Monday, December 12, 2011
Verizon Center--Our House
Walking Tall in Maui
Maui is truly one of the most beautiful places on earth. I have to go back when I have more time to vacation, but I really saw some great college basketball. Most basketball fans know the story of the Tennessee sheriff, Buford Pusser, immortalized by Bo Svenson in the 1970’s, and more recently by Dwayne “The Rock Johnson” in the movies and television series: “Walking Tall.” It was certainly more Hollywood than fact, but it made me think of our Georgetown Hoyas coming to this prestigious, highly competitive tournament with so many questions. After the tournament, and an opening heartbreaking loss to Kansas, the young Hoya Team indeed held their heads high and “Walked Tall” in the 50th state of Hawaii. Jason Clark really lit the arena up with his shooting, defense, and hustle. The freshmen left notice that they are here to compete. However, what really stood out to me was the standout performance of senior Henry Sims--Where are you LicHoya? Especially in the last game against Memphis, Henry Sims was a tower of strength offensively, defensively, and on the boards. The Hoya fans were very vocal as the cheers Hoya Saxa resounded throughout the Lahaina Civic Center. Memphis is indeed a power in college basketball, but on that afternoon Henry Sims would not be denied as he shot the ball in rhythm, and thwarted each Memphis run with key plays. Yes, this Hoya team made important progress as the Big East season approaches. Memphis will be a formidable foe on December 22nd at Verizon Center so please come out to the game. You will enjoy seeing the pre-game video of Henry Sims, Jason Clark and the rest of the Hoyas as they tower over Washington DC--Georgetown’s Playground. On this Thanksgiving week, the Hoyas indeed were indeed Walking Tall on the island of Maui! I certainly hope we go back again soon!
On my way home I spent some time in Honolulu and ran into Hoya fans at the Pearl Harbor, USS Arizona Memorial, and Ralph Dalton in the Sheraton Waikiki. I also got to watch the Lady Hoyas defeat the Georgia Bulldogs in Las Vegas on my way back East with former Hoya alumni Chico Church, and Greg Monroe! I cannot wait to get back to Verizon Center!
We are Georgetown!
Dr. Thomas A. Wong
Hoya Hoop Club Vice President--Communications
Proud Member of Generation Ewing
Maui Invitational 2011 Day 2
When you visit Maui you marvel at the beauty of nature, and you respect the great traditions of Maui, HI. It seems like almost yesterday when the Chaminade Silverswords shocked the #1 ranked college basketball team in the nation, led by player of the year Ralph Sampson, the University of Virginia aka the University of Ralph. It was the ultimate trap game for the UVA Cavaliers. I expect it to be another battle as our young Georgetown Hoyas face Chaminade in their backyard later this afternoon. Last night in losing a hard fought battle to the Kansas JayHawks I was encouraged by the great effort made by our young team. I am not fond of moral victories, but loved seeing Nate, Jason, Hollis & others dive after lose balls. I was a little concerned when I saw Henry Sims dive head first over the scorer’s table--we all admired the effort.
When yesterday started I was nervous all day as I am on most game days. I researched our history against the Kansas JayHawks on John Reagan’s Georgetown History Project and saw that we have only played Kansas once, on March 20, 1987 defeating Kansas in the Sweet Sixteen 70-57. True Georgetown basketball historians will know that this was the legendary Georgetown team known as “Reggie & the Miracles.” It seems like yesterday that I saw Reggie Williams, and Perry McDonald dominate the Derrick Coleman led Syracuse Orange and the Rick Pitino Providence Final Four team in Madison Square Garden winning another Big East Tournament Championship.
My day started as I hung out at the Westin Ono Grill by the pool enjoying my Hoya Blue drink and Maui Chili Dawg. The next thing I know is that I hear the cheer Hoya Saxa as a WAG shirt flies over my head. It was my friend Rich Chvotkin, the voice of the Georgetown Hoyas! It was great to see Rich as we were both staying in the Westin Maui which is a great hotel, but the HQ for the Kansas JayHawks. We were greatly outnumbered. Rich filled me in on his radio broadcast timetable as well as his history in Hawaii at the Maui Classic in 1999, and Georgetown’s many trips to the island of Oahu where he stayed at the Sheraton Wakiki. I will be at the Sheraton Wakiki on Thanksgiving Day for two nights before heading back East. I then took a walk to the Hyatt Regency along the beach walk hoping to find more Hoyas. I found some friends at the Hyatt Pool, and ran into Kim Curry, the GU MBB academic coordinator. Kim has that great smile, and wonderful outgoing personality that makes you want to be around her. As the afternoon was flying by I decided to take a drive to the arena so I would know my game route later that evening. TIme flew and I got to the pre-game reception meeting Steve Alleva to get my game day tickets. It was great to see the GU family including Blanton Jones, former Hoyas Unlimited Associate Director Mara Vandlik, Chris Haines (SB Nation), and many other Georgetown friends. It is always great to be surrounded by your Georgetown family. I met a few new friends, but did not get a chance to meet Jennifer Dotson from the GU Hawaii Club. I was hoping to see her but I needed to get to the arena--I need to arrive early to games for those who do not know me! Time was passing and I got a ride from my HHC Communications team member Joannah Graham and her husband Kevin. We got to the game very early and purchased some T shirts, and had some Cool Cat Cafe burgers. The Lahaina Civic Center let’s you buy and bring food in, but does not sell food in the arena. I was impressed by the organization as they brought the UCLA-Chaminade crowd out of the arena, and moved us in. There were no bad seats in the house in this tiny gym. As I mentioned we made a great effort, but the result was not what any Hoya fan wanted. Still the season is early, and I love this young Hoya team. Everyone gave a maximum effort, and I know Coach JT III will make sure his young players learn from this experience. We headed back to the Westin, and am now preparing for an 11:30 AM game against Chaminade, Hawaii Time (4:30 PM ET). As we say at Georgetown, we will live to battle another day. Chaminade will be another hard fought game. Hoya Saxa!
We are Georgetown!
Dr. Thomas A. Wong
Hoya Hoop Club VP--Communications
Proud Member of Generation Ewing
Hoya Five O
Ni Men Hao HoyaNation or should I say Aloha! I am now here in Maui, HI for the 2011-12 Maui Invitational--Go Hoyas! Hoya Fans from the 1980’s know the Legend of Jake Kurkijian and the Georgetown Hawaii Five-O routine. When coach JT Jr. wanted to lighten the atmosphere a little in the old Capital Centre, he asked Jake to do the Hawaii Five-O routine along with the cheerleaders and the pep band. Indeed it is all Dr. LicHoya can now speak about. When we celebrated the 25th Anniversary of the 1984 GU Men’s NCAA Championship Team, coach JT Jr. marveled at the slimmer Jake. Many people believe that the theme song from the original Hawaii Five-O series starring Jack Lord as Steve McGarrett is one of the greatest TV theme songs ever. I also love the new modern version of Hawaii Five O with Alex O’Loughlin playing McGarrett’s son, Steve McGarrett (a former Navy Seal)--actually named after his grandfather making him Steve McGarrett III? At Georgetown we truly love Legacies! In 2007 when Georgetown made a run to the Final Four in Atlanta, I got a call from one of the producers of the David Letterman show who was looking to find a video of the Hawaii Five-O Georgetown routine. CBS Sports had deleted all the commercials and other non-game coverage in their libraries and thus could not find any footage. After much research I ran into the same problem. Even friends who had taped every Hoya game, did not have a copy. Jake suggested that I search for coverage of the Syracuse game at Capital Centre in 1985 when the routine was shown on television. Alas, any video coverage appears to be lost, unless some Hoya fan reading this article has a copy? I think Dr. LicHoya would do anything to find a copy!
I am presently on a flight from Oakland, CA to Maui to see Georgetown play in the Maui Classic. What an outstanding field! The Hoyas will face the Kansas JayHawks on Monday night. Kansas is another legendary college basketball program boasting alumni such as Dean Smith, Wilt Chamberlain, and Danny Manning. Hawaii has always been a dream trip for me, and to share it with my Georgetown family over the Thanksgiving Holiday will be very special. My road trip started on Friday of this week when I travelled from my home in New York City to San Francisco. I flew from JFK on Virgin America--the party airline and got a free Google Chrome Netbook with free WIFI to use during the flight. I had a wonderful two days in the CIty by the Bay staying at my favorite SF hotel, the Westin St. Francis where much of the movie the Maltese Falcon was filmed. The clock and the memorabilia around the hotel are all very impressive. Whenever, I am there I can almost feel the presence of the many former US Presidents, Mary Astor, and Humphrey Bogart who played Sam Spade. Two days brought back wonderful memories of one of the great Georgetown John Carroll weekends that I attended just six months ago. I had little time though, and went to some of my favorite SF restaurants: Sears Fine Foods, Tartine’s Bakery, Zachary’s Pizza, Koi Palace, and R&G Lounge. Every time that I go to R&G Lounge I enjoy my Salt N Pepper Dungeness Crab chatting with the day managers about Georgetown basketball. However, this past Friday night they were more interested in talking about their “Big Game,” the Stanford--CAL Berkeley football game. In fact it seemed like a Stanford/Silicon Valley/ Asian Society NIght at R&G Lounge. As SF Chinatown evolves there is a dramatic contrast between the old school Chinatown and restaurants like R&G which had put in some new fancy interactive video screens. As I chatted with the manager, and the owner who have become friends, the cheer: “NOT OUR RIVALS,” kept running in my head. Oh how I love this restaurant. I hope Anthony Bourdain is a Hoya fan! I wonder where Mr. Bourdain dines while in Maui? The other great Asian restaurant I visited was Koi Palace in Daly City dim sum there on Saturday afternoon. The dim sum is the freshest and best I have ever had anywhere in the world. I was running late though, and I needed to get back to my hotel before having dinner with my GU classmate Chris Huppert in Piedmont, CA. The traffic and the holiday shoppers made driving in downtown SF near Union Square a real adventure. With an order of har gao just arriving I pointed and instructed my waitress: “Da Bao.” I watched the Stanford-CAL game enjoying some Zachary’s Chicago-style pizza, and Tartine’s lemon tarts. It was a great game, but my mind was on the Maui Classic and Georgetown’s game with Kansas. I cannot wait to see our young Hoya freshman play against Kansas‘ massive front line--The Big East & Georgetown comes to the West!
On my flight to Maui, I was seated with an Asian family from SF with a bunch of nice kids that remind me of my niece and nephew, Hoya Kids Club members Sophia (Miss Disney) and Alex (All-Madden) Wong. They turned me on to my new addiction--dried wasabi seaweed! It is even healthy! It is amazing how good these kids are with the iPAD and IPOD games.
Stay tuned from my coverage (HHC Blog, Fadebook & Twitter) of the Maui Classic and the Hawaiian Islands! I look forward to meeting many new Georgetown fans and alumni in Maui! Please come and say Aloha!
Here is an update for GU fans in Maui:
Pre-Game Reception
Monday, November 21 at 5 p.m.
Umalu Bar at Hyatt Regency
Before Georgetown's opening game against #11 Kansas on Monday night, join your fellow Hoya fans for a pre-game reception at the Umalu Bar at the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort and Spa (200 Nohea Kai Drive, Lahaina, HI 96761). The pre-game reception will begin at 5 p.m. The game tips-off at 7 p.m. The Hyatt is only 1.8 miles from the Lahaina Civic Center (1840 Honoapiilani Hwy, Lahaina, HI 96761).
Georgetown's games on Tuesday and Wednesday will be determined by the outcome of the team's previous games. For the Maui Invitational bracket, please visit http://www.mauiinvitational.com/sites/default/files/2011%20EA%20SPORTS%20Maui%20Invitational%20Bracket_0.pdf. More information will be sent out by e-mail about pre- and/or post-game receptions once times/opponents have been determined.
For updates follow the Hoya Hoop Club on Facebook and Twitter at:
www.facebook.com/HoyaHoopClub & @HoyaHoopClub.
Mahalo & Hoya Saxa!
We are Georgetown!
Dr. Thomas A. Wong
Hoya Hoop Club Vice-President--Communications
Proud Member of Generation Ewing