Monday Morning Musings

December 5, 2005

In a postscript to an earlier entry entitled Sons of the Fathers, I spent an hour yesterday at the wake of LeRoy Corcoran, a lifelong resident of Montgomery County, Maryland. Lee succumbed to cancer just shy of 75 years young. To Georgetown fans who followed Hoya football, basketball, baseball and track in the early 1980's, Lee was well-known as the proud pop of multi-sport phenom Jim Corcoran '82. He was a fixture at every Hoya game that his son played. Tragically, Jim lost his mom during his senior year on the Hilltop. In the ensuing years, Jim moved to New York but the father-son bond only grew closer. Now a senior VP with Morgan Stanley in Manhattan, the ever-competitive Hoya Hall of Famer stays busy with his own five kids, organizing leagues and coaching teams while also serving as president of the Heisman Trophy foundation. Still, over the past six months, as his dad declined in health, Jim would quietly board a plane to DC every Wednesday to visit and spend the day with his father. Surrounded by family, friends, former teammates, and coaches at the wake as he faced one of life's most difficult

ordeals, Jim was playing it as he always did on the field, with great strength but with great emotion. "He was my rock," he whispered to me as I extended my condolences. And what a rock he was! The apple truly does not fall far from the tree. Hoya Saxa, Lee Corcoran. Requiescat in pace.

I made the mistake yesterday of stopping at the supermarket to pick up a newspaper and some milk. My car was barely in the parking lot before I was gridlocked by dozens of snow-panicked shoppers, anxious to stock their cupboards for the impending flurries. Had I thought about the weather forecast for the metro DC area, I would have happily foregone my paltry purchases just to avoid that traffic mess. So what did I do? In for a dime, in for a dollar, I slogged through aisles and checkout lines and emerged with a full basket of supplies. Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

WOW! That's my one-word response to the 14-point victory by the men hoopsters against PAC-10 foe Oregon on the Duck's home court, where no non-conference opponent had prevailed since 1999.

My picks for most interesting (and only) contests this coming week:

> Men's Basketball: Just as classes are ending for the semester, the Hoyas (3-1) hit the road to face #12-ranked Illinois (7-0 as of this posting) in a Big East-Big Ten match-up next Thursday. But first, the Fighting Illini host Arkansas-Little Rock tonight. Fans can watch the Hoya match-up on ESPN at 9:00 pm on Thursday. On Sunday, Georgetown will take on the first of its two scheduled Jesuit opponents when they play the Fairfield Stags (2-4 as of this posting) at 1:00 pm at MCI Center. The Stags will face Loyola (Md.) first on Friday night.

> Women's Basketball: The Hoyas (4-2) head south for a mid-week contest against the Kentucky Wildcats (5-0 as of this posting). With a home game on Tuesday night vs. North Carolina A&T, the UK Wildcats will have one day of rest before meeting the Hoyas. Tip-off is 7:00 pm on Thursday at Memorial Coliseum.

Last week, the Hoya athletic teams posted an overall win-loss record of 2-1.

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