Nine March Days

TigerBlog continues to rehab his knee and hold on to his dream of one day returning either to lunchtime squash or basketball or even, dare he say it, over-40 lacrosse.

TB actually has this belief that he's going to be 100% in another few months, only to hurt himself all over again the first day back. For now, though, his workouts are limited to the exercise bike.

And so it was yesterday afternoon, when TigerBlog went down to ride one of the bikes in Jadwin. Before he could, he looked around HQ for something to read, and he stumbled upon a brochure he'd put together nearly 14 years ago, one to commemorate the end of the 1995-96 men's basketball season.

The brochure included some original text that TB wrote, box scores from three games and accompanying newspaper clippings. TB remembers putting this together for a postseason event for the Friends of Princeton Basketball.

For those who don't remember, the end of the 1995-96 season featured a loss to Penn in the final game of the regular season that left the Tigers and Quakers as Ivy League co-champs, a win over Penn four nights later at Lehigh for the league's bid to the NCAA tournament, a first-round win over defending NCAA champion UCLA in Indianapolis and finally a loss to Mississippi State in the second round. For some reason, TigerBlog didn't include the MSU box score.

If you're any kind of Princeton basketball fan, you're not exactly unfamiliar with those days. You also know that Pete Carril announced his retirement as Princeton basketball coach after the win over Penn in the playoff by scribbling "I'm retiring. I'm very happy. Bill Carmody is the new Princeton coach" on a blackboard in the lockerroom.

TigerBlog was the first person in the Princeton lockerroom after the win, and Carril was the second. TB saw Carril write something on the board and then walk into a smaller coaches room, at which point TB read what Carril had written and realized that his night had just gotten somewhat more involved.

Eventually, after what seemed like a long time, everyone else came into the room. TB was situated so that he could see the players and hear but not see Carril, and TigerBlog remembers the stunned looks he saw as everyone began to figure out what was happening.

When Carril and the players got to the postgame interview room, Carril dropped the bombshell on the assembled media, some of whom immediately looked at TigerBlog as if to say "hey, we already have enough to write about with this game, and now this?"

Back on the bike yesterday, TigerBlog began to read through the brochure, and it brought back all kinds of memories. It also pointed out certain things that TB had forgotten.

For instance, Penn shot 2 for 18 in the first half of the playoff game and made only eight baskets for the whole game, but 30 for 38 foul shooting for Penn made it a game. TigerBlog did remember that Donald Moxley was hounded into an 0 for 14 shooting night, but he forgot that it was Gabe Lewullis who did the hounding. He knew Steve Goodrich and Mitch Henderson fouled out, but he didn't remember that Goodrich had scored 26 points against Penn in the 14-point loss at the Palestra four nights earlier.

As he went through the brochure, TigerBlog began to read the newspaper stories. Brian Dohn covered the games for the Trentonian, and he would leave to write for the Los Angeles Daily News. Chris Thorne, one of the nice guys in the history of the newspaper business, wrote for the Star-Ledger.

Mark Eckel wrote for the Trenton Times, as he still does, when he's not busy being the athletic director at Trenton Catholic Academy. One of Eckel's stories had the classic headline: "Princeton Wins, Carril Quits."

There were also two columns written by perhaps the best sportswriter TigerBlog has ever read, the Star-Ledger's Jerry Izenberg. TB hasn't been star-struck in meeting too many media people in his life, but he did grow up reading Izenberg's columns, and it was a thrill to actually get to know him later on.

There were also a ton of clips from national papers after Princeton's win over UCLA. TigerBlog remembers the basic theme of "smart Princeton" beat "athletic UCLA," and headlines likes "Brains Over Bruins" were the norm. To be honest, it was a bit over the top and somewhat simplistic, giving all the credit to the genius Carril and little of it to the players, which included a future NBA player and some of the best players Princeton has ever had.

For the cover of the brochure, TigerBlog had chosen the Daily Princetonian front page from the day after the UCLA game, including the headline "David 43, Goliath 41." And who wrote one of the two stories on the front page? Grant Wahl, who has gone on to become one of the premiere sportswriters in the country today with Sports Illustrated.

There were two things that stood out most of all, though. First was a picture of the coaches celebrating after the final buzzer of the playoff game. In it were Carril, Carmody, Joe Scott and John Thompson, while Sydney Johnson (the captain) was visible in the background. In other words, it was one picture with Carril and the four Princeton head coaches who would follow him.

Second was a bunch of articles all praising Johnson for his leadership abilty, his maturity, his composure. One included a quote from Johnson that stated his career goal was to be a history professor after he got his Ph.D.; obviously, Johnson is now the Princeton head coach.

Mostly, though, the brochure brought back a flood of memories from a time nearly 14 years ago when TigerBlog got to see from the inside one of the great moments in college basketball history.

He thought back to how unlikely it seemed that Princeton would win the playoff game - until he saw Carril in practice the day before, when he challenged his guys not to back down against a Penn team none of them had ever beaten and against whom Carril had lost eight straight. He thought of how cold it was outside Stabler Arena before the playoff game. He remembered the conference call the day before the playoff game, when Carril didn't realize the phone was muted when he made an off-the-cuff comment.

He remembered how Johnson had hugged him after the playoff win. He remembered going out to dinner in Indianapolis after Princeton beat UCLA and how the waiter - followed by the rest of the steakhouse - cheered when TigerBlog gave his Princeton University corporate credit card. He remembered crouching by the far basket with CBS' Andrea Joyce for the final three seconds after Princeton had taken the lead, three seconds that took more than seven minutes to play. He remembered getting calls from every sports talk radio station in the country, all wanting to talk to Carril or Johnson or another player.

The brochure was entitled "Nine March Days That Will Last Forever," and clearly those nine days will never be forgotten by anyone who was part of the Princeton program at the time.

For TigerBlog, they remain the nine coolest days of his 16 years at Princeton.