Sprinting To Mansfield

TigerBlog listens to his iTunes all day, every day. It's the first thing he turns on in the morning when he gets to work, and it plays all day.

Back when he was in college, TB used to listen to music (on a record player, with a turntable and needle and all) while he studied, and it was probably from that experience that he developed the habit of not being able to work in total silence.

For that reason, iTunes is perfect for him.

While TigerBlog isn't sure how much money he spent annually on music from 1975 or so up until he discovered iTunes, he's pretty sure that he spends less per year now buying a song here or there from the iTunes store. His most recent purchase was the Soft Cell song "Tainted Love/Where Did Our Love Go," which was big in the early 1980s.

That song brought his total number of songs to 1,188, which could play for 3.4 days without repeating any song. It's quite a collection.

As TB is writing, Hall & Oates are singing "She's Gone." Who knows what'll be next. Isn't it fascinating? Oh wait. "She's Gone" has ended, and now Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes are singing "Next To You."

One of TB's favorite parts of iTunes is the play counter, which tells you how many times each song has played. The most recent version of "She's Gone" was the 68th; this is No. 141 for "Next To You."

TigerBlog has had 25 different songs play at least 160 times, of which 10 are by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.

As an aside, the next song to come up was "Rags to Riches," by Tony Bennett. TigerBlog has no idea what to make of Bennett now that he made those ridiculous 9/11 comments to Howard Stern, but TB will give him pass because 1) he's a great singer and 2) he fought in World War II at the Battle of the Bulge, which earns him a lifetime exemption.

Meanwhile, of the 25 songs that have played at least 160 times, 24 of them were either recorded before TB graduated from college or are off of the Boss' newer albums. The only exception is "Just Friends," by Gavin DeGraw.

There are four songs that have played at least 180 times, with "Waiting on A Sunny Day" and "Land of Hope and Dreams" by Bruce trailing only the two songs tied for first at 185: "Don't Let Him Go," by REO Speedwagon and "Teenage Idol" by Ricky Nelson.

Now, as "Good Vibrations" by the Beach Boys comes on for the 147th time, TB can point out that iTunes was launched on Jan. 9, 2001.

In other words, the last Princeton sprint football win - other than against a club from VMI - predates the birth of iTunes.

This past weekend, Princeton opened the sprint football season under new head coach Stephen Everette with a 34-0 loss to Penn. If that seems lopsided, consider that the last game of last year was also against Penn, and that was a 70-0 loss.

Princeton's game against Mansfield a year ago was a 10-6 Tiger loss, and it was the closest Princeton has come to winning a CSFL game since its 12-7 win over Cornell in 1999.

In fact, since that game - and excluding the game against the VMI fraternity boys - Princeton has had only one game decided by fewer than seven points, and that was the one against Mansfield last year. TB has no way of knowing how many times in those 12 years that Princeton has been in the lead at any time.

For Princeton to win, the game figures to be along the same lines as last year's, when it was low-scoring. Against Penn, Princeton was outrushed 308 to minus-1, but Princeton did throw for nearly 200 yards.

("Ain't No Mountain High Enough," by Diana Ross and the Supremes, play No. 42).

There is no team that plays any sport anywhere that deserves to win one as much as Princeton sprint football. TigerBlog's theory has been that the win would come like the last one, against one of the established league teams that has an off night, takes the Tigers lightly, has some badly timed turnovers, gets behind and panics.

The new teams - Mansfield and Post, with Franklin Pierce on the way - are too focused on Princeton to let their guards down.

But hey, who knows. Princeton seems like it's improved. It's early in the year, so injuries and attrition haven't become a huge factor yet.

So go Tigers.

There are 18 athletic events this weekend at Princeton. TB is keeping a special eye on the one being played furthest from campus.

When he announces the scores of other Princeton events over the PA at football Saturday evening against Bucknell, he'd definitely love to throw a Princeton sprint football win out there.