: Marshmallow Fightin’.
Yesterday's Observer had a letter signed by several seniors advocating a new tradition: go to the stadium Sunday to help clean up the mess: A new marshmallow tradition.
...I'd never have thought I'd roll my html r's, but therre ya go.