Wizards and Colonials

I kept alive my streak of bringing bad luck to home teams this weekend by witnessing losses by the Washington Wizards and the George Washington University Colonials.  Basketball is a quirky sport in America.  It is played at the highest level in the NBA, but fan enthusiasm is much greater at the college level. The Washington Wizards played the Phoenix Suns on a Friday night in front of maybe a half full Verizon Center crowd.  The only reason that I went was that my ticket was free, a nice gift from my overpriced apartment complex.  The game was entertaining in spots; watching the Sun’s stellar point guard Steve Nash distribute the ball was a treat, but overall, it was a fairly ho-hum event. 

The following day a colleague and I bought tickets to the GWU vs St. Bonaventure game at the Colonials’ home arena which is on campus.  In contrast to the Wizards’ game, the crowd energy level stayed high throughout the game.  The GW students stood throughout the game and the visiting “Bonnies” had a loud, active cheering section as well.  St. Bonaventure freshman point guard Matthew Wright scored 18 points and handled the ball well under pressure en route to a come from behind win for the Bonnies.  The Charles Smith Center is much smaller than the Wizards’ venue (5000 capacity vs 20,000 for the Verizon), and every seat is close to the court.  The arena size accounts for some of the energy difference, but not all.  Georgetown University plays its home games in the Verizon Center to larger and more boisterous crowds than the Wizards do.

None of the four teams that I saw play this past weekend are strong contenders for a championship this year.  The games were mid-season contests and were not particularly important.  So why is college basketball so much more fun?  Americans have strong allegiances to their schools and college football is hugely popular, but so is the NFL.  Too many games may be the problem.  College basketball teams play 25-30 games in a season before “March Madness” begins.  The NBA plays 82 regular season games before 16 of 30 teams qualify for the playoffs.  Since most teams make the playoffs, the regular season is primarily a long seeding round.

I am enjoying the opportunity to watch good basketball during my stay in DC, but it will probably take another free ticket to get me to another Wizards’ game.

As Tough as Favre

The old woman arrived at the pew five minutes after Mass started.  God didn’t mind; she walked so slowly that it may have taken the five minutes just to get from the entrance to her seat.  She was closer to 90 than 80, hunched over, and it was obvious that getting to church was a physical struggle that took a tremendous amount of her energy.  An initial reaction to a person in her condition is pity.  However as the Mass went on, the woman participated fully, even partially kneeling during the Consecration.  My feelings of pity turned to admiration for the toughness and courage that this woman showed that Sunday at St. Dominic’s.  There’s no telling how much effort it took for her to get to church that day.   Was she driven?  Perhaps not, since she sat alone.  Did she take a bus or the metro and then walk several blocks in winter cold?   However she got there, it was clear that the effort was great.  As my admiration grew, she became a role model for dealing with the final chapter of life.  She was expending what had to be an exhausting effort that morning, but it was worth it to her to join in the celebration of Mass for another Sunday.  Rather than acquiescing to the pain of old age, this lady was giving life’s inevitability a good punch in the mouth.  Brett Favre is the symbol of toughness in American sports.  This lady was just as tough as Brett.

St. Dominic’s is an inner city Catholic Church in southwest DC.  It is an anachronistic island surrounded on three sides by the glass, steel, and concrete of government office buildings, and by an expressway on the fourth.  The church outlived the neighborhood that once surrounded it, but it still stands as a beautiful reminder of the past and a place of worship for its eclectic congregation.  The small, ethnically diverse choir (Asian, Hispanic, Black, White) reflected the congregation that they led in song.  No one lives very near St. Dominic’s so everyone who attends Mass there really wants to be there.  Like most inner city Catholic churches, the congregation is a mix of semi-locals, street people, the well to do who drive in from more upscale neighborhoods, visitors, and the elderly.  These churches seem to be just hanging on.  No doubt they are subsidized by the larger diocese, but they are primarily funded and staffed by people who are unwilling to let them go.

 Like the old lady, St. Dominic’s has stood tough against changing times.  It provides a sanctuary in a sterile neighborhood for those who need it.  It keeps on with its mission despite the odds.  Eventually life will win, but for now I salute a tough old woman and her church.

Code of the Metro

The Washington DC metro transports approximately 745,000 riders on an average day.  On weekdays, most of these are commuters who are using the time to gear themselves up for another workday or are de-compressing following one.  A code of silence is almost always followed during these commutes.  Even with a hundred people closely packed in a subway car, if you took away the railway noise, you could hear a pin drop.  Talking is grudgingly acceptable during non-rush hour times.  Tourists or evening partiers engage in sometimes loud conversation, but the majority of riders, even during these times, follow their ingrained habit of silence.  

One afternoon I witnessed a group of girls who managed to have an animated teenage conversation without bothering the other riders or breaking the code.  Their facial expressions and gesticulations displayed a sense of passion for the topic, and I admit to doing a little eavesdropping since their presence altered the norm for the ride.  Anyone who was not in the immediate vicinity of the girls would not have noticed them because as I mentioned, they did not break the code.  The girls were students of Gallaudet University, a college located in Northeast DC which was chartered in 1864 by President Lincoln. Gallaudet, a bilingual school with American Sign Language and English as its official languages, is the only college in the world at where all programs accommodate deaf students.  As I eavesdropped, I tried to pick out a few words that the girls signed and figure out what they were talking about, but couldn’t understand a word.  I left the train before the girls did that day, but I’m sure they continued their conversation while simultaneously honoring the code.

A Double Dose of Georgetown

A snow shower greeted me when I started my Saturday morning run.  Cold overnight temperatures allowed the snow to stick to the grass as well as the paved Mount Vernon trail.  I made my way along the Potomac River and crossed the Francis Scott Key Bridge into Georgetown as the snow continued to fall.  Turning north from the bridge, I encountered the Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) canal trail which sits atop a berm next to the narrow canal that borders northwest DC.  Georgetown University, with its signature Healy Hall clock tower rising toward the sky, passed by on my right.  The frigid, but still liquid Potomac meandered southerly on my left.  The C&O canal trail is a runner’s nirvana; miles (about 180 of them according to another runner that I asked) of soft crushed pebble surface along with great scenery.  The surface was even softer on the knees on this morning because of the inch of snow underfoot.  A surprising number of runners were out enjoying the snow that morning including two couples with baby strollers.  I applaud couples who manage to exercise together, but was it really necessary to take the babies out on a cold snowy morning?

Afternoon sunshine melted all of the snow by the time I exited the Verizon Center after watching a close Big East basketball game between the West Virginia Mountaineers and the host Georgetown Hoyas.  There’s a great choice of college basketball in DC with Georgetown, George Washington, and American University all located in the district and George Mason and the University of Maryland located just outside the beltway.  The Verizon Center rocked with about 10 minutes to go as the teams sank 4 three pointers in a row to maintain a tie score.  The Mountaineers made fewer mistakes down the stretch however, and turned two late Hoya turnovers into buckets to seal a 65-59 victory. 

It’s fun for an SEC sports fan like me to experience Big East basketball and more games will follow this winter.  Georgetown provided me with great views during my morning run, but couldn’t provide a hometown basketball win in the afternoon. 

A Restrained and Tentative "War Eagle"

I’m definitely not an Auburn fan.   In my home state, you can’t root for both Alabama and Auburn.  Eventually you must choose.  As an alumnus of the University of Florida, I stayed neutral on the Alabama/Auburn rivalry for years until my son enrolled at the state school in Tuscaloosa.  So now I comfortably wear my crimson colors on autumn Saturdays, unless of course the Tide faces the Gators. 

Hard core Alabama fans are pulling for the Oregon Ducks in the upcoming BCS Championship game.  The rivalry is just too intense and ingrained in the culture of the state to allow this group to take any enjoyment from the other team’s success.  But I’m not hard core being only a recently declared Tide fan, so my New Year’s wish for the Auburn Tigers is an undefeated season punctuated with an undisputed national championship.

Auburn has had a very successful but star crossed football program.  They’ve won 7 SEC championships, shared the 1957 national championship with Ohio State, and had 3 Heisman trophy winners.  As a whole though, the program has been very unlucky.  What other team from a major conference has gone undefeated twice in the last two decades and not had a chance to play for the title?  Terry Bowden’s 1993 team won 11 without a loss, but probation kept them out of the bowls that year.  Tommy Tuberville’s 2004 team won the SEC championship and finished 13-0, but two other teams were undefeated that year, USC and Oklahoma, and Auburn was voted the third wheel in the BCS dance.

This should be the year that the championship comes to the Plains.  Heisman trophy winning quarterback Cam Newton has elevated the Tigers like no player in recent memory.  Yes, Newton is even more crucial to Auburn’s success than Tim Tebow was to Florida’s.  A win against Oregon on January 10 will finally exorcise the demons of 1993 and 2004.  Or will it?

The NCAA cleared Cam Newton to play in the SEC Championship and subsequent games when its investigation of the Newton family’s alleged solicitation of improper benefits from the university came up with no solid evidence.  However it has been proven that Cecil Newton, Cam’s father, did try to “sell” his son’s services to Mississippi State prior to his enrollment at Auburn.  Is it plausible that when rebuffed by MSU, Cecil allowed Cam to pick Auburn with no money changing hands?  Yes it is possible that after not getting paid from MSU, Cam had to go to another school to save face.  Is it plausible that Cecil didn’t ask Auburn for money?  Unlikely. 

With the FBI and the media continuing to dig around south Alabama and Atlanta, where Cecil Newton’s church is located, the truth will eventually come out.  Here’s hoping that Auburn comes away clean, and is not proven to have made a Faustian bargain with Newton.  All it would take is for some booster to have paid Cecil or Cam some money and all the joy of this season will be taken away.  I hope for Auburn’s sake as well as for that of the SEC, that the recruitment was clean.  Happy New Year Auburn and here’s a tentative and restrained War Eagle shout out.