Time Flies

After having 13 of the 30 days of June top the 90 degree mark in Central New Jersey, July came in this morning with temperatures in the 50s, no humidity and a feel of, say, early October.

For TigerBlog, there's something odd about having the end of the college athletic year be closer to July 1 than the Fourth of July is to July 1.

Still, that's how it was this year, as South Carolina won the College World Series Tuesday night, which was June 29th. Had UCLA won that game, it would have extended to the final day of June; had there been a rainout, the end of college sports for 2009-10 would have made it all the way into July.

And so we are July, which is the only month of the year that will not have any college sports - and even that's debatable, as U.S. crews prepare to row at the Henley Regatta this month each year.

As amazing at its seems, practices for the fall teams for the 2010-11 year are little more than a month away for much of Division I. The first games are about seven or eight weeks from now.

Princeton, of course, will begin a little later. The first event for the 2010-11 year for the Tigers will be a women's soccer game at Rutgers on Sept. 3, which is 64 days away. The men's soccer and field hockey teams will play that same weekend; men's water polo kicks into gear a week later.

Football will start shortly after that, and before anyone blinks, it really will be October. And then the winter. And spring. And then another year will have sailed by.

Back when TB was in the newspaper business, he used to say that he'd only do it for one more year and then figure out what he really wanted to do with his life. One year, or one more trip around the calendar, which is very different depending on the month.

TB is often asked if he has to work in the summer. The implication is, of course, that since there are no events, there must not be any work. While that isn't quite true, clearly the summer is a lot slower than the rest of the year in college athletics.

And each season takes on a feel of its own, in so many ways different than the other seasons. TB has this vision that in many professions, other than perhaps a change in weather, the basic work flow is the same season-to-season. Even if it is dependent on the seasons, it appears - to TB at least - that it's not as drastic.

Here, though, one complete calendar year is something like standing next to a carouse as it spins. It keeps going, and each point you see is unlike any other point, all with a uniqueness to them. Eventually, as each points passes, it gets back to the beginning - and starts again.

In that respect, a Saturday in early October is different in every way from a Saturday in early November. Early February and late February aren't nearly the same.

Around here, with the academic calendar still having exams after the holidays, the middle of January is an athletic ghost town around here. December is much the same way.

Because of how varied the days and weeks are - and the accompanying tasks with each different event - it makes it seem like time moves really fast.

And so we're back to July. It's a time for summer camps on campus - crew, tennis, soccer, lacrosse, track and field, basketball, water polo and possibly others have already had at least one session.

It's a time for Princeton athletes to work at internships and summer jobs - and on improving their games for the coming year.

Which, by the way, will be here in no time. As will the next one.

It's how it works around here.

July 1. The Fourth of July. NFL teams reporting. August. Fall practice. Let the games begin.

Sixty-four days? It'll feel like half of that.