Hoyas-Wildcats Rivalry: Soccer/Diary

Celebrity Tom Cruise attends a watershed men's college soccer championship-game between the Georgetown Hoyas and the Villanova Wildcats and adds to America's spirit of 'athletic pride' in the media.

To end out the 2019 year, I wanted to close-out with a story about my favorite college-sports rivalry, between the Georgetown Hoyas and the Villanova Wildcats. This soccer-yarn was something I had to churn out to express my Christian admiration of American dilemmas, so I really hope you like it!

Thanks for reading (and Happy New Year!),

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The 2020 NCAA men's soccer title was up for grabs, and the national favorite Georgetown Hoyas, led by supreme midfielder Derek Troy and striker Amlan Shah were poised to take home the trophy. This was a symbolic tournament, since the #1 Hoyas were contested by the upstart #2 Villanova Wildcats who'd risen from the lowly rank of #5 in the Big East to #2 in the nation by the time the national tournament began. Everyone now predicted a climactic showdown in the championship-game between the #1 Hoyas and the #2 Wildcats. Villanova (aka, 'Nova) was led by midfielder Thomas Kuyt and defender Steven Rodriguez. Everything was at stake, since the expected favorite Hoyas were looking to somehow 'avenge' the loss of the national-favorite Georgetown Hoyas men's college basketball team in 1985 (led by NY Knicks Hall-of-Famer center Patrick Ewing) were stunned by the upstart-darling Villanova Wildcats in the NCAA championship-game. Now, it was up to the Hoyas men's soccer team to avenge this heartbreak on the soccer field against a very aspiring 'Nova Wildcats team. The game would be televised on ABC on a Saturday night in January 2020.

The Wildcats had climbed their way up the rankings over the course of the 2019-2020 season, starting at a very low ranking and then clawing up as teams were knocked down while 'Nova managed to keep their season steady with just one loss. Of course, that one single loss came at the beginning of the season and it was at the Georgetown Hoyas. The Hoyas rocked the then-underdog Wildcats by a terrible score of 5-0, and everyone predicted a very dreary season for the Wildcats! However, 'Nova never looked back after that demoralizing early-season loss to the #1 Hoyas and never lost another game during the season and during the post-season. In fact, the Wildcats even managed to knock off other season perennials and strong-horses such as Indiana, Johns Hopkins, Stanford, Virginia, and even the #3 Seton Hall Pirates (in the tournament semi-finals!). Now, the Wildcats would have to remain focused to face a very pensive and determined Georgetown Hoyas team in the men's soccer national title game. Hollywood (USA) celebrity Tom Cruise (star of the American sports-culture film Jerry Maguire) was going to attend to promote his new Mission: Impossible spy-patriotism film (opening in LA).

The Hoyas midfielder (Derek Troy) was meanwhile being nationally toasted for his unusual and pastoral art. Being a studio-art major at Georgetown came with perks, and this complemented Troy's national and campus popularity as a modern-day American god! Troy's watercolor paintings of incredibly beautiful angels and damsels, which he considered symbols of American imagination, were being hailed as college-level art masterpieces, so Troy was now almost a 'double-celebrity' even though his soccer-status with the Hoyas remained his primary feather in the media. Troy intended to sell one of his haunting watercolor-portraits of a blue-haired European 'siren' named Amelie to the Whitney Museum if the Hoyas managed to complete their undefeated 2019-2020 NCAA soccer season and grab the coveted title-trophy (and simultaneously symbolically avenge Georgetown's 1985 NCAA basketball loss to the underdog Wildcats). This was 'high art' and great sports-journalism.

As the game opened, the Wildcats kept good pace with the ambitious and focused Hoyas. The Wildcats coach ordered his men to keep close guard on the Hoyas stars, making sure the man-to-man coverage prevented any simple single-man breakouts or easy passes near or around the goal area. The Hoyas were surprised at the level of efficiency and team-coordination the upstart/underdog Wildcats displayed in the early portions and first-half of the championship. The Hoyas scored first, thanks to a terrific lob-shot from hot striker Amlan Shah, but the Wildcats responded with a well-placed diagonal strike by midfielder Thomas Kuyt. The score was amplified by another Hoyas score which was quickly 'retorted' by a Wildcats strike. The halftime score was therefore 2-2, and sports-writers were eager to see if the 'Nova Wildcats would once again heartbreak a nationally-favorite Georgetown Hoyas NCAA team!

There was something really yearning in Hoyas midfielder Thomas Kuyt. He'd worked very very hard throughout his NCAA men's soccer career, and this was his champagne-senior year season. When he was just a freshman, Kuyt was hyped to be the key factor and star who'd help the Hoyas grab multiple national titles. However, Kuyt failed to deliver on this promise in his sophomore and junior year, despite helping the Hoyas reach the national title game. The Hoyas lost to the Stanford Cardinal in 2018 and the Duke Blue Devils in 2019! However, Kuyt wore special gold-embossed Diadora (Italian) soccer-shoes for this 2020 matchup with the upstart 'Nova Wildcats and was absolutely obsessed not to disappoint all the fortune-tellers, sports-writers, and naysayers as well. Kuyt was confiden the Hoyas would avenge the 1985 NCAA basketball loss to the Wildcats. This was going to be a very 'golden' soccer championship for American collegiate athletics!

Soccer had become a world-celebrated sport by 2020. The celebration of iconic superstars on the international stage from Europe, South America, and Europe helped make soccer a thrilling fan-favorite global sport. However, soccer still did not attain the comparable level of cheer in America! Americans simply preferred football (NFL) and baseball (MLB) to the teamwork-oriented foot-and-ball sport of soccer! This was ironic, given the recent successes of the US women's national soccer team at the women's World Cup tournaments. Thomas Kuyt of the Georgetown Hoyas recognized how this glaring contradiction between world-soccer flair and domestic/American soccer humility would be escalated by this iconic and symbolic championship-matchup between rivals Hoyals and Wildcats. Kuyt wondered about the sociocultural impact of such a contest in men's soccer on the media-spotlighting of women's sports and women's soccer. Would the Hoyas' success augment the appeal and marketing of women's soccer in America?

The Wildcats brought many die-hard fans to the championship. There were beautiful cheerleaders, eager patriotic students full of school-spirit, and photography-savvy fans eager to see yet another Hoyas-Wildcats drama unfold! Patrick Ewing of the 1985 Georgetown Hoyas basketball team that lost the championship to the underdog Wildcats was requested to attend the game as a Hoyas fan but explained he was recovering from the flu. However, the appearance of celebrity Tom Cruise at the title-game would add much media glitter and social pizzazz to the adequately-hyped men's soccer title game. This was important for American sports-marketing and the subduing of the ignominious notion that sports in America (collegiate and professional) was somehow too 'superficial' and 'capitalist' to really be considered a social prayer. Thomas Kuyt of the Hoyas wondered what a championship title over the Wildcats would do to 'student-athletics narcissism' in America in the modern world.

The Hoyas and Wildcats team photos were featured on the cover of the new Sports Illustrated NCAA issue. Everyone was intrigued by the notion that men's collegiate soccer would resurrect the Wildcats-Hoyas rivalry at the collegiate level, a rivalry not seen since the glory-days of 1985 basketball! Sports-marketing agents were talking actively about how the TV-broadcasting of this game on ABC on a Saturday night in January (2020) would further accent Americans' interest in world-soccer. After all, world-soccer had become a global symbol of modern peace and friendly national customs, despite the glaring fact that Americans were still considered lame-ducks and laggers in the sport of soccer. American national soccer at the World Cup was very disappointing, despite the successes of the US women's national soccer team at the women's World Cup. That's why the Hoyas-Wildcats team photos made the cover of Sports Illustrated.

If the Wildcats upset the Hoyas in this soccer title-game just as the men's basketball team had done in the 1985 basketball title-tame, sports-writers would claim that the 'Nova Wildcats somehow continuously claimed the 'number' of the otherwise focused and diligent Georgetown Hoyas athletes! That's why Hoyas star-midfielder Thomas Kuyt wanted to be sure he didn't disappoint all the fans and critics with a striking and memorable victory over the challenging Wildcats. Kuyt made a special Christian personal prayer with his locker-room silver Jesus Christ statue before the game, asking God to help him manifest himself as the spirited Hoyas senior midfielder he'd trained and worked so hard for the past 4 years to really become!

Kuyt would have to overcome a serious hurdle. The 'Nova Wildcats were very aspiring and well-organized and often displayed flashes of unpredictable brilliance, perhaps too complex for the Hoyas defense to handle during the championship! Hoyas' Kuyt roused his Hoyas team by reminding his teammates that focus and confidence would help Georgetown get past the firecracker-tremors created by the upstart Wildcats! The Wildcats team photo which paired well with the Hoyas team photo (on Sports Illustrated) would be remembered as a national toast to the potential and fertility of well-matched teams in symbolic games that hyped American sports to the level of social folklore.

When the second portion of the championship game began, the Hoyas' Kuyt simply took over, marshaling his offense while inspiring his defense to hold ground. Kuyt made elegant and impossible passes to striker Amlan Shah who scored twice, lifting the Hoyas past the Wildcats by a final score of 4-2. It was a great victory, and even though it wasn't as dominating and commanding as the early-season pounce (5-0) of the darling Wildcats, Kuyt told reporters that his team did virtually everything they'd be expected to do for such a nationally-hyped and televised championship. The Hoyas would be celebrated as the clear national heavyweights, but Kuyt decided to shake hands with the Wildcats soccer coach, telling him that the championship wouldn't have been as thrilling if the Wildcats weren't as so darn challenging. The Hoyas were the final mighty ducks.

When Georgetown lifted the NCAA national trophy in front of TV-cameras, the Hoyas loss to the Wildcats in the 1985 national basketball title-game was finally and fruitfully avenged! Kuyt thanked Jesus for affirming in him why his Christian faith instilled in him such sports-confidence and school-spirit for this title. This would be a terrific boon for soccer and collegiate-athletics in America, and celebrity Tom Cruise shook Kuyt's hand and congratulated him for overcoming that devastating 1985 loss to the Wildcats basketball team. Cruise was now planning a sports-film with Hoyas basketball icon Patrick Ewing. The Hoyas came out of the shadows.

This would be remembered by many a sports-writer and college-athletics fan and even soccer aficionado. Perhaps this would add to the fanfare of the US women's national soccer team! Perhaps this would contribute feathers to the conversation about how American collegiate athletics improved American culture and society! The television-ratings for the game were surprisingly high, and Tom Cruise remarked that the Hoyas-Wildcats rivalry would only continue thanks to Kuyt and the Hoyas' marvelous feats during this soccer-championship game in 2020.

Tom Cruise decided to ask his agent to add scenes of the Hoyas soccer team, and star-midfielder Thomas Kuyt, in his new film about Hoyas basketball starring Patrick Ewing. This brought more media attention to the Hoyas-Wildcats now-storied rivalry, so Cruise arranged a team-spirit 'social contract' between Georgetown University and the popular English Premier League club-soccer team, Chelsea, owned by a Russian billionaire. Now, the Hoyas link to the Chelsea club-soccer team would further add to the hype of Tom Cruise's new film about how sports contributed to modern imagination IQ.

CRUISE: Thanks for this important interview!
CNN: You're so involved in sports films.

CRUISE: This will be my third sports-film.

CNN: Right, after Jerry Maguire (football) and Days of Thunder (car-racing).

CRUISE: No one knew I was a fan of college sports too!
CNN: There're three candid American films about college sports.

CRUISE: Right; He Got Game, The Program, and Blue Chips.
CNN: Well, the Hoyas-Wildcats rivalry is certainly iconic.

CRUISE: I want to pronounce Americans' interest in modern soccer!

CNN: Soccer never really caught on in America, like other sports.

CRUISE: True; but the women's national team has won 4 World Cup titles.

CNN: So you're a women's athletics advocates now, Tom?

CRUISE: Why not?

CNN: Are you a bigger Hoyas fan or a bigger Wildcats fan (honestly)?

CRUISE: I have to lean towards Thomas Kuyt's Hoyas soccer team (honestly)!
CNN: Well, your new film about Hoyas basketball should be exciting.

CRUISE: Sports can create serious dialogue about modern global peace.

CNN: Yes, we all remember the terrorism at the Munich 1972 Olympics!

CRUISE: Sure; that's why Americans (and Christians and scientologists) care about free-speech.

CNN: Congrats; the Hoyas seem to be adding to your 'social' day-work.

CRUISE: Thanks (and Happy New Year!).

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