Nov. 8, 2007

The Season Begins!

It seems that I was just in Atlanta for the Final Four rooting for our Georgetown Hoyas. I still have wonderful memories of March Madness 2007. The Kenner League games helped me to overcome my summer college basketball withdrawals, and Midnight Madness was again a wonderful experience. If you have not seen any of the You Tube coverage of Midnight Madness, please see this clip of Patrick Ewing, Jr. teaching Jerry Rice how to dance to Soulja Boy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_Ay_gzLZTY

Every year I anxiously await the start of the college basketball season. This year, our first home game is earlier than I can ever remember. William and Mary is an unknown opponent, that I do not recall us having played in my lifetime. It makes me think more about my superstitious side. I remember my good friend John Hawkes showing up last year at Madison Square Garden for his first Big East Tournament final. I was relieved to see that he had his lucky tie with him. I have already booked my same hotel room for next year's Big East Tournament. I did that right after this year's tournament. I have also tried to follow many of my same routines from last year starting around Midnight Madness. These routines include my regular trips to the Georgetown Bookstore to stock up on new items for the college basketball season, and my regular trips to the Tombs and Wisemillers.

I recall last year that our Hoyas got off to a slow start with our opening win against Hartford. It was a young team that had lost three important seniors. It took some time for the team to find its identity. I am sure it will take us some time to adjust to the loss of Jeff Green. During a recent business meeting in Tampa, Florida I was able to see Jeff play a few times on ESPN for his new team the Seattle Supersonics. I plan on going to see him play against the Wizards this year at Verizon Center. I briefly spoke with Jeff Green's Dad at Midnight Madness. He mentioned to me how much Jeff misses Georgetown. Also, Mr. Green said that he was really killing him to miss Midnight Madness, but the Supersonics had a game that night. Anyway, I always look forward to seeing our new freshman class. This year's class looks very promising. They will need the leadership of our seniors, Roy Hibbert, Jonathan Wallace, Patrick Ewing, Jr., and Tyler Crawford. This is truly a wonderful group of student athletes that the HoyaNation can be proud of. I hope that everyone in the area can make the game this Saturday November 10th, at 12:00 Noon in the Verizon Center. It is important for us to get off to a good start and support our student-athletes. As JT III would say that we need to figure things out, and make progress (Baby steps) during the season. As Big John Thompson would say, we want February, and March to be Georgetown Time!

The William and Mary game will have radio coverage on SportsTalk 980. Please see our schedule for the upcoming year at: http://guhoyas.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/sched/gu-m-baskbl-sched.html

We will have a full schedule of Hoya Hoop Club activities during the year so please visit our events schedule during the year as they will be updated as the season progresses:
http://guhoyas.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/hoya-hoop-club-activities.html

Also, we will be updating our Hoya Hoop Club web site during the year. Please visit our site during the year. The site has not been redone as of yet, but we are hoping to have a new look for the season. As usual you can access our Hoya Hoop Club Blog posts during the year: http://guhoyas.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/hoops-club.html
If you have not renewed your Hoya Hoop Club membership, please consider doing so to support John Thompson III and our team. You can find more information at: http://guhoyas.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/hoops-club-membership.html

This Friday I plan to make another visit to the Georgetown campus for another meal at the Tombs. Every time I walk into Healey Circle past the statue of John Carroll, I can feel the energy and excitement from the past basketball rallies I have attended on campus. It never gets old.

My next order of business is planning my road trips for the year. I definitely plan on attending Old Dominion this year, and have already bought tickets for the Big East-SEC shootout in Birmingham, Alabama. I look forward to seeing everyone at the games this year. Hoya Saxa!

We are Georgetown!
Dr. Thomas A. Wong (C'82)
Proud Member of Generation Ewing