"But as a parent . . . " Ewing said, and everyone knew what he was saying even as the thought remained unfinished. Everyone who has kids, anyway.
You dream for them and then you watch their lives play out
before you. You agonize for them and then you hope that the fates are kind. You tell yourself that you are just going to let them go but you never can, never completely. As Thompson said, "What good is being a parent if you can't meddle?"
And then he laughed. Thompson coached Georgetown during the glory days; John Thompson III coaches them now. Ewing was the Hoyas' greatest player in those glory days; Patrick
Ewing Jr. is now a Georgetown junior. And then there was Doc Rivers, the Boston Celtics' coach. His son, Jeremiah, plays for the Hoyas, too. Fathers and sons and eras collided in celebration; hugs, tears, the whole
wonderful deal.
As Thompson spoke, the party on the floor had begun to die down at Continental Airlines Arena. The Hoyas, trailing by
10 points with 7 minutes to go in the second half, had just stunned the top-seeded North Carolina Tar Heels with a 96-84 overtime victory.
The game had been so much fun to watch - so fast, so hard, and played at a brilliant skill
level. The comeback had been
so nervy, coming as it did against Carolina Blue, Inc. The overtime had been so dominating. It was Thompson's job to describe it all on the radio. He said he failed.
"I try to be objective," he said. "But I got to a point where I couldn't say anything. I'm not sure I said much at all in the overtime. I was just stunned."
He is Big John Thompson now, an old nickname that has become a necessary differentiation between him and his son. When Big John talks about the old days, he refers to Big Pat, to
differentiate him from Ewing
