It’s easy to complain about Georgetown athletics. They don’t give us buses to basketball games so we have to take public transportation. The football team doesn’t win. Kehoe Field is hazardously dangerous to run on. The list could go on. The problem with all these complaints is that there just doesn’t seem to be the money to do anything about them. All we can hope to do is shift resources.
In that spirit, I have four constructive suggestions that won’t take a dollar of President Jack’s money:
(1) Change the student section shirt color to blue.
If you’ve ever watched a Georgetown game in high definition, you will know exactly what I’m talking about. Whenever a camera pans across the student section impressively adorned in matching gray T-shirts, our student body looks like a gelatinous mass of pasty shut-ins.
Walking around Georgetown on a sunny afternoon, I know this is not the case. We are a good-looking bunch of people, but those gray shirts don’t do anyone any favors. This may seem just shallow and superficial, but our T-shirt color has real consequences for basketball and the university as a whole. Think of all the recruits or National Merit Scholars we could be losing when they watch a game and see a school full of people who look like they just escaped from the Matrix. I mean, I came to Georgetown for the academics and the mild, mid-Atlantic winters, but I hadn’t watched many games on HDTV.
I know gray is traditional, but there’s nothing wrong with a little change. Give us a blue shirt with some white letters and we’ll start to look good . maybe even become a little intimidating.
(2) No more T-Pain.
This is connected because he performed in McDonough Gymnasium, so bear with me. T-Pain sang a random John Legend song. He sang his 30-second part of “On a Boat” twice. He didn’t even come out in a cool top hat. The golf cart on which he entered was the highlight of the entire concert. The Hoyas’ practice floor deserves better.
(I lied earlier; this one was mostly just a complaint. Maybe Coolio is available again?)
(3) Expand intramurals on the students’ dime.
Intramural sports are pretty cheap on a per-season basis. You pay more for a beer at The Tombs than I paid for this past softball season. Unfortunately, we only played three half-hour games, and on a more selfish note, I only got to hit nine times all season. Why not charge me four times as much and give me four or five nine-inning games with a real playoff system? Heck, maybe even solicit students for donations to get some flood lights so we can play at night.
The intramural department does a lot with what they have, and I have to say that in my time at Georgetown I have seen great improvement in both organization and officiating. But I bet a lot of athlete wannabes who are long past their glory days would pay good money for longer football games, more softball frames and plenty of weekend kickball. It’s not like the intramural department has much competition, so raise prices and see what happens.
(4) Move Homecoming to basketball season
I saved the best for last. If Homecoming Weekend were based around a Saturday afternoon basketball game, I guarantee that donations, student involvement and actual homecomings from alumni would increase.
Have the game in the afternoon at Verizon Center for one of the first home games of the year, but host all the pre-game events in the McDonough parking lot and hire buses to take students and alumni to the game. You could have reunion classes in sections and do fundraising during a halftime that people would actually be around to see. Those buses would pay for themselves in donations before tip-off.
Who says Homecoming has to be at a football game? I think the logic has always been that homecomings are based around football games because that’s usually a school’s biggest draw. But there are more Georgetown students in line for front-row seats at a Big East basketball matchup than any football game all season.
In 10 years, if you had the time and money to visit Georgetown once, would you rather see a basketball game or all of your old friends? It seems counterintuitive to have to make that choice.
I will have to make one final suggestion that actually might cost some money.
Build Dikembe Mutombo a statue. The guy who once said man’s purpose in life is “to make a difference” has lived out those words for the 20-plus years since he left the Hilltop.
His off-the-court actions have exemplified what it means to be a Georgetown student, and with his career tragically coming to a close last Tuesday in a way that does not befit the great man he truly is, Georgetown athletics should finally build a fitting monument to Mount Mutombo.
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