Return to South Philadelphia

Georgetown against Villanova: Need I say more. There is nowhere in the county I can go without seeing T shirts saying how much Villanova fans hate Georgetown. As we know envy can be a dangerous emotion. Anyway, I would not miss the short drive up I-95 to see this Big East battle. It seemed like only yesterday, the Hoyas had lost a tough ball game with Temple on Broad Street. As soon as I entered sky box 16 at Wells Fargo Arena I knew this would be a different day. I ran into my good friend Ashley Darcy and her fiancee Kevin Mahoney. Ashley was wearing the jersey of one of my favorite Hoyas #33 Alonzo Mourning! The mood in the box was electric. I saw my good Philly friends Rich Hluchan, Jack McNamara and their families. The game was your typical Villanova--Georgetown war.

The story of the first half to me was Henry Sims and Nate Lubick. It was obvious that Georgetown had a renewed energy for their team defense. They were ready for Villanova's tall, athletic front court. Henry Sims had a great half, and his offensive moves kept a 5-6 point lead for the Hoyas. His defense and rebounding were what impressed me though. In the second half I got a little nervous as Villanova made several runs to the delight of the crowd. However, Julian Vaughan played wonderfully on defense, and at the free throw line. Nate Lubick made the HoyaNation proud with his blue collar work. I loved the way the Hoyas battled in the second half. Needless to say Austin Freeman had his swagger back as he scored on his defenders often at will. Chris Wright struggled a little on offense, but had the heart of a champion with his tough defense. His splitting of the Nova double team late in the game to find Austin Freeman will go down in the annals of Georgetown basketball as one of our great moments. Austin drained the rainbow three-pointer from the corner to beat the shot clock. Austin's falling backwards bank shot from the right side was the stuff of legend. Georgetown would not be denied this evening. As I left the arena to head back to Georgetown I saw a friendly face in the parking lot--Chris Wright's father. I shared with him how happy I was to get the victory. I love Mr. Wright's smile. I can see that Chris Wright gets his champion's heart from his parent. Chris, Austin, and the entire Georgetown team had dug down deep and found a way to win this afternoon!

What a weekend. It truly made my day seeing all of the former Hoya Blue alumni led by Kurt Mulbauer leading the Georgetown fight song. After all it does not get much better than a Big East win in South Philadelphia.

We Are Georgetown! Hoya Saxa!

Dr. Thomas A. Wong

Hoya Hoop Club Vice-President & Director of Communications

Proud Member of Generation Ewing

Along the New Jersey Turnpike

I went to bed early last Friday night hoping to fight off the virus that hit me. I was looking forward to riding up to New Jersey to see the Hoyas take on Rutgers at the RAC. However, it was not to be. I would miss that game as well as the Seton Hall game last night. The Hoyas did win both games though. The games were not pretty, but at this time of the year, any win is good. Hopefully, the Hoyas are back on the upswing! It is all about your play on the court. Hopefully, this eight day rest will do wonders for the Hoyas! We are getting close to February so let's go Hoyas!

Dr. Thomas A. Wong

Proud Member of Generation Ewing

A Double Hoya's End of Year List

I have never done one of these end-of-year lists so I thought I would give it a try. Here are some of my thoughts on the Year 2010 and the upcoming Year!

Movies:

Great Children's Movies: Toy Story 3, How to Train Your Dragon.

Marketing Gem: MegaMind.

Mixed Feelings: A Team, Karate Kid, Letters to Juliet.

Disappointments: Robin Hood, Sex & the City 2.

Surprises: I loved both Burlesque, and The Social Network.

Top Film Festivals:

Toronto International Film Festival

California Film Festival--Mill Valley, CA

Hotels:

New Favorites: Marriott London Marble Arch, Carolina Inn, Ritz Carlton Boston Common, W Hotel Westwood, CA.

Continued Favorites: Hotel at Mandalay Bay--Las Vegas, Palazzo-Las Vegas, The Palms-Las Vegas, The Drake--Chicago.

Coffee Shops:

New Favorite: Coffee Exchange on Wickenden, Providence, RI.

Favorite New Airline: Virgin America

Restaurants:

New Favorites:

DC Metro: Ray's Hell Burger, Elephant & Castle

New York: Szechuan Gourmet-Midtown NYC

Las Vegas: Lagasse Stadium, Table 10, Zine Noodles

London: New World, Langan's Brasserie

Baltimore: Mo's Seafood, Chap's Pit Beef

San Francisco: R&G Lounge, Fang's, House of Prime Rib, Zachary's Chicago Pizzeria (Berkeley)

Old Favorites:

DC Metro: Kinkead's, The Tombs, Marcel's, Chadwick's--Friendship Hts

Chicago: Gibson's (Rush Street), Lou Mitchell's

New York: Peter Luger's, Katz's Deli, Hop Lee, Ess A Bagel, Aureole, Del Frisco's, Sapporo-Time's Square, Keen's Steakhouse, Carmine's NYC

Las Vegas: Bouchon, Aquaknox, Pinot Brasserie, Cathay House, Emeril's Fish House, Nine

San Francisco: House of Nanking, Tadich's Grill, Sear's Fine Foods

On The Decline:

New York: Phoenix Garden, Joe's Shanghai

Boston: East Ocean City, Grand Chau Chau

DC Metro: Far East, Sushi Ko

Baltimore: The Inner Harbor, Phillip's HarborPlace

Severe Disappointments:

Phillip's CrabHouse--Ocean City, MD, English's Chicken--Ocean City, MD

Favorite Places for Breakfast:

Lou Mitchell's--Chicago.

Sear's Fine Foods: San Francisco.

Grand Lux--Las Vegas.

Favorite Places for Dim Sum:

Cathay House--Las Vegas.

Koi Palace--San Francisco.

Favorite Movie Theatres:

Avalon Theatre--DC.

AFI--Silver Spring

AMC Georgetown

Favorite Sports Arenas:

Madison Square Garden

Staple Center

Verizon Center

Wrigley Field

Favorite Golf Courses:

Sawgrass

Pinehurst II

Congressional

Cave's Valley

Favorite Mobile Apps:

Doodle Jump

Crash Kart

Disney World--Wait Lines

Skype

Yelp

Travel Channel Go

Four Square

ESPN Passport

1ClickFlash

iHandyLevel

CoolFacts

NightVision

Ins for 2011:

Georgetown Basketball

Washington Capitals

Washington Nationals

New York Knicks

Big East Basketball

The Maui Classic

Georgetown University

Georgetown Preparatory School

Washington Jesuit Academy

Facebook

Twitter

Vinyard Vines

Eataly NYC Home Delivery

TV Shows: Hawaii Five-O, Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations

Mountain Biking

Disney

Golf & Spa Weekends

Redline--Gallery Place

The Problem of God

Avalon Theatre

Mill Valley--CA Film Festival

Mobile Apps

Ghost Bar

Outs for 2011

Reality TV Shows

Harry Potter

Syracuse Orange

AFI Silver Spring

DC Filmfest

E-Mail

Thoughts for 2011

How many restaurants can stay in business in NYC?

How do the hotels/motels in Ocean City, MD charge the outrageous prices that they do?

How does Syracuse University market itself as NYC's College Basketball Team? They must market to the geographically challenged!

Why don't we have good deli's and coffee shops in the DC Metro area?

Why can I not buy decent bread in the DC Metro area?

Dr. Thomas A. Wong

Proud Member of Generation Ewing

Winter on the Hilltop

There is something magical about the Holiday Season on the Hilltop. As I see a little snowstorm hit the DC Metro area today, I cannot help but think of the record-setting winter of 2009-10. It seems like only yesterday that we had a blizzard while I was a Georgetown student living in Village A W-203. I attended a Holiday party this past Sunday in Riggs Library, and a beautiful Mass in Gaston Hall with many of my Georgetown friends. There is something about the raw power of winter, the stress of final exams, and the rush to buy Christmas presents that gets me ready for the next phase of basketball season. I cannot wait for Georgetown to finish its last final exams of the semester with tough games against Loyola-MD, and Memphis on the road.

I do love our current Hoya basketball team. This is perhaps the deepest team we have had in several years. What intrigues me is that in spite of the great leadership provided by the DC Hoya triplets Chris Wright, Austin Freeman, and Jason Clark there is still quite a bit of room for this team to grow. I love our four freshman, and how they all love to be on the court. Vee Sanford shows us glimpses of the future, while Jerrelle adds some muscle to our interior defense.

I love watching our offense, and the explosiveness we possess beyond the 3-point arc. I look forward to seeing our frontcourt, and defense grow with the season. I love our freshman class as all four--Markel, Nate, Aaron, and Moses will compete for playing time with sophomores Jerelle, and Vee. We still have some difficult tests left with Loyola-MD and Memphis before the start of the Big East season.

As I spend countless hours on the internet, and marvel at the hundreds of shows I have access to on my Verizon FIOS I am often puzzled? I have watched the HBO special on legendary coach Vince Lombardi multiple times this week. I love seeing the Jesuit ideals, and focus in Coach Lombardi as his booming voice resonated with his players. He was tough, but he loved his team and players. I do enjoy some of these reality shows like Survivor, Dancing with the Stars, and American Idol. However, as I walk the Georgetown campus I cannot understand their growing popularity. For my taste, they cannot compare to the authenticity of watching a college basketball game. Watching our Georgetown Hoyas battle through the Big East season, to the Big East tournament in New York's Madison Square Garden, and on to March Madness is what I cannot wait to see. Don't get me wrong, reality shows are very entertaining, but I would contend they cannot compare to the real thing like the debut of Moses Ayegba as he drained his two free throws on Sunday! We are Georgetown! Hoya Saxa!

Dr. Thomas A. Wong

Hoya Hoop Club Vice-President--Communications

Proud Member of Generation Ewing

Georgetown Basketball Events--A View from 7th Street

My time on the Georgetown Hoya Hoop Club Board has been wonderful. After yesterday's win over Utah State at Verizon Center I got to visit the Redline DC Sports Bar, and also met some Georgetown Basketball fans at Carmines DC. As I walked up and down 7th Street, I could see how many Hoya fans congregate at different places--Chinatown, Bar Louie, DC ChopHouse, Legal Seafood, and the list goes on. I encouraged my new friends at Carmines to attend our Hoya Hoop Club events during the year. Our Facebook, Twitter, and other networking vehicles have done much to bring our community together, but their is nothing like meeting in person. We will soon be coming out with a calendar for our events. I know the DC Metro Club does a great job with our watch parties at Black Finn, and other clubs around the country are very active like our group in Atlanta, GA amongst others. I hope to meet many more Hoya Hoop Club members and Georgetown fans during the season.

We are Georgetown! Hoya Saxa!

Dr. Thomas A. Wong

Hoya Hoop Club Vice President--Communications

Proud Member of Generation Ewing

45 Minutes of Action!

What a game! I wish I could have made the trip to Kansas City! The Georgetown Hoyas shot a sizzling 71% from the field in the first half, and yet the Tigers rode their crowd cutting a one-time 18-point deficit to only 7 points at half. Austin Freeman led the way in the first half and made some great plays to keep Georgetown close in the second half. Chris Wright made one of the great shots in recent memory to put Georgetown into the OT. In the overtime, Jason Clark's 3 3-ptrs iced the game for GTown. It was a great road win for the Hoyas. Nate Lubick logged some valuable minutes and made some great defensive plays and rebounds. However, I want to point out two of the unsung heroes: Vee Sanford, and Henry Sims. Vee Sanford played some great defense, and made a key 3-ptr in the second half to keep the Missouri Tigers from pulling into a larger lead. He was great. I really enjoyed watching the game of Henry Sims who played with great confidence. He finished well on two power dunks, and made some shots to total 10 points. However, what really impressed me was the little things he did: blocking shots, good positioning, and altering countless shots inside. Henry Sims--you made us proud! The Hoya Nation loves you!

A great team effort for the Hoyas--Georgetown Forever! We will see you at Verizon Center on Saturday!

Dr. Thomas A. Wong

Hoya Hoop Club Vice President--Communications

Proud Member of Generation Ewing

The DC Hoya Triplets

It is very rare that you will see a trio of guards on a college basketball team like Austin Freeman, Chris Wright, and Jason Clark. It is even rarer that they come from a single high school conference like the WCAC. Austin from DeMatha in Hyattsville, Maryland; Chris Wright from St. John's in D.C.; and Jason Clark from O'Connell in Falls Church, Virginia. It has been a difficult road for these three with the additional pressures of playing in front of their hometown friends, families, and the local press. Expectations were indeed unreasonable. Still these three have had stellar college careers and are now truly coming together as one of the top backcourts in the nation. Chris Wright has been the MVP of the Charleston Classic & his 3-point shooting outburst helped prevent an opening game loss to Old Dominion on the road. Jason Clark has been our most consistent outside shooter. His NBA 3-point shot in traffic against Old Dominion helped seal that win. Austin Freeman has been quietly spectacular in the early season. He threw down some monster dunks in the second half against NC State in the finals of the Charleston Classic. Today against UNC-Asheville he put on a sizzling performance with 32 points sitting out much of the game. His 7 three pointers set a Georgetown single game record. In fact I think the best is yet to come. Hoya Saxa!

Dr. Thomas A. Wong

Hoya Hoop Club Vice President-Communications

Proud Member of Generation Ewing