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The City Beyond the Tournament: Explore Columbus

Now that our beloved Hoyas know where they’re headed for March Madness, it’s time for the most rabid of basketball fans to make their way to Columbus in time for Friday afternoon’s game against Belmont. While most of us will remain in D.C. (though we’ll glue ourselves to the television come 3:10 Friday), some may choose to indulge in Hoya Blue’s bus trip to Columbus or book an individual trip to Ohio’s state capital. But what do you do when 40 minutes of basketball is over? 4E — despite the fact that we’ve never actually been there — is here to help with some of the best things to do in Columbus this weekend (besides watch the Hoyas at Nationwide Arena).

It promises to be a beautiful weekend, with highs in the 70’s, so get outside. Enjoy the best zoo in the country — the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium (4850 W. Powell Rd. in Powell, just outside Columbus) — complete with 7,000 animals, a water park, amusement park and golf resort. Why is the zoo here so great? It’s directed by TV personality Jack Hanna. If you can’t make it all the way out to the zoo, try the Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens (1777 E. Broad St.)

Columbus is home to Ohio’s best ice cream cone — at Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream (various locations, but the original is at 59 Spruce St. near the Nationwide Arena). Jeni’s ice cream is so good that it’s regularly profiled by news outlets like The New York Times and food magazines like Food and Wine Magazine. A quick Google search of Jeni’s revealed that her salted caramel ice cream seems to be the most popular.

Check out historical Columbus at German Village, one of the city’s first neighborhoods first settled by German immigrants in the decade after the city’s founding. German Village — just south of Downtown — used to be one of the city’s worst neighborhoods, but has since been revitalized to the city’s trendiest. Local restaurants, bars and breweries line 3rd St. and High St. in German Village.

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Sunday Night Wrapup: Back to the Grind

Put some aloe on that sunburn, pack up your skis and give up hope on that missing flip-flop – spring break comes to an end tonight. But hey, the weatherman says that it’s supposed to be in the 70’s all week, so it’ll be easy to pretend you’re still lounging by the pool (plus, you know, homework). If you’re looking to procrastinate just a little longer before classes start back up, here’s the news that you probably missed over the last week.

Photo: Flickr user Lyra Jaye

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Hoya History: The Notre Dame Rivalry

Ask any Hoya what Georgetown’s biggest rivalries are, and they will almost always tell you that they’re Syracuse and Villanova. But, with this year’s schedule robbing us of a home game against Syracuse, and a Villanova team near the bottom of the Big East standings, our rivalry games have been substantially weaker this year than before.

Until tonight, when Georgetown takes on No. 18 Notre Dame at  Verizon Center.

I know, I know, the Georgetown-Notre Dame rivalry is nowhere near as vitriolic as our against the other two squads. But, with Syracuse bolting for the ACC soon, Notre Dame might be the most logical school to take its place. For one, we’re both Catholic schools supported by different orders — Notre Dame is affiliated with the Congregation of the Holy Cross. For another, Georgetown and Notre Dame are always close in academic rankings. And, ask anyone here from the Midwest what schools they turned down in favor of Georgetown, and most will say Notre Dame. But for all that history, the rivalry with Notre Dame isn’t all that intense, right?

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SUNDAY NIGHT WRAPUP: GUSA Afterthoughts

The last weekend before Spring Break is coming to a close. For those of you who have spent your time dreaming about next week and the prospect of no papers, tests or studying, here is a wrap-up for the news of the weekend.

  • Early Friday morning, Clara Gustafson (SFS ’13) and Vail Kohnert-Yount (SFS ’13) (pictured with current GUSA President Mike Meaney (COL ’12) and Greg Lavarriere (SFS ’12)) won the race over the seven-ticket field. Over the campaign, we saw two presidential debates, signs, campaign literature, a giant American Flag posted in Red Square, the flag being vandalized and the construction of a giant Rubik’s Cube.
  • The Hoyas rebounded from a 73-55 drumming from Seton Hall, with a 67-46 blowout over Villanova at the Verizon Center. Next up, the 8th-ranked Hoyas take on the 18th-ranked Notre Dame tomorrow at the Verizon Center.
  • The NBA, in all its usual fanfare, held its All-Star Weekend. Jeremy Evans of the Utah Jazz won the slam-dunk contest and Kevin Love of the Minnesota Timberwolves won the three-point contest on Saturday, but the real spectacle of the weekend was the game itself — a Western Conference victory in the 152-149 nail-biter, where Kobe Bryant became the highest-scoring athlete in All-Star history.
  • Mitt Romney picked up the endorsements of Arizona Governor Jan Brewer and Michigan Governor Rick Snyder over the weekend, and polls are turning his direction before Tuesday’s Michigan and Arizona primaries.
  • Among the bejeweled celebrities arriving at the Academy Awards Sunday night was Sasha Baron-Cohen, in character as a crazed dictator. He spread the ashes of deceased North Korean leader Kim-Jong-Il along the red carpet — a welcome break from gowns and tuxedos.
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Sunday Night Wrapup: Happenings on the Hill

With President’s Day tomorrow, the weekend is far from over. However, many of you have probably spent the past few days traveling and enjoying the long weekend, so Sunday Night Wrapup is here to catch you up on all the news that you’ve missed.

  • This past Friday Congress voted to extend payroll tax cuts and unemployment benefits. President Obama said he would sign the bill as soon as it was passed. Overall this means that there will be a tax holiday for the rest of the year.
  • The FBI arrested 29 year-old male Amine El Khalifi Friday when they learned of his plans to bomb the U.S. Capitol. He attempted to be the first suicide bomber in the US by strapping what he thought was an explosive vest to his chest. The FBI had been investigating him for a long time coming, and arrested him in Alexandria, Virginia before he acted.
  • The Hoyas had a big win on the road over Providence Saturday night, beating them 63-53. They kept the Friars to shooting under 26 percent, and Hollis Thompson led his team with 13 points and 10 rebounds. They play their second consecutive away game Tuesday night against Big East team Seaton Hall.
  • Michelle Obama surprised White House visitors with a meet and greet on Thursday. She brought along the Obamas’ dog Bo to the 80-minute long session, and spent little time discussing politics. This marks the 4th time that Michelle has surprised White House visitors.
  • Lin-sanity: Everyone is loving Jeremy Lin. This Harvard grad and current New York Knick’s point guard scored 28 points today to defeat the defending champion Dallas Mavericks. After only 6 games, Lin has 164 points. NBA fans are comparing his early success to some of the NBA greats.
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Sunday Night Wrapup: Dance with Somebody

by Kaitlyn Morio

Between the Republican presidential campaign trail, the Grammy Awards and Georgetown basketball wins, it’s been quite the weekend. But if you’ve too been busy listening to Whitney Houston’s Greatest Hits on repeat to catch up on the rest of the news, Sunday Night Wrapup is here to remind you what happened this weekend.
  • Republican front-runner Mitt Romney won the Maine caucus on Saturday with 39 percent of the vote ahead of Ron Paul, who finished second with 36 percent.
  • R&B icon Whitney Houston died unexpectedly on Saturday afternoon at the age of 48. The cause of death has not yet been released, and it may be six to eight weeks before the results of toxicology reports are available. Houston’s only child, Bobbi Kristina Brown, was rushed to Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on Sunday morning to be treated for anxiety following her mother’s death.
  • After a disappointing loss to Syracuse on Wednesday night in overtime, the Hoyas successfully rebounded and defeated St. John’s this Sunday at the Verizon Center in a 71-61 victory.
  • Although the 54th Grammy Awards haven’t ended yet, there have already been some big wins tonight. Adele’s 21 won Best Pop Vocal Album, Taylor Swift’s “Mean” won Best Country Song, the Foo Fighter’s “Wasting Light” won Best Rock Album, and Skrillex’s Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites won for Best Dance/Electronica Album. Check out the winners as they are announced here.
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Juicing ‘Cuse: Past and Present

source: https://theessentialsofcool.tumblr.com/post/3962987728/patrick-ewing-33-ferociously-dunks-over

Hatred runs high for the Syracuse Orangemen among all Hoyas, past and present. This rivalry comes to a forefront each year in the Big East matchup of the two teams in men’s basketball. As we await the 7 p.m. tip-off of tonight’s highly anticipated game, alumni Katie Collins (COL ’83) speaks of the long-standing Syracuse-Georgetown rivalry during her time at Gtown:

I remember as a Georgetown freshman during the 1979-1980 season, the Hoyas had beaten some top 20 teams, including nationally-ranked Syracuse early on, yet Georgetown continued to be ranked low in the polls and much lower than Syracuse for many weeks, infuriating Hoya fans, especially students. The team still played at McDonough Gym then, Patrick Ewing would not join the team for two more seasons, but Georgetown was increasingly being recognized as an up and coming basketball contender and the newly-formed Big East made the competition between Georgetown and Syracuse all the more fierce.

The rivalry between Georgetown and Syracuse continued to escalate with Ewing’s dominance in national basketball, bringing the Hoyas to their first NCAA finals his freshman season in March 1982. The intensity became more personal when Syracuse fans threw bananas at Ewing when he was shooting from the foul line during a game in the Carrier Dome. This was captured on national television and only fueled the rivalry. Hoya student fans from those years remember attending Georgetown-Syracuse games in the Carrier Dome in which they were pummeled with oranges following a Syracuse loss.

Photo: theessentialsofcool.tumblr.com

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Friday Fixat10ns: Magic in the Air

by Martin Hussey

FIXAT10NS: Magic in the Air from thehoya on 8tracks.

Some sort of magic has definitely been in the floating around campus this week, with temperatures soaring into the 70s on Wednesday, Georgetown’s walloping of UConn on Wednesday night and that yearly affair with the groundhog (where some strange form of groundhog magic predicted six more weeks of winter Thursday morning). To commemorate this excellent week in Hoya history, we’re starting the weekend off on a magical note as well, with 10 magical tunes designed to charm you  into relaxation.

Harry Potter and the Half-Dub Remix — Terabyte Frenzy The dubstep craze is remixing everything from Rebecca Black’s “Friday” to soundbytes from Family Guy. This is one of the few remixes that this grandma should have been dancing to.

Magic Spells — Crystal Castles The magical thing about this song is how they make a repetitive beat and no words still sound interesting after six minutes. Finger drumming is inevitable.

Love Sex Magic — Ciara (feat. Justin Timberlake) This 2009 dance anthem reminds me of junior prom. To some, that night was magical in itself. I find myself wondering, though, whether our DJ realized he was playing this song to a bunch of hormonal high schoolers.

The Ghost Inside — Broken Bells Ghosts are magical, right? Regardless, this is a great song, and the chorus is hypnotizingly entrancing.

Golden Age – TV on the Radio We’re in the age of miracles – we must be when it is 70 degrees on the first day of February.

Time to Pretend — MGMT A lot of you may have fallen out of touch with this song. Don’t. Plus, I feel like this song is increasingly relevant in my life as I near the time in my life where I “get jobs in offices and wake up for the morning news.”

Magic — Pilot Who can’t include this song in a list of magical music? This cheesy 70’s rocker still maintains an infectious chorus that populates the best moments in movies, TV shows and plays as in my head when awesome things happen to me.

Ghost! – Kid Cudi I couldn’t resist including Kid Cudi in this song, with his strange story lines about men on the moon and other such fantastical things. This song was also great in concert: Here’s a clip from the performance I saw live.

Do You Believe in Magic? – The Lovin’ Spoonful The second oldie about magic on this post. If you’re bored by the classic, I recommend the Aly and AJ version from the Disney show Wizards of Waverly Place.

I Believe – Simian Mobile Disco I believe in magic. Actually, I don’t. But some people do. If you believe in anything, it should be this song, with its weird beat that frames a pretty legit song.

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Georgetown Metro Headaches

by Martin Hussey

As if Georgetown didn’t have enough transportation problems, the main conduit for off-campus transportation, the Rosslyn metro station, will be closed for track work this weekend, according to a WMATA press release. The authority will replace trains with free buses between the closed station, but warns Orange and Blue Line riders that delays could reach 20-30 minutes through the construction zone.

Since a trip to Rosslyn from campus already can take up to 20 minutes, try alternate bus routes, particularly the 38B, 32/36, G2, D6 and Circulator.

For the all-important basketball game against South Florida at 11 a.m. on Saturday morning, special game day buses will run between Dupont Circle and the parking lot in front of McDonough, according to an e-mail sent to season ticket holders Thursday. Careful, though, the south entrance to the Dupont metro stop is also closed due to escalator repair.

According to WMATA, the station closure will allow workers to replace rail fasteners and remove sludge in the tunnel under the Potomac River. The rail closures are all part of a $5 billion project over five years to fix aging rail lines that can lead to problems like cracked rails, which have been found in recent weeks at Rosslyn and Tenleytown, causing delays to commuters.