Thundersticks, sometimes known as bambams, are long, narrow plastic
balloon
A balloon is a flexible bag that can be inflated with a gas, such as helium, hydrogen, nitrous oxide, oxygen, and air. For special tasks, balloons can be filled with smoke, liquid water, granular media (e.g. sand, flour or rice), or li ...
s that are used as promotional noise makers. The noise is created when two thundersticks are struck together. They are most often used at sporting events.
Origin and popularity
Thundersticks, known as ''makdae pungseon'' () in South Korea, were created by BalloonStix Korea and first used in 1994 at an
LG Twins
LG Corporation (or LG Group) (), formerly Lucky-Goldstar from 1983 to 1995 (Korean: ''Leokki Geumseong''; ), is a South Korean multinational conglomerate founded by Koo In-hwoi and managed by successive generations of his family. It is t ...
baseball game. They later gained popularity in
North America when they were used by fans of the
Anaheim Angels
The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ha ...
during the
2002 World Series
The 2002 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB)'s 2002 season. The 98th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the American League (AL) champion Anaheim Angels and the National ...
. Today thundersticks are used by fans of many sports teams in order to show their support, serving a similar purpose as the
Homer Hanky associated with the
Minnesota Twins
The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area ...
and the
Terrible Towel associated with the
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Stee ...
.
Thundersticks have appeared around the world at many sporting events. They are regularly seen in baseball games in
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northe ...
, basketball games in the
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
, and
football matches throughout Europe, but sometimes under different names such as "bangers".
[Daniel Engber. "Who Made That Inflatable Noisemaker?" '']The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', June 13, 2014
See also
*
Boomwhacker
A Boomwhacker is a percussion instrument in the plosive aerophone and idiophone family. They are lightweight, hollow, color-coded, plastic tubes, tuned to a musical pitch by length. They were first produced by Craig Ramsell through his company Wh ...
*
Handy horn
*
Homer Hanky
*
Inflatable
An inflatable is an object that can be inflated with a gas, usually with air, but hydrogen, helium and nitrogen are also used. One of several advantages of an inflatable is that it can be stored in a small space when not inflated, since infla ...
*
List of inflatable manufactured goods
This is a non-comprehensive list of inflatable manufactured goods, as no such list could ever completely contain all items that regularly change. An inflatable is an object that can typically be inflated with a gas, including air, hydrogen, hel ...
*
Terrible Towel
*
Vuvuzela
The vuvuzela is a horn, with an inexpensive injection-molded plastic shell about long, which produces a loud monotone note, typically around B♭ 3 (the first B♭ below middle C). Some models are made in two parts to facilitate storage, a ...
References
External links
*
{{Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
Anaheim Angels
Balloons (entertainment)
Inflatable manufactured goods
South Korean inventions
Sports paraphernalia