As it gears up for another NCAA tournament run, Long Beach State is wasting no opportunities. Hoping to draw a good home crowd for Saturday's game against Cal-Irvine, the 49ers are hosting a "Super Beach Bros." promotional night, blending the team's reputation with that of the classic Nintendo game "Super Mario Bros."
Fans can get a ton of prizes, including a door giveaway of Super Beach Bros. T-shirts and various raffle prizes to be awarded during the game. All great things if you plan on going to the game. But for those of us who won't be there, we still win: We get to watch the 49ers' Mario-themed promo video.
It's heavy on Mario music and iconography, and it's impossible to hate.
Somehow, parodies and homages to Super Mario Bros. never get old.
Long Beach State can hang its hat on that great video effort, but the team also has a strong shot at the NCAA tournament: At this moment, the 49ers are 12-11 overall and 6-1 in the Big West, which puts them in a three-way tie with UC-Davis and -- you guessed it -- UC-Irvine.
Here's hoping Long Beach has what it takes to pull out the drawbridge from under Bowser's feet.
