<
>

Of course they're freshmen

WASHINGTON -- Unwilling to miss the big game between their Georgetown Hoyas and No. 2 Villanova, Connor Gregoire, Ben Mishkin and Chris Yedibalian wanted to make sure they got to the Verizon Center before the noon tip.

So at 8 a.m., they walked out of their campus dorm and made like a slow-paced Forrest Gump, walking the 3-plus miles in the blizzard to downtown D.C.

"It took us about an hour,'' Gregoire said.

The trio only saw a few other brave souls -- mostly people shoveling their driveways and walkways -- and thanks to no traffic were able to walk down the middle of the street.

Well, almost no traffic.

"I almost got hit by a truck, '' Mishkin said. "It spun out right in front of me. I didn't really have time to react so I just sort of stood there thinking, 'Oh please, turn the other way. Please.' And it did.''

Yes, there is a Metro stop in Rosslyn, Va., they could have taken but the trains were running on a 30-minute delay and to get to the Metro Center requires a 20-minute walk over the Key Bridge (cabs are not an option in these weather conditions) so they did the math and put on their walking shoes.

The million-dollar question, of course: How are they getting back?

"We're not sure yet," Yedibalian said.