Open Wide

TigerBlog went to the dentist yesterday.

His dentist, Dr. Brody, is a nice guy. A Penn grad, which doesn't make him a bad person.

The stereotype, of course, has the dentist carrying on a conversation while the patient tries to answer, despite having all kinds of instruments, suction devices, cotton balls and fingers jammed in his/her mouth.

Bill Cosby did a great spoof of this in his one-man show from the 1980s.

"So, you do much fishing?"

"mbdlaefjaosda."

"Oh, I've fished there many times myself."

TigerBlog isn't sure why people become dentists. If you're going to go through all that trouble to go to school that long and work that hard, why not become a doctor?

Why spend all day every day with your hands in people's mouths? TB doesn't even like putting his fingers in his own mouth.

On the other hand, somebody has to be a dentist, and Dr. Brody has the perfect temperament for it.

He's very calm, very pleasant. He doesn't overdo it on the hysteria about gums and stuff. He cleans your teeth, tells you to floss more, does an x-ray or two every few years and sends you on your way for another six months.

Oh, and he gives you a new toothbrush and floss when you leave. How great is that?

Dr. Brody has a flat screen in his office so patients can watch TV while sharp metal instruments are used to probe their teeth.

Yesterday, while TB was in the chair, the TV was on a news channel, and for the entire time he was watching, the only story covered was the Jodi Arias murder trial. TB gets it: attractive woman, tawdry details. What he doesn't get is why strangers outside a courthouse would cheer so happily and chant "USA, USA" when a verdict is read.

Or, for that matter, why a woman would thrust her middle finger into the face of Joakim Noam of the Chicago Bulls in Miami the other night, but hey, that's another story for another day.

Dr. Brody, in mid-clean, lamented what this said about contemporary America, how it's getting harder and harder to separate reality TV from reality.

TB agreed completely and said so. It came out this way: "mbdlaefjaosda."

When TB got back from the dentist, he saw the women's lacrosse team finishing its last practice before heading to Annapolis for the NCAA tournament. The Tigers take on Duke tonight at 7:15, and the winner gets the winner of Navy-Monmouth Sunday to advance to the quarterfinals in the 26-team field.

The athletic year at Princeton is quickly winding down, with very little left on the schedule.

The men's golf team is at Washington State next weekend for the NCAA regionals. The Ivy League rowing championships are next weekend as well, with the national championships to follow.

Track and field is still going strong, with the IC4A/ECAC championships here this weekend and then the NCAA events after that. Matija Pecotic of the men's tennis team competes next week in the NCAA tournament as well.

Kelly Shon of the women's golf team is trying to become one of two individuals to move out of her regional to the NCAA finals, other than the players on the eight teams that will qualify. Her 1-under yesterday in the first round has her in contention, with rounds today and tomorrow.

And then there's women's water polo, which plays this weekend in the NCAA championships as well. Princeton, the sixth-seed, plays No. 3 UCLA this afternoon at 3:30 in the quarterfinals and then is guaranteed two more games after that.

Though it seemed like it just began, the 2012-13 academic year will be completely finished soon.

The PVC senior awards banquet is coming up. So is Reunions. And graduation. And summer.

Time continues to fly. It must mean TB is in the right profession.

Beats shoving his fingers into strangers' mouths all day.