Years madness was actually cool?

[Galway Eagle]

So obviously your first madness is super cool to a freshman but in retrospect how many have actually been awesome?

I was thinking of the one during the lockout where the NBA players came and I'm sure Crean in the karate robe on an atv was fun as well. What else?

[#UnleashSean]

The MBA lockout one by far.

2004 and 5 were pretty cool

[cheebs09]

My first one was the ATV year where Wade showed up unexpectedly. I've been to most since and that one hasn't come close to being topped. Crean does know how to put on a show.

[Jay Bee]

The MBA lockout one by far.

Poor students couldn't go to class, so they showed up to Madness, heynah?

[wadesworld]

Vander telling me, more or less, that he was ready to commit to Marquette made whatever year that was a pretty fun Madness.

[HoopsterBC]

Vander telling me, more or less, that he was ready to commit to Marquette made whatever year that was a pretty fun Madness.

Rather nothing event, but for Wojo at this time, has to get school excited about the team to bring them out on a cold night in January or February.  For recruits, this
is it, there is no football game to take them to.  Maybe DWade and Jimmy show up, that would be nice for the students and new recruits coming in.  Looks like the
coaching staff did a nice job getting kids to visit.

[The Lens]

Here’s a midnight madness story that could probably go in the untold stories thread, too:

My senior year of college I was the ASMU (we changed it to MUSG) vice president.  The president and I were big basketball fans and we wanted MU to have Midnight Madness.  So we reach out to Mike Deane.  He sent me back a 3-page hand-written letter on the thickest / coolest Marquette stationary you could imagine.  I still have it.  He gave us all the reasons why it couldn’t work but said he would be willing to meet with us to discuss, nonetheless. 

After meeting and sharing each other’s thoughts, we walked out of there with a commitment for a 2pm Saturday afternoon “Midnight Madness”.  Mike’s biggest concern was lack of attendance at midnight.  He was worried about it at 2pm too.  He had seen less than stellar crowds for the S16 welcome back rally when he was just hired and the NIT welcome back rally and did not want to put his players in an embarrassing situation once again.  It struck me how much he thought of his players.

Mike basically said, I will do this and I will open my rolodex, and my wallet but you MFers better get students there.  He kept his promise --- we’d meet in his office and he’d pick the phone to call Mike Schmidt and just like that a Ford Truck was offered up for a half-court shot; Mike would peel $100 bills out of his wallet for FT contests.  We ended up filling up the place --- fear is a great motivator; I think we worked harder to get the word out for the pep rally than we did for our election.

After we were done, Mike helped us set up the “Spirit Committee” (It was modeled after a program at IU where a certain DIRECTV executive had worked prior to joining the MU Ath. Dept.).  Eventually it become the Student Athletic Committee.  Lenny’s Tap off-spring was involved.   
The Spirit Committee met monthly with a rep from the Athletic Department on ways to improve school spirit.  Before a big 8:30pm Thursday night game vs Louisville we had 300 gold t-shirts made and given away at a pre-game pep rally at the Annex.  We also lobbied the Athletic Dept hard for new seating in the student section.  Up until that point it was Seniors in best seats, Freshmen in the worst and so on.  The problem in our eyes was Freshmen became disillusioned with going to games when they were stuck in the last rows that they never showed up again.  We pushed hard for General Admission.  It was too late for us but by 1998 there were a few test games and by 1999 or 2000 it was policy (a certain executive at DIRECTV was involved in this as well).

It’s hard to believe but when you see 4,000 students packed in, all wearing gold --- a small part of the reason is Mike Deane.  He told the Athletic Department to continue to meet with us, listen to us and work with us. 

[bilsu]

The year Buzz sang Sweet Caroline was cool.
I most likely will not go tonight as I do not see it worth the 100 mile round trip drive.

[brewcity77]

The year Buzz sang Sweet Caroline was cool.
I most likely will not go tonight as I do not see it worth the 100 mile round trip drive.

Yeah, Sweet Caroline was very cool. That was a fun Madness all around, lots of positive vibes coming into it and just a good energy around the program. I'd love to go tonight, but I'm working and it wasn't work trading off for the day. Of course, I'll also be out of town for the STH practice, so I likely won't see our guys suit up live until Vandy next month in Annapolis.

[4everwarriors]

Free Chicos 2016

[mu03eng]

Up until that point it was Seniors in best seats, Freshmen in the worst and so on.  The problem in our eyes was Freshmen became disillusioned with going to games when they were stuck in the last rows that they never showed up again.  We pushed hard for General Admission.  It was too late for us but by 1998 there were a few test games and by 1999 or 2000 it was policy (a certain executive at DIRECTV was involved in this as well).

You were the one that changed that? Man, I hated that it was general admission. I hated going to every single game and then watching as people would show up with friends that had never been and race to front row seats.

[MerrittsMustache]

You were the one that changed that? Man, I hated that it was general admission. I hated going to every single game and then watching as people would show up with friends that had never been and race to front row seats.

Exactly. General Admission blew! Or maybe I'm bitter that I spent 3 years watching bad basketball and then when the team was finally good (Wade's first year), I found myself having to fight basketball-clueness bandwagoners for good seats.

[The Lens]

You were the one that changed that? Man, I hated that it was general admission. I hated going to every single game and then watching as people would show up with friends that had never been and race to front row seats.

It's not perfect.  But IMO, it beats having upper classmen not show up, leaving many open rows up in front.  It creates more of a home court advantage.  The fact that for big games people do camp out, that's what we wanted.

[MerrittsMustache]

It's not perfect.  But IMO, it beats having upper classmen not show up, leaving many open rows up in front.  It creates more of a home court advantage.  The fact that for big games people do camp out, that's what we wanted.

I don't buy that logic.

In all likelihood the frosh who didn't show up because of bad first year seats weren't going to show up as upperclassmen anyway.

[The Lens]

Exactly. But at $40 a pop they'd still buy tix, and you'd have wide open sections of the lower bowl.  Trust me, I was there.

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

My first madness happened to be the lockout year. It was pretty awesome.

[4everwarriors]

Free Chicos 2016

[Silkk the Shaka]

I figured I would jump in here on this one before banishment.  You guys were a big part of Madness coming back.  No doubt.  Appreciated your support as students to help drive it.   

I wanted to add a bit of additional tidbits to it.  I remember we finally got midnight madness to be approved, Cordell Henry was the star of it at the old gym.  Took a lot of convincing for Mike to get on board, I'm glad he did.  As much as I liked Mike, however, I wish he would have done more in this area.  He was tough to convince to do the alumni, student stuff that today's coaches have to do.  The glad handing, but I will definitely give him the tip of the hat on that one.

On the General Admission stuff, I had worked hard for 2 years to try and get us to change, even prior to you guys forming SAB.  Tom Davis and I had gone through proposal after proposal to scrap what had been done for so long.  Part of it was my own experience as a student.  Each year for 4 years straight I was the first student to buy MU basketball tickets.  I waited in line at 2 or 3 in the morning at the 1212 building, but I wasn't rewarded for doing that....my seats were based on the seniority seating, which I thought was wrong.  So now in a position of power to do so something once I had convinced Cords general admission was the right approach, then I had to sell it in to Andy Thon, Kliehbahn, etc.  Plenty of naysayers along the way. Somewhere I still have the presentation I did to convince the higher ups.  I actually attempt two things....students in lower level like Michigan and General Admission.  It was clear early on that the students at lower levels just wasn't politically palatable or economically feasible, so I cut bait.  On the general admission side, I made the following arguments:

1) Seniority seating can mean the most passionate students are in terrible seats and you train them from freshmen that they are screwed until senior year
2) It created huge holes in the seating area where students didn't show up
3) No excitement generated from the students.  No incentive for fans to attend.  If we could make it a first come first serve, I knew the most important student seats (in the front) would be filled with those most passionate to be there.....the loudest, craziest, most committed fans.

The downside.....the seniors were pissed at the idea.  They argued they waited 4 years to get the best seats and it wasn't fair to them.   That's where you and others came in and played such an important role, to help convince the students for the greater good.  Thank you.

In my mind it was one of our top 5 accomplishments there along with a few others still used to this day 15+ years later.  I remember one of the university VPs saying if this didn't work, I would be hung in effigy....he was teasing...I think.   It worked, and still works to this day.  A much needed shot in the arm for a program that was struggling at the gate and with excitement.

LOL Chicos is the guy that can't open the jar, struggling pathetically, then when his wife comes over and casually pops it open he can't give her credit, he just yells "I loosened it!" to anyone that saw it go down

[bma77]

I don't buy that logic.

In all likelihood the frosh who didn't show up because of bad first year seats weren't going to show up as upperclassmen anyway.

That seems bad logic.  If you were resigned to crappy seats and perfectly good ones in front of you are empty because kids are not going, that would be annoying.  If I read correctly, isn't that why the policy was changed?

[bma77]

LOL Chicos is the guy that can't open the jar, struggling pathetically, then when his wife comes over and casually pops it open he can't give her credit, he just yells "I loosened it!" to anyone that saw it go down

Maybe I read the two comments differently, but they don't seem mutually exclusive.  One was a student angle and one was an admin angle.  Both guys gave credit to each other.

Applause to all involved that made it happen. 

[muwarrior69]

Back in my day there was no Marquette Madness, we had Tip off Weekend with a parade down West Wisconsin. Fraternities, Sororities and other student groups would build floats and compete for best float. There was a dance in the evening if I recall. The only Madness we celebrated was in March.

[keefe]

Free Chicos 2016

I agree, Doc.

Scoop is a lesser place. John Dodds must be ecstatic. 

[muwarrior69]

I'll 2nd that!

[Loose Cannon]

Yep, I'm in.

[cheebs09]

Sometimes it feels like he never left.