Just imagine Ron sharpshooting from the perimeter while Patrick Ewing dominates the low post, and you’ll have some idea of how great the Hoyas were in the 80s. Or something…
You can check out all the old Sports Illustrated Hoyas covers here; this one might be the creepiest.
—Tim Fernholz, Contributing Editor
Home court advantage is a force to be reckoned with in college basketball, especially when a team has fans as passionate and as rowdy as West Virginia’s. It’s probably one of the reasons why the Mountaineers were undefeated at home coming into the game today and why they only lost one home game last season. There’s nothing wrong with taking advantage of playing at home, but there is a difference between cheers that distract the visiting team and cheers that target the visiting team in a cheap, offensive way. Some of the Mountaineers’ cheers tonight fell into the later category.
I can’t, in good conscience, take real issue with the “Sapp is crap” cheer. It’s hard to take it seriously when the player in question nails the game-winning three with 6 seconds left to round out a 15-point night. But I will say this: is that really the best you can do? “Sapp is crap?” Really?
However, I was bothered by the second, blatantly homophobic cheer picked up by ESPN’s cameras: “Roy likes boys.” I know that it’s not uncommon for people to thoughtlessly toss around homophobic slurs in conversation. But for an entire student section to shout something like “Roy likes boys” displays a lack of class beyond anything I’ve seen at a college basketball game. And it doesn’t even rhyme.
Admittedly, Georgetown students took some flack for the “Where’s my laptop?” cheer at the UConn game (I thought the cheer was dumb but not offensive, for the record) and the sheets that Hoya Blue makes for the student section do sound like they were written by catty middle schoolers. But nothing the Georgetown student section has done is as offensive as “Roy likes boys.” At least, in the end, the good guys came out on top.
Update: Tim Fernholz just reminded me of a similar incident at Georgetown two years ago regarding a sign reading “RIDICULOUSLY GAY JJ”, referring to Duke player JJ Redick.
To behold the might of Hoya basketball, Georgetown students merely need to flip on ESPN on game-day or head down to the Verizon Center if it’s a home game. Unfortunately, even during basketball season, game-day only comes once or twice a week. To tide you over on the other days, we bring you the top five videos of Georgetown basketball on YouTube.
5. Hibbert for the tres!
What are you doing up there, Roy? Drive! There are only ten seconds left! To the paint! What? Uh-oh! Don’t do tha…AND IT’S GOOD!!!
When Roy let it fly and the ball met nothing but net to carry the Hoyas over UConn 72-69 earlier this month, it seemed like anything might possible. Would J. Wall start dunking over 6′ 11″ centers? Would Vernon Macklin become a 95% free throw shooter? Would Byron Jansen play in a game in which we’re not winning by 20? Sure, this may not be have been an incredibly important game for the Hoyas, but this was one hell of a three.
4. Jeff Green should be nicknamed “Clutch”
Speaking of last-minute shots FTW, Jeff Green’s bank shot here is epic. When I was watching this game live at Ledo’s and I saw Jeff Green bobble the ball, I knew it was over. Then He recovered it and made what looked like an impossible shot. Jeff Green at his best.
3. Storming the Court
When I first arrived at Georgetown, I couldn’t understand why all my OA would talk about was some game against Duke that Georgetown had won, or something. After I saw this video of hundreds of fans flood the court, I understood. What this video lacks in resolution and steadiness, it more than makes up for with screaming and downright insanity.
2. Onward to the Final Four!
The highlights of the 2007 East Regional Finals start with thirty seconds left in the second half for good reason. J. Wall nails a three to tie it up at 81. UNC fails to score on their next possession and Georgetown goes on a 15-2 run in OT. The only thing this video is missing is Roy Williams tearing up in the press conference after the game.
1. We Are…Georgetown
Sure, if you actually listen to the lyrics at the beginning, this video is a little lame. “We are…the heart that fuels the passion. We are…the muscles that power the body. We are…the legs that spring into action.” But then it shows everyone swarming the court after the Duke win and the whole squad in a V-formation with Roy at the head. By the climactic “WE ARE…GEORGETOWN” at the end, there isn’t a rational person in the Verizon Center who doesn’t believe this movie is the best thing ever made.
In the cover, a cadre of Voice writers paint a picture of diversity at Georgetown, profiling seven different students. According to the Editorial Board, the University still has a long way to go.
Check out the rest of the Voice on our website and stop by the Voice’s open house tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. in our office in 413 Leavey. I’m told there’s going to be pizza, if that’s your deal.
Ronny Thompson, son to JT Jr. and brother to JT III, cashed in yesterday in a big way. According to USA Today, he just received $200,000 from Ball State University, where he previously served as men’s basketball head coach. For those of you who missed the dust-up this past summer and fall, here’s a summary of the events leading up to the payment. In haiku form.
nine and twenty-two
ball state, not (basket)ball state…
next season, ronny.
racial harassment?
and from inside the AD?!
ronny t. resigns.
mediation time.
point two mil, legal jargon.
all good things, etc.
A copy of the agreement reached between the University and Thompson following a mediation session in December is available on the USA Today website. USA Today also notes that Thompson would have made $182,000 if he had stayed on as head coach. Though this is no small chunk of change, it is still significantly less than the $900,000 JT III is estimated to be earning and even the $412,121 salary (info on page 7) JT Jr. received from the University in FY 2004.
Shortly following the announcement that Heroes star Hayden Panettiere was coming to speak at Georgetown, the GW Hatchet announced their own famous speaker: right-wing cheerleader Ann Coulter. GW apparently hasn’t gotten the memo that, like a small cut on the inside of your mouth, the only way to make Coulter go away is to ignore her. But at least one GW student thinks its a good idea. From the Hatchet:
“We feel that GW is deprived from the conservative movement,” said GW YAF’s [Young American Foundation] President, Sergio Gor. “We feel that our students are lacking the substance of a pure education. We are exposed to bias and all these opinions that are very one-sided, and it really has to be our group that brings in the conservative cause and conservative movement to campus.”
…
“We encourage all our liberal friends to come out and learn,” Gor said. “It’s a huge thing for GW to be having Ann Coulter. She’s one of the biggest stars on the speaker circuit. For us to be having her is a good thing for us.”
For those who need a refresher course on some of the more horrific things Coulter has said, check out the Stephen Colbert-Ann Coulter Challenge, from New York Magazine, in which you try to pick which quotes Colbert said and which quotes Coulter said. (Hint: Colbert didn’t say this: ”Being nice to people is, in fact, one of the incidental tenets of Christianity, as opposed to other religions whose tenets are more along the lines of ‘Kill everyone who doesn’t smell bad and answer to the name Muhammad.’”)
Roy Hibbert and Jonathan Wallace had 15 points each in the Hoya’s win tonight at the Verizon Center. Sophomore guard Jeremiah Rivers also deserves credit for his stellar defensive play in the second half to save the Hoyas from their second Big East loss.
Hayden Panettiere, Heroes Actress & Grammy Award Nominee
“Save the Whales Again!”
Hayden Panettiere, better known as Claire Bennett from NBC’s Heroes, comes to campus this Sunday to give a lecture on behalf of the Animal Welfare Institute’s “Save the Whales Again!” campaign. Speech to be followed by a Q&A session, open to and including her environmental efforts, acting career, and getting out the youth vote.
RSVP info is conspicuously missing, which is troublesome because of the vast number of whale-lovers at Georgetown who would kill to get into an Animal Welfare Institute event. But seriously, this has got to be the greatest thing at Georgetown since Coolio or, um, Fran Drescher.
Update, 1/22 1:24 pm: Get there early, folks. The Lecture Fund sent me the following info: “Seating will be first-come, first-serve on Sunday. Doors open at 4:30 p.m.”
This is the edition wherein we showcase upcoming movies where the, or a, main star seems to be a questionable, surprising or downright bizarre casting choice. It could pay off! Or it could not! We’ll just have to wait and see…
In Bruges
Colin Farrell, who, as far as I could tell, had disappeared off the face of the earth after all the drinking and the starlet-bedding, is in no less than THREE new movies in the upcoming months—Woody Allen-goes-dark Cassandra’s Dream, another corrupt brother cop movie called Pride and Glory, and this, In Bruges, written and directed by Irish playwright Martin McDonagh, who writes very violent, prize-winning plays of angry men. With its Carnivale-esque fonts and bouncy ethnic “We’re gangsters but we’re funny!” music, it actually looks…kind of good? The opening moment is pretty well done and chilling, the concept is a solid, if common, one, and is it just me or is Colin actually totally funny? His line about why Bruges doesn’t impress him is pretty perfect, and all his little scowls are both cute and kind of really amusing. In Bruges is currently buzzing away at Sundance, and well, I”m pretty excited. Welcome back, Colin.
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