This is a weekly special exclusive VIP guest column series entitled The State Of The Hoyas. Enjoy.
Times are tough in America these days. People are out of work, families are struggling, the planet is warming and Jessica Simpson had to buy her own engagement ring. But on this Thanksgiving day we can all give thanks for one thing – Georgetown basketball.
Here’s what I’ll be giving thanks for tomorrow.
See The List after The Jump:
1) The extra pass –nothing prettier on a basketball court. Like the NY Knicks of '69-70, the current Hoyas do it as well as anyone in college basketball -- see: the second half of NC State game
2) The extra years – watching a player grow over four years, not one and done.
3) Chris Paul’s basketball camp.
4) Going 11 men deep.
5) Ryan Dougherty as Co-Captain
6) NCAA transfer rules – Jeremiah, Nikita, Omar and Macklin
7) Henry Sims
8) Manley Field House is still closed and we closed it.
9) Dikembe Mutombo –speaks five languages but created the international symbol for intimidation –the finger wag.
10) A picture of John Thompson Jr. hugging Fred Brown after winning the national championship
11) Casual Hoya Luxury Suite at Madison Square Garden
12) Never having to step foot in America’s worst city – Syracuse, NY.
13) Sugar free food of all kinds.
14) Living in Europe or being otherwise occupied for much of the Esherick era.
15) Mary Fenlon
16) Poise replacing underachieving as the overused descriptive word for the Hoyas.
17) Masshoya
18) IV fluids and a hospital on campus
19) Wisey’s – spanning the generations with simple goodness
20) Patrick Ewing and Patrick Ewing Jr. –one a champion the other with the heart of a champion.
21) The internets, the wifi’s and Casual Hoya for changing my life. Thank you Vice President Gore.
22) Pulitzer prize winning journalism tracking the every movement, thought and favorite food groups of every potential Georgetown recruit on the best blog ever. Also, editors deciding to drop the document your lunch feature next summer.
23) January 21, 2006
24) Casual Hoya vigilante program targeting season ticket holders who sell their tickets to opposing teams fans. Getting Charles Bronson as spokesman a really nice touch.
25) Successful lobbying campaign denying any future federal funds to Ohio University
26) John Thompson Jr’s saying "thugs" make the best rebounders
27) Bashful Hoya
28) Casual Hoya’s photographic skills and overall sense of direction
29) New Orleans for bringing us among others, Greg Monroe, Michael Jackson and Perry McDonald
30) Casual Hoya swag
Feel free to add. Happy Thanksgiving.