Having this event is pure Madness By: Craig Stouffer

Examiner Staff Writer
09/12/10 9:00 PM EDT
John Wall dancing and dunking? On a work night?

The Wizards have plenty of reasons to embrace a collegiate feel. Just to start, No. 1 overall draft pick and new face of the franchise John Wall turned 20 just last week, and Josh Howard (age 30) is the oldest member of a roster that averages well under 25 years old.

But co-opting Midnight Madness from NCAA basketball is a step too far, even for marketing-savvy Wizards owner Ted Leonsis, who is determined to reconnect with and re-energize his team's fans in Washington.

Madness works so well for colleges in part because of the specialized, close-quarters dynamic of the university campus. Lots of students, all living together and staying up very late most nights, are easily attracted to a readily accessible arena for a season-opening pep rally, especially when their team is good.

But even if a couple thousand George Mason students can be persuaded to walk from their dorms to Patriot Center to see Wall do his tea-kettle fist dance, dunk and throw alley-oops to JaVale McGee, it will be harder to convince the working masses who make up the Wizards' fan base to drive out to Fairfax -- on a Monday night, no less -- just to see a faux practice.

Not to mention, the Wizards' best hopes for this season are to be a fringe playoff contender in the East.

Leonsis' fresh and inventive thinking will change attitudes toward the Wizards and inevitably build excitement. But staging Midnight Madness is overplaying the hand before the stakes are worth it.


Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/sports/blogs/Cheers-and-Jeers/Having-this-event_is-pure-Madness-833715-102746664.html#ixzz0zVeAeoVw