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"It's Been A Summer" (Part 1)
Sports Entrepreneurs and the 365 Day Approach to Hoya Fandom

By John Hawkes

I'm adrift in the largest Sea of Gray in these parts, and another wave is about to crest.

Jessie Sapp has just connected on an off-the-backboard alley-oop, and the student section erupts into a frenzied chorus of "ooooooohs" and "aaaaaaahs". The partisan GU crowd, which threatens to break all records for attendance and decibel level, has had much to cheer about today, as the Hoyas have treated them to a show of offensive fireworks worthy of any Fourth of July spectacular on the National Mall.

Which is appropriate, considering the Fourth of July was only twelve days ago.

Six months earlier, I'd weathered a long January night at the Hoya Blue campout outside of the F Street entrance to the MCI Center in anticipation of Georgetown's game against Duke. Today, I've walked two miles from my apartment (also on F Street) on one of the hottest days of the summer to see another dream matchup: Tombs vs. Clyde's.

Many close observers of Georgetown basketball have argued quite convincingly since that surprisingly temperate day in late January that the Hoyas' victory over the #1 and undefeated Blue Devils represented a turning point for fans of the Blue and Gray. The wave of support created by Georgetown's triumph has been evident long since the Sea of Gray swallowed the MCI Center hardwood at the final buzzer, Roy Hibbert's head bobbing above the surface like a buoy. From drastically increased home attendance numbers in late January and February 2006 to lines stretching out of the Leavey Center at Hoya Blue's first full-campus student season ticket sales event this fall, to Hoya Hoop Club membership and donation levels that are currently about two and six times larger, respectively, then at this same point last year, it's hard to deny that Georgetown basketball fans turned a corner as Greg Paulus turned the ball over on Duke's final possession of the game.

Today's Kenner League game won't come down to the final possession-in fact, the margin of victory is a comfortable fifteen points. Even if the students in attendance had entertained thoughts of storming the court, this would look objectively silly, as the informal "student section" consists of at most three dozen people. Instead of the Blue Devils, one of the teams I've affectionately dubbed the "Purple Nurples". There are ACC players featured however-the recipient of Jessie Sapp's alley-oop is Deron Washington of Virginia Tech.

Despite these differences, I can't help but look around McDonough Arena on this muggy mid-July evening and draw a number of important parallels with what I saw at the MCI Center back in January. The size of the crowd-for a summer league game, the packed bleachers on the west side of McDonough might as well be 20,035 screaming fans in the Phone Booth-the intensity of their reaction to one jaw-dropping offensive play after another, the buzz outside the arena after the game and the way basketball seemed, for once, right on the tip of everyone's tongue.

I can't help but wonder:

Is Tombs vs. Clyde's the Kenner League's version of Georgetown vs. Duke?

The Kenner League has long been exclusively the domain of the Hoya basketball die-hard. Any number of factors, from rules limiting the number of Georgetown players on a single roster, to fluid start times for games, to frozen concession stand hot dogs usually limit interest enough to give the KL attendee ample opportunity to stretch out their legs while getting a glimpse of the latest Hoya pre-frosh prospects.

If anything, what drives interest in Kenner League games tends to be derivative of the previous basketball season, and the latest recruiting haul. The past several Kenner League campaigns in fact have mirrored the general themes of the regular seasons they surrounded. This past summer saw vastly increased fan attention peaking at a highly-anticipated and high-scoring clash of the titans midway through the "season". The summer of 2004 followed the growing pains and subtle progress of Roy Hibbert and the tantalizing talent show that was Josh Thornton's three point stroke. The summer before Craig Esherick's final season, they renovated the floors in McDonough Gym.

Given these trends, it would seem unlikely that the Kenner League could be a predictor of any larger trend in Hoya basketball fandom. Indeed, I don't intend to claim that the crowd at the Tombs vs. Clyde's Kenner League game on July 16, 2006 is the latest sign of a new era in basketball fandom at Georgetown.

Actually, I think it's a sign of something even bigger.

Two undeniable facts about the 2006 Kenner League season bear repeating:

The first is that there are an unprecedented number of Hoya basketball die-hards making a Saturday out of attending exhibition games between teams named after restaurants, law firms, and t-shirt companies. Whereas in the past, I used to lay out across three rows of bleachers with a legal pad perched on my chest to take notes on Kenner League games, these days I've downgraded to a folded up piece of paper, although I've gained an impressive "staff" of sometimes several dozen student and young alum fans who take turns keeping stats and calling out points, rebounds, and assists. I used to listen to an IPod in between games to cure my boredom. This season, I've had conversations with fellow fans on everything from the Hoyas' logjam at the three spot to the conspicuous lack of a 2005 NIT or 2006 Sweet 16 banner in the McDonough rafters. I even watched the Ohio State game that earned our Sweet 16 designation on somebody's computer during breaks in the action.

There are not only more die-hards, they appear to be working a lot harder at their fandom.

The second fact-the one more central to my overall point-is that all of this is happening in the middle of July. Part of the appeal of the Kenner League to local alums and students in town on internships is that it offers a quick fix for one's Hoya basketball addiction during the dog days of summer-the Fourth of July this year represented almost the exact halfway point between Georgetown's exit from the NCAA Tournament in Minneapolis on March 24 and the beginning of Midnight Madness festivities on October 13.

What the Kenner League is doing, then, is extending the Hoya basketball calendar through at least the middle of August. Not only are Georgetown fans able to see many of their favorite (and future favorite) players in action on the hardwood during the summer, but through the series of recaps and observations that follow through word of mouth and internet sites such as the one on which this column appears, Hoya basketball remains a relevant part of that many more fans' lives for that much more of the year.

But does this have to be confined to just basketball?

On the occasion of the Kenner League Championship game on August 6, Pat McArdle wrote the following in his indispensable blog "View From The Hilltop" on GUHoyas.com:

Today, Georgetown summer ends for me because the Kenner basketball league concludes its season this afternoon; and tomorrow, Hoya football players show up to begin their pre-season regimen. They will be followed in short order by the volleyball, men's and women's soccer, and field hockey athletes.

This got me thinking-how exactly did the Georgetown sports calendar get so crowded?

The start of the Kenner League season in early July brought an end to my longest drought between in-person appearances at a Hoya sports event this year, dating back…a whole month and a half to Georgetown's first round victory over Navy in the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Tournament on May 14th. After Roy Hibbert clinched his third consecutive Kenner League title on August 6th, it was only four weeks until I picked up my pot and spoon for the Kevin Kelly's debut as Georgetown football coach against Holy Cross (who, like The Tombs, wear purple jerseys). From now until next summer, scarcely a week will go by where I won't attend a Georgetown sporting event in person…and scarcely a day will go by where I don't read about a new recruit, a new promotion, even a new sport I hadn't thought to pay much attention to in the past.

This column shares a few of my experiences during the new, unexpectedly crowded portion of the GU sports calendar stretching from this past June through the first weeks of the new academic year. But really, it's about how these experiences have become so relevant to the larger Georgetown sports community, and what this means for the future of the sports culture at Georgetown. The truth is the Kenner League is only the tip of the iceberg. You can see the changes at a Hoya Blue table on Village C Patio during the second day of freshman move-in. You can see them in the work of a lone student volunteer improvising refreshments for a crowd at an early season soccer game. You can read about it through the work of a dedicated alumnus passionately recapping every result of his favorite unheralded varsity sport, or through a feature article on GUHoyas.com about the charity work of a backup quarterback.

What I contend we're seeing right now at Georgetown is an unprecedented expansion of the sports calendar for die-hard Hoya fans. This includes not only the increased attention paid to the basketball program during the summer exhibition season, but also an increased focus on the personal side of Georgetown athletics and greater involvement in promoting all sports to students, alumni, and friends of the University on a year-round basis.

During the last few months alone, I've seen some assists in this effort that would even impress Jessie Sapp and Deron Washington.

To be continued...