Midnight Madness rocks The Pyramid
By Andres Cardenas
Daily Forty-Niner
49er fans expected basketball, not a brawl,
when they walked into The Pyramid on Friday night.
Cal State Long Beach student Cedric McMillion
scuffled with 49er mascot Prospector Pete as about 1,600 people showed
up for Midnight Madness, a celebration of the men's and women's basketball
season.
The mascot bumped McMillion and then the
two began pushing, softly punching and wrestling each other for about a
minute until both walked away.
McMillion said the fight started when the
mascot pushed him when he was trying to return to his seat.
"He pushed me, so I pushed him back," said
McMillion, who said the whole night was exciting and school pride showed
during the event.
The celebration marks the first basketball
practice allowed by the NCAA for the 1999-2000 season.
"It is finally here -- now it is time to
play," said men's basketball senior shooting guard D'Cean Bryant about
the new season.
The practice featured a 3-point shooting
contest and practice games by the men's and women's teams.
During the shooting contest, six teams
consisting of a male and female player competed for three-point supremacy.
Last year's defending champions Ramel Lloyd
and Reta Sula were defeated in the first round by eventual winners Crystal
Hogan and Brad Smith.
"Reta was bragging, saying she was going
to defend her title," said Hogan about defeating Sula and Lloyd. "It's
all for fun."
After the three-point contest, the women's
team hit the floor for a 15-minute scrimmage. During the event, Head Coach
Dallas Boychuk-Bolla was doing the play by play on a microphone.
"They were so excited," Boychuk-Bolla said
after the scrimmage. The women's team started their practices later that
afternoon.
The men's team hit the floor last. Men's
Head Coach Wayne Morgan said he felt the players did a good job of keeping
the crowd entertained.
"I thought the kids put on a good effort
-- they put on a good show," Morgan said. "They left a lot of people excited
with what they put on."
Pyramidnight Madness was kicked off with
a preparty at The Nugget at 8 p.m. Friday. From The Nugget, fans walked
to The Pyramid to be there when the doors opened at 11 p.m.
At The Pyramid, fans were treated to free
food and soda and music from radio station KROQ.
The men's season starts with an exhibition
game against Team Fokus on Nov. 9 at 7:35 p.m. at The Pyramid. The women's
season starts with a home exhibition game against SBC Prerob of the Czech
Republic Nov. 11 at 7:30 p.m.
Also announced last week is that men's
basketball player Cesar Sanchez has been suspended indefinitely from the
team due to what is being called "behavior inconsistent with team protocol."
Morgan did not go into detail with what behavior was inconsistent with
team protocol but said that the behavior was is not illegal or immoral. |
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