Bobcat Madness: new name, same cause

Beginning at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 20, Bobcat Madness, the event formerly known as Midnight Madness, filled Centennial Center with school spirit and kicked off the Georgia College basketball season with a performance from the Sassy Cats, contests and many giveaways.

With the name change from Midnight Madness to Bobcat Madness, the Thunder Crew has also changed the event itself.  

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“We decided to make it like one big pep rally,” President of the Thunder Crew Pat Gamble said. “We wanted to get away from the midnight part.”

Gamble explained that the event would end up being drawn out too long and would not hold students’ attention as well.

“The goal was to make the event just as good as the beginning the entire time,” Gamble said.

Gamble explained that instead of holding the event the night before the basketball team’s practice, like it was in the past, the Thunder Crew decided to hold off having the event until the following week on Thursday night because that would be the night that would offer the most attendance.

Bobcat Madness began this year at 6 p.m. with tailgating in the Centennial Center parking lot. Chairwoman for the SGA game day athletics committee, Natalie Sorto described the tailgating experience as “overall Bobcat craziness” and “a pep rally on steroids.” Organizations gather in the first two sections of the Centennial parking lot, which are the commuter lots, for the tailgate.

“Everyone has their tents out there, they have grills, food and they bring drinks,” Sorto said.

“You are allowed to drink alcohol if you are of age. There are public safety officials and officers out there regulating and making sure nobody gets out of line.”

Tailgating is not just for Greek organizations, but for all students who want to participate.

“Right now we are working on getting a common area for freshmen and non-Greek students to hang out,” Sorto said.

There is also a designated family-friendly area for anyone in the community that wants to come and support the Bobcats. This area is located in the parking lot beside Sanford and Napier halls.

“It’s open to the community, Milledgeville locals that come and support the school. It’s for anyone who doesn’t want to be around alcohol,” Sorto said. “A lot of the coaches and staff have kids and they come and watch the game.”

At 7:30 p.m. the doors to the Centennial Center opened and the event moved inside.

“The environment is the biggest change,” Gamble said. “We’re gonna make it kind of like a rave. You walk into the Centennial Center after a giant tailgate and all the lights are going to be off. There’s going to be lasers, strobe lights and loud music, pump-up music. We’ll be handing out over 1,000 glow sticks.”

Bobcat Madness lasted for about an hour and a half and was packed with back-to-back events including a performance by the Sassy Cats, a $10,000 half-court shot contest, a dunk contest and a lot of free giveaways.

“They are definitely trying to make this the biggest one since I’ve been here,” said Ryan Aquino, senior forward for the GC men’s basketball team. “There is going to be more student involvement, it’s gonna be action-packed and more exciting.”

Gamble, as well as the rest of the Thunder Crew, hopes that a high student attendance will result in ongoing support for Bobcat basketball teams.

“The students are starting to connect with the Thunder Crew and we are starting to see that feedback,” Gamble said.

In the last year student attendance at athletic events has gone up 45 percent according to Gamble, this is due to the marketing of the Thunder Crew.

“It’s been big, they’ve been helping out getting student attendance and more involvement,” Aquino said.

The Thunder Crew is planning more events for this year including a second Battle of the Cats with Augusta State University and at least two bus trips to away basketball games. “We are also trying to figure out ways to promote baseball and softball more and get more interaction there,” said Gamble.

Tailgating rules as well as maps of the designated tailgating areas can be found online at http://www.gcsu.edu/sga/substancepolicy.htm.

Posted by Alyson Crosby on Oct 20 2011. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.