hungry ninja strikes uga

so its pretty much illegal to be a ninja on the uga campus.

oddly enough, some college students still feel the urge to play dress up so much that we don't even do a double-take if we see a guy walk by in a pirate hat or a girl in the dining hall with a white plastic dragon perched on her left shoulder. if a girl wants to wear obnoxious black and white jailbird leggings under her jean skirt or a guy wants to wear pinstripe pants with a vertical striped shirt and horizontal striped tie, so be it. that’s their thing. if they want, they can go by frankenstein and have scuba sam for a dad, too.

i've seen it all on campus and they have never before been detained by authorities for their eccentric accessories or fashion faux pas. but commotion was made on campus tuesday afternoon when the atf (alcohol, tobacco, and firearms) authorities, tackled and handcuffed a ninja when he was on his way to lunch.

okay. so the guy wasn't really a ninja. the only ninja-esque attire he was wearing was the red bandanna over his face...otherwise, he was simply wearing black sweats and a t-shirt. granted, the guy might have been darting around like a ninja and was allegedly caught peering around the corner of a building. the same building in which the atf was in the midst of giving a presentation hosted by the local police department to promote neighborhood safety. but the ninja was simply in character.

apparently, the wesley foundation has been putting on some sort of "spirit week" and on that particular tuesday, it was ninja vs. pirate day. i'm not sure what exactly that entails aside from dressing up and, according to the paper today, greeting people "hi-ya doing?" and "how arrr you?" but it was all innocent fun and games.

when i walked outside of the dining hall tuesday afternoon to head to my speech class, the crowd had already gathered, blue lights were flashing from the police cab hastily pulled onto the curb, and a defeated ninja sat by the pansies in handcuffs. it wasn't until the next morning that the whole school found out about atf's embarrassing blunder.

now this part is my speculation. some young atf agent was just getting out of the convention. neighborhood safety was obviously running through his mind. suddenly, a suspicious character darts into view and the atf agent has his chance to play the hero of the day.

as reported by the paper and witnesses, the hungry ninja heard someone yell "freeze!" at first, he thought his friends were playing a prank on him, but looking behind him, a man in khaki pants and a polo had a gun pulled and aimed at him. he warned everybody to get down, the ninja had a gun. but everyone knows that ninjas don't use guns, they use stuff like swords and those little blade things that they throw.

the ninja quickly surrendered, but was tackled to the ground and pinned by the agent's knee. he asked the ninja to relinquish his weapon, but the ninja insisted that he was unarmed. the agent further demanded him to turn his gun over. being a professionally trained officer, there would be absolutely no way for him to mistake keys, a wallet, and a cell phone for a firearm. well, the arguments volleyed back and forth and he refused to believe the ninja and the tens of fellow ninjas and pirates that arrived to the scene.

turns out that the ninja was, indeed, unarmed and that the agent had mistaken something for a gun, despite his rigorous training. the ninja had broken no law, and the atf agent suffered a huge embarrassment.

the ninja's brief encounter with police has been the buzz around campus over the past two days. i'm sure he will forever more be known as the "ninja kid". his story has caught the eye of many national news organizations. rumor has it that even mtv has tried to contact the young ninja (the karate kid: ninja style, anyone?).

my advice to you is this: if you plan to visit the university of georgia anytime soon, please leave your ninja outfit at home.