Nov. 27, 2008

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! WE ARE FAMILY!! WE ARE GEORGETOWN!!

BEACH CLUB RESORT, DISNEYWORLD. For myself, my family, and on behalf of the Hoya Hoop Club, I want to extend the best of Thanksgiving greetings and wishes to Hoyas and Hoya fans everywhere! Thanksgiving is the quintessential American holiday - - a celebration of family and fellowship commemorating that first Thanksgiving in 1621 when Massachusetts Pilgrims at the Plymouth Plantation gathered and shared the feast of the first harvest with their American Indian neighbors, led by Massassoit, Squanto and Samoset, at a three-day feast!! In 1789, the founding year of our Republic and our own Great University, President George Washington issued the first General Thanksgiving Proclamation for the new country, proclaiming "A Day of Publick Thanksgiving and Prayer." The first President's decree appointed the day "to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God."

So it is appropriate then that on this most signal American holiday, I join with my wife and daughter, Linda Morgan, L '76, and Meredith Karam, C '07, and with my broader Georgetown and Hoya Hoop Club family to celebrate Thanksgiving 2008 at Walt Disney World first by watching our Hoya basketball family play in the first of three games in the Old Spice Classic and then by sharing Thanksgiving dinner with other Georgetown families at the Coronado Hotel Resort! Then, on Saturday, I am looking forward to gathering with my niece, Mary Pat White, N '91, and her husband Keith and their two kids, Ian and Morgan, to enjoy Disneyworld and catch up on our busy lives. Mary and her family are coming in from the Amelia Island area of Florida, where she lives, while stationed as a Navy nurse at Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base in Georgia. I will always remember how great it was to have Mary at Georgetown from 1987-2001, when Meredith was little. This promises to be a memorable Thanksgiving weekend! I hope that your Thanksgiving 2008 is as enjoyable as mine promises to be.

The unique aspect of this year's Thanksgiving is, of course, our Hoyas' participation in the Old Spice Classic at Disney's Wide World of Sports. The field this year is brutal and will sorely test the mettle of our young Hoyas. For the Hoyas to be successful in Orlando, freshman Greg "Manchild in the Promised Land" Monroe will have to build upon his successes in the opening two games and make this year's Old Spice Classic his "coming out party" on the national collegiate landscape. And the "Manchild" will have to be joined by stellar performances from all of his teammates if the Hoyas hope to garner the Old Spice Crown!! The participants in this year's tourney are Tennessee (Pre-season No. 9 per Blue Ribbon Yearbook), Siena, who beat Vanderbilt in the NCAAs last year and returns all of its starters, Wichita State, Georgetown's first round opponent, the Hoyas (No. 21 (AP), No. 16 (Coaches' Poll)), Michigan State (Pre-season No. 13 per Blue Ribbon Yearbook), UMCP, a perennial NIT participant, Oklahoma State, and Gonzaga, (Pre-season No. 21 per Blue Ribbon Yearbook). Georgetown's side of the draw will require them to beat the Shockers of Wichita State and then the winner of the Tennessee - Siena contest to make Sunday's Championship game.

Today's contest against Wichita State is the first-ever meeting between the Hoyas and the Shockers. While the Shockers are coming off an 11-20 record in 2007-08 and have lost four starters from that team, they had a deep recruiting year and have won two of their first three contests. Their top recruit, Garrett Stutz, is a 7'00" center from Kansas City, who tied for game-high scoring honors with 22 points in the recent 65-44 win against Centenary. The Shockers' leading rebounder and defender is 6'06" senior forward Ramon Clemente, from Queens, New York, by way of Paris, Texas, Community College. Clemente has shared the rebounding lead in each of the Shockers' first three games. The best known of all Shockers, of course, was the great Dave "The Rave" Stallworth, who garnered All-American Honors during the mid-60s and later played a key role in the New York Knicks' 1969-70 NBA Championship Season. Fortunately, for Coach John Thompson III and his squad, "The Rave" won't be playing alongside Stutz and Clemente this afternoon.

So let us now go forth on this Thanksgiving Day, in the words of the Father of Our Country, "by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God." For me, and I suspect for many of you, the Almighty's signal favors include family, Georgetown, its Men's Basketball Program and the best Coach in all college basketball, John Thompson, III. WE ARE FAMILY!!

WE ARE GEORGETOWN!!

Respectfully submitted,

Michael E. Karam, F '72, L '76, L `82

Proud Member of Generation Laughna