Well, I’d like to self-declare myself one of the biggest Spartan fans on campus. I may not have grown up in East Lansing, cheering them on since I was born, but when I come to a school that treats me as well as it did and gave me the incredible experiences it did, I become passionate about it. That’s why Midnight Madness ALWAYS gives me chills.
There isn’t a single aspect of sports you could sway me in disinterest. This holds especially true to when it comes to my Spartans. The anticipation of college basketball always begins the day after the season is over. I have been lucky enough to see Sparty play in the NCAA Tournament all four years of my undergraduate career. However, each time they fell short I wanted nothing more than to hit a fast-forward button and start the season over again.
Midnight Madness holds a special place in my heart because it is the teaser that displays just a little bit of what MSU has been working and building on, as well as revamping the excitement just weeks before the season starts.
When you pack the Breslin Center full and the players are descending down the steps, they get a glance at what the atmosphere will be like for each home game. It gets them revved up, and the fans feed off of that. This is the purpose of Midnight Madness.
Now the antics of this event really express how this program feels about their fans. They want them to enjoy it. Everything from the fan-involved competitions to the way Tom Izzo flies down in an Iron Man costume, it’s all to show the fans exactly what they mean to this program. The dynamic works like this… You have an enthusiastic program, you achieve an enthusiastic fan-base; the enthusiastic fan-base will breathe life into the program, which will in-turn give fans a display of passion for which they develop their own passion as fans around.
That was kind of complicated. Maybe this video will explain it better. This is what happens when you have a good fan to program dynamic.
