LIke It's A Real College

TigerBlog had barely turned on "The Big Bang Theory" last night when everybody started ripping on Princeton.

What's up with that?

Raj, still miffed that nobody showed up for his dinner party (or even RSVPd, for that matter), decided to have a scavenger hunt, like he used to at MIT. When Howard mentions that he loved doing them at MIT as well, Leonard chimes in that he did them at Princeton.

TigerBlog has heard of a few scavenger hunts here through the years, including by several of Princeton's teams. If there is a huge University-wide one, TB doesn't know about it.

Leonard, though, apparently was part of them. And while he is grinning widely at those idyllic memories, Howard brings him down to Earth by saying "yeah, like it's a real college."

Forget for a minute that Princeton is ranked above MIT - and every other college and university in the United States - in the U.S. News and World Report rankings. It still is funny - one scientist making fun of another because he "only" went to Princeton.

Later on in the episode, Leonard is mocked again, this time with the suggestion that anyone who went to Princeton should get a head start in the hunt.

Before last night, TB is pretty sure that Raj never said he went to MIT and Amy never said she went to Harvard. He also doesn't think anyone knows where Sheldon went to college, though he did so at age 11.

"The Big Bang Theory" remains one of the few shows on TV that TB will go out of his way to watch. Oh, and about "Modern Family:" 1) it's good, but through the 15 episodes or so that TB has seen, there hasn't been one fall-down laughing moment and 2) it's a rip-off of "The Office," especially Phil, who is trying really, really hard to be like Michael Scott.

"Two and a Half Men" isn't the same without Charlie and now without Jake, but it's still good for a laugh.

Anyway, back at "The Big Bang Theory," TB started to wonder about all of the fictional characters who were Princetonians. Of the top of his head, he came up with Leonard, Charlie from "Numbers," Lt. Joe Cable from "South Pacific," Willie from "The Caine Mutiny," the brother in "Meet Me In St. Louis," Alec Baldwin's character on "30 Rock," even Rose from "Two and Half Men." Rose, by the way, graduated in two years. And TB never saw "30 Rock," though he knows Alec Baldwin's character was from Princeton.

Of course there is a Wikipedia page about all this, and TB cannot believe that nobody has included Carrie from "Homeland."

At least the Wikipedia page does mention the time Fred Flintstone played football for Princestone against Shale. Included in that episode, which amazingly was from 1961, was the time when Fred was the holder on the extra point, and his instructions to the kicker were followed to the T - "when I put my head down, you kick it through the uprights."

Sadly, TB didn't even have to look that up.

TigerBlog was about to write this sentence: "All of those fictional people, at least the one who are still alive, will be rooting for their alma mater this weekend against Columbia," when he remembered that no fictional characters are actually alive.

Either way, they'll all be pulling hard for the Tigers.

The way Princeton's schedule always works, there are two non-league games, followed by one Ivy game and then another non-league game. Then begins the sprint of six league games in six weeks.

At least that's how Princeton's schedule has been since 2000.

From 1976-1999 Princeton opened its season against either Dartmouth or Cornell, usually on the road, and finished at home against the other. Prior to that, the opening opponent was Rutgers every year back to 1954.

Princeton's first Ivy opponent has been Columbia every year since 2000. Winning the league opener is essential for a team that is hoping to compete for the league championship, and that's where the Tigers are after two weeks.

Princeton comes in after reaching the 50-point level in a game for the first time since 2000, after last week's 50-22 win at Georgetown. The Tigers ran for 326 yards against the Hoyas, which is a lot. And Princeton did this with no player with more than 11 carries.

No team is going to win the league championship this weekend. It is possible to dig a huge hole, however, with an opening loss.

Columbia has struggled through two weeks, with losses to Fordham and Monmouth. Still, the Lions are in the same spot Princeton is in - 0-0 in the league - and with a chance to turn their entire season around.

Meadow Soprano went to Columbia.

So, apparently, did Mitchell from "Modern Family," at least for law school.

Maybe they will be here tomorrow.

Even if they're not real.