Mason's Dad

Maddie Sachson is three years old.

She has a friend in  playgroup named Jackson, so when she heard she was going to be a big sister, she suggested that Jackson would be a great name for the new baby.

So go ahead. Say it out loud.

Jackson Sachson.

Needless to say, when Craig and Jess Sachson had their second child yesterday, they did not name the newborn boy Jackson.

Instead, they went with Mason.

Welcome to the world, Mason. Hope the trip was smooth.

If you're reading TigerBlog, then chances are close to 100% that you've read something written by Mason's dad.

Craig Sachson is the contact here at Princeton for 12 sports, which TB thinks is more than any other athletic communications person in the Ivy League - and therefore probably more than any other athletic communications person anywhere in Division I.

If you've read anything on goprincetontigers.com about football, it was written by Craig Sachson. If you've gone to a football game here and picked up a game program, that's almost all a Craig Sachson publication.

Same goes for men's and women's swimming and diving, men's and women's volleyball,  men's and women's lightweight rowing, men's heavyweight rowing, women's open rowing, wrestling and of course, men's and women's squash.

If you add it up, that's probably half of Princeton's 1,000 athletes. There can't be anyone else in athletic communications who deals directly with that quantity of athletes.

Hey, most schools in Division I don't have nearly that number of athletes in their programs combined.

It's quite a workload.

Way back when, before the web came along being the sport contact for football was all consuming, as was basketball, lacrosse and hockey. The other sports required little effort.

Now?

Every sport gets a pregame story, a postgame story. Features. Podcasts. Videos. Highlights. And on and on. And every sport has coaches, athletes, parents, alums and friends who have a steadily rising level of expectation.

TigerBlog knew Craig Sachson's name before he knew Craig Sachson, who was - like TB had before him - in the newspaper business. When an opening for an intern came up here circa 1998, TB called Sachson to see if he'd be interested.

As it turned out, Sachson hardly knew what athletic communications was. Still, he came up for an interview and took the position, staying for two years before spending two at Cornell and then returning 10 years ago.

The elimination of the internship program here at the OAC in favor of full-time positions has enabled Princeton to keep its athletic communications people in place. The result is that there is much greater familiarity with the teams by the people who work here, since they're not being replaced ever year or two.

In Sachson's case, he has brought stability to so many sports and their coaches, all of whom love the fact that they have someone there year after year who knows the history of the program and the people involved.

His impact on so many Princeton athletes, many of whom never met him or have no idea of his name, has been tremendous.

And now he has a new son.

Maybe, like TigerBlog Jr., Mason will spend hours and hours with his father at games here. Maybe like TBJ and Little Miss TigerBlog, the Princeton campus will become something of a second home.

Pretty soon, it'll be Craig who is calling up Mason at noon to make sure he's awake and ready to go wherever he has to go that day. It'll be Mason who is hiding the fact that he lost his retainer and making endless plans to go to the movies or to a friend's house or - egads - on a date and expecting Craig to be his at-a-moment's-notice driver.

It won't seem like all that long until Mason is eating at 2 am - no because he's an infant but because he's a teenager who's still awake.

In the meantime, it's all about diapers and sleepless nights for Craig and Jess.

And taking care of little Mason.

TigerBlog joins with everyone else at Princeton in welcoming Mason to the fold.

And letting him know how lucky he is that he has the dad he has.