Every year, Pepperdine holds two major student-centered events: Songfest and Midnight Madness. These events are consistently surrounded by a plenitude of paid advertisements, hype and campus-wide anticipation. But from the sound of it, most students were let down — to put it mildly — with the way things turned out Oct. 10.
Knowing that a lot of people put a lot of time and effort into the event makes it hard to criticize. Most people on campus knew someone who was involved with planning or performing in Midnight Madness, so we are reluctant to badmouth the event. But, with all etiquette and politeness aside, we cannot ignore the rather compelling consensus on campus that this year’s edition of Pepperdine’s classic fall event, with its new name and date, was less than stellar. In fact, it we would not be going out on a limb in saying Madness: Reloaded flopped.
We easily could have swept this one under the rug and chalked it up to uncontrollable, outside forces or even untimely miscommunication among the different organizations that orchestrated the event — had it not been the biggest event of the semester. Since we lack a football team, Pepperdine students, faculty, staff and fans gravitate to the one major sport that gets respectable TV time, basketball.
The initial negative circumstances surrounding the event waged what proved to be an insurmountable battle for the event planners. First of all, Midnight Madness traditionally celebrates the basketball team’s first practice — but not this year, due to scheduling conflicts with the three-day weekend.
Thus, we encountered many students asking, “What’s the point?” It was like celebrating New Year’s Day two weeks early, or throwing a “Welcome Home” party for someone before they had returned. The basketball team couldn’t even practice yet, so what was the point exactly?
Planners and writers attempted to pump up the entertainment value of the program in order to save face and make it worthwhile.
But what resulted was a loud, and at times, inaudible semblance of drawn-out comedy skits that had rough transitions and an embarrassing sound system. Instead of generating school spirit, many found themselves looking at each other, shrugging their shoulders while trying to figure out what was happening in front of them.
And speaking of trying to make sense out of the unobvious, why “Madness Reloaded?”
Apparently some other school convinced a court of some degree that it should be allowed to copyright the term “Midnight Madness.” So event planners had lost their event’s slug right off the bat. Madness: Reloaded was almost destined to be an unwelcome break from the norm.
Other changes included the omission of recognizable celebrities, as well as the “trampoline guys,” much to the chagrin of one of our staffers.
The Peppervine revealed that Jennifer Lopez’s ex-husband, dancer/choreographer and recent “I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here” reality TV show winner Chris Judd and actor/comedian Andy Dick were scheduled to appear, but flaked.
We asked Graphic staff members in attendance who the other celebrities were, but for some reason, no one could quite remember.
More than half of those on staff failed to even make it to this year’s festivities, citing a lack of interest or the absurdity of past events. Few felt like they missed anything. And those who did go would have agreed. Their time could have been better spent elsewhere.
What it all boils down to is a lost opportunity. It’s hard to get Pepperdine students revved up for anything, and as one of the big events on Pep’s calendar, this year’s Madness: Reloaded lacked the kung-fu punch of celebrity, basketball and fun that students have come to expect.
Had everyone pulled out their Palm Pilots and organizers, this disaster could have all been avoided. Because, as one staffer pointed out, if you take away the basketball team’s crucial, first public practice from the Midnight Madness event, what do you have?
Whatever the reason for the disappointment surrounding this year’s Madness: Reloaded, there is hopefully much left to be desired.
In the best case scenario, in keeping with the Matrix theme, next year’s Madness event should be a “knock-your-socks-off” Revolution, as this year’s planners had intended this one to be.
We just hope the opposite is not correct — that this year’s Reloaded marks the lowering of the Madness bar.
October 23, 2003