Boardwalk And Cleanup

For the first time since TigerBlog can remember, he played a game of "Monopoly" the other day.

Board games were a big part of TB's life, at least to a certain point.

The early years saw children's games like "Chutes and Ladders" and "Candyland," which later evolved into "The Boss" or "Risk," which was a popular game in college.

If you never played "Risk," you're missing a good game. The basic premise is that the world is divided into different regions, and each player represents an army. The one who conquers the world wins.

One version of playing involves making non-aggression pacts, though they are not spelled out in the rules. One player will agree not to attack another for, say, five turns along a certain border, so each will only need to keep one army on that particular territory.

Back in college, TB was playing one time with a bunch of other people, including his friend Glazuh and another guy, one who was growing a goatee (TB is pretty sure it was Gary Hatke).

Anyway, those two agreed to a non-aggression pact, which fell apart when Hatke loaded up his armies on the border and attacked Glazuh, breaking the pact. When Glazuh protested, Hatke said that he could, because it wasn't in the rules, and he even sighted a precedent - the Nazis broke their non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union in World War II.

Glazuh, incensed (and soon-to-be eliminated from the game), finally realized he had no recourse, and so he said the only thing he could in the circumstances, turning to Hatke and saying "I don't like your beard."

"Monopoly," though, is the granddaddy of all board games.

TB and Little Miss TigerBlog played Sunday afternoon, and, as TB said before, he can't remember the last time he played.

This time, the game turned on a trade TigerBlog made, one that would have worked out great had it not allowed LMTB to get Boardwalk to go with Park Place and put up three houses on each, only to see TB land twice on Boardwalk and once on Park Place.

In exchange, TB got back three properties that completed monopolies, as well as a railroad. Had LMTB landed on New York Ave. on the turn before TB landed on Boardwalk for the first time, it might have all been different.

The game was one of the highlights of a low-key Labor Day weekend, one that TB can't believe has already come and gone. The month of August sailed by.

In another few weeks it'll be Halloween and then Thanksgiving and then Christmas, and it'll seem like no time has passed. In early December, it'll be time for the annual Princeton Athletics holiday party, probably in the boathouse, where it always is.

And on that night, TB will think back to Hurricane Irene, which completely flooded the Shea Rowing Center a week ago.

In fact, TB was amazed when he saw the video on youtube of the flood, considering how many times he's been in the boathouse and how pristine it is in there.

In fact, TB was there what seems like a few days ago, for the 2010-11 end-of-year department picnic. Oh wait, that was more than three months ago.

Anyway, there are two amazing things about the video.

And, as an aside, the music at the end is Maureen McGovern's song "A Morning After," from the movie "The Poseidon Adventure."

First is the sheer amount of water that made its way into the building, especially since for all of the nasty rainstorms that we've had here through the years, it's never happened like that before that TB remembers.

Second is the attitude of the people in the video, who happen to be the members of the Princeton crew coaching staff. They simply went out and cleaned up the mess.

Why?

Pride. In themselves. In each other. In their program. In the building.

It speaks volumes about who those people are.