British Heir Ways

TigerBlog saw a great 10-second video, from a reporter in England who was camped out in front of the hospital where Kate Middleton was in labor.

Basically, the reporter did everything but roll his eyes at the absurdity of what he was doing there. When he did speak, he essentially said “we’ll be here, even if there’s no news, because the Palace will be announcing it anyway.”

And so it would be that later in the day, the Palace did in fact make its public announcement. It was a boy.

The way it works, TB learned from the radio, is that the announcement is taken from the hospital to Buckingham Palace, where the Queen is informed. Then it’s posted outside on a simple blackboard, which is how it’s made public.

The new baby is third in line – behind his grandfather Charles and his father William - to the throne of an empire that dates to 1066 and includes 16 different countries.  

To this TB offers the following: were he Canadian, the whole thing would offend him.

Since he’s an American, it’s not as big a deal, because nobody is claiming to be his king or queen.

Maybe it’s an American thing, or at least supposed to be an American thing. This country was founded way back when because of the repugnant concept of a monarchy, of someone who is simply by virtue of his/her birth endowed with the right to rule over others.

Here, in America, the whole show is based on the idea of a self-evident truth, that everyone is created equal. Okay, Thomas Jefferson said all men are created equal, but these days, that means all men and women.

Equal.

Not royalty.

TB has never been a fan of the royal family, of the concept of a monarchy.

What he doesn’t understand is why the British go nuts over the royals. Aren’t they as offended as TB would be were he one of the commoners?

TB does have a great deal of respect for William and his brother Harry for their military service, something they didn’t need to do. Both of them are well-accomplished officers who have put their lives in danger in service, to, well, uh, yeah, that’s where it gets sticky.

It’s supposed be in service to the country. Not to the Queen.

And it's not like they govern the country or anything. They are the royal family of a great democracy.

Yeah, TB gets the celebrity allure of it all. But that’s not exactly making it more appealing to him.

TB has never been to London, though it looks like a great city to visit. Certainly that’s how it came across during the Olympics last summer.

Has it really been only a year since those Olympics?

Princeton was well-represented there, including in the sport of field hockey. Four Princeton players were on the national team, three were on the Olympic roster and two started every game in London.

Then they all came back to Princeton, where they rolled through the Ivy League (going 7-0 and outscoring its opponents 45-1) and then defeated Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina in order to win the NCAA championship as well, ending an 11-year run by the ACC.

TB was looking at goprincetontigers.com yesterday and noticed that the lead story was the announcement of the field hockey schedule.

The opener is no day at the beach, as Duke comes to Bedford Field on Sept. 6. As in six weeks from Friday. As in will be here before anyone can blink an eye.

Princeton has its usual tough non-conference schedule, including games at UConn, Maryland and Syracuse, which was the only team to knock off the Tigers a year ago, when they went 21-1, as well as home against Penn State, an NCAA quarterfinal team a year ago.

Princeton graduated Kat Sharkey and Katie Reinprecht, but it still has national team players Michele Cesan and Julia Reinprecht, as well as an army of players back from a year ago.

It’s hard to say the Tigers are the preseason favorite to repeat, given how dominant the ACC teams are and the two huge graduation losses, but Princeton will be up there with anyone.

As always, goal No. 1 is the Ivy League championship, which Princeton has won eight straight times and 18 of the last 19.

And then there is the idea of seeing how well the team can do nationally. The regular season ends, by the way, with a game against local rival Rider, who is as strong in field hockey as it is in any sport.

And the season will be played on a reconstructed Bedford Field, with its permanent stands that back up to those at Class of 1952 Stadium, as well as other amenities such as a new press box and concession areas. There will also be team rooms built near the trees where the Dining Services truck used to park.

And it’ll all be here before you know it.

Hey, it’ll be six weeks from now.

Maybe the new prince will have slept through the night by then.