ClayNation: Stirring up a rivalry

After 24 years, the George Washington-Georgetown rivalry is beginning to thaw. After my Jan. 29 column, several GW and Georgetown fans contacted me to express their agreement that the rivalry should be renewed. They also trash talked about each team's respective worth and said if the game were played, they would be there. While it was my belief that the all-student basketball game offered an attractive and unique marketing hook to overcome a long layoff between teams, I'm willing to endorse any GW-Georgetown game that takes place inside the nation's capital.

To that end, hoyasaxa.com, a popular Georgetown Internet basketball site, ran an editorial linking to the ClayNation column and endorsing the return of the rivalry.

George Washington Colonials head coach Karl Hobbs gets animated during a game. (Getty Images)

According to hoyasaxa.com, "But as next season marks the 100th anniversary of the series between the schools, here's another idea: Create a multi-year commitment that would open the college basketball season between the two old rivals each November. Split the MCI Center's seating down the middle and have each school sell one side of the building; or let the schools alternate the 'home' designation. If the game is on a weekend, bookend it with a women's game between the schools at the other school's campus arena. November's Navy game was well received by Georgetown fans and alumni as a step toward renewing old rivalries among area schools. Sixteen blocks and a quarter century of hard feelings is not too much to overcome."

Congrats to the folks behind hoyasaxa.com for being better at their math than I was; what better time to renew the rivalry than on the 100th anniversary of the initial meeting?

At the end of my Jan. 29 column, I vowed that I would pursue this game by taking my suggestion straight to the presidents of both schools. At GW, I found a receptive audience in president Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, who was eager to discuss the rivalry's renewal with a fervor that belied the nearly 18 years he has spent leading GW. A voluble Trachtenberg spoke to us last Wednesday about the rivalry's potential impact on the city of Washington.

"I believe schools have a responsibility above and beyond things like the RPI and ratings to the community itself. For instance, D.C. councilman Jack Evans has proposed a Ward 2 Championship (GW and Georgetown are located within the ward) with the proceeds of the game being used as scholarship money for kids from the community to both schools. I think this would be a great idea. Washington fans would enjoy the game and it's definitely a net plus for the community."

Then, as if to prove what a great opportunity a renewed GW-Georgetown matchup would be, Trachtenberg took the opportunity to engage in what might only be described as good-natured rivalry trash talk. When asked whether he had been in favor of a GW-Georgetown game in the past, Trachtenberg said, "I've been trying to get something lined up for years. John Thompson, the father, always ran away from the game and now I suspect his son, John Thompson III, may be doing the same."

Trachtenberg went even further, laying down the rivalry gauntlet and channeling Muhammad Ali. "We'd play them any time any place. The Smith Center, the MCI Center, their own campus gym. Just name the place and make it fair."

He also brought home the essential truth of what makes city rivalry games so powerful for college basketball fans and what a winning team has brought to his own life. "There would be years where we'd be better and years where they'd be better. I just think it's a good idea for the community regardless of where the teams are ranking-wise," Trachtenberg said. "I have things to talk about with everyone; my barber, my taxi-cab drivers, I want to talk about the philosophy department, but all they want to talk about is GW basketball."

So with great pleasure, I can now announce that GW's president has wholeheartedly endorsed the rivalry's renewal.

I wish I could say the same for Georgetown's president, John DeGioia. I made multiple phone calls to the Georgetown campus and spoke with several people, including Communications Director Eric Smolson and Sports Information Director Bill Shaplin. Smolson and Shaplin were receptive, but neither were the big man himself, president DeGioia.

Ultimately, after several phone calls, all Smolson would say was, "We think this is a matter for the athletic department." Unfortunately, leaving this matchup entirely to the athletic departments of the respective schools is what brought about the death of the rivalry and what has yet to lead to a renewal of a game between these storied rivals.

So since I couldn't talk with Georgetown's president (or anyone within the school at all), I did the next best thing: I discussed the rivalry with Curtis Romig, the president-elect of the Georgetown Club of Georgia. Right now, I know some of you are downright shocked about the connections we have here at ClayNation. And I don't blame you if you had to go back and reread that last sentence. Yep, I was able to get the president-elect of the Georgetown Club of Georgia on the phone.