This goes out to all you Hoya fans who can’t stand that classic fight song of ours. Sure, you’ll take your love of Blue and Gray to the grave, but that age-old tune just doesn’t have the sauce to get you pumped during the last two minutes of a Big East basketball game.
Now you have a new outlet. The Georgetown Athletic Department has started a competition to give fans a new way to cheer. There will be a smack-talk showdown of sorts over the next few weeks. They’re calling it Hoya Rival Reels, and the concept is fairly simple. To participate, all you need is a video camera, some gusto and that Joe (or Jane) Hoya wit. And if you could pull some strings, a cameo appearance by Jack the Bulldog wouldn’t hurt either.
Here are the general instructions on the Georgetown Athletic web site, guhoyas.com: “You wear the gear, you watch the games, now lead the crowd in the cheers! Turn on your video camera and talk your best smack about one of our rivals. The best videos for each rival will be broadcast during the game with that rival on the Jumbotron.”
Good times! Not only will you receive instant fame upon the Hilltop for your videographical masterpiece, but the overall winner, the person with the best video of the entire season, will receive four free tickets to the Big East Basketball Tournament at the Madison Square Garden in New York City. Accommodations will be provided, not including the complementary gum underneath your seat and the darkly lit aisle-ways that provide the perfect ambience if you’re planning on bringing that special someone to watch Roy Hibbert swat Marquette’s lay-up attempts into the 12th row.
But before you run for your “JTIII Is My Homeboy” t-shirt and video camera like Patrick Ewing Jr. sprawling after a loose ball, read the fine print. There’s a regulation or two that will limit you in fulfilling all your testosterone-inspired artistic abilities.
By entering the contest, “You certify that your video does not contain content that would typically not be shown to users under 18 years of age.” Sorry to all the nine-year-olds in the stands. Your video may also not “contain content that portrays graphic violence, language or other acts resulting in serious injury or death, including those of a sexual nature.” For the handful of students whose ideas for entries are still legal, you have three more chances to show your stuff. The next opportunity to take your shot at a rival, albeit censored, is against the Mountaineers of West Virginia, who will be in town Monday.
Their musket-wielding mascot and raucous traveling crowd will surely provide enough ammo for more than a few attempts at making the mountain men blue. If a living coonskin cap isn’t somewhere in the mix, I’ll be shocked. One thing’s for sure, we’ve yet to see the overall winner for this contest and there’s a good chance that the one who can make the Mountaineers blush, while keeping it PG-13 of course, may come away with tickets for New York.
If it’s inspiration you’re lacking, just think of the possibility of witnessing Georgetown’s first Big East Tournament title since 1989. On the University’s dime no less! If that’s not enough to make you want to get up and sing about the sun setting to rest in the cradle of the west—well, then there really is no hope.
