October 3, 2005

What a weekend of glorious weather! It began for me on Friday as I made my way across campus to a bevy of meetings with the Board of Governors of the GU Alumni Association.

As I approached the Jesuit cemetery and began to admire the almost completed Davis Performing Arts Center, I spied the west side of Healy tower with its now hands-free clock. Who said that today's students have no respect for tradition? The only other question that McDonough-dwellers and others on the west side of campus now have is: when will the hands go back up?

There's always a wait for GUGS cooking

As I traversed "Red Square" (the brick expanse between White Gravenor and the ICC), my nose led me straight to a line of students gathered around a smoking bed of white-hot coals. There, members of the GU Grilling Society, or "GUGS," were grilling some of the best burgers I have ever tasted. I lingered long enough to flag down fellow meeting-bound alums Paul Maloy '68 and Maura Devaney '76 (Hoyas Unlimited prez) and convinced them to join me for an outdoor late-summer treat. I highly recommend sampling these delicacies whenever you get the chance: Fridays-only.

Georgetown played Patriot League foe Lafayette this past Saturday in the second football game ever played at the new campus Yard. The crowd, 400 fannies short of a sell-out, saw the Hoyas fall in a hard-fought defensive battle. It was a substantial drop in attendance from the Brown game two weeks ago when dozens were turned away for lack of room. New marketing and promotional efforts to attract fans have intensified this year. As the team continues to improve, so too will the number of fans coming out on Saturdays in the fall.

I've seen a few references in various postings to comparative athletic expenditures by various schools including Georgetown. The underlying source of this information is the website of the Department of Education's Office of Post Secondary Education. The info available is for the 2003-2004 academic year and is searchable by college/university. The listed data covers the following areas: Participants and Operating Expenses; Coaching Staff; Revenues and Expenses; and Coaches' Salaries.

Having worked extensively with this data, I am more aware than ever that comparing some categories and numbers among multiple schools can sometimes be misleading, despite the honest attempt to create a common base of information. With that caveat, the site performs a useful function. Have at it!

My picks for most interesting contests this coming week:

> Men's Soccer: The Hoyas (7-3) play a challenging road contest on Wednesday against Seton Hall (6-2-1). The Hall is coming off a 7-1 win against Pitt, the most they have scored in a road game since netting 10 at Georgetown in 1989.

> Volleyball: A big weekend test for the Hoyas (5-11). Twenty-four hours and 105 miles separate two Big East road contests against Villanova (13-4) and Rutgers (6-11) next Saturday and Sunday, respectively. With 60% of the regular season completed, the team is 1-3 in the Big East with 10 conference matches to go.

> Football: After Fordham, Duquesne (2-2) is our longest-running current rival in the modern-era of Hoya football. The Hoyas (2-3) are 9-8-1 all-time against the Dukes. Five consecutive games of double-digit scoring against Duquesne came to an end last year with a 45-7 shellacking in Pittsburgh. Payback time: Saturday in our Yard.

> Women's Soccer: Despite a heartbreaking double OT loss in central NY last weekend, the Hoyas (10-2-1) will face a tough Louisville squad (8-4-1) and Cincinnati (3-6-3) next weekend in a Friday-Sunday showdown on North Kehoe.

Last week, the Hoya athletic teams posted an overall win-loss record of 3-6 and earned two 1st, two 2nd, a 3rd and 13th place finishes in standings competition.