|
|||||||||||||
Printer-Friendly
Email this Story
Post a Comment (0)
Crazy for Mason basketball
Yes, Fairfax is going crazy again with "March Madness.” For the second time in three years, the George Mason University men's basketball team has won a berth to compete in the NCAA tournament for the national collegiate championship.
With high excitement on and off campus reminiscent of March and April 2006, when the Patriots went all the way to the Final Four, hundreds among the Mason faithful, from grade schoolers and undergrads to alumni and older fans, gathered for a loud and raucous pep rally late Sunday afternoon held in the Johnson Center atrium on the Fairfax campus.
Urged on by cheerleaders, the Masonettes dance team, Mason's amorphous fuzzy green mascot named Gunston and the university's famed pep band blowing out tune after tune from the atrium's second level balconies, the crowd cheered Coach Jim Larranaga and his players, all of whom appeared wearing dark green warm-up uniforms.
Fans let out at least two more loud roars, once when CBS television's NCAA Selection Show, projected live on over-sized video screens, announced that the Patriots were placed in the tournament's Eastern bracket as a No. 12 seed, and would face No. 5 seed Notre Dame on March 20 in Denver.
Another rambunctious cheer came when pep rally attendees inside the Johnson Center saw a live shot of themselves broadcast by CBS displayed on screens.
Just as excited as fans of the green and gold, it seems, is Mason President Alan Merten.
"Two times in three years. It feels good," Merten told The Times on Sunday during the rally.
"It's one more recognition that we've got the right things going athletically and academically, and it makes me very proud," he said, adding that he would travel to Denver with the team. "Hopefully, we'll stay there as long as we can, and then go someplace else."
Brandon Thompson, a 21-year-old senior from Fredericksburg, Va., said that Mason T-shirts, hats and flamboyant yellow or green "spirit" wigs are selling well at the Johnson Center bookstore where he works part time.
"Business has been booming," Thompson said. "I would say school spirit is a lot higher than when we made the Final Four, or at least getting there, and I think it's going to continue to get higher."
"I think the craziest thing I've seen is guys on campus wearing T-shirts and lifting them up so you see their green and gold body paint underneath," he said. "If that's not school spirit, I don't know what is."
Also at the rally on Sunday was Centreville resident and Mason alumna Sarah Davis, 23, Class of 2006, who recalled her senior year as a dancer with the Masonettes when the basketball team surprised the country, making it to the Final Four in Indianapolis.
"It's wonderful to be back here this year to watch them go through the same thing they went through then. I'm really excited for them," said Davis, who currently is a member of the Washington Wizards dance team.
Asked what she would like to say to the players, Davis said, "Go Mason! Good luck in the tournament. I really support you guys."
Sophomore Elyse Robinson, 20, from Virginia Beach, who attended as many games as she could this season, seemed a bit more demanding.
"They better win this game coming up, that's all I have to say," Robinson said.
You must be logged in to post a comment.