April 2, 1984: Where Were You?

[michaelgrahamfan]

MICHAEL GRAHAM!!!!!

[nashvillehoyas]

In Seattle for the game....I recall a Kentucky fan in the hotel before the Kentucky game asking if I would sell my ticket. He was assuming that we would lose to them. I still enjoy pulling out my videos of the Kentucky and Houston game and reminisce.

[sleepy]

was it only 25 years ago? in some respects it seems like yesterday in others it seems like another life time. I got in late friday night and the bar at the marriot in seattlw was pretty dead with respect Hoya fans. Bumped into R Blalock on the way out and we journeyed down to restaurant/club on the water where Tarkanian was holding court as if it was Vegas. later in the evening i recall having one of those 2am type conversations with Bucky waters and some guy who i knew looked familiar and at the time thought he was a hoya fan but it turned out late was the prime espn announcer Bob Ley. ( hey i just had gotten cable in before Christmas that year). I remember $.50 drafts at Maddies Skid row pub adjacent to the dome. The first time i had ever seen this thing called break-dancing outside the superdome. i recall a cab ride that should have for about $3.00 for about seven blocks and the damn russian cab driver took us on a tour of Seattle and the U of Seattle before depositing us at the seven coins restaurant at about 3am saturday night. Oyster shooters washed down with GU. brand bourbon at the well known sports bar across from the Dome.
Hoya Chris your so right Saturdays game was one for the ages. I remember watching on tape later ,and will never forget Gene smiths wink to Wingate or Jackson early in the second half basically saying this game is ours. I do recall being down 12 or 13 in the first half when Graham got the ball about 18 feet out and with a dribble took a turn around jumper from about 16ft (id never seen him hit a shot from outside of 6ft before)I sreamed this game is over we're done the shot goes down and we proceed to shut them down the rest of the game.
The whole tourney back then was much simpler the coaches convention hotel was a lot more like local block party and a gathering of old freinds. One of my personal highlights was going to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes breakfast and being seated with Mrs, Wooden.allowing me to meet John Wooden ever so breifly.

the only negative was that we had the largest contingent of Hoya fans at a Hotel about ten miles away in the suburbs of Seattle in an age before cell phones it was pretty difficult to connect and meet up with people and of course those last minute things like getting your tickets was a problem even then.
Chris you missed one great party at the Hotel that night when the the team came in the place went nuts. And rick you are so right sometime late in the 82 season Thompson stopped what had been a tradition of bringing the team to many post game alumni and friends gatherings

i am pretty confident that over the next few years we will have the opportunity for a few more similiar celebrations.

[NJHoya95]

I just turned 11 years old. I watched it with my father who used to be on the faculty at GU in the classics department. Though he did not go there himself (when he joined the Maryland Province the Jesuits sent him to Spring Hill College --- Who knew??), he was a huge Georgetown fan. Many of his best friends were on the faculty or administration at GU. Needless to say, I rooted for them too. Hard. I remember only certain images from the game. Patrick's high-five with Michael Graham after a monster dunk, Thompson hugging Freddie Brown and Reggie's terrible interview. One image that I have never forgotten, at some point CBS showed the Lauinger Reading Room from outside and it was packed with students studying....DURING THE GAME. This horrified me to no end but it made my dad proud. He said that it was the mark of a great school that it has students so commited to their education that the National Championship game didn't matter to them. I believed that these people should have been expelled.

Like Chris, my memories of watching the finals are less clear than the semis. I remember the dreadful first half of the Kentucky game and turning to my dad and saying that the season is over. He responded that it was okay because Patrick was only a junior and GU would be back the next year. What we witnessed over the next 20 minutes of basketball was like nothing I had ever seen before, or since. After we beat UK, the finals was anti-climatic. Like USA Hockey in 1980 after they beat the USSR in the semis, though were were down in the finals against Houston early, there was no way we would lose that game.

There was nothing like the euphoria after the Championship game for an 11 year old kid. The closest I have come to that experience since was during the overtime of the UNC game in 2007 in Jersey. I was there with buddies from my class of 95. Unfortunately, my father had passed away ten years earlier and is buried less than five miles from the Meadowlands. While I was totally thrilled that we beat Carolina, I was sad that I couldn't share it with him. He would have liked to see us go back to the Final Four. I miss watching the Hoyas with my dad.

[HoyaNyr320]

12 days out of my mother's womb, so I was probably sleeping in a baby crib while my Dad was watching the final on TV.

[gastonhall]

My wife and I stayed at a motel near the Seattle airport which was next to the Hoya hotel. I remember running into assistant coach Mike Riley on Monday and asking him about Gene Smith's status for the championship game that evening. Gene had limped off the court during the Saturday rout of Kentucky.....But my favorite memory of that weekend was joining other Hoya fans shouting at Brent Musberger to demand his apology for calling out the unsportsmanlike play of Michael Graham.

[2ndRyan]

Someone had offered me tickets, but I remember fearing Kentucky and thinking I'd throw myself in Puget Sound on Sunday if we lost. How wrong I was.

[JB5]

I watched the final at a friend's house off campus, because I had watched the Kentucky game there and didn't want to mess with success. After the destruction of the Wildcats, I had little doubt as to the eventual outcome of the final. While Ewing deservedly got the most notice, Reggie Williams and David Wingate were great players. They could score, play d, whatever the team needed. Michael Jackson was the point guard I'd like to see Chris Wright become next season. When the game ended, I hugged everyone in the room, and we all went down to Wisconsin and M to celebrate. The next night, much of the student body was at Healy Circle to welcome the team home and oblige Coach Thompson with chants of DE-FENSE! and WE ARE GEORGETOWN!

[sleepy]

SAY YOUR SORRY SAY YOUR SORRY SAY YOUR SORRY BRENT.

[Elvado]

And he did, quickly donning a Hoya Paranoia T-shirt to appease the mob, albeit off-camera.

[wrestlemania]

Watched it at Champions in Georgetown, festivities followed on M Street. What a night.

[hoya4ever]

In my mother's womb. When I asked in high school in an unrelated conversation when I had started kicking she told me it was that week. And that's when I knew I had to go here....

[cnyhoya]

Watched it on the big screen at McDonough. Festivities on M street after. Now the semifinal vs Kentucky was even crazier, if you ask me - watched that on on the big screen at "The Pub" in Healy Basement - I was pretty buzzed, and I think someone kept telling me to sit down every time I jumped out of my seat!

[hoyarooter]

"One image that I have never forgotten, at some point CBS showed the Lauinger Reading Room from outside and it was packed with students studying....DURING THE GAME. This horrified me to no end but it made my dad proud. He said that it was the mark of a great school that it has students so commited to their education that the National Championship game didn't matter to them. I believed that these people should have been expelled."

You were a very wise 11 year old, NJ.

I attended the regional games at Pauley Pavilion the previous week. I watched the finals with my dad in my parents' den. I left work early that night, because there was no way I was missing that game. Even though we had come really close twice before (particularly 1982, of course), as a survivor of the Jack McGee era, all I could think was "who could ever have imagined this?"

[hifigator]

I was a senior in high school and had a tennis match in Ocala -- about 45 miles south of G'ville. A friend of mine on the team drove, and we went down and took care of business on the courts. Forest, the team we played, was a lot bigger school than we were. We were "1A" and I think they were "4A" at the time. In any case, we were ranked in the Top 10 in the state, probably about 6 or 7. They were ranked third in their class. Back then, they grouped 1A and 2A together for tennis, and 3A,4A and 5A together as well. No we didn't win, but we did take care of business, losing 4-3. (There were 5 singles matches and 2 doubles for the seven points) My friend and I each won our singles match but we lost our doubles match in a "Pro-Set" -- which to this day makes no sense. "Pros" don't use that EVER! The point is that instead of playing 2 out of 3 sets or 3 of 5, we played a single set to 8 games. We lost 8-6. Whatever ... winning that match probably wouldn't have made any significant difference in the rest of our lives, but at the time ...


In any case, we came back and ate at a Pizza place, that was called Mr. Gatti's at the time. It is where Calico Jack's aka "CJ's" is now, for anyone familiar with Gainesville. For whatever reason, I remember really liking the pizza that night. We watched the first half there and then went back to our house and watched the second half. If not for the fun watching the game, I probably wouldn't remember much about the earlier events in the day.

[757hoyafan]

lol.... Gator is a funny dude.

[robbyt]

I was 11 and watching on the black and white TV in the burbs of Maryland. What an unsusually great time to be a DC sports fan, Orioles won the world series 83, Skins the Super Bowl, then Hoyas the NCAAs all in a two year span.

A big memory is the Big East "Video of the Week", in the pioneering days of the highlight/music video format, including Ewing slams to "Magic" by the Cars and some Survivor song.

"Let's - go - Ho - Yas" bap, bap, bap-bap-bap...

[wrestlemania]

Apr 3, 2009 14:51:28 GMT -5 hifigator said:

No we didn't win, but we did take care of business, losing 4-3. (There were 5 singles matches and 2 doubles for the seven points) My friend and I each won our singles match but we lost our doubles match in a "Pro-Set" -- which to this day makes no sense. "Pros" don't use that EVER! The point is that instead of playing 2 out of 3 sets or 3 of 5, we played a single set to 8 games. We lost 8-6. Whatever ... winning that match probably wouldn't have made any significant difference in the rest of our lives, but at the time ...

Hey, Gator, I played in HS too and remember the 8-game pro-set quite well. I also remember other improvisations on the rules like doing "first one in" on the serve (for all four guys in doubles) and private agreements between the players not to switch sides because it was too much of a hassle (we got in a lot of trouble for that). I also remember white tennis balls and shorts that squirt the genitalia up to the eyeballs, but that's another thread.

[Nevada Hoya]

I remember in 82 watching the final game with a bunch of people from RTP, NC in a hotel in Las Vegas. Great game except for the ending. I would have like to have given Sleepy a chance to win it. 84 sort of made up for that. I don't remember too much about the game other than the euphoria all Hoya fans must have shared. I do remember Reggie's interview, unfortunately. I do remember the dunks by MG coming in along the baseline and getting the pass. It seemed so easy. The game in the 84 tourney that I remember the most is the SMU game; that was so close that it was annoying. Great tip in by Pat.

[Nevada Hoya]

Apr 2, 2009 8:57:16 GMT -5 Boz said:

I can't remember where I was then, but where I am right now is checking online to see if either Ajira Airways or Oceanic Airlines have any flights that pass over Seattle, Wa.

Boz, you are so doomed.