My thoughts on midnight madness
Pros:
1. This was held at a great facility at the Patriot Center in George Mason University in nearby Fairfax, VA. Patriot Center can hold 10,000 people for Mason games especially when they take on their biggest rivals including Virginia Commonwealth and Old Dominion. Of course, to the average person, George Mason University is best known for that 2006 Final Four Run. Don't think of Mason as some tiny liberal arts college, the stereotype of most of these cinderellas. It is a large research university, but just doesn't have the athletic infrastructure like UVA and VT have. Most of the CAA universities are large schools as well.
2. Having Jim Larranaga, the men's basketball coach give opening remarks was great, because he's the king of the building, and a large number of those in attendance were Mason students.
3. Pre game festivities were pretty good. Slam dunks by the mascots, a concert by Mambo Sauce, the local DC go go band adds more flare.
4. The team threw out towels after practice was over. Overall the guys were appreciative.
5. IT WAS FREE!!!!!!!!!!!
Cons
1. The thing I didn't like about Midnight Madness is that the practice went on and the crowd just wasn't into it because the Wizards were doing just that. PRACTICE. I hink that ther should have been cheer music, etc. during the scrimmages to keep the fans engaged. This isn't college when the students can do this more easily. Pro sports need that. Sure practice doesn't have cheer music, but this is MIDNIGHT MADNESS!
2. No players dunk contest or three point shooting contest? College ones have this often. I would like to see this.
3. We were going to have a pep rally at 10 PM but it was cancelled earlier. There should have been more of a pep rally environment during the event to keep the fan spirit up. After the starting lineups, it was pretty quiet unless we saw a great play, like Gilbert making a buzzer beating shot with a sniper's precision at the end of the first scrimmage.
4. I don't like the new Wizards PA announcer's boiseterous voice, but apparently these kind of announcers are moe in demand lately. He is best known here as the PA man for the Washington Mystics where he just finished his first year. It's not the starting lineups, but the things he'll say during the game, in particular the way he announces timeouts, when one minute was left in the quarter (for WNBA; two minutes would be for NBA) and free throws. He is more energetic than last year's PA announcer, and Ted wanted this change, so it is what it is. A good amount of Mystics fans can't stand him, and a lot of Wizards fans won't either. But if you need energy, he's got it.
5. The event was in Fairfax, VA, about 20 miles south and west of DC. This alienated a lot of the Wizards fans who live in eastern Prince George's County, MD (located east of DC), the Annapolis and Baltimore (yup we got fans there too) areas in particular. Those from there may have had an easier than normal trip into Mason, but they're having a rougher morning than I do.
Suggestions
In next year's midnight madness, I'd like to see this.
1. Players dunk contest and three point contest
2. Guest appearances by Capitals and Mystics players since Ted always throws them out there. Caps play today against Boston in the preseason so it should be no problem getting Ovie, Backstrom, Semin and company over. The Mystics would be harder to do because most players are about to go overseas to play (World Championship is on right now), but get who you can over anyway because they won the Eastern Conference Regular Season title. You don't have to magnify the Caps and Mystics, but you can mention them, get them some cheers, and move onto the Wizards, since the night was for them anyway.
3. More PA Announcer involvement in the scrimmages especially to keep the crowd motivated.
Overall grade: B+
The hype was a bit better than the product, but the latter was still nice to see, and we were the first team to hold such an event. Just imagine if the Lakers held this at USC or UCLA or the Heat did this at FIU. That would be crazy!!
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