The only reason to take ND for a year is if we actually thought that they would make a commitment beyond that. I have to think that the ND faculty, students and alumni would rather be associated with Georgetown and Villanova as opposed to Florida State and Louisvillle. I know money is driving this, but ND football has a unique revenue stream.
The crowd was clearly into the game with a good mix of students, parents and former players. Wagner's skill players seemed a bit better then the Hoyas. Nevertheless i would bet that we won the time of possession and stayed focused even after some adversity.
I started Georgetown in 1977 and med school in 1981. It may seem strange now but as students back then we really thought of Georgetown as what would now be called a "mid-major". I was at the game at the Garden when we upset then number 7 Holy Cross and also at the Missouri game on campus. It was hard for us to believe that we were actually the "Game of the Week" and that we would be discussed in the breadth as the big boys. I was in med school in 1982 and drove from DC to New Orleans on Thursday night (blowing off a neuro anotomy test) and crashed in a lounge at Tulane. The weather was actually cold for late March. It was almost surreal walking around New Orleans (which has to be the greatest town in the world for a final four) as a student from "little Georgetown" competing with the Big Boys. In fact many of the folks from the other schools thought that Georgetown was a 'All-Black" school. Tickets could be bought for about 2 dollars each for nose bleed seats and then everyone crammed into the student section. Mondays game was incredibly special from the start. It was clear to everyone -that this was going to be a historical game. The ending seemed to occur in slow motion-and then it was over. We then got back in our car (6 of us at 11 PM). and started to drive back to DC. Got pulled over speeding the next day in NC and explained to the officer how his fine team just beat ours. He gave us a warning and we were back in class on Wedneday (not sure how I did on my neuroanotomy test that day ). Things were never the same after that for Hoya basketball or for Georgetown university which quickly became a true national school.
To put the football budget in perspective. The swim teams at MD lost about 1.5 million last year. In other words MD swim teams lose as much as our total football budget.
Lic, It's tryptophan that is blamed for making you sleepy after eating turkey (although it's probably just all the carbs with the meal). But whatever Henry had for Thanksgiving, he just need to keep eating it !
The banquet went late, thus the game started late. Dan Porterfield spoke for about 20 minutes. A couple of tidbits. We need 15 million to complete the Multi-Sport. They want 10 million from one donor and than will raise the next 5 million. They don't see this as a big problem once they have the 10 million in hand. They are in discussions with a potential donor and it is considered "promising". Many comments about the importance of the football team to the university. The new AD was in charge of football in Eastern Michigan and drew up a blueprint for football at Cleveland State. So it sounds like he supports football in an urban campus. He (Mr Lee the new AD) also met several times with young Mr. Parish from the team during the interview process.
I ran into Coach Kelly at the Georgetown Syracuse game @ the Verizon Center and he mentioned that we would be playing Howard this year. He also said that he was a classmate of Steve Spagnuolo @ Springfield College (this was right after the Green Bay game, but before all the talk of Spagnualo coming to coach the Redskins).
I was a medical student then. We drove from DC to New Orleans on Thursday. We had a neuroanatomy exam on Monday, and promised our professor that we would be back by Wednesday. Tickets could be bought for 2-3 dollars from scalpers for "nose-bleed” seats. We then all crowded into the student section (nobody was sitting). It was great beating Louisville on Saturday and New Orleans was an incredible place for a final four. The Monday game was incredible and everyone there thought that after MJ's shot that Sleepy was going to hit the winning basket. Of course, instead Freddy Brown became (in)famous. By Monday night, we were out of money and immediately after the game got in the car to drive back to DC. We got pulled over going 90 in rural North Carolina. The cop heard that we were Georgetown students, congratulated us on a great game and let us off with a warning.