Today, Through Sunday

TigerBlog isn't quite into the whole celebrity thing.

One time, back when the men's basketball team was playing in Madison Square Garden, Michael Kay (who does the Yankees' games on TV and has an ESPN radio show) was broadcasting the games.

When he came up to TB to talk about the Tigers and get pronunciations and do all the things that announcers do, TB asked him what his name was. When he said "Michael Kay" with a look that said "you know who I am," TB said "Matt?"

Of course TB knew who he was. It's just a little way to keep everyone grounded, at least a little.

As a result of this basic anti-celebrity mindset, TB wasn't doing somersaults when he found out that "The Today Show" was going to be stopping by the boathouse.

TB has watched more of the "Jeopardy" teen tournament in the last two weeks than he has of "The Today Show" + "Good Morning America" + any other morning show in his entire life added together.

The four hosts of "The Today Show" - Matt Lauer, Ann Curry, Al Roker and Natalie Morales - were on campus last week to learn to row. TB assumes this is somehow related to the coming Olympic Games, which are televised by NBC.

The segment aired today between 8 and 9. TB didn't see it. He assumes at some point he will.

The crux, as he understands it, was that the four on-air personalities had a lesson in how to row and then had a race against some of the Princeton rowers.

TB further surmises that the rowing will be of greater intensity this weekend, when the final three Ivy League championships of the year are crowned, in the sports of men's lightweight rowing, men's heavyweight rowing and women's open rowing.

Women's lightweight rowing is not one of the 33 official Ivy League sports.

It used to be that the three Ivy League rowing champions would be the first varsity eight boats that finished the highest at Eastern Sprints, and that still holds for the men.

The women, however, are rowing in uncharted waters, as it were.

The men, racing on Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, Mass., have the traditional Eastern Sprints format.

Neither the Princeton lightweights nor heavyweights are the favorites going in, but both have done well many times in the past under such circumstances.

The women aren't a prohibitive favorite but have as good a chance as anyone else of coming in first.

This time around, the women are racing at the Ivy League championships, minus the other schools that compete in Eastern Sprints, with the event to be held on the Cooper River in Cherry Hill. Why? Because beginning next year, the winner of the Ivy League championship earns an automatic berth in the NCAA championships.

Oh, and TB just paused for six minutes to see a replay of the segment from "The Today Show," and it's about as fluffy as you would expect. Or, as TB would say if he was more cynical, i's just another over-the-top attempt to make the hosts seem like they are even more special and important - all in the name of cross-promoting another network property.

Good thing TB isn't cynical.