She Got Game?

Beginning Selection Sunday on March 14 until the NCAA men's basketball national championship on April 5 sports fans across the country are consumed by March Madness. Some GW students have clear allegiances to their hometown teams, while others love the unpredictability of the tournament. Groans can be heard by those who have had their brackets "busted" due to Georgetown University and Kansas University's unexpected early elimination. What many people tend to forget that as the men fight for the championship title, the women are doing the same. Their championship game happens just one day after the men's, on April 6.

The difference in popularity for the two tournaments is staggering. According to NCAA.com, in the 2008 men's chamionship final Memphis and Kansas was played in front of a sold out crowd of 43,257 this is almost double the 21,655 people who attended the 2008 Women's Final between Tennessee and Stanford. In 2009 the Men's Final was held in an even larger arena in Detroit, where 72,922 fans were in attendance. Although the Women's Final in 2009 between University of Connecticut and Louisville was contested in front of a sold out crowd, it was in a much smaller arena in St. Louis that only sits 20,551. While most of the men's games have been played in sold out crowds in large arenas, the women's NCAA tournament is still advertising ticket sales.

Although TV viewership between the men's and women's college basketball is incomparable, there has been an increase in viewership for women. In 2006 the women's championship recorded a record rating, with 1.32 million household. Last year's men's final had 17.6 million TV viewers, which was down from the year before. Some efforts have been made to increase attendance and viewership for the women's tournament: having the final games in one location and having the women's final after the men's so it can officially end March Madness. However, TV viewership for women's is expected to be lower because ESPN and ESPN2, which airs the women's games reaches a smaller audience than CBS, which airs the men's games.

We see this gap in popularity between men's and women's sports here at GW. The GW women's basketball team has performed better than the men's team, but receives much less support at games. Since the 2006-2007 season, the men's basketball team has made it to the Atlantic-10 tournament two times and once to the NCAA tournament in the 2006-2007 season. The women's team on the other hand has made it to the Atlantic-10 tournament each year since the 2006-2007 season. The women's team made it to the WNIT tournament last season and reached the NCAA tournament the two seasons before that. The women's team was able to reach the semifinals of the NCAA tournament in the 2007-2008. This past season was the first time the GW men's team outperformed the women's team in recent years.

Rebecca Dauer, a sophomore at GW, has always been surrounded by college basketball due to her close proximity to Kentucky University. While she has attended many Kentucky men's basketball games and GW men's basketball games, she has attended less than 5 women's basketball games and none were for GW's team. She believes her lack of interest in women's basketball is due to her upbringing, "older generations really do not associate many sports with women and therefore when my dad took me to a game it was men's because that was what he was used to." Dauer goes on to state that she does not believe the difference in physical abilities between men and women contribute to her lack of attendance of women's basketball games.

GW Men's Basketball Ousted from A-10 Tournament

On Tuesday, the George Washington Colonials were ousted from the A-10 Tournament in the first round by the 7th-seeded Dayton University Flyers by a score of 70-60. GW senior Damian Hollis scored a game high 19 points. GW was able to rally from behind and tie the game with less than 7 minutes remaining, but the Flyers went on a 15-2 run to close out the game. Dayton will play 2nd-seeded Xavier on Friday in Atlantic City. The Colonials ended the season with a record of 16-14.

With the temperature rising, GW can now focus its attention on outdoor sports. GW's baseball team extended their winning streak to four games on Wednesday with a 5-2 win over Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks. This is the Colonials' (8-4) longest winning streak since the 2004 season. Freshmen Ryan Heinz pitched six solid innings. He gave up two runs, four hits, and struck out five. Senior Curtis Edwards recorded two hits, an RBI and scored a run. Freshman Tyler McCarthy successfully reached base three times and scored a run. The Colonials quickly took the lead after scoring twice in the first inning. Senior Bobby Lucas pitched two innings in relief and only allowed one hit. Sophomore Stephen Oswald earned his first save for GW after pitching a scoreless ninth. GW plays their first conference game at Dayton on April 9th. This weekend the Colonials will host Cleveland State with Friday's game starting at 3:00pm, Saturday's at 1:00pm, and the series finale on Sunday at 12:00pm.

The Washington Capitals (45-13) defeated the Carolina Hurricanes (28-31) 4-3 in overtime Wednesday night. Alexander Semin of the Capitals scored early in the first period and Mike Green had a multiple goal game with goals in each of the first two periods. Both teams went into the third period with 3 goals, but neither team was able to take the lead. The game went into overtime and 3:20 into OT, Tomas Fleischmann of the Caps scored the winning goal. The Capitals will host the Tampa Bay Lightning (27-27) Friday night. The puck drops at 7:00pm.

The Washington Wizards (21-41) fell to the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday night by a score of 105-99. Andray Blatche led the Wizards with 30 points and 10 rebounds. Blatche's double-double was not enough to beat the Hawks. Atlanta was able to avoid a three game losing streak. Jamal Crawford had a game high 29 points for the Hawks. The Wizards will travel to Detroit Friday night to play the Pistons (22-42). Tip-off is at 8:00pm.

Colonials Unable to Win Final Regular Season Home Game

The Colonials (16-12) lost their final regular season home game on Wednesday to the St. Joseph's University Hawks (10-19) by the score of 80-71. Junior Joseph Katuka of the Colonials led the team with a career-high 15 points while the Hawks were led by Darrin Gavens, who scored 19 points. GW is currently tied for ninth place with Duquesne University in the Atlantic-10 division. The Colonials' final regular season game will be at Temple University on Saturday. Tip off is at 2:00 pm and be sure to follow the game at gwradio.com.

Now that the 2010 Winter Olympic games are over, the National Hockey League has resumed play. On Thursday night, the Washington Capitals (43-13) defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning (26-26) at home, 5-4. The Caps got one goal in first period from Eric Fehr, followed by two in the 2nd from Mike Knuble, and another two in the third from Scott Walker. This was Walker's first two-goal game in over three years. Walker, along with two others, were recently acquired by the Caps and this was their first home game. The Capitals will host the New York Rangers (29-27) on Saturday at 7:00 pm.

The Milwaukee Bucks (31-29) defeated the Washington Wizards (21-37) on Wednesday night, 100-87. Recently acquired John Salmons led the Bucks with 22 points. Andray Blatche and R. Randy Foye led the Wizards with 18 points a piece. The Wizards return home Friday night, facing off against the Bucks again. Tip-off is at 7:00 pm.

Winter Olympics Nears End

The United States are leading the medal count race with 32 medals: 8 gold, 12 silver, and 12 bronze. The U.S. has already surpassed 26 medals they won at the 2006 Winter games in Torino. Germany is trailing the U.S by 6 medals, with a total of 26.

On Thursday night the U.S. Women's Hockey team lost 2-0 to Canada in the finals. There is debate whether women's hockey should be in the winter Olympics because it is so dominated by the U.S. and Canada. No American won a medal in women's figure skating, but 16 year-old Mirai Nagasu narrowly missed a medal, claiming 4th place. Expected winner, Kim Yu-Na of South Korea easily won gold. She finished 18 points ahead of silver medalist, Mao Asada of Japan. American free style skier, Jeret Peterson placed second in men's aerials.

On Wednesday, GW alumna Elana Meyers of the USA-2 women's bobsled team unexpectedly won a bronze with driver Erin Pac. Americans have made it to the podium in the three years since women's bobsledding was added to the winter games in 2002.

The Winter Olympics will come to an end on Sunday night with the men's hockey final.

USA Trails Germany by 1 in Medal Count

The United States is currently second in the medal standings with 8 medals. Germany is leading by 1, with 9 medals. USA has earned bronze medals in men's downhill, men's moguls, women's moguls, and the men's 1500m short track speed skating event. American speed skater, Apollo Ohno was able to win a silver medal in the 1500m short track after two South Koreans collided and were unable to cross the finish line. The United States has also won a silver medal in the individual normal hill event. Thus far two Americans have won gold medals: Hannah Kearney in women's moguls and Seth Wescott in men's snowboard cross.

Today, American Lindsey Vonn will attempt to be the first U.S. woman to win an Olympic gold medal in downhill skiing. She is the two-time defending World Cup champ and double world champ. Vonn has had much attention lately due to her recent shin injury. American snowboarder Shaun White will try to defend his Olympic gold medal tonight in the men's halfpipe event. White is the favorite to win. Both events will be broadcasted on NBC.

Be sure to watch George Washington alumna, Elana Meyers, go for the gold in the women's bobsledding event on February 23-24. She is one of the 6-member bobsled team.

Photo from nbcsports.msnbc.com

Washington Sports and the Winter Olympics

The snow storm did not affect the basketball game between the George Washington Colonials (12-10) and the Duquesne University Dukes (12-11) on Saturday, February 6th at the Charles E. Smith Center. The Colonials extended their losing streak to three games by falling to the Dukes, 70-63. GW freshmen, Lasan Kromah led the team with 15 points. Two other GW freshmen scored in double figures. Dwayne Smith contributed 14 points and Bryan Bynes added 11 points for the Colonials. Duquesne was led by Damian Saunders, who scored a career-high 27 points. GW will travel to Bronx, NY on Saturday to play the Fordham University Rams (2-18). Tip-off is at 1:00pm. You can listen to the game on WRGW.

After Sunday's game between The Washington Wizards (17-33) and the Atlanta Hawks (33-18) was postponed due to snow, the Wizards fell to the Charlotte Bobcats (26-25) on Tuesday by a score of 94-92. The Wizards lost in the final seconds when Charlotte's Raymond Felton scored the game-winning shot with 1.9 seconds left. The Bobcats were led by Stephen Jackson, who scored 22 points in the game. Washington's Caron Butler led the team in scoring with 23 points. All-Star Weekend begins Friday night with the All-Star Celebrity game. The 2010 All-Star game will be on Sunday night at 7:00 pm at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

On Thursday night the Washington Capitals (41-13) fell to the Ottawa Senators (35-22) by the score of 6-5. The Capitals were able to come back from a 3-1 deficit after the first period to tie it up in the second period 4-4. Capitals' Alexander Semin achieved a hat trick by scoring twice in the second period and once in the third. Tomas Fleischmann and Jeff Shultz each contributed a goal in the game. The Capitals will not be playing until March because of the Winter Olympics. Five players from the Capitals are headed to Vancouver: Semyon Varlamov, Alexander Ovechkin, and Alexander Semin (Russia), Tomas Fleischmann (Czech Republic), and Nicklas Backstrom (Sweden).

The Vancouver Winter Olympics opening ceremony will be on Friday night at 6:00pm. Medal events will begin on Saturday. The Olympic events will be broadcasted on NBC.

Capitals Continue Winning Streak, Super Bowl Weekend, GW Sports, and More

The George Washington men's basketball team suffered a tough lost in Wednesday's game against UNC Charlotte 49ers (17-5). The Colonials (12-9) were ahead for most of the game, but lost the lead with 20 seconds left and could not recover. The 49ers pulled out with the win with a score of 72-68. GW senior Damian Hollis led the team by scoring 23 points. Charlotte was able to keep the game close due to Junior Shamari Spears, who scored 19 of his 31 points in the second half. The Colonials are scheduled to host the Duquesne University Dukes (11-10) on Saturday at 2:00pm. It is unclear if this game will be affected by the expected weekend snow storm. Check back for updates. You can always catch the game at gwradio.com.

The big sports event of the weekend is obviously Sunday's Super Bowl XLIV between the Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints. Peyton Manning led the Colts to a Super Bowl victory in Super Bowl XLI in 2007. This is the first Super Bowl appearance for the Saints. Kick-off is at 6:25pm. The Who will be performing at the half time show.

The Washington Capitals (39-12) have extended their record-breaking winning streak to 12 games by beating the New York Rangers (25-26) 6-5. Alex Ovechkin had a pair of goals; Mike Knuble, Tom Poti, Boyd Gordon, and Nicklas Backstrom each contributed with one goal for the Capitals. The Rangers had a 5-4 lead going into the third period, but were unable to stop Poti and Backstrom from scoring. Ryan Callahan, Olli Jokinen, and Brandon Dubinsky each scored a goal for the Rangers while Vinny Prospal added two goals. The Caps will host the Atlanta Thrashers (24-23) Friday night. The puck drops at 7:00pm.

The Washington Wizards (16-32) lost Wednesday to the New York Knicks (19-29) 107-85. Nate Robinson led the Knicks with 23 points, while David Lee who had 22 points. Washington's Randy Foye and Nick Young led the Wizards with 15 points a piece. The Wizards will travel to Orlando to play the Magic (33-16) on Friday night. Tip off is at 7:00pm.

This Week in Sports

As already mentioned in an earlier post, the George Washington Colonials (12-7) defeated the St. Louis Billikens (12-7) 67-62 in overtime on Wednesday night. This ended GW's 4 game losing streak. The Colonials were down 13 points at the half, but were able to rally to force the game into overtime. The team was led by sophomore Tony Taylor who scored 18 points in the game. Freshmen Lasan Kromah and Dwayne Smith each contributed 13 points. On Saturday, GW will travel to Rhode Island to play the University of Rhode Island Rams (16-3). Tip-off is at 1:00 pm. As always, you can listen to the game at gwradio.com.

The Washington Capitals (35-12) were able to extend their winning streak to 8 games on Wednesday night by defeating the Anaheim Ducks (24-23) 5-1. The third period began with the teams tied at 1 but goals by Shaone Morrisonn and Mike Knuble gave the Caps a 3-1 lead. Alexander Semin added two goals in the third to seal the victory. Dan Sexton scored the only Anaheim goal in the second period. This is the second longest winning streak in franchise history. The Capitals will host the Florida Panthers (23-21)Friday night 7:00pm.

The Washington Wizards (14-30) lost to the LA Lakers (35-11) on Wednesday night, 115-103. Antawn Jamison scored 27 points for Washington. The Wizards will play on Friday night against the struggling New York Nets (4-40). Tip-off is at 8:00pm.

On Sunday, January 31st the NFL Pro Bowl game will be played in South Florida. This is the first time in 30 years that the game will not be held in Hawaii. This is also the first time the game will be played the Sunday before Super Bowl in hopes of garnering more viewers. The original quarterbacks for the game, Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts and Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints will not be playing in Sunday's game because they scheduled to meet in the Super Bowl next week. The Colts and Saints will meet on February 7 in South Florida for Super Bowl XLIV.

The Australian Open is coming to a close this weekend. The Women's singles final will be on early Saturday morning. Serena Williams (1) will be playing the recently returned Justine Henin.
The last time the two met was in 2008 at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, which Serena won 6-2, 6-0. Williams leads the head-to-head series 7-6. Roger Federer (1) will fight for a spot in the finals against Andy Murray (5) on early Friday morning against Jo-Wilfred Tsonga (10). The Men's singles final will air live on Sunday at 3:30 am. Murray is in search of his first grand slam singles title.

GW defeats St. Louis in stunning overtime rally

The GW Colonials men's basketball team rallied tonight in overtime against the St. Louis Billikens, with a final score of 67-62.
Click here to visit our Flickr feed for images from the game!

Colonials (5-1) Derail Patriots (3-4) in Battle of The Orange Line

The much-hyped “Battle of The Orange Line” turned out to be a huge success for the Colonial basketball team. Led by a career high 25 points by senior Damian Hollis and a fired up Smith Center crowd, the George Washington Colonials beat the George Mason Patriots 66-49 and improved their record to 5 and 1 on the season. Following a disappointing loss to Oregon State on Saturday, the Colonials scored the first 5 points and never lost the lead throughout the night as they clearly dominated George Mason in all facets of the game.

The Patriots were led by freshman Luke Hancock who scored a game high 15 points for the Patriots. The team was devastated by a first half injury to junior point Cam Long, who did not perform well after the injury. In addition, forward Mark Morrison was plagued by foul trouble and played just 17 minutes of the game. The Patriots only managed to shoot 36 percent from the field and were out-rebounded 43 to 30 by the Colonials

The Patriots only trailed 35-27 at the half, but the Colonials opened the half with a 22-4 run and led by as great a margin as 26 throughout the course of the game. The Colonials got a dominating performance by senior forward Damian Hollis, who scored a career high 25 points and pulled down 8 rebounds as well. Also chipping in for GW were Lasan Kromah with 8 points and Joesph Katuka, who scored 7 points in only 8 minutes of play. Senior Hermann Opoku also pulled down 8 rebounds, while Kromah and freshman guard Bryan Bynes grabbed 3 steals a a piece.

On the season, the Colonials improve to 5-1 overall and 3-1 in the newly renovated Charles E. Smith Center. George Washington had a clear home court advantage tonight as a fired up crowd led by the Colonial Army provided the team with the energy and support needed to ensure the victory. The Colonials will next take on the Midshipmen of Navy at the Verizon Center in the BB&T Classic this Sunday at 5 p.m. As always, you can hear the game live by tuning into WRGW at www.gwradio.com

DC Sports Roundup

The George Washington Men’s Basketball Team won in over time on Wednesday evening against Charlotte. The final score was 92 to 88. Damian Hollis had 25 points on the night and scored two crucial free throws that saved the Colonials from losing in regulation. This was the third in conference victory for GW. The team will need to win its final two games if they want any chance to make the Atlantic 10 conference tournament. Their next game is tomorrow at Charlotte.

The GW women’s Basketball team did not fare as well. They lost on Wednesday at Charlotte, 57 to 59. The Women have their final regular season game at home this Sunday, against Temple. Tip off is at 1 pm.

Keeping with basketball, the Washington Wizards won last Friday at New Jersey, but then lost at home on Saturday against San Antonio, and again on Wednesday against Philadelphia. With 13 wins and 44 losses on the season, the Wizards have the worst record in the Eastern Conference. They play at home tonight against Chicago.

And finally, in Hockey, the Washington Capitals split the week with 2 wins and 2 losses. The Caps lost at home last Friday against Colorado, 4 to 1. They redeemed themselves with a strong 5 to 2 win against Eastern conference rival Pittsburg on Sunday. The Capitals gave up a one goal lead in the third period in Tuesday’s game against Philadelphia and ended up losing 2 to 4. Finally, with rookie goaltender Michal Neuvirth in net, the Caps held on to defeat the Atlanta Thrashers last night. The final score was 3 to 2. Donald Brashear earned his 10th major penalty for fighting with his second period bout with Eric Boulton. The Capitals’ next game is tomorrow at Boston.

-Joe Lewis