Buckeye Fans to Wade Through Urine-Filled Waters, You Know, For Tradition

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↵If you happened to catch last night’s episode of South Park, you’re well prepared to deal with a story in which people swim joyously through pee-filled waters. If you didn’t, I don’t know what to tell you, other than you might want to stay away from Columbus this evening. In what has long been inexplicable ritual of preparation for the Buckeyes to take on hated Michigan, scores of students will take the naked plunge into Mirror Lake.↵↵Because, uh, I don’t know for what reason besides broadcasting to the world RAWR WE’RE FREEZING AND SOAKED! THAT’LL SHOW THOSE WOLVERINES!↵

↵↵What we do know, however, is that the reveling students have an effect on the lake itself. They leave it teeming with pee.↵

↵↵⇥Last year, students in the College of Earth Sciences tested the water in Mirror Lake before, during and after thousands plunged in to psych themselves up for The Game.↵⇥↵⇥“Interesting results from last year’s study include a lake-wide temperature increase of approximately 3 degrees Fahrenheit during the course of the night and an ammonia spike around 1 in the morning,” said Steve Goldsmith, a postdoctoral research associate.↵⇥

↵⇥↵⇥The temperature increase could be chalked up to warm-blooded people standing in a cold lake, Goldsmith said. But, yes, that ammonia spike means exactly what you think it means.↵⇥

↵⇥↵⇥Urine.↵⇥

↵⇥↵⇥“It went from a background of 5.2 parts per million to a peak of about 42 parts per million,” Goldsmith said. “So it was an eightfold increase.”↵⇥

↵↵↵Remember now, there can’t be too high a concentration of urine, lest the trouble start (Ed. note: South Park clip from Wednesday that’s slightly gross). Plus, it can’t be good to be sitting in yellow days before the big game. Them’s Wolverine colors!↵

↵↵(H/T to Dr. Saturday)↵

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