CONGRATS on HALL OF FAME PATRICK!!!

[RDF]

Tonight is the night Patrick goes into HOF--and can't wait to see it! My favorite Hoya/player of all time--and just going to be fun seeing him inducted--fittingly in same year Hakeem Olajuwon makes it--and while ESPN will focus on Vitale making it--Patrick Ewing helped take CBB coverage to the next level. His era at Georgetown made the NCAA tournament what you see today--and made CBB an EVENT!!!

Seeing him get his place in Hall of Fame is going to bring back those memories--and make me appreciate just how great of a player he was--as I grew up during his era and am a Hoya fan--which only people who support Georgetown can understand. It's a HOYA THING!

[hsaxa2010]

Even though I wasn't alive during the Ewing, Sr. years, just knowing what the man did not only for Georgetown basketball, but for how he represented this university, makes me proud to call myself a Hoya!

Congrats Pat!!!

[lichoya68]

go patrick .. and GREAT story on the hoyasaxa.com front page on patrick .... i remember patricks visit to the hoyas.... he and the team came to a hoop club brunch sponsored by the late fr. baumiller.. it was the beginning of something magical...... CONGRATS TO PATRICK...... very very proud to be a hoya..... go hoyas

[Boz]

Sept 5, 2008 1:17:29 GMT -5 hsaxa2010 said:

Even though I wasn't alive during the Ewing, Sr. years........

Holy Crap, that's depressing!!

Damn you kids with your bluejeans and your Facebook and your getting pregnant all the time.



Congratulations Patrick!!! You are, to use a tired phrase, the MAN!!!

[Hoya TMF]

Sept 5, 2008 8:58:09 GMT -5 Boz said:

Sept 5, 2008 1:17:29 GMT -5 hsaxa2010 said:

Even though I wasn't alive during the Ewing, Sr. years........

Holy Crap, that's depressing!!

Damn you kids with your bluejeans and your Facebook and your getting pregnant all the time.



Congratulations Patrick!!! You are, to use a tired phrase, the MAN!!!

i suddenly feel dated and i'm just hitting my ten year HS reunion. yikes.

[vcjack]

Is the ceremony televised? If so I know whats going on my DVR

[blueandgray]

You're absolutely right RDF... I can't think of another player that has impacted CBB as much as Patrick has...and yes, he along with Dickie V, are huge reasons why CBB and the Big East are where they are today.

Case and point. As a 12 year old growing up in Beverly Hills, CA.. 3,000 miles away, I approached my parents with a proposal to let me do something creative with my bedroom. I explained to them that it would involve some paint but that it that I wouldn't be modifying anything on a structural level. While my dad immediately gave me the green light, my mom was much more hesitant... but was eventually swayed and agreed to go with it. With the help of a few friends, we barricaded ourselves in the room for 3 days and started by painting the walls blue and gray. With the help of one of the more artistic friends... we painted a huge basketball going through a hoop on the ceiling, we painted the head and face of the bulldog, and for some odd reason we painted a blue and white Nike Legend basketball shoe. Finally, we got out a huge box of Hoya memorabilia I had collected over the years and started cutting and pasting everything to the walls. This included, but was not limited to, pictures of Patrick and his parents, pictures of their house in Cambridge, clippings of articles, every magazine cover of Patrick in college (about 20 in all), hundreds of in game shots, posters, etc., etc... . When we were done you could barely decipher the color on the walls. At the entrance of my room, I placed a card the '84 team sent me that year, signed with small notes from all the players .... including Patrick himself. In the end, we literally transformed my room in to a Patrick Ewing/Georgetown Basketball shrine. My parents loved what we did and I could think of no better place to sleep at night.

Maybe the game has changed, but IMHO I don't think there are too many players out there that would inspire a little kid thousands of miles away the way Patrick did for me and fans all around the country. Patrick, in so many ways, transcended the game and left an imprint that few ever have and few ever will.

Congrats to Patrick, the Ewing family, and the University!! Thanks for all the great memories!!!

[RDF]

ESPN Classic is showing it--believe it's 7:30 EST.

Ewing Era helped bring along:

1. NCAA Tournament Expansion due to popularity

2. Television Revenue--look at ESPN/CBS contracts with NCAA now--it dates back to Ewing Era--and how he and Hoyas drew audiences. Big Monday was an EVENT on ESPN. The fact that Georgetown/SJU game in '85 is still one of the most watched sporting events on cable/ESPN history says it all.

3. Merchandising for Nike started the team shoe/uniform line with Hoyas--and what you see with team outfitting today--you can trace back to Georgetown Basketball. Once tournament time came around--Hoyas had different jersey, different shoes. Ewing also made it cool to wear a T-Shirt under his jersey--which you still see in some form today--be it cut off or more Dri-Fit style. Hoyas helped Nike growth in basketball market.

4. Venue--the Dome becoming a standard as host of Final Four/Tournament in part influenced to success of crowds at Superdome and Kingdome.

5. March Madness--created during his Era. It used to be that bracket shows were afterthought--now it might be the single most anticipated moment of the tournament--seeing who/where you play. It's no coincedence that tournament's first year of expansion was in 1985. The Final Four in '82 and '83 (which Hoyas weren't in) took this tournament's popularity to another level and after '84--and knowing Ewing was back--'85 was perfect time to expand.

Realize I'm biased--and won't apologize for it--but this is true--just debateable to what level you believe. Growing up during Patrick's Era--I know what drew my interest in CBB and what made me want to watch--it was him and his teammates. Pops with the towel and the Big East. Without Ewing in the Big East--the league might not have ever become what it is today.

[blueandgray]

Sept 5, 2008 10:08:02 GMT -5 vcjack said:

Is the ceremony televised? If so I know whats going on my DVR

7:30 tonight on ESPN Classic

If you have NBA TV... Patrick Ewing - Standing Tall is being aired, as well as a special on Olajuwon.

[hoyarooter]

blueandgray, YOU da man. Thanks for a great story.

[EasyEd]

blueand gray, don't see how anyone can top that one.

[tlphoya]

B&G - any chance pictures exist of that fine interior decorating?

That is a GREAT story - thanks for sharing!

[Nevada Hoya]

Blueandgray, you are a Hoya FANATIC! ;D I love it!!!!!!!!!!!

[prhoya]

Congrats, Pat!

What a great story, b&g! And I thought I was a Hoya fanatic...

[blueandgray]

Sept 5, 2008 15:12:48 GMT -5 tlphoya said:

B&G - any chance pictures exist of that fine interior decorating?

That is a GREAT story - thanks for sharing!

I wish I still had some of that stuff. I don't think I even have the card which might be worth something today. The only remnants left are a few window stickers that are impossible to peel off. There is the classic "Georgetown University" sticker and my favorite of the bulldog dribbling a basketball on an open book...mixing bball with scholastics.

[sweetness]

Well deserved honor, and nice speech by Pat - I also enjoyed Dickie Vs' and Pat Riley's speeches, long as they were. Both - particularly Riley - had very high praise for John Thompson - Riley also had extremely nice words for 'Zo.

[blueandgray]

Tough to go on right after Dickie V... considering Patrick did great. Awesome to hear all the references to Big John and the hoya bigs throughout the induction.

[blueandgray]

I'm not sure if any of you caught it... but yesterday NBA TV aired a documentary on Patrick called Standing Tall. The documentary does a good job of covering Patrick in high school, at georgetown and in his early years in the nba. You realize just how much of a warrior he was.

There were two things I learned watching this documentary I wasn't aware of: (1) Patrick actually wore the undershirt he became famous for back in his high school... I was under the impression it started late in the season in his freshman campaign at georgetown; (2) He's actually pictured in game wearing #50 georgetown jersey. My guess is that this happened one once... but I have no recollection of it.

Finally, by far the best part of the documentary occurs at the end when they are running the credits and they are showing footage of Zo and Patrick playing 1 on 1 in McD. What's great is that you see little 10 year old PE2 running around in the background jumping in front of the camera and having a blast. Its all the family!! For this reason alone... its worth watching.

[02hoya]

Thanks for the tip, b&g. YouTube actually has what looks like most of the Standing Tall documentary. Here are the links to the various videos:

Part 1:
Part 2:
Part 3: (footage of GU, JT and 1982, etc...)
Part 4:
Part 5:
Part 6:
Part 7: (Part 7 has the Zo and Patrick 1 on 1 footage)

[DanMcQ]

guhoyas.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/090608aaa.html

www.boston.com/sports/basketball/articles/2008/09/06/a_dream_scenario_for_ewing/