Hoya Paranoia | The Hoya's Sports Blog

May 16 2012

Georgetown to Host 2013 NCAA East Regional

Georgetown and Verizon Center will play host to the 2013 NCAA men’s basketball tournament East Regional, the NCAA announced today.

It will be the sixth time that the Hoyas will host a portion of the tournament at Verizon Center, but the first regional final to be played there since 2006.

That year, upstart George Mason knocked off No. 1 seeded Connecticut for the Patriots first trip to the Final Four.

The other regional sites — Arlington, Texas, Indianapolis and Los Angeles — had been announced earlier, with today’s announcement rounding out the selections for the regional and first and second round hosts. The Final Four will be played in Atlanta.

Outlets such as CBSSports.com are reporting that the NCAA initially attempted to secure New York City’s Madison Square Garden as the venue but those efforts fell through. However, the NCAA cited history at Verizon Center in their announcement.

“In 2009, when the committee selected hosts for the 75th tournament, there was a concerted effort to include cities with a rich history to help mark that milestone,” NCAA executive Mark Lewis said in a statement. “In the end, we think celebrating 75 years of one of the country’s favorite sporting events in our nation’s capital and a great basketball city is fitting.”

The announcement means that if Georgetown makes it to the Sweet 16 in this year’s tournament it will be playing at least 573 miles from campus, with Indianapolis as the closest venue. A team cannot play at the venue they host.

However, Georgetown officials expressed excitement about the announcement, which recognizes Verizon Center as one of the nation’s top basketball venues.

“Along with Verizon Center, we’re very excited to serve as the host for the 2013 NCAA East Regional,” Georgetown Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Lee Reed said in a statement. “It is part of our University’s commitment to be engaged with the community and we’re happy to bring this great event to our city for Georgetown fans and others who love March Madness.”

May 14 2012

The Craziest of Crazy Finishes: Manchester City Claims EPL Crown

Fandom is a tough concept.

There are lifelong fans, diehard fans, adoptive fans, bandwagon fans, fair-weather fans, and so on. Ever since my British cousins bought me my first Manchester United jersey as a present for my sixth birthday, I have always been a fervent Red Devils supporter. It was only last year, however, that I really began to follow the English Premiership, so I can empathize a little with those out there – likely the majority – for which the world of European football is a little out of reach.

One criticism I often hear from North Americans about the sport, as it is played in nations across the continent, is that if you take away the playoffs – the EPL is composed of only 38 regular season games – then you take away all of the drama. I recommend that anybody nodding their head in agreement with this do some research.

One must only go back as far as Sunday morning.

Continue reading →

May 07 2012

Marinatto Out as Big East Commissioner

Ok, so I know that I said we weren’t going to have any posts until after finals were over. Well, when there’s news as big as this, I’m going to be honest: it’s hard for us to keep ourselves away. Here’s Senior Sports Editor Evan Hollander with the scoop:

Big East realignment claimed its first casualty in the league office Monday as Commissioner John Marinatto resigned, apparently under pressure from the league’s member schools.

“Our recent expansion efforts have stabilized the conference for the long term, and we are likewise well positioned for our very important upcoming television negotiations,” Marinatto said in a statement released by the league. “As a result, I felt this was the right time to step aside and to let someone else lead us through the next chapter of our evolution.”

But CBSSports.com reported that the league’s presidents had asked for Marinatto’s resignation Sunday night. ESPN reported that the basketball members of the league — a group that might include Georgetown — were unhappy with the way the commissioner treated them in the realignment process.

Continue reading →

May 02 2012

By Ryan Bacic Uncategorized

Note: Finals Hiatus for Hoya Paranoia

Loyal readers, your friendly neighborhood editor would just like to give you all a heads-up that–with finals here on the Hilltop slated for the next week and a half or so–Hoya Paranoia will be taking a short subsequent hiatus. While I probably won’t be doing a whole lot of studying due to a disorder I like to refer to imlazyandtheinternetisamazinglydistracting-itis, our more studious contributors to the blog cannot say the same.

After finals culminate on May 12th, however, Paranoia will be back as strong as ever, with coverage of the NBA Playoffs, Olympics, MLB regular season, European Championships, and a whole lot more.

Until then, though, Hoya Saxa, and we’ll see you soon.

– Ryan

May 01 2012

By Ryan Bacic Rapid Recap, Rowing

Rapid Recap: Varsity Crew Places First at Rutgers

Rowing is probably the hardest sport to cover without any quotes, since there are only a few races—unlike with track and swimming—and there’s not a whole lot to say for those of us that aren’t familiar with the sport’s intricacies. With that in mind, this recap is going to be probably the most “rapid” one this site has seen, but look at it this way: if you read it, you can say that you’ve been part of a little piece of Hoya Paranoia history. So there’s that.

The men’s varsity crew team traveled to Rutgers on Saturday to take on Rutgers and GW in the team’s final race of the season. The three sides did battle on the Raritan River, which I can only hope is cleaner than the Potomac…though knowing New Jersey, it probably isn’t.*

The Hoyas were down for much of the race, but charged forward down the stretch to pass GW and beat the Colonials by 2.6 seconds, finishing with a time of 5:51.2. Now we’re not one to make fun of anyone here—and once again I don’t really know anything about rowing—but Rutgers then crossed the finish line some 18.6 seconds after Georgetown did, which our own Josh Simmons says would nearly give him enough time to do the 40-yard dash twice.

There were also races for the Varsity B squad and the two freshman boats, all three of which saw Georgetown place second out of the three teams. Not a bad outing for the Blue and Gray overall, then.

I think.

*For those ¾ of the student body who are from NJ that are angrily reading this, I’m just kidding—my parents are from Jersey and I go down there every summer. Don’t hurt me.

Apr 30 2012

By Ryan Bacic Three Stars

Three Stars: Tabb Reaches Milestone, Tarzian Comes Up Huge

As we reach the end of the year and thus the end of the spring athletics season, the importance of every game for the Hoyas has become magnified. Every contest these days is more meaningful than ever, and the pressure’s always on.

Meanwhile, we regular Georgetown kids are just stuck with the significantly less cool equivalent: finals.

Ya know what? From now on, I’m gonna start calling exams my “school playoffs.” That makes them sound a lot more exciting, no? Maybe now I’ll actually study this time around at some point. (Ok, probably not, but there’s at least somewhat of a chance now.)

In any case, the following three (real) student-athletes stepped up in major ways this weekend at times when their teams needed them most. These are the Three Stars of the Weekend:
Continue reading →