Rivalry On The Side

Students stand at attention during the national anthem. SI

Muhlbauer e-mails me the next day and apologizes for the snoozer; this was not a concern of mine, as I was amused enough by Hoya Blue's reaction to the arrival of four GW Colonial Army members -- three of them sporting the yellow foam hats, and one carrying a sign that said, "GW No. 8: What Are You Ranked?" -- who were there exclusively to flaunt their success in Hoya fans' faces.

With the game in hand in the second half, the incensed Georgetown students behind my seat in press row turn their full attention to the invaders from Foggy Bottom (see Part I), chanting, at various breaks in the action, "over-rated," "safety school," "Georgetown wait list," "wussy schedule," "N.C. State [GW's lone loss]," and "We beat Duke." The Colonials' Pops Mensah-Bonsu and Danilo Pinnock are also at the game, purely as spectators, not instigators, and do not draw similar wrath, but their peers from GW are loving every minute of the firestorm they ignited.

George Washington and Georgetown have not met since December 1981; the two teams have an 83-game history, but the series was put to a halt by then-coach John Thompson Jr. because of, as he explained to the Washington Post in '83, "resentment for cheap shots being thrown at us [by GW]." My two-day trek to D.C. is coming full-circle; the two teams may not play this year, but the battle for District supremacy, among fans, is clearly heated. As for Muhlbauer, he doesn't think it's much of a fight. "Obviously, I'm a little biased, but we're legitimately D.C.'s program," he says. "GW is having a nice little run, but I would not put them up there."

The Father

The man who axed the GW rivalry -- and, much more importantly, the man who lifted Georgetown to its greatest heights, including 20 trips to the NCAA tournament and the 1984 national championship -- is still very much tied to the program. Thompson Jr. is now a member of the media (on TNT and SportsTalk 980 in D.C.) and is sitting against the back wall during his son's postgame press conference in the bowels of the MCI Center. The elder Thompson, in a full Georgetown warmup suit (sans shoulder towel), is still an imposing figure who commands respect; as the Hoyas' team and staff pass by him in the hall later, they all raise their heads to meet his 6-foot-10 gaze and offer a reverent chorus of "Hi, Coach"-es.

Thompson Jr. is also still gruff, as was his reputation during his coaching days; after a reporter asks Thompson III if it was good to have an easy game like St. John's in the middle of the Big East schedule, his father wisecracks, "Losing helps."

"The game got like that because of how well the [Hoyas] played," Thompson Jr. tells me later in the hallway. "Would they be better off if they had lost? The question didn't make sense."

Thompson Jr. keeps a fatherly eye on his 39-year-old son of late because Thompson III's wife, Monica, was diagnosed with breast cancer in November. Thompson III has taken on the added responsibility of caring for her, all the while opting not to take a leave of absence from the team he's guiding toward its first NCAA tournament berth since 2001. "I still believe [he should take a leave], which is why I watch him closely," Thompson Jr. told the Washington Post this week. "If he is strong, his family will be OK. ... If he goes down, his family's got a major problem. So I watch him as closely as I can. The irony is he thinks he's taking care of me, too."

Father, now 65, a Hall of Famer with 596 wins at Georgetown to his name, stands in the hall, punching buttons to call the freight elevator near the locker rooms, on his way home for the evening. "I'm definitely proud of [what my son has accomplished this season]," Thompson Jr. says of the Hoyas' return to the the national radar, "but I was proud of him before this happened. Certainly there are emotions attached to it, because I worked here, and he grew up here. But that's my child. I'm proud of him even if he's not successful."

The Son

John Thompson III has Georgetown in prime position to earn its first tourney bid since 2001. AP

Near midnight last Thursday, Thompson III is making his way out of the MCI Center; to accommodate ESPN2, the game didn't begin until 9 p.m. The Second Thompson Era at Georgetown -- with 36 wins in slightly more than one and a half seasons -- is off to a successful start, but III's team does not resemble Jr.'s: The '05-06 Hoyas run the Princeton offense that III first learned as a Tigers player under Pete Carrill (and later employed as their coach) and play a matchup zone defense. Also, the air about the son is more humble and cordial than the Hoya Paranoia that defined his father's years.

He laughs when the subject of more than a thousand students wearing "III" on the backs of their T-shirts is brought up. "I'm not behind that," he says, "not at all" -- but he has resigned himself to the fact that they've become part of the student-section dress code, almost as much as the dress suits his players wear to and from games. "I've got so much else to worry about," he says, "that I can't worry about a shirt."

Nor can he worry about the Hoyas' growing popularity in the District; he has the rest of the Big East schedule to contend with, including games against likely NCAA-bound teams Marquette, Villanova and Syracuse in the next two weeks. "We don't have the mentality, 'Rah-rah, we're going to be D.C.'s team,'" he says. "The more success we have, the more that will take care of itself."

The Wrap

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Two days in the District. Two highly ranked teams. Two successful young coaches. Two small yet energized student bodies. Separated by just a 25-minute walk. And yet, without a head-to-head meeting, one can only speculate where the Colonials and Hoyas stand in respect to one another.

As I exit through a service gate into the February chill, I'm thinking of the cell phone call I took at 5:30 on Thursday, well before I hiked to Georgetown. It was a 202 area code: D.C. city council member Jack Evans, returning my inquiry to discuss Georgetown and George Washington. Specifically, his proposition (made via his Web site in January) that the Hoyas and Colonials resume their rivalry and play annually for what he'd call the Ward 2 trophy, with the benefits going to D.C. public schools.

Only recently -- with the Hoyas (ranked No. 17) and Colonials (No. 7) separated by only 10 spots in the AP poll -- has there been clamoring for the return of the battle of the Georges. Evans, inspired by attending the Hoyas' upset of Duke, "issued an invitation" on the Net the next week and sent letters to the presidents of both schools. "I don't think I could legally make them play each other," he says. "Creating public pressure -- amongst alums and students of both schools -- is the best I can do."

Politics, apropos for D.C., have planted the seed. A burgeoning hoops hotbed needs to be united. And there is, of course, one way to expedite the return of the District duel: Have K Street lobby the NCAA tournament selection committee.

For part I of Luke Winn's Scenes from the District -- a report from GW -- click here.