On Syracuse-Georgetown

Stop.

I’m serious.  This ridiculousness needs to stop right now.  If you choose to support the light and truth — Syracuse University — you have one archenemy: Georgetown University. 

This is the law of literature; every protagonist needs a solitary antagonist.  Granted, there may exist other foils, but the protagonist can only exist if a resolute antagonist operates as the protagonist’s thorn.  If you prefer moving pictures over books, just remember M. Night Shyamalan’s Unbreakable: Elijah Fields needs David Dunn; they’re at opposite ends of the spectrum, and one does not maintain relevance without the other.

Such is the Syracuse-Georgetown experience.   And yet, many do not believe it.

On various Syracuse-centric message communities, there is talk of “Who do you want to beat the most?” and other related topics.  Surprisingly, colleges and universities other than Georgetown received top honors: Connecticut, Pittsburgh, Villanova, etc.  This is patently unacceptable. 

There is one answer and one answer only — Georgetown.  Every other answer is a disparagement of all the former student-athletes — Pearl Washington, Billy Owens, Sherman Douglas, Rony Seikaly, et al. — that went to war with Georgetown during their tenure.  It is an admonishment of what Jim Boeheim and John Thompson meant to Big East basketball.  It is myopic consumerism that holds value only in the moment.

How do I know this is true?  Well, because Georgetown still cares.  And like the Orange Empire, the Hoyas waffle, but when ultimately posed with the question, Syracuse and Georgetown will always become dance partners.

Instead of illustrating this state of affairs with my own words, here’s an excerpt of an essay penned by John Hawkes, a 2004 Georgetown graduate.  In the essay, Hawkes describes his trip to Syracuse for the Orange-Hoya encounter on February 22, 2008. 

It seems like each time the Hoyas and Orange get together lately, somebody is compelled to post a thread on the HoyaTalk message board questioning whether Georgetown vs. Syracuse is still a rivalry.

The answers myself and my fellow bloggers Mike Karam and Tom Wong gave to The Hoya’s blog (The Saxa) last week make it pretty clear where we come down on the issue.

In response to a question about what the GTown-Cuse “rivalry” was like when I was a student, I cited a story from my sophomore year (2001-2002). In a nationally-televised Big Monday contest, Georgetown defeated the #14 Orange 75-60 (the “Preston’s Crying” game for those who were there). After the game–which featured two teams destined to miss the NCAA Tournament and which wasn’t competitive for the final 18 minutes of play–the Georgetown student section stormed the court for the second consecutive season after beating the Orange.

There was no real reason for anyone to feel compelled to rush the court. None of the standard “rules” (if you will) for rushing the court applied–Syracuse wasn’t ranked highly enough, Georgetown was probably too good for the win to be considered an upset, and unlike the previous season’s February triumph at MCI the 2002 contest didn’t put the Hoyas over the top in their quest for an NCAA Tournament berth. It was just a normal game.

Lots of anti-court rushing sentiment popped up on the HoyaTalk board that night. For some reason–that I completely understand to this day–I felt compelled to respond with a lengthy defense punctuated by one single, powerful six-word line:

This is different. This is Syracuse.

Syracuse-Connecticut is fun.

Syracuse-Pittsburgh is ugly, but maintains consequence.

Syracuse-Villanova is valuable only in that I get to see Jay Wright’s fancy suits.

Syracuse-Georgetown generates Sports Illustrated covers.  It finds its place in campy hotel commercials.  It is, for the sake of brevity, everything.  Without Georgetown, Syracuse is just lining up to play a great basketball game; with Georgetown, Syracuse is lining up in a battle of ideals.

Georgetown matters, and it matters the most.  Once you realize that, full consciousness is attainable.