“Oh, it’s time to get ready.”
After a seemingly innocuous passage of play, these were the words of a baseball commentator at St Paul Saints’ match against Sioux Falls Canaries – right before food-throwing madness ensued.
7,500 people came to a baseball game and a food fight broke out!#SCTop10#40YearsOfAnimalHouse pic.twitter.com/4mgRt7t287
— St. Paul Saints (@StPaulSaints) August 15, 2018
The unadulterated slugfest of edible detritus involving 7,500 fans was, as you might be able to tell from the waterproof parkas, a co-ordinated moment of madness.
It was done as a commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the classic comedy Animal House, shown on the big screen.
The Saints said in a press release before the match: “Bring your friends, family, significant others, and especially your frenemies because this is your chance to partake in a time-honored tradition of a food fight, similar to the one started by John Belushi’s character, John ‘Bluto’ Blutarsky in the cafeteria scene from Animal House.”
Before you go thinking the remarkable display was waste for the sake of it, it raised money for a good cause, with thousands of dollars going to a food bank charity.
Thank you @StPaulSaints! https://t.co/IKAkFcRXIW
— Second Harvest Hrtld (@2harvest) August 15, 2018
The 90-second fight was planned for the fourth inning, with fans given mashed potatoes, marshmallow, popcorn and doughnuts to hurl at their fellow participants.
They were also told they could throw anything they liked from the food stands at the stadium, such as hot dogs and burgers.
30 seconds later… pic.twitter.com/3fsm2lKEPP
— Nick Weldy (@weldytime1) August 15, 2018
What a time and place to be a seagull.