Ah, Quincy

Like every other former kid, TigerBlog remembers that the best part of staying home from school sick was watching TV during the day. TB could always count on "I Dream of Jeannie" or "Gilligan's Island" to mix with "The Price Is Right" and take him through the day.

When TB was in the newspaper business, the daytime schedule was always filled with quality stuff, like "Kojak" or "Quincy." As an aside, TB loved Quincy, the show about the medical examiner, because it was always a good story and because Jack Klugman won a lifetime pass for "The Odd Couple." Still, TB can't help but wonder why nobody ever gave Quincy the benefit of the doubt. Yes, Quincy's theory in every episode went against the prevailing logic of the moment, but TB never figured out why Lt. Monahan or the senior medical examiner guy never said: "Hey, Quincy, it doesn't seem right, but since you've never, ever been wrong before, maybe we'll go along with you this time."

Anyway, TigerBlog was out for most of the last two weeks after having his knee fixed, and the current state of daytime TV is awful, unless you like to watch talk shows that all look exactly the same. Yes, A&E has the Sopranos at 8 am and 2 pm, but it's the same episode both times and the show loses something when edited. Beside that, there's back-to-back "Law & Order" and maybe a good movie on TMC if you're lucky. Given all that, it's good to be back at TigerBlog HQ.

Especially since it's finally football season.

You can argue all you want about having 10 games vs. 11 or not having eligibility for the playoffs. To TigerBlog, the toughest part of Ivy League football is watching every other level of football (NFL to Pop Warner) play multiple games before the Ivy schools have their first kickoff.

The toughest week is always last week, when practice has progressed along and 100 games have already been on TV. This week? Game week.

Princeton opens Saturday against The Citadel, a team that is 0-1 after a 40-6 loss to North Carolina (19th in the media poll, 24th in the coaches' poll) two weeks ago. Kickoff is 3 pm at Princeton Stadium Saturday.

Princeton deviated from its traditional schedule of seven Ivy opponents and three Patriot League opponents when it played San Diego home and home in 2004 and 2005. Prior to that, the last non-Patriot opponent for Princeton was William & Mary in 1989, in a game that saw future NFL kicker Steve Christie hit the crossbar on a 53-yard field goal attempt as time expired. Princeton played Northwestern and William & Mary in 1986, the last time the Tigers played more than one non-Patriot opponent.

The Citadel game is the second part of a home-and-home that began last year in Charleston. Princeton plays its return game at Hampton in 2011. Davidson and San Diego, as well as PL team Georgetown, are on the schedule beyond that.

Football isn't the only team on campus this weekend. The surging men's soccer team hosts its invitational this weekend, which features undefeated Princeton, undefeated and nationally ranked Monmouth, traditional power FDU and Ivy rival Cornell. There are two games Friday (5/7:30) and Sunday (noon/2:30). The Sunday game is followed by the women's game against nationally ranked Rutgers at 6.

Admission for regular season men's and women's soccer is free. Admission for football has been debated over and over in meetings, and to be honest, TigerBlog has lost track of exactly what it is. TB does know that it's ridiculously inexpensive, so there's no reason not to be here.