In mid-August the basketball team of Georgetown University, the “Hoyas,” set out on a ten day “good will tour” of China. They played various Chinese teams in an effort to foster good feelings between the USA and China. The basketball games were a kind of “visual aid” to accompany vice-president Joe Biden’s concurrent visit with Chinese political leaders.

On August 18 the “Hoyas” played against the “Bayi Rockets” of Shanghai at the Beijing Olympic Basketball Arena. Unfortunately all the “good will” went “goody by.” In the fourth quarter, after a hard-fought, highly physical, in-your-face game, the score was tied. One flying elbow on a rebound set off a brawl that cleared both teams’ benches and had players kicking, punching, and wrestling with each other in the middle of the basketball cou…