A sign the world is coming to an end

[MCIGuy]

The Thonpson-Feinstein war is apparently over.

Let me go back and explain. Today I turned on the radio because Tony Kornheiser is back on radio. He’s doing a local show again and I just had to listen in. One of his guests was John Feinstein who was promoting that Red Aurebach book he had written. In passing Feinstein mentioned that he would be on The John Thompson Show (on the same station that Kornheiser’s show is carried on) in the near future. Kornheiser was aghast and stopped Feinstein mid-sentence, asking him to repeat that. When Feinstein confirmed he was indeed going to be on the JT show, Kornheiser asked how in the world did that happen (exactly what I was wondering).


Feinstein joked that he and Thompson are “tight" now. He then took a serious tone and revealed that he and JT had a talk awhile ago and had essentially cleared the air. According to him not too long after that talk Feinstein saw JT talking to a reporter at the Eastern Regionals. Thompson spotted him and waived him over and then proceeded to put his arm around him while telling a joke (WTF?).

Feinstein also revealed that he was the first to contact the Washington Post college sports editor with the info that John Thompson III was going to take the Hoya coaching job which of course was open at the time. He had a sit down with JT earlier that day and JT was honest with him about what was going on at Gtown. He indicated to Feinstein that his son wanted the job and that he too wanted his son to get the position at Georgetown. So Feinstein took that to mean it was a done deal.

Can’t remember much else. I was still getting over the fact that two of the most bitter enemies were actually on speaking terms. Feinstein said that people grow old and move on from long standing conflicts or something like this. Good Lord. Hey, anything’s possible now. Perhaps Israel and Palestine can come to some sort of peace as well. Or at least maybe the Blue States and Red States can come together as one.

By the way Feinstein had high praise for John Thompson III. He commented that he didn't just get the job because of his name but because he's a "great" coach.

Now that I think about it I was wondering why Feinstein had such a sympathetic article on Esherick after his firing. I guess he wrote that not too long after he and JT put their differences behind them.

Does this mean I have to like Feinstein now?

Never!!!!

[DanMcQ]

Although this was presaged by JT becoming best pals with Lefty, it's probably a clever ruse on the part of Mr. Potatohead, who must have another book coming out soon that he needs to hump.

On the other hand, hell already froze over - the Sox won the Series!

;D

(does that last bit mean I have to move this to the Pro Sports board now?)

[Cambridge]

Bring on the BB&T baby!!!! If the Cold War is over, let's reap the benefits.

Anyone know how far in advance they schedule/invite for the tournament and is there any chance to get us in next year's schedule?

[Gold Hoya]

man, that must have been revealed when the sportstalk980 stream wasn't working.

[chinatownfanclub]

I wasn't around for the rivalry (being too young), but I was informed very early on when I used to work in athletics that reading a Feinstein book while at work was frowned upon. It is interesting to note that current AD Adam Brick gets a mention in his book about the Patriot League when Feinstein is criticizing the refereeing in a game in which Brick was working as an official. When I mentioned it to Brick, he dutifully responded it was only par for the course for Feinstein.

[FOTP]

I'm going to get yelled at here, but could it be that Feinstein is a pretty smart opportunistic guy? He knew the Hoyas under Esherick and at the tail end of Thompson were going to move downwards toward irrelevence. Now he sees JTIII coming in and probably thinks we have a chance to move back up into the top tier. He's just positioning himself for the future in the DC area.

What exactly has Feinstein gotten wrong over the past bunch of years? If you look at things objectively he may have been pretty accurate in most of his statements.

We as Hoyas fans just hate hearing the reality sometimes and scorn those who have the platform to speak the truth. We spend all our time getting mad at Feinstein, Katz, Billas etc. when we should be looking inward at what these people have to say about us.

I see this recent thawing of relations as a sign that perhaps were on our way back to the top.

I feel really good about the future under JTIII, but we'd be remiss to ignore the facts of the situation over the past...gulp...15 years....

[Fan Of The Game]

FOTP said:

What exactly has Feinstein gotten wrong over the past bunch of years? If you look at things objectively he may have been pretty accurate in most of his statements.

I think you're ignoring the fact that in "The Last Amateurs" Feinstein slams Georgetown and uses them as an example of everything that is wrong with college basketball. He uses quotes from the Holy Cross President to say that Georgetown and other big name collegiate programs encourage basketball players to leave early for the NBA because what we are doing has very little to do with education.

Is Georgetown really worse than most programs at having players leave early? Of course not. (Especially now when we can't get NBA caliber players...) But he attacks Georgetown anyway. Do you think Georgetown encouraged Iverson to leave? Or Othella?

Isn't Duke just as bad? Why not use them? Because it was personal for Feinstein. That's why we hate him. If we were really worse than Duke at things he accuses us of then I would shut my yapper, but he's really just Editeded he couldn't get enough access when he was Joe Local Reporter.

[FOTP]

You reap what you sow...

The Georgetown program for years and years was arrogant and looked down at anyone who wanted to find out the smallest detail about the team.

Feinstein was upset because he saw a double standard. JT used the school and his position to speak out about anything he wanted and expected the "press" to come hither whenever he decided he needed them, but the minute anyone asked him a question he didn't like the door was shut.

I don't like Feinstein and he has gone overboard...and your analogy is corect. However, you have to look inward at your own mistakes and not just blame someone who truly feels like he was abused as a local reporter.

Again Feinstein has a long way to go, but if he wants to make good then maybe we should give him a chance.

I'm sure he felt doubly Editeded off when Thompson's assistant coach who was handed the job continued in the same tradition. At least JT had some basis for doing what he did.

[kchoya]

Fan said:

Is Georgetown really worse than most programs at having players leave early? Of course not. (Especially now when we can't get NBA caliber players...) But he attacks Georgetown anyway. Do you think Georgetown encouraged Iverson to leave? Or Othella?

I think that Georgetown encouraged Othella to leave when they handed him his diploma.

[MCIGuy]

FOTP said:

Feinstein was upset because he saw a double standard. JT used the school and his position to speak out about anything he wanted and expected the "press" to come hither whenever he decided he needed them, but the minute anyone asked him a question he didn't like the door was shut.

What? I'm sorry but I think this is nonsense. Feinstein made hypocritical statements about Gtown and sometimes downright lied. He made things personal with GU partially because of his own ego. I don't have time to go down everything he has written or said about JT and the program that was uncalled for (including picking on Mary fenlon's looks). That stuff has already been discuss amongst us Hoya fans for an eternity. To suggest that that jackass was telling the truth is to me an example of selective memory. Don't expect most of us to let him off that easy. And I should point out that its not as if I think JT is a great guy or anything. People who know me are aware I am very critical of him and I believe truly that JT caused a lot of his own problems. But Feinstein went too far in trying to demonize the man on a regular basis. He couldn't go two sentences without mentioning JT's name for goodness sakes. Also if JT was such a bad man as Feinstein suggests then why in the hell would he ever agree to be on friendly terms with him now? Lets remember as much as JT couldn't stand Feinstein in the past he barely ever brought up the guy's name. Feinstein of course couldn't stop yapping about JT in a derogatory way whenever he had the chance.

[Fan Of The Game]

Good point, I didn't mean Othella I meant Sweets.

[kchoya]

Fan said:

Good point, I didn't mean Othella I meant Sweets.

Just joshin' ya. I agree with the point though. I don't think we encouraged anyone to leave early.