Campus personalities who are honorary Maniacs include Dowdy, and Chancellor Gordon and Constance Gee. Thanks to corporate sponsors such as McDonald's, sometimes the members are given coupons for free food from local restaurants as they check in before the game. The student leaders share credit with the Vanderbilt Department of Athletics for the organization's recent success. Plus, the athletic department has helped us to get our name out, and they helped us with promotions and with working with outside sponsors. Game time in the Maniac mosh pit is interesting.
Students frequently don latex masks.
As Baker said, the work of a Maniac begins as much as an hour prior to tip-off. It has long been customary for students in the Southeastern Conference to distract visiting opponents during their pre-game warm up, and Vanderbilt is no exception. It really adds to the home-court advantage. Freshman guard Russell Lakey said that the loud fan base at Memorial Gymnasium helped the Commodores defeat the defending SEC champion in a nationally televised game earlier this month. It was a major factor in the Arkansas game.