Mason Beats VCU in Facebook Challenge

George Mason University beat its basketball rival VCU in an online-voting challenge held on the popular social networking website Facebook. The results were announced at halftime of the Feb. 9 home game.  
(Photo taken via camera phone by C2M Executive Editor Kevin Loker)
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After surging from behind in a comeback that mimicked the basketball game itself, Mason shied ahead by 87 votes in the last-minute to win the VCU vs. Mason “Facebook Face-off.”

The fan challenge, which started on Jan. 19 and ran until noon on gameday Feb. 9, required students of both universities to “become a fan” of their respective schools through their Facebook profile pages or through beatvcu.gmu.edu. 

Despite record snowfall in the area this past week, students and fans that attended the game heard the result of the challenge when it was announced during halftime of the close-scoring game.

The Facebook face-off gained so much attention that local news coverage from CBS and NBC took note on their broadcasts, as well as college sports broadcaster EPSNU.

According to the original plan, the Facebook face-off was going to end in a trophy ceremony that would have been broadcasted on ESPNU, alongside the game. Both VCU and Mason’s student body presidents would have been in attendance to receive the trophy at halftime, but inclement weather quickly foiled those plans as VCU’s student body president was unable to attend.

The Facebook face-off started when Tammy Berwanger, a VCU Public Relations manager, contacted the University Relations office.  Berwanger saw a similar face-off from LSU vs. Texas A&M and thought that Mason and VCU could do the same, on a smaller scale.

Student Body President Dev Dasgupta, who supported the suggestion early on, said he thought it would be a good idea to invoke some extra school spirit.

“From a university standpoint, we wanted to get students, alumni, the community and even potential students involved,” said Dasgupta. “The face-off is for not only for our university, but the community at-large. In the future, we will continue to work on reaching out to our local universities and engage in competitive rivalries.”

When asked if she thought the spirit built up by the Facebook face-off spilled over to the basketball game, junior sports management major Kim Thoresen was skeptical. 

“That may have had something to do with it, but I really think it was just people have been snowed in and the game gave everyone something to get out and do,” said Thoresen. “To be honest, when they announced that Mason won the Facebook challenge at halftime, it’s not like people went completely crazy or anything.”

Other students, like senior accounting major Anthony LaMastro, did not venture out in the snow for the game.

“I didn’t know about the Facebook face-off,” said LaMastro. “And I didn’t make it to the game because I was doing some school work. A lot of people went because they were bored — I know my roommate did.”