GW fans got their madness Friday night with a wide array of festivities at Midnight Madness. There were mixed reactions to the evening, including complaints that the emcee was inaudible, but most people who attended said they thought the overall show was a success. Less than half the students stayed to watch the men’s and women’s basketball scrimmages. Below are various reactions from students who attended.

The show: The hour-long entertainment leading up to the basketball season drew mixed reactions.

The show had a ton of energy, but the energy dropped a bit when the basketball players came out. I think this is because the show was so high impact for the whole night that the basketball players didn’t get all the energy from the fans that they deserved.-sophomore Liz Muro

It was a two-hour half-time show. I thought it was good. It was sort of anti-climatic. There were a lot of entertaining acts, but when the basketball team came out everyone left. Basketball was the side show and the entertainment was the main act. The pyrotechnics were really cool, but you think about how much money is being spent on this. It’s a show for the parents.-sophomore Jordan Usdan

I didn’t like the emcee. I couldn’t really hear him and I thought he was a little immature. I think the whole night was really good for school spirit. It didn’t bother me that it wasn’t about basketball so much. I did think the juggling with the kids was child abuse.-junior Randy Shefshick

Fire Goddess: Fire and explosions representing a Survivor theme startled the GW crowd minutes before midnight.

The first explosion was really intense. I felt the heat really strong against my face and it seemed like it could have been a mistake.-sophomore Tracy Estes

The best part was holding the tiki torches. We didn’t burn ourselves, but the explosion was very loud and we almost dropped the torches.-cheerleader Lauren Simonetti

Basketball: The GW basketball teams stormed out to center court at midnight before taking part in warm-up drills and two 10-minute scrimmages.

I am really excited for them this year but every year they try to dunk at the practice and they miss. The girl’s team seem really excited. They seemed really excited to be together.-senior Anjan Choudhury

I left after the basketball practice. I feel that we have a whole season to watch them. I think the beginning of the show was good, but the transition toward the players should have been better. You couldn’t hear the player’s names announced. The point is to get everyone pumped up for the season.-junior Randy Shefshick

School Spirit: Fans showed up early and screamed through the majority of the evening.

It was good to see school spirit. Basketball season is when our school shows the most school spirit. It was good to see so many people there getting involved in the show.-junior Scott Werthamer

I thought the whole `Survivor’ theme was very unique and different and the fire and the costumes fit the theme really well. It’s great to go to a city school and feel so much school spirit.-sophomore Pam Sorokin

I thought last year was a little bit better. I didn’t think the roller bladers were very good. I really loved going there and seeing so much of the school show so much support. I liked the school togetherness and `big George’ was just awesome.-sophomore Bryan Gless

-Zach Leibowitz contributed to this report.