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What Is Generation Burton?
By John Hawkes

So what is "Generation Burton" anyways? Why is it so significant? And why Generation Burton?

The history of Hoya basketball in my lifetime (1982-present) seemed to me to break down well into periods of several years (or as I call them "generations"). This made sense to me because, at least in my mind, the success level of the basketball program went in cycles roughly corresponding to these generations, and it seemed like you could find a common atmosphere surrounding the fanbase at each of these points in time.

Plus, I could always find a player(s) that linked well with each era and instantly reminded me of that period in Hoya basketball history. There's a Generation Ewing, of course, who brought Georgetown 3 Final Four appearances and the 1984 National Championship. Following that, there was the Generation of Reggie and the Miracles. The late 1980s/early 1990s were the time of Mourning and Mutombo. Preceding my generation was Generation Iverson, whose proudest moment was an Elite 8 appearance in 1996.

Finally, most recently, from Fall 1997 through Spring 2004, there was Generation Burton.

At first glance, Nathaniel Burton doesn't quite match up with Hoya heroes like Patrick Ewing, Reggie Williams, Alonzo Mourning, Dikembe Mutombo, and Allen Iverson. In fact, in the only season I saw Nat Burton play in person, he appeared in games exclusively off the bench. Ultimately, though, when sports fans adopt a historical perspective on their teams, they are often drawn to their finest hours. And in the post-Iverson era of Hoya basketball, the Nat Burton game and the Sweet 16 run was clearly the Hoyas' finest hour.

The Georgetown-Arkansas NCAA tournament game, aside from being the most exciting moment in Hoya basketball since A.I. bolted for the NBA, also provided a perfect fulcrum on which to establish a new generation of Hoya basketball fans. "Generation Burton"-the group of students who were current GU undergrads on campus for Burton's big moment-included members of the Classes of 2001 through 2004. That season was the second season in which the campus included no undergraduates on a 4-year track that had witnessed the Elite 8 run of Allen Iverson's final season as students. The common experiences of the student fanbase, the culture at the MCI Center (another innovation of the new generation), and indeed the team itself (even its coach), had all changed over.

Still, why not name the post-Iverson generation after a more notable or popular player? How about Generation Jahidi, The Boumtje-Boumtje Generation, or Generation Sweetney?

Well, there's one special thing that I thought Nathaniel Burton and my generation of student basketball fans had in common back in 2001. In the aftermath of his buzzer-beating layup, CBS analyst Craig Bolerjack referred to Burton as "a role player who played his role". Indeed, Nat Burton, a former starter, became a role player off the bench that season. Yet whenever he did come into a game, you could always count on him to contribute in the unsung ways-whether through his tough defense, hustle, or steady ballhandling-that made the team better in the end.

Generation Burton also saw the rise to prominence of Hoya Blue, Georgetown's official club for athletic supporters. Hoya Blue, I felt, was the single most important factor in defining the student fan base for the basketball team during my years on the Hilltop. At its very best-the year of the Sweet 16 run-Hoya Blue's philosophy for promoting the basketball team (and indeed all sports) was similar to Nathaniel Burton style of play on the court. Hoya Blue truly seemed to believe that by getting every student possible involved in a variety of different roles in promoting sports-from hanging up flyers in dorms to organizing cheers to planning larger events to just convincing a friend to come to a game-the "team" as a whole would benefit. That sense of everyone having an interest in the team and the larger fan community defined the student section my first year.

Of course, little did we know that night in March 2001 that we were seeing the zenith of Georgetown's basketball achievement during our generation. Each season since, Georgetown's performance has fallen precipitously, having now reached the unheard of in decades depths of failing to even make the postseason. And sadly, whether because of this dropoff in results, a decline in Hoya Blue's leadership, or another reason, far fewer people had an interest in Hoya basketball by the end of last season. Hoya Blue stopped calling around asking student to help put up flyers. Organized cheers were few and far between. More students took a pass on Midnight Madness. Overall, the sense of community in the student section was gone.

What I swore after we lost to Maryland would be yearly trips to the NCAA Tournament in our future never materialized. What I imagined would be three more years of great fans and great times at the MCI Center, and a great legacy from my years as a Hoyas student fan, increasingly failed to come to pass.

Why though?

The simple answer would be the one you'd get if you asked the average student on campus. Why did people stop coming to basketball games? Because the team wasn't as good. The final four years of Generation Burton set a dismal pattern of declining season results. From the Sweet Sixteen to 13 and 15.

Perhaps more damaging to the collective health of the student fan base, though, was an ever-increasing disillusionment with larger issues within McDonough Arena and the Georgetown Athletic Department. A 13-15 season can be expected to decrease the number of butts in the seats-and that's bad enough. But the issues I speak of here-all of them well dissected on our own website and in dorms and apartments all over Georgetown-caused something far worse. Not only was the student section small, but it was also now less than fully enthusiastic. Me personally, I'll take 5 student fans giving it 100% any day over 500 who are only halfway into it and just looking for the first excuse to start up a "Fire Esherick" chant.

And here's where, in my opinion, the student fans of Georgetown failed in the final year of Generation Burton-we were never really more than halfway into the team. Not only that, but we used the uncertainty surrounding Craig Esherick's job, our anger and confusion at the explanations of now-former Athletic Director Joe Lang, and our disillusionment with something vague called "McDonough" as excuses for being only halfway into the team.

When Generation Burton was great it was because the student fans, led I might add by an extraordinary group of leaders in Hoya Blue, went above and beyond the call of duty to support their team on every level possible.

Sure, but the team started out 16-0, you say, how hard could have been to get people involved?

True, but the excitement generated by the student fans for that season started way back in September. I remember my first Hoya Blue meeting as a student. We were in Reiss 103, the big lecture hall, and it was absolutely packed with students. The main speaker that night? Craig Esherick, who arrived to a standing ovation and a rendition of the fight song. If you looked at preseason polls or Street and Smith's, you didn't see Georgetown near the top of any Top 25 lists-we didn't crack the Top 25 in the 2000-1 season, in fact, until around December. But in Reiss 103 that night, everyone came away knowing it would be an exciting season and wanting to be a part of the action. I never got that feeling again at a Hoya Blue meeting.

Simply put, anyone can be excused for not being overly optimistic about the team's prospects for last year's season. But there was no excuse for not trying our hardest to make the best of the situation as a group.

Continued...