It seems to snow frequently when we play Pitt.

At around 2pm on January 20, 2001, the National Weather Service declared a Winter Storm Warning for the District of Columbia. As if the city didn't already have enough on its hands.

At the same time, I was returning from the National Mall and the Inauguration ceremony for incoming President George W. Bush. I'd spent the previous four hours in a puddle of standing water, a light rain falling on my thin hooded jacket as the temperature dipped into the low 40s. I was cold. I was getting sick. I was happy that the jokes about me being from Palm Beach County Florida (the epicenter of the 2000 vote recount) would stop.

I was looking forward to playing Pitt that night. The Georgetown Hoyas had started off my freshman year on the Hilltop with sixteen consecutive victories, and had risen to #9 in the national rankings. The Hoyas were one of only two undefeated teams remaining in the country--the other being #1 Stanford. And yet when I asked my best friend Jon about the game we would be attending in a few hours, he gave a quick but prophetic reply:

I've got a bad feeling about tonight.

With streets in the District closed south of Constitution Avenue due to the Inauguration, the yellow school bus caravan of GU student fans wound its way through a massive Dupont Circle traffic jam, with students bailing out at the first sign of a Metro station. A ride that normally takes 15 minutes seemed like hours on that night.

Maybe I should have bailed on the whole thing.

The iconic image from that game is Pittsburgh's 6-3 guard Julius Page driving the lane and throwing down a ferocious dunk over GU's 7-footer Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje, a play that literally knocked the wind out of the entire crowd at the MCI Center. Pitt won 70-66, ending GU's undefeated run and proving Jon's prophecy correct.

As I walked across the Village C patio on my return to campus, for the first time during the school year it began to snow. I was sick for the next week and a half.

A year (minus one day) later on January 19, 2002, the Pitt Panthers were back in DC, just in time for the National Weather Service to call for what the Washington Post described as "one of those classic, middle-size, a-little-of-everything type storms" that figured to bring anywhere from three to eight inches of snow. Meanwhile, the District was again abuzz over the arrival of a new leader in town--a few days earlier, the Washington Redskins had hired Steve Spurrier as their new Head Coach.

With snow threatening outside, Georgetown unleashed a first half avalanche on the Panthers, using a 22-2 scoring run to build a 32-21 lead. But the Panthers returned the favor, scoring the final eight points of the half and putting together a 30-11 run to open the second half to lead 59-43.

What followed over the final eight minutes was some of the most frantic, heart-stopping basketball I've seen in seven seasons as a Georgetown fan, as the Hoyas willed their way back even with under a minute to go. And then, another frozen moment in time--Mike Sweetney missing the front end of a two-shot foul (he'd hit 13 straight free throws at that point) as the crowd groaned in frustration. I was directly under the basket as Pitt's Brandin Knight put up a contested jump shot in the waning seconds that to this day I still swear was going to be an airball...but it took a forward hop off of the rim into the waiting arms of Jaron Brown, who banked home the go-ahead basket with four seconds to go.

I can still remember staring down the court at Drew Hall, dejectedly sitting with his hands around his knees after missing a three pointer at the buzzer that was halfway down before rattling out.

On my way out of the MCI Center, it started snowing in DC for the first time that season.

Mother Nature didn't wait until after the Pitt game in 2003. A freak winter blizzard the weekend prior to the Panthers visit on February 18, 2003 had dumped a foot and a half of snow in the District of Columbia, shutting down roads, canceling classes and work, and postponing the GU-Pitt game one night.

The Inauguration Day game had presented a high degree of difficulty for student fans traveling to the MCI Center, with road closures creating traffic jams throughout the city. The Blizzard game ratcheted it up a notch--what if there were no roads AND no vehicles?

The school bus shuttles that ferry students to games downtown were cancelled for the Pitt game. And as the DC snowplows had yet to reach Georgetown, Metrobus and taxi service was out of the question. The only transportation lifeline left in the city was the limited-schedule Orange line of the Metro.

And thus, in the classic tradition of old codgers, we walked a few miles uphill in the snow to get to the MCI Center that night. Across snowdrifts, the wind-swept Key Bridge, and ice-covered sidewalks a brave few GU students made their way by any means necessary to Chinatown. There were casualties along the way--my girlfriend narrowly escaped a broken wrist after tumbling on an ice patch. But the important thing is--we made it...

...to a mostly empty arena (only 7,242 announced fans saw a game against a Top 10 opponent) and a student section that had been left unfinished due to a lack of available staff. It remains the one game for which I can truly say I had a floor level seat. As for the actual game, Pitt handed GU an 82-67 defeat, the Hoyas worst Big East lost in almost two years.

Recent seasons have brought happier results against Pittsburgh. In January 2005, the Hoyas opened the Big East season on the road with a defining 67-64 upset victory over the #16 Panthers at the Petersen Events Center, where Pitt had been 43-2 heading into the contest. I listened to that game on the radio from my family's home in Florida, where the temperature was in the low 70s.

Last year, GU exorcised the demons of the Jaron Brown/Steve Spurrier game, overcoming a 15-point first half deficit to take control of the proceedings deep into the second half. Where I'd sat under the basket in 2002 for Jaron Brown's putback, in 2006 I watched Jeff Green score at will in the second half against heralded Pitt center Aaron Gray.

And yet, even on a surprisingly temperate Super Bowl Sunday, the Hoyas almost produced another dreary finish, after seeing Pitt cut a 59-49 Hoyas lead with under 30 seconds remaining to only a single point with 3.6 seconds to go. But two Darrell Owens free throws put GU up 61-58, and Ronald Ramon's three pointer at the buzzer--I always seem to be seated directly in line with these shots--clanged off the rim and the Hoyas had their second win over a Top 10 opponent at the MCI Center in two weeks.

I walked out onto 7th Street...and the sun was out.

So for all the player matchups, coaching strategies, and adjustments from Monday's loss to Villanova, the one key piece of information you need to know about this Saturday's game is this:

Weather Forecasts for Saturday

Washington, DC: High 58/Low 45, 30% chance of rain

Pittsburgh, PA: High 47/Low 40, 80% chance of rain

If the latter comes to pass, I predict we'll win by eight--the number of degrees above freezing.

Here's how to follow Saturday night's game against the Pittsburgh Panthers:

IF YOU'RE STAYING DRY IN PITTSBURGH: The Georgetown Club of Pittsburgh is sponsoring a buffet and Game Watch Party across the street from the Petersen Events Center. The buffet will be available from 7:00-8:30pm, and an open bar will run until game time at 9:00pm. Cost is $25 for the buffet and $12 for the open bar, but it is free for Hoop Club members.

The buffet will be at the Scaife Hall Conference Center on Terrace Street in Oakland (across the street from the PEC). The Game Watch party will be at the Holiday Inn Select at University Center (Lytton Avenue).

Among the Very Special Guests in attendance will be GU's Director of Admissions and long-time Hoya basketball fan Charles Deacon.

Further information and RSVP directions can be found at the link here:

IF YOU'RE DODGING RAINDROPS IN THE DC AREA: Three Game Watch parties for you to choose from:

Washington, DC Town Hall--2218 Wisconsin Avenue NW
($2.50 Miller Lite pints during the game)

Tombs--36th and Prospect Street (like you needed to be reminded where it is)
(The Classes of 2003 and 2004--hey that's my year!--are co-hosting this event, which will be followed by a Return to the 80s Night.)

Arlington, VA Summers--1520 N. Courthouse Road (one block from the Court House Metro station, on the corner of N. Courthouse Road and Wilson Blvd.)

I'll be "running" the show at Summers this time, so I look forward to seeing everyone who makes it out to Arlington.

IF YOU'RE FIGHTING OFF RAIN, SLEET, SNOW, LOCUSTS, OR WHATEVER IS GOING ON WHERE YOU LIVE: There are at least six other Game Watch parties across the country Saturday night already posted on the Hoya Hoop Club events page. Be sure to check it out, and send us an email at hoyasunlimited@georgetown.edu to get your event listed.

IF RICH CHVOTKIN'S VOICE KEEPS YOU WARM ON A COLD NIGHT: Dr. Rich's 1,011th radio broadcast will be on the air at 9pm on SportsTalk 980 .

IF YOU GET UP EARLY (FOR A COLLEGE STUDENT) ON SATURDAY: ESPN's College GameDay crew will be broadcasting live on-location in Pittsburgh. Rece Davis, Jay Bilas, Hubert Davis, and Digger Phelps will be on the air at 11am Saturday morning on ESPN2.

THE MAIN EVENT: ESPN will have the telecast for Georgetown-Pitt beginning at 9:00pm on Saturday night.

Stay dry tomorrow night, and wherever you are have fun cheering the Hoyas on to victory!

WE ARE GEORGETOWN!!!

John Hawkes (F'04)
Generation Burton

"Generation Laughna" Provides Perspective

As I write this, I have just realized that my generational namesake, Mike Laughna (C '72), will be recognized by John Reagan (B '84), the architect of HoyaSaxa.com and the foremost historian on Georgetown University basketball, as being among the top 15 players in Georgetown basketball history. Congratulations to the "Big Fella" for this well-deserved recognition! And, as always, so many thanks from all Hoya basketball fans to John Reagan for the scholarship, research, and insights that he has so consistently provided to us since beginning "HoyaSaxa.com" in 1996.

The past week has seen some outstanding examples of the critical need for perspective in following the Georgetown basketball program. From watching the Hoyas for almost 39 years, I offer the following thoughts:

1. When I entered Georgetown in September 1968 and throughout my undergraduate days, the men's basketball team, for the most part, consisted of a team that had limited potential. If the team had a "great" season, it had a decent shot at getting an NIT bid. That is to say, if the Hoyas of 1968-72 won more than their fair share of games against the likes of Fairfield, Manhattan, Fordham, George Washington, and Randolph-Macon, then it could hope to receive a call from the NIT selection committee. Big games in those days were against Columbia with a Jim McMillen and a Heywood Dotson, St. Joseph's of Philadelphia ("The Hawk Will Never Die!"), and the pre and early-Lefty Driesell Maryland teams with the likes of Jim "Bozo" O'Brien, Will Hetzel, and Sparky Still. In my four years, we reached the "NIT-pinnacle" once, during 1969-70, culminating in a one-point, 83-82 first-round loss to Pete Maravich's LSU team, a game in which Maravich was held to less than 20 points. On the other hand, during my senior season, 1971-72, the team finished 3-23. During that season, the team managed a home-court, one-point loss to Penn State, despite taking a one-point lead with one second remaining with Penn State in-bounding from the other end of the floor! That season, of course, led to the firing of Coach Jack Magee and the hiring of a 29-year old high school coach from St. Anthony's in D.C. named John R. Thompson, Jr. Out of the 3-23 ashes, a new generation had arrived for Georgetown basketball!! Now, we play in the BIG EAST, the toughest conference in the NCAA, where Saturday games against nationally-ranked Notre Dame are followed by Monday games against Villanova and the following Saturday against No. 7 Pittsburgh. It is a treacherous and dangerous time for the 18-22 year old kids who wear the Hoya Blue and Gray. Yet they follow the lead of their third-year coach, another John R. Thompson, and take the "baby steps" he demands in the hopes of a second straight NCAA invitation and the ongoing evolution of his/our men's basketball program. Perhaps, we, as fans, should focus more on the "baby steps" and the process, rather than on the result of an individual game, whether it results in a win or a loss! But then, of course, we might lose the "fanatic" root of our derivative nickname. Perspective does not preclude irony!

2. Georgetown Basketball did not begin with Coach John R. Thompson, Jr.'s arrival on the Hilltop! The anticipated recognition of classmate Mike Laughna as among the Top 15 players in Georgetown basketball history, according to John Reagan, and the inclusion of John Mahnken (1942-43), No. 20, Fred Fees (1916-20), No. 22, and Charlie Adrion (1967-70), Andy Kostecka (1942-48), and Dan Kraus (1942-48) at Nos. 24-26, respectively, on that same list, bears strong testimony to the full 100-year history of Georgetown Basketball. It is this full history that we celebrate this year and especially during the weekend of February 9-11, 2007 with the Marquette game and the 100th Anniversary Gala at the Ritz-Carlton in Georgetown. So plan to be there that weekend and celebrate not only Patrick Ewing, Reggie Williams, Charles Smith, Sleepy Floyd, Craig Shelton, John Duren and Allen Iverson, but also Mike Laughna, he of the 3-23 senior season, and the above mentioned Hoyas from the earlier days of our wonderful basketball program!!

As mentioned above, this Saturday night, we play No. 7 ranked Pittsburgh at their place. According to today's (Friday, January 12, 2007) Washington Post, Pitt has the deepest team in the BIG EAST with pre-season player of the year Aaron Grey leading the charge. But I remember a game at Pitt two years ago, where Pitt was similarly highly-ranked with numerous supposed superstars, including Carl Krauszer, who seemed to play for Pitt for 7-8 years at least. As you may recall, the Hoyas completely took it to them, leading to Coach John Thompson III's first "big" win as coach of the Hoyas. Good luck to the squad. And if you happen to be in Pittsburgh for the game, be sure to attend the pre-game gathering being put together by long-time Hoya-fan supreme Art Murphy (C '69). A tip of this writer's Hoya hat to Art for this and all the other gatherings he has put together in Pittsburgh over the years for Hoya fans!

Finally, if you can't make it to Pittsburgh, check out the Hoya Hoop Club web site for the various game watches around the country to watch the Hoyas with fellow supporters. I expect to be at Town Hall on Wisconsin Avenue at 9:00 p.m. this Saturday night. Hope to see you there if you live in D.C. or Maryland!!

WE ARE GEORGETOWN!!

Proudly,
Michael E. Karam, (F' 72, L '76, L'82) Generation Laughna