Saturday’s weather forecast predicted rain, and although many Homecoming activities were canceled due to it, the Long Beach State men’s basketball team still managed to win their first game of the season at the Walter Pyramid.
A number of interactive activities like jousting, wax hands, a mechanical bull, a cover band, photo booths and free food were canceled because of the likelihood of rain, according to Kasey Schoen, Associated Students Inc.’s Chief Programming Officer.
Instead, there was only a voting booth, where students could cast their vote for their favorite homecoming court candidate.
“We put all our time and efforts into the student tailgate, and it’s really sad that we canceled it due to the expectation of rain,” Schoen said. “We focused on the student tailgate instead of a pep rally.”
This year, ASI was expecting the activities and free food at the student tailgate to be reason enough for students to attend the 11 a.m. Homecoming tailgate.
Some students say that without the Homecoming pep rally they didn’t know CSULB had a Homecoming.
“I love basketball, so I’m pumped, but the only reason I heard about it was because of my suitemate,” Devan Richard, a freshman political science major said. “It wasn’t as spirited as I thought it would be.”
The Athletics Marketing department organized an interactive lounge for students to experience before the game. The lounge featured free airbrush tattoo booths, hand drawn caricatures, slices of pizza and Redbull. Students were able to turn in their Monson Maniacs application to get a maniac shirt.
Though the plans for the first game of the season were not executed as planned, the lack of student related activities did not take away from the nature of the game. The Monson Maniacs student section went up in excitement and a high spirit atmosphere in support of the men’s basketball team.
There was also an alumni presence at the game.
“We want them to come on home, if the alumni choose to come back to campus they should come back for Homecoming,” said Janice Hatanaka, associated vice president of Alumni Relations. “We also want the alumni to watch the game and support our students.”
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