At least a dozen shirtless members of the Georgetown crew teammade their way to the front of the student section yesterday,sporting spandex shorts, painted chests, mohawks and the like. Theysaid it 'seemed like a good idea.'
'Pretty awesome,' said a Georgetown fan sitting in front of thesenearly naked rowers. 'I row too, so I'm all for the spandex.'
During some Georgetown Saturdays -- say, at a December gameagainst Jacksonville -- a half-naked spandexed-and-mohawked rowermight have qualified as the most notable fan of the game. But not,as it turns out, against Louisville and Rick Pitino, not with anational television crew on hand and the Big East regular seasonchampionship on the line. And so yesterday the spandexed-and-mohawked rowers' competition included:
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, sitting courtside with StateDepartment Policy Planning Director David Gordon and AssistantSecretary for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch, the latter a seasonticket holder since '81.
'You should talk to him; he's the Georgetown fan,' Rice said,delegating to Welch.
'We have a bet, the secretary and I,' said Welch, who was wearinga Georgetown sweatshirt. 'Georgetown will make it to the Final Four;Stanford will not.'
Said Rice, Stanford's former provost: 'I'm a huge collegebasketball fan; I was at the Final Four in San Antonio in 1998.Unfortunately, Stanford's probably going again, and I'm not going toget there.'
Rice was asked who runs the official Cabinet-level March Madnesspool.
'My Cabinet colleagues, I don't even know if they know what MarchMadness is,' she said.
'We're always afraid to get in a pool on the Final Four, becausethe secretary's always right on that one,' Gordon said.
'Last year, my bracket did not break down until the Final Four,'Rice confirmed.
And yeah, the State Department is technically located in FoggyBottom, but even GW fans have stopped going to Smith Center.
Capitals majority owner Ted Leonsis and Nationals principal ownerMark Lerner, sitting together in the front row as the multi-taskingLeonsis watched his hockey team play the Boston Bruins on hislaptop. He is a well-known Hoyas regular, but Lerner?
'Why Georgetown?' Lerner said. 'My son goes to Georgetown Law,and I root for all the D.C. teams.'
D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty, who briefly visited with Rice andLeonsis during halftime as his sons played with Jack the Bulldog.
'They went to say hello to a real VIP,' Fenty noted.
With American hosting a Patriot League semifinal this afternoonand George Washington (at that moment) still fighting for a chanceto defend its Atlantic 10 title, Fenty was asked which local team hesupported.
'Well, we support all D.C. schools; that's the mayor's answer,'he said. 'All of the above.'
And who runs the mayoral office's March Madness pool?
'That would be illegal,' he said, as clean-government reformersrejoiced.
Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell, with his girlfriend, MissD.C. Mercedes Lindsay, sitting a few seats away from Redskinscornerback Carlos Rogers. Auburn, it should be noted, is among thedregs of the SEC, so the former Tigers can be excused this bit ofcross-conference shopping around.
'Since I'm in D.C., I'm going for Georgetown,' Campbell said.'I'm a big fan of the Hoyas. I got a chance to meet Patrick Ewing.'
Oh yeah, Patrick Ewing. The older one. Sitting two chairs awayfrom Rogers, and competing with Rice for most awestruck gazes.
Leonsis was asked what brought out this glut of A-listers, or atleast A-listers by D.C. standards.
'Georgetown's back,' he said.
And finally, Jeff Green's mother, Felicia Akingube, wearing aJeff Green Sonics jersey and waving to the crowd during theinevitable 'Jeff Green's Mom' chant. So, Jeff Green's mom, why arethe secretary of state, two Redskins, the mayor, the two pro sportsowners and an NBA mother all at the same Hoyas game?
'Because we're hot,' she said. 'Georgetown is absolutely hot.It's a team that sticks together. They play together. They have,what do you call it? What's the word I want to use?'
Um, that certain je ne sais quoi?
'Exactly,' she agreed.
