Earlier this year, the news that Squamish made the list of The New York Times top 52 places to visit in 2015 sent the town into a frenzy.
But a sometimes forgotten fact is that Squamish’s first big media breakthrough occurred in the pages of Mad magazine back in 1965.
Sure, it may not have been directly related to the town but millions saw, read and enjoyed the bizarre description of the brand new sport called 43-Man Squamish.
Tom Koch, the writer who penned the original story, died on March 22. He and illustrator George Woodbridge brought to life the wacky sport.
The sport of Squamish caught on and even inspired the creation of a frat called Squamish that to this day parodies the very rules and traditions of college fraternities.
The rules of 43-Man Squamish are random, bizarre and hilarious, ranging from the fact that the ball for the game is stuffed with blue jay feathers, all the way to the rule that play begins after one of the team captains says “My uncle is sick but the highway is green.”
The game actually developed a cult following, with fans claiming to have played the game in a number of different ways.
Koch’s death makes one really look at a unique publication like Mad magazine and wonder: Where have those voices gone? I remember my parents scolding me when I was younger that Mad would rot my brain (some may argue they were right), but the writing, illustrations and humour are things that are so difficult to find today.
Unfortunately, with the emergence of the Internet and other options, Mad has seen its numbers dwindle. In 1973, the magazine’s circulation was over 2 million but that total has dropped to just under 140,000 today.
The lack of appreciation for the printed word can be disturbing at times. For everything great about the Internet, there’s something comforting about physically holding a newspaper, a magazine or a book in your hands and leafing through it.
Of course, being a reporter at a newspaper makes me a little biased to the future of the printed word, but we should never take it for granted. It provides unique platforms for voices of writers and illustrators of all types.
It certainly is trying times for print, but in the immortal words of Mad magazine’s Alfred E. Neuman: What, me worry?
