Do not use false advertising to sell events to students

When I first heard that Midnight Madness was finally coming back for my senior year, I could not wait to attend.

However, what I thought was going to be "Midnight Madness" turned out to be GrooveBoston with player introductions awk­wardly thrown in before the event started.

I do not want to take anything away from GrooveBoston. Once again it was a great event that I had a lot of fun attending, but next time, do not use the event to sell something else.

Midnight Madness is supposed to be one big pep rally centered around basketball to celebrate the new upcoming team and season on the first day of practice. Be­sides introducing the upcoming year's team, other various basket­ball activities are held, such as a dunk contests between the players and a scrimmage.

The event is focused on basket­ball and getting students and fans excited about the new season, but Seton Hall's Midnight Madness failed to do that.

Instead I first found myself wait­ing for GrooveBoston to start when the players began to get in­troduced on stage. They danced for a few seconds before leaving for the night. None of the players or coaches addressed the crowd welcoming us to the event, thank­ing us, or tried to get us excited for the season. Instead it seemed like just a way to glorify the basketball players in front of a large number of students.

I understand that Midnight Mad­ness has been held at Seton Hall before and was a bust, which is why it was combined with GrooveBoston in the first place, but I would not get excited for Midnight Madness next year based on Friday night, unless I knew it was completely revamped. When I think back on what I enjoyed about that night, the introductions are easily forgettable and I know I am not the only student who feels this way.

Basketball is the only major col­lege sport played at the Hall; it has the potential to re­ally take over the school, just as it did near the end of last year's season.

The games against Georgetown and Rutgers showed what is possi­ble here, including a real midnight madness. By having an actual event centering only on basketball and growing as the team continu­ing to get better, it can turn into the event that will be marked on students' calendars.

I am not expecting Seton Hall to be like Kentucky's Midnight Madness but at least try not to use other events that you know stu­dents are already going to attend to force it upon them.

Stephen Valenti is a senior jour­nalism major from Lansdale, PA. He can be reached at stephan.valenti@student.shu.edu.