Worth Writing Down Artfully

Lacquered Japanese Calligraphy Box at the Walters

On Monday, December 29, 2008, the Hoyas played Hasheem Thabeet & Co.–the UConn Huskies–in Hartford. Georgetown stepped on the court as 6 1/2-point underdogs and stepped off the winners by 11 points.

Christmas-week glory indeed.

But 2008 cannot hold a candle to what took place in Louisville, Ky., yesterday evening.

The Hoyas went on to take a nosedive in January 2009. It won’t happen again. This season will unfold differently. Nothing can bond a team together like a stadium-clearing brawl in inland China.

I wish I owned my own 19th-century suzuri bako, so that I could calligraphize the moment:

Hoyas Stun Cardinals to End Louisville’s 20-Game Home-Court Winning Streak and Inaugurate the J.T. III Salad Days!!

Close Call

It was incredibly close. Too, too close. Altogether too close.

Edward Hopper won the Art Lovers’ Poll by a single vote.

And the Hoyas lost to the Pirates by five points.

Seton Hall’s luck was charmed by the twentieth-anniversary commemoration of their trip to the NCAA finals.

We Hoyas fans are going to have to re-evaluate our expectations for this season. Now we really do have a losing Big East record.

On the bright side…

Doxology à la St. Paul

Greg Monroe had a nice dunk in the first half, though he did not have a great game

If it were a contest of faithfulness to the holy Church, Mount St. Mary’s would probably win.

And if the Mount were allowed to put its seminarians on the orthodoxy team, then they would kick Georgetown’s b–t.

But in basketball, it was a different story.

The Hoyas and Mountaineers hadn’t played since 1962. Georgetown won by eleven points, but the game was actually closer than that. It was a battle–not a pretty battle, but a battle nonetheless.

The Hoyas missed two out of every three shots. The Mount hung in the game until the last two minutes. The Hoyas got the W, but J.T. III said that he is not pleased: “I expect more from this group.”

Speaking for myself, I will take the Hoya win.

On another subject: The people in church will be spared the Preacher this Sunday morning. The deacon will be preaching.

Hoyas' Coach John Thompson III

But for you gluttons for punishment, here is a homily for the Fourth Sunday of Advent:

Brothers and sisters: To him who can strengthen you, according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret for long ages but now manifested through the prophetic writings and, according to the command of the eternal God,
made known to all nations to bring about the obedience of faith, to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ be glory forever and ever. Amen. (Romans 16:25-27)

Let’s listen again to the way St. Paul glorified God in the passage we heard from his letter to the Romans. He wrote: “To the only wise God be glory forever.”

May God be glorified, dear brothers and sisters.