Midnight Madness!

Ladies and gentlemen, college basketball began Friday night.

Pardon me for a second while I say ..... YESSSS!!!

It’s my favorite sport, and Midnight Madness was one of my favorite events throughout my six-year college career.

Back when I went, it was legitimately a “Midnight” Madness, where the students stood outside in line all day long, then we’d all get let in the building at 11:00pm. It didn’t matter what day of the week it was. It was always October 14th (my birthday, incidentally), becuase the 15th was the first day the NCAA allowed teams to officially practice.

You’d grab whatever seat you could, because it was general admission. Then the band would play or a while, the cheerleaders would do their thing, the students had a dunk contest.

Then there was a countdown to midnight, when they finally let the basketball team loose. And the place would go absolutely berserk.

The band would play the fight song, there would be a 20-minute dunking display by the slew of non-quite All-Americans on the floor and everybody had a ball.

It may still be that way at some schools, but not most of them. Most practices have been going on since Wednesday. Most Midnight Madnesses started around 8:00 or 9:00 o’clock at night. It’s not the same.

But what it IS is the best night of college hoops, because it’s the FIRST day of college hoops. And that’s always a beautiful thing.

I’m giving some MAD LOVE for Midnight Madness today, as the countdown to the Maui Invitational and the Road to the Final Four begins.

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