Cecelia FranciscoA frenzied group of Cavalier fans packed The Dixon Center on Oct. 22 to participate in the kick-off of the 2004 basketball season. The festivities began at 10:00 p.m. with free giveaways from Cabrini’s health hut, free pancakes and sausage in the building’s lobby and lots of eager students, who awaited the showcase of the dance team and the introduction of the Lady Cav’s new coach, Mrs. Bobbi Morgan.
Students like Dave Barba, junior, thought it better to come prepared to sport his Cabrini pride after a few beers over in the apartments. “That’s what this is all about,” Barba said “to have a good time while we create a whole sense of school spirit.”
89.1 WYBF “The Burn,” Cabrini’s radio station, set the night’s momentum with the music they played and was the proper prelude to freshman Pegga Honarfar’s rendition of “The National Anthem,” which was sung beautifully right before the tip-off of the faculty vs. students-basketball game. “I was so excited for the opportunity to sing ‘The National Anthem’ that I practiced every-single day. This was a dream come true,” Honarfar said.
Cabrini’s faculty proved to be dominant over the students, but it was all in good fun.
This year’s events were planned by the athletic department instead of student activities, which was the department that ran midnight madness in previous years. “It was exciting to work with student activities and plan for midnight madness,” Danehy said. “We love having the gym packed with students and the kind of energy that creates.”
Unfortunately, the appointed half-court shooters that were chosen by raffle didn’t have the right touch to create a sweet swoosh that would have awarded them $10,000.
Lauren Walker, junior, wasn’t very impressed with this year’s midnight madness. Walker said, “It just wasn’t as exiting as it was the last two years. The lights were kept on during introductions so you really couldn’t see the smoke and my friends and I didn’t even know about it [midnight madness] until just a few days before.”
The dance team, however, revived the hype regardless of the lighting or the smoke with their twists and turns to tunes by “The Neptunes.”
JT Turtzo, junior, said, “The dance team seemed like they improved a lot since last year.” Turtzo expresses his kudos to the dance choreographers.
Dave Barba, junior, said, “I was impressed with the raw talent of both basketball teams.”
The Lady Cav’s new coach, Bobbi Morgan, comes from a 14-year-career as Haverford High School women’s basketball coach. “Hopefully, she can help lead the Lady Cavs to the PAC,” Barba said.
“I think that midnight madness was a great kick-start into the 2004-2005 athletic season. I especially liked when the men dunked against the women in their intramural game,” education major, Jessica Nash said.
Posted to the web by Cecelia Francisco
