Midnight Madness

You won't find Midnight Madness listed as a holiday on the calendar, but there will be a festive atmosphere on many college campuses tonight as men's and women's collegiate basketball teams and their fans party while counting down the final hours leading to midnight. By NCAA regulations, the stroke of midnight this year on Oct. 16 is when those teams can legally begin practice for the 1999-2000 season. That's about a month before the real games begin. The goal at the outset of the season is the same for every team: a trip to the Final Four.

Most of the preseason college polls haven't hit the street yet, but defending national champion Arkansas and Massachusetts will surely be listed among the top five when NCAA basketball practice officially starts at 12:01 a.m. Saturday. There will be more than 20,000 on hand for "Midnight Madness" in Fayetteville, Ark., and 8,000 or better in Amherst, Mass., with 40 days until the teams meet on Nov. 25 in the Tip-Off Classic in Springfield, Mass. Locally, St. Joseph's will get into its preseason with an extensive program at the Fieldhouse starting at 8 p.m.; La Salle will introduce its team at Hayman Hall at 12:01 a.m., and Drexel will hold an informal workout.

Midnight Madness at Maryland was a celebration of the past, a look at the future, and a housewarming party rolled into one. The defending NCAA champion Terrapins formally opened their lavish new on-campus home, the 17,950-seat Comcast Center, last night. College basketball practice were allowed to start at 12:01 a.m. this morning, and a number of programs took advantage of the weekend start for a Midnight Madness. Maryland's event featured many of the staples of the past, such as a laser show, dunking lines and a short scrimmage.

Villanova, Temple and Penn will wait a few extra hours, but Drexel, La Salle, St. Joseph's and Philadelphia Textile will join in on "Midnight Madness" and start preseason basketball practice one minute into tomorrow morning. "We've done it every year I've been here," said fourth-year Drexel coach Bill Herrion, whose team is coming off an NCAA Tournament appearance. "It's something that we need to do at Drexel because it generates student interest. "With the success we had last season, things got pretty exciting here, and I'm hoping it can kind of pick up where it left off. " Drexel, which comes off a record-setting 25-5 season, will kick off tonight's festivities at 10:30 with a series of events - including the finals of a student three-on-three basketball tournament - leading up to the introduction of the men's and women's teams at 12:01 a.m. Activities at La Salle's Hayman Hall and Textile's Althouse Hall also will start at 10:30.

"Midnight Madness" at the Palestra lived up to its nickname. Penn students, some of whom stood in line for days waiting to purchase season basketball tickets, rushed the box office as midnight approached Friday. Senior Judy Friedman received a concussion and several others were shaken up. Fran Connor, the school's assistant athletic director for marketing and public relations, said he wasn't aware of the incident until he read about it in yesterday's Daily Pennsylvanian. "I was outside periodically, from 10 (p.m.

Smiles. That's what you notice first about the Villanova basketball team this fall. Ear-to-ear grins, giggles and guffaws. First practice at midnight, booming band, hordes of cheerleaders, 5,000 fans gathered on Halloween night, twirling spotlights, standing ovations, hoarse exhortations from coaches, players blowing kisses. Big East media day yesterday and Villanova coach Steve Lappas wears a smile as comfortable as a favorite sweater, softly droopy and perfectly natural.

Dim the lights. Draw back the streamers. Throw up the ball. College basketball is back. And they simply couldn't wait to get started at Hawk Hill. The crowd gathered in St. Joseph's Alumni Memorial Field House more than an hour before midnight, the official opening of college basketball practice. There was a 3-on-3 contest; a foul shooting contest between new Hawks coach John Griffin and himself; mini basketballs and "Midnight Madness" T-shirts tossed into the stands; cheerleaders cheering; dancers dancing; and, finally, basketball players playing.

You might call it "midnight madness. " It's that time on the legislative calendar when it's do or die. When, to get what you want, you have to act and act swiftly, then get out of town. It's a flurry of movement after months of inertia. Suddenly, often with little warning, usually with most lawmakers left in the dark, major items of law emerge to get action before there's time for reaction. Such measures, in the past, have included a last-minute $12,000 pay raise for lawmakers, and a bill that would have required Mayor Goode to take political enemy Frank Rizzo with him to any of Philadelphia's 1987 constitutional bicentennial ceremonies.

Repertory Films Ambler Theater 108 E. Butler Ave., Ambler; 215-345-7855. www.amblertheater.com . Bonnie & Clyde (1967) $9; $6.75 seniors, students and children. 8/23. 7 pm. Bistrot La Minette 623 S. 6th St.; 215-925-8000. www.bistrotlaminette.com . A Very Long Engagement (France, 2004) 8/23. Bryn Mawr Film Institute 824 W. Lancaster Ave., Bryn Mawr; 610-527-9898. www.brynmawrfilm.org . Stray Dog (Japan, 1949) $10; $7 seniors, students and children.

Repertory Films Ambler Theater 108 E. Butler Ave., Ambler; 215-345-7855. www.amblertheater.com . Special Effects Film Forum. $9; $6.75 students & seniors. 9/22. 7 pm. AMC Neshaminy 24 3900 Rockhill Dr. #660, Bensalem; 215-722-4262. 100 Voices: A Journey Home (2010) $12.50. 9/21. 7 pm. Bistrot La Minette 623 S. 6th St.; 215-925-8000. www.bistrotlaminette.com . Paris Je'Taime (France, 2006) 9/17. The Lovers on the Bridge (France, 1991)

DURING THE Senate's all-nighter this week debating Iraq, some senators obviously got a little loopy from the long hours. Consider this gem from John Thune, the South Dakota Republican: "We're taking a lot of casualties in Iraq because that's where they are killing our soldiers. That's the reason we're taking on casualties in Iraq, because that's where our soldiers are. " Thank you, Capt. Obvious. The night was filled with time-wasting statements like that from supporters of "staying the course" in Iraq.

RE THE OP-ED "An academic battle comes to Temple": Isn't it wonderful that we live in a country where a student can sue his school for what he perceives as an injustice committed against his personal or academic record? Temple, like any other institution of learning partly funded by taxes, has the deep pockets that make it vulnerable to lawsuits like this. The student described in this commentary has a list of grievances that should be, if they are all truly accurate, a cause for substantial financial remedy.

St. Joe's coach Phil Martelli compared it to the first day of school. Drexel's Sean Brooks likened it to Christmas Eve. Either way, around Philadelphia yesterday, the local men's basketball programs kicked off their seasons with the official first day of practice. Technically, coaches could begin working out with their players as early as 12:01 a.m. The only one of Philly's six Division I teams to actually hold a "Midnight Madness" rally was Penn, which ran a scrimmage for the Quakers faithful at the Palestra.

Don't call Harrisburg representatives a bunch of do-nothing lawmakers. Just look how busy they were over Thanksgiving week. In a span of a few days, the Pennsylvania House and Senate considered more than 300 bills between them. But don't cheer their productivity, either. Those measures were the harvest from a lame-duck session where the public's business got done by stealth and breakneck maneuver, not any deliberative process. By the time lawmakers went home to their turkey, they had hatched significant, worrisome proposals like a Pennsylvania Convention Center takeover; left undone worthwhile chores like lowering the drunken-driving limit; and barely avoided mischief like scuttling the Barnes art treasures' move to center stage in Philadelphia.

Midnight Madness at Maryland was a celebration of the past, a look at the future, and a housewarming party rolled into one. The defending NCAA champion Terrapins formally opened their lavish new on-campus home, the 17,950-seat Comcast Center, last night. College basketball practice were allowed to start at 12:01 a.m. this morning, and a number of programs took advantage of the weekend start for a Midnight Madness. Maryland's event featured many of the staples of the past, such as a laser show, dunking lines and a short scrimmage.

When Seton Hall staged its Midnight Madness, that annual rite that marks the beginning of the college basketball season in October, Charlene Thomas had a little surprise for the Pirates' faithful. Although Thomas, a 6-foot-1 freshman on the women's team, didn't get a chance to play - the women were simply introduced while the men's team played an intrasquad game - she did get the crowd buzzing. As the women's team took a run around the court after the introductions, she jumped up and grabbed the rim of one of the baskets.