Sophomore Stories Part VI "Beavis & Butts Up"

Soon after classes started, a familiar routine quickly developed with about 20 of us from the 5th floor of Ellsworth Hall. Every weekday evening, we gathered at 5:30pm to walk the obligatory 250 yards outside to our dorm cafeteria cleverly dubbed "Mrs. E's" by the creative types in the Department of Student Housing.
After ingesting our pain-inducing food, we trekked back to our 5th floor lobby to watch MTV's latest cartoon hit, Beavis and Butthead. At the time, this was THE thing to do. Now, it's undeniably juvenile, but again, when this show debuted, from 6:30 to 7pm, you could not peel us away from the lobby television. In addition, I'm pretty sure there was a group dynamic working that made the show actually funnier than it really was. This happens when a large group of people are enjoying the same entertainment and for some reason, it's easier to laugh out loud in a crowd, so this increased, uninhibited laughter tricks your brain into remembering something is funnier than it is (this also happened to me with "The Waterboy")
Anyhow, after our 30 minutes with Beavis, we turned our attention to our new game, Butts Up. As I have described this game to others over the years, I've heard it referred to as many different names, but for me and my friends in Ellsworth, it was Butts Up.
The geography looked like this...entering our floor from the stairs or elevator, there was a ten foot section of government issue linoleum square flooring anchored on each side by a concrete wall, 8 feet high. This was our arena for Butts Up. Using the concrete wall and a medium sized nerf ball, we took turns risking our physical health in the name of good, mostly-clean, college fun.
The Rules Of Butts Up:
1. Play begins when a random player throws the ball against the wall without the ball hitting the ground first. Another player tries to catch the ball and repeat the process.
2. If a player throws the ball but hits the ground before it hits the wall, he must run and touch the wall before another player can pick up the ball and throw it against the wall. If the ball arrives at the wall before the player, he is awarded a point (points are bad, you don't want them)
3. If a player mishandles, bobbles or drops a ball they are trying to catch, they must run and touch the wall before another player can pick up the ball and throw it against the wall. If the ball arrives at the wall before the player, he is awarded a point (again, no points is best)
4. When a player acquires three points, he is required to position himself, facing the wall, hands more than shoulder width apart and over his head. Bending slightly at the waist, he showcases the target for the arbitrarily chosen thrower. When correctly positioned, the thrower takes his place no closer than 10 feet and aims for the posterior of the unfortunate soul who amassed three points. The thrower gets one throw only, if he misses, a loud groan will ensue from the other players. If there is a direct hit, much laughter and carousing follows.
5. The game continues until everyone is at least 'glistening' with sweat or until the girls Resident Assistant yells at us to stop.

This game provided hours of fun and a needed distraction from the endless, unreasonable reading assignments and studying we all had to do.