Tuesday, June 19, 2018

Summit, Dammit

If the mountain wouldn't come to Muhammad, then Muhammad resolved to go to the mountain.

G:TB has one up on ol' Mo.

After repeatedly pledging to convene an actual summit of Gheorghies at CAA Men's Basketball Tournaments held in various locales, with mostly good intentions, and nearly always reneging on those pledges (there have been a couple of near-exceptions, where a couple of us made our way to Richmond, or Baltimore), the Colonial Athletic Association has seen the light.

The CAA needs more Gheorghies, and the league is moving its feature event in order to attract us.

Beginning with the 2020 CAA Tournament, the league will host the event in Washington, DC, at the nearly-completed St. Elizabeth's East Entertainment and Sports Arena (SEEESA - they're not using that acronym, but I'll find a way to add a W and make it work) in Southeast. The 4,200-seat home of the Mystics (and the Capital City Go Go) snagged the CAA deal as its first-ever collegiate event.

Setting aside my obvious personal geographical affinity for the move, it also makes a ton of sense for the league. D.C. is essentially smack dab in the middle of the CAA footprint, 438 miles from Boston (northernmost league member Northeastern) and 506 miles from Charleston. It's within a three-hour (ish) drive of half the league's teams, and a relatively easy day's journey for all ten schools.

The move is also an acknowledgement by the CAA of its status in the pecking order. Last year more than 8,000 fans showed up for the title game in Charleston, but rumor has it that the league gave away more than half of those tickets, even as the host team made it to the championship. In a 4,200-seat arena, the odds are much better that the league will have a full, vibrant venue for its games.

We'll do our part to make it so when the Tribe's in the house. 2020 will be Nathan Knight's senior season, and we'll be in the SEEESAW, riding a roller coaster of emotions as the Commodore leads our guys to the NCAA Tournament.

And hell, while we're dreaming, we've got one more year to get together in Charleston at the 2019 CAA Tournament. See y'all there.

29 comments:

  1. Zman, if you find yourself in a waiting room or with some rare idle time...

    http://ultimateclassicrock.com/drive-by-truckers-decoration-day/

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  2. Doooo you see the light?

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lX5tfRdkoY0

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  3. this japan/columbia game turned out way better than it seemed it would after that quick red card.

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  4. Seems unfair to pit a national team against an American college side, much less an Ivy League one.

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  5. Whit, don't know if you're a podcast guy, but even if you're not, you might want to listen to this:
    http://www.yachtrock.com/podcast

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  6. Columbia's football team is famously bad--they lost 44 games in a row!

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  7. So what are they doing playing Japan?? Just silly.

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  8. glad my spelling error provided you with so much entertainment. the policastro brothers of north brunswick (i played football with tony) lived through that streak. they both played for columbia and neither won a game.

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  9. are we all rooting against russia?

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  10. Putin had the families of the Egyptian players threatened.

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  11. Jeezus Mary and Joseph Zman...am sorry to hear of your recent stresses. Good karma for sure coming your way, maybe in the form of a new car?

    Night 2 of a 4-nighter in Chi-town with the whole fam. Cubbies game tomorrow....Miles upon miles walked, patience lost, "No"'s conveyed, and dollars spent but is at worst meeting expectations. Val & I get a night off tomorrow w/her dad and stepmom coming in to take them off of our hands. I love 'em, but Praise lawd Jesus!

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  12. Jeezus Mary and Joseph Zman...am sorry to hear of your recent stresses. Good karma for sure coming your way, maybe in the form of a new car?

    Night 2 of a 4-nighter in Chi-town with the whole fam. Cubbies game tomorrow....Miles upon miles walked, patience lost, "No"'s conveyed, and dollars spent but is at worst meeting expectations. Val & I get a night off tomorrow w/her dad and stepmom coming in to take them off of our hands. I love 'em, but Praise lawd Jesus!

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  13. Watching "Staircase" on Netflix...was living in NC at the time that was going on. Enthralling. I hope someone else here watches simply so we (my wife and I) can get your opinion on guilt or innocence.

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  14. I want to watch that! Had forgotten about it. Thx for reminder.

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  15. Not sure how I feel about the HBO doc that Simmons produced. He was qualmless about inserting himself into it right away.

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  16. He has become painfully (to him) irrelevant, so that makes sense.

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  17. the morons in the white house misspelled 'separation' in the headline of the press release announcing the president's* new executive order. dipshits all the way down.

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  18. Rob, your comment smacks of elitism! Also, my wife is a 1st/2nd grade teacher, and I think she spends more time proofreading an email to a parent than anyone in this white house ever has.

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  19. i'm elitist as fuck, rootsy. in that i expect my nation's leadership to be able to, like, spell, and not be racist fuckfaces.

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  20. also, why would the white house be writing emails to parents? they don't care about kids, as we can plainly see.

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  21. Good point, unless to cover their bases. EG "We got yer dodder. Send two bitcoins to Yuri by midnight or else."

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  22. the staircase is awesome-- and the best part is they solved the mystery . . . listen to this shit to find out the answer:

    https://thisiscriminal.com/episode-one-animal-instincts-1-31-2014-2/

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  23. Judd Apatow is on IG saying Trump has created concentration camps. Whitney Cummings is on IG, crying and saying Handsmaid’s Tale is happening.

    The fat Oompa Loompa and his minions are certainly up to no good, but I’m not sure I like the parallels being drawn.

    And while we still have internet freedoms, I want to remind everyone that I had a “Never Trump” sign in my yard in 2016. It’s the only political sign I’ve ever had in my yard.

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  24. i'm prepared to forgive a bit of rhetorical excess in this particular moment in history, but i take your point

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  25. The trumpkins are clowns, but they are right about one thing. The buffoonery of the entertainment community knows no bounds.

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