Purdue News
Purdue News
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March 24, 2000 Bowl fever continues with Purdue's Bug BowlWEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue University is making its second appearance in a bowl this year. But this bowl doesn't have anything to do with football. It's an insect bowl, and the 10th annual Purdue Bug Bowl on April 15 and 16 will be filled with as much action as a Boilermaker football game.
In the cricket-spitting arena, insects will be flying through the air with the grace of the passes that Drew Brees threw in the New Year's Day Outback Bowl. Cricket spitting, which became part of Bug Bowl in 1997 as a truly tongue-in-cheek contest, has become a national event. CNN covered the event last year, and the Guinness Book of Records now sanctions cricket spitting as an official sport. Contestants shouldn't expect to walk away the winner unless they've been practicing – the world record is 32 feet, 1 and 1/4 inches. Cricket spitting was so popular in past Bug Bowls that official rules and regulations have been developed. There are now four divisions: men's, women's, youth boys, and youth girls. Another crowd pleaser, cockroach racing, could be compared to Purdue's offensive running game. It draws people in like flies and keeps them interested for the duration of the contest. Crowd members choose their favorite roach and cheer it on to victory at Purdue's "Roach Hill Downs" racecourse. Official jockeys for each roach are picked from among the young children in the audience. The roaches race for the much-envied "Old Open Can," a bronzed garbage can with a cockroach sitting on top. The names of past winners are engraved on plaques hanging from the side. No sporting event is complete without food, so the Thomas Say Society – also known as the undergraduate entomology club – will cook up an Epicurean delight, chocolate-covered crickets. Tom Turpin, professor of entomology at Purdue and co-founder of the event, said that chocolate-covered crickets taste just like peanut-flavored candy. "You taste the chocolate, not the cricket," Turpin said. "Insects do have kind of a nutty taste to them, so it's just like you're eating a chocolate-covered peanut." Bug Bowl also includes a cake-decorating contest, insect crafts, an insect petting zoo, and the caterpillar canter, a six-legged race where children imitate caterpillar locomotion. The Bug Bowl is part of Purdue's Springfest, which draws more than 10,000 people to campus each year. Activities are free and run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Some events will be held on Saturday only (see schedule below). The Purdue Landscape Architecture Boiler Brick Bowl features teams of Purdue students assisted by local union apprentices competing in a masonry construction contest. The contest runs from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, and finished products will remain on display all day Sunday. Springfest also includes the 87th annual Horticulture Show, the 37th annual Veterinary Medicine Open House (Saturday only), the Agricultural Economics Marketing Madness tent, an animal sciences open house and scores of other activities. It features departments from the Schools of Agriculture, Consumer and Family Sciences, Science, and Veterinary Medicine. Details are available on the Purdue Springfest 200 Web site. The Purdue Student Union Board also celebrates Mothers Weekend with an Arts and Crafts Show that will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, April 15, in the ballrooms and first-floor lounges of the Purdue Memorial Union. Nearly 60 exhibitors have made plans to show and sell their work. Events on campus that weekend include: FRIDAY • Women's softball vs. Northwestern (doubleheader). 2 p.m. Varsity Softball Complex. Tickets: $4 adults, $3 students. • Baseball vs. Indiana 3 p.m. Lambert Field. Tickets: $4 public, $3 students. • American Music Review and Variety Band concert. 8 p.m. Loeb Playhouse, Stewart Center. Free. SATURDAY • Springfest activities including Bug Bowl, agricultural and biological engineering, agronomy and plant pathology, food science, science, veterinary medicine, forestry and natural resources, horticulture, landscaping, consumer and family sciences, 4-H, animal sciences and agricultural economics. 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Free, in and around the agriculture buildings. • Baseball vs. Indiana (doubleheader). 1 p.m. Lambert Field. Tickets: $3 students, $4 public. • Men's tennis vs. Penn State. 1 p.m. Varsity tennis Courts. Free. • Women's softball vs. Iowa. 2 p.m. Varsity Softball Complex. Tickets: $4 adults, $3 students. • Black Cultural Center's Cultural Arts Series: New Directional Players' spring production. 7 p.m. Fowler Hall, Stewart Center. The group will showcase the contributions of young African-American men and women. Tickets: $5 for students, $7 for the public, available the evening of the show at Loeb Box Office, Stewart Center. SUNDAY • Springfest activities including Bug Bowl, agricultural and biological engineering, agronomy and plant pathology, horticulture, consumer and family sciences, 4-H, animal sciences and agricultural economics. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Free, in and around the agriculture buildings. • Baseball vs. Indiana. 1 p.m. Lambert Field. Tickets: $3 students, $4 public. • Men's tennis vs. Ohio State. 1 p.m. Varsity tennis Courts. Free • Women's softball vs. Iowa 1 p.m. Varsity Softball Complex. Tickets: $4 adults, $3 students. • Purdue Symphony Orchestra Concert. 2:30 p.m. Long Center for the Performing Arts, 111 N. Sixth St., Lafayette. Free. • Indianapolis Violin Competition gold medalist Judith Ingolfsson. 3 p.m. Fowler Hall, Stewart Center. Tickets are $9 at campus box offices or by phone at (765) 494-3933 or (800) 914-SHOW. A Department of Convocations' Discovery Concert. MULTI-DAY EVENTS • Thursday and Friday. Carnation sales ($1 per flower) at Stewart Center by the Liberal Arts Student Council. 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. • Thursday through Sunday. Purdue Theatre presents "Arcadia" by Tom Stoppard. 8 p.m. Experimental Theatre, Stewart Center. Schedule includes a 2 p.m. matinee on Sunday in addition to the show at 8 p.m. that day. Tickets: $11 for the public, $7 for students and senior citizens, at Loeb Box Office, (765) 494-3933 or (800) 914-SHOW. Sources: Bug Bowl: Tom Turpin, (765) 494-4568, tom_turpin@purdue.edu Springfest: Dana Neary, (765) 494-9113, dn@aes.purdue.edu Mothers Weekend: Julie Royce, (765) 494-8976, psub@pmu.purdue.edu Writer: Kay Hostetler, (765) 494-8402; news_students@aes.purdue.edu Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu NOTE TO JOURNALISTS: For photos or b-roll of previous Bug Bowls, or to arrange coverage of this year's event, contact Jesica Webb, Purdue News Service, (765) 494-2079, jwebb@purdue.edu PHOTO CAPTION: Six-year-old Hannah Becker handles a 9-inch tropical millipede as sister Erica, 3, looks on at Purdue's 1999 Bug Bowl. Both girls are from West Lafayette. This year's Bug Bowl will be April 15-16. (Purdue News Service Photo by David Umberger) A publication-quality photograph is available at the News Service Web site and at the ftp site. Photo ID: bugbowl2000.preview Download Photo Here
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