LONG DISTANCE DEDICATION
Last year, on the Monday before Thanksgiving, Hibbert scored Georgetown's first 15 points on the way to a 7-for-8 (9-for-9 from the line), 23-point performance in the Hoyas' 73-66 victory over James Madison.
Meanwhile, as Georgetown was holding on to a slim lead in the game's final minutes, some 35,000 feet above Harrisonburg, I was holding on to my armrests for dear life as my already-delayed flight from Reagan National fought its way through a freak storm stretching across the entire eastern seaboard. With every rumble and shake, all I could think of was one thing:
Are we going to make it to Atlanta?
Nah.
I wonder what the score of the game is.
Well, the good news is we did make it to Atlanta--although I felt roughly the same leaving the plane as I did leaving the MCI Center after Georgetown's four-overtime loss to Notre Dame in 2002. The bad news is that I arrived just in time for the announcement that my connecting flight to Florida had been delayed until 12:30am (it actually left at 1:45am). Weary from a full day of work and having already had one flight cancelled in Washington, I pondered my next move:
Do I call AirTran customer service to find a flight to a different city in Florida?
Do I call my parents and tell them to flip a coin--one of you isn't sleeping tonight?
Not yet.
First, I called Hoya Blue.
I heard about the dominant performance of Roy Hibbert, the nail-biting second half comeback that saw JMU cut the Georgetown lead to a single basket, and the clutch shooting of Darrell Owens. I got a first-hand account of the sights and sounds of the game--the purple "Beat the Hoyas" shirts worn by the JMU student body, the a cappella rendition of the techno hit "Zombie Nation" that Hoya Blue used to shut down the JMU student section, and the rock-star like exit John Thompson III made through the appreciative Georgetown student crowd after the contest. I also overheard what sounded like a really fun bus trip home in progress.
During this conversation, I was seated at a window table in the Chili's in Terminal A of Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, watching rain beat down on parked 737 jets. But as far as I was concerned, I could have just as easily been standing in the aisle of a bus several hundred miles away somewhere in northern Virginia, hanging out with a group of die-hard Georgetown fans and reliving the great college basketball game we'd watched together.
I finally got to my house in Florida that "night," a little after 4:00 a.m. I'd been up for 20 consecutive hours, dealt with four flight delays and a cancellation, flown through one of the worst storms I've experienced in 24 years of air travel, and to top it all off, I was coming down with a cold.
And yet I was happy.
What really mattered to me was not only that Georgetown had won its second consecutive road game to open the 2005-2006 season, but that I'd been able to experience it vicariously for a few minutes through a bunch of friends of mine in Hoya Blue. I might not have attended the James Madison game last season, but I certainly won't forget it.
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Whether you live around the corner from the Verizon Center or halfway across the globe, there are a number of ways to "experience" Georgetown basketball as a member of the Hoya Hoop Club. I was very pleased to see that 17 Official Hoya Hoop Club Game Watch events were held this past weekend for the Duke game, from Town Hall just up Wisconsin Avenue from the Georgetown campus, to Frank's Place in Beijing. I've gotten feedback from a few locations already, and everybody is reporting big crowds and lots of enthusiasm.
I know there are dozens of other groups of Georgetown fans across the country getting together to watch the Hoyas. If you're a part of one of those groups, we'd love to make you a part of our family here at the Hoop Club!
If you're interested in making your Game Watch party an Official Hoop Club Game Watch, check out our "Host a Game Watch Party" page here.
Be sure to also check out our constantly-updated list of upcoming Game Watch events here. If you don't see your Game Watch or your hometown listed and you want to share the experience of Hoya basketball with your fellow alums and friends, send the Hoya Hoop Club an email at hoyasunlimited@georgetown.edu with your information and we'll be happy to hook you up.
WE'RE KIND OF A BIG DEAL:
As reported in the December 4th edition of the Hoya Hoop Club e-newsletter, the HHC is poised to break its all-time record for annual membership very soon. With over 1,400 members so far this year, we're just a few new additions away from breaking the previous mark of 1,417 set in 1983.
The Hoop Club has already shattered the all-time donations record set last year, with $1.156 million raised so far in 2006-07 (the record set last year was $857,473).
If you haven't made your donation to the Hoop Club yet this year, if you're considering making a donation for the first time, or even thinking about upping your current donation level, keep the following point from Hoop Club President Al Bozzo in mind:
"Future budget increases for men's basketball, as well as all sports at Georgetown, will largely be based on the ability of support clubs to raise additional funds. By exceeding what we were asked to raise, the men's basketball team will get a larger budget next season. In other words, the money we raise this season will directly affect the money spent on men's basketball next year."
Every little bit counts--we're happy to have every new member, from a five-figure donor to a Young Alum chipping in fifty bucks (like myself!).
IF YOU'RE EXPERIENCING TONIGHT'S GAME VICARIOUSLY...
...there's no better way to do so than by listening to the "Voice of the Hoyas" Rich Chvotkin, broadcasting the 1,003rd Georgetown basketball game of his career. You can listen to Rich on WTNT AM 570 at the link here. Tipoff is at 7:30pm from the Verizon Center.
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Whether you're sitting in Section 118 of the Young Alum Section or on your sofa experiencing tonight's game vicariously through every "muscle tussle" and "hooker in the lane" from Dr. Rich, we're happy to have you as part of our extended Hoya family. We look forward to bringing you new and exciting ways to experience Hoya Basketball throughout the rest of the season in the Hoop Club and on this blog.
See you at the Verizon Center tonight (or...vicariously through my game recap tomorrow on hoyablue.net).
We Are Georgetown!
John Hawkes (F'04)
