Cowball fever takes hold in the Maize
A group of Cobbers stand around the pool table in the Maize. Pool balls clank and sail down the green surface of the table, though not one pool cue is in use. The cue ball hit the black eight ball into the corner pocket. Those standing around the pool table went silent pondering who won the game of Cowball, a spinoff of the traditional game of pool.
“I think I won,” speaks Emily Palmer, her bangs hanging slightly over her left eye, “Because I got the eight ball in the pocket giving you another letter, you spell C-O-W. I win.”
For some students on campus spelling the word “cow” would seem quite ridiculous, but for those playing, there is a greater meaning in the game.
“It’s all about the friends, and getting together to have a good time” Palmer says.
As many pass by the pool table in the Maize, they stop and watch, grinning, trying to understand the point of the game. In a group of seven or so students, the chaos of Cowball takes a pause as Stephanie Szuch and Palmer shake hands and set the balls up for another round.
Palmer came across Cowball a couple of years ago while she was hanging out with some friends in her home town of Rapid City, S.D. While she learned the game from a different group of friends, she in turn taught her friend Charlie Tirey and her sister Annie Palmer.
“I remember a Christmas party,” Tirey says. “This kid almost got hit in the head with the ball, it just whizzed by his ear. It was a close one.”
One of many stories of games gone by, Tirey and Palmer remember another time at a birthday party.
“At one point during my birthday party, I slipped and fell while running around the table,” Palmer says. “Out of nowhere, a friend of mine dove onto the floor and caught my head in his hands. It was priceless.”
This year, the game has crossed state lines and has found its way onto Concordia’s campus. Beginning on a Sunday afternoon, Palmer and her friends were attempting to find something to do, to escape from boredom. After being unable to decide what to do, or what game to play, they stuck a couple of choices into a hat.
“All along I was saying to them ‘Let’s play Cowball! It’s a lot of fun!’ But because I was the only one who had heard of it, we decided to stick it in the hat and draw to see what we were going to do,” Palmer says. “And then we drew Cowball.”
Gathering around the pool table, Palmer explains the rules while she sets up the game. Placing the black eight ball even with the second diamond, also known as the “kitchen” in a regular game of pool, she skips to the other end and places the cue ball even with the second diamond on that end.
“The goal of the game is to not spell C-O-W, cow,” Palmer says, her face lit up with excitement. “Don’t let the black ball stop rolling or you get a letter, if it goes in the pocket the person after you gets a letter, and you always have to be on the opposite side of the black ball when you attempt to hit it with the cue ball.”
With almost everything explained, Palmer grabs the cue ball and sends it rolling towards the black eight ball. With a hard clink, the eight balls bounces off the edge of the table and sends the white ball in an opposite direction. The game is underway and the chaos commences. Standing in a line at first to remember the order, as the excitement builds the line spreads out and everyone is filled with excitement, grinning, cheering, and running around the pool table.
As soon as the game begins, everyone falls silent as the eight ball enters a side pocket.
“So I get a letter now?” Charlie Alvarez says, a little confused with a grin spreading across his face. “Yeah. Because you said the person after gets the letter.”
The black ball is retrieved from the side pocket and the game becomes underway for a second time. In a matter of minutes, the cue ball is rolled toward the eight ball and an object is seen flying through the air towards an empty corner in the maize.
“Sometimes things get broken, and the balls go flying,” Tirey says with a chuckle.
As the game is whittled down to two players, the balls are set up in alignment with one another and the duel begins, Palmer at one end, Szuch at the other. The two girls run frantically around the pool table trying to anticipate where the black eight ball is going to end up. Giggling the entire time, the game is played until Palmer spelled out the word “cow” and the game was finished.
Though the game is competitive, it is a game that has brought a group of friends together to have a good time.
“It’s a little scary,” said Jon Filaffer, a new-comer to the game. “It’s intense and strategic, but really easy to pick up.”
Dividing into teams of two, this time to play with partners, the balls are set up and another round of laughter and fun begins again. Again, everyone is running around with excitement.
“This game gets very intense,” Palmer said. “You snag belt loops and gather battle wounds from hip-checking the table.”
Camaraderie lies at the center of the game that has traveled from one state to another, bringing friends from multiple states together. A new game on campus is present. This is laying the groundwork for friendships to last a lifetime.
“I think I won,” Szuch says. “Because I got the eight ball in the pocket giving you another letter, you spell C-O-W. I win!”
The game came down to two players once again. Palmer and Szuch shake hands and balls are set up for another round.
