Thundersticks, sometimes known as bambams, are long, narrow plastic
balloon
A balloon is a flexible membrane bag that can be inflated with a gas, such as helium, hydrogen, nitrous oxide, oxygen, or air. For special purposes, balloons can be filled with smoke, liquid water, granular media (e.g. sand, flour or rice), ...
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
The LG Twins () are a South Korean professional baseball team based in Seoul, South Korea. They are a member of the KBO League. The Twins play their home games at Jamsil Baseball Stadium, which they share with their rivals, the Doosan Bears.
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baseball game. They later gained popularity in
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...
when they were used by fans of the
Anaheim Angels during the
2002 World Series
The 2002 World Series was the World Series, championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB)'s 2002 Major League Baseball season, 2002 season. The 98th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the American League (AL ...
. 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) American League Central, Central Division. The team is named afte ...
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 of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. Founded in 1933 P ...
.
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. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
, basketball games in the
Philippines
The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
, and
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
matches throughout Europe, but sometimes under different names such as "bangers".
See also
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Boomwhacker
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Handy horn
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Homer Hanky
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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 inflat ...
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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, heliu ...
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Terrible Towel
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Vuvuzela
References
External links
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{{Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
Los Angeles Angels
Balloons
Inflatable manufactured goods
South Korean inventions
Sports paraphernalia