Cold, Wet And Flakish

TigerBlog heard a pretty good spoof of weather-related broadcasting while driving in this morning, as snow fell all around him.

It was on one of the Philadelphia stations, and the host was basically mocking how over-the-top TV and radio get when it's snowing.

"Well," he deadpanned at one point, "they're putting salt on the salt trucks, just like they have every other time it's snowed since they invented salt spreaders."

He also invited listeners to call in and make fun of the storm coverage, and the really funny part was how many people called in to give actual updates, rather than what he was looking for. Actually, it turned out to be much funnier, since they didn't get the joke was on them.

Only one person called in and actually got it, and he said something like "the snow is white, and it's cold and wet. It also appears to be falling in a flake formation."

To that, the host said "so you're saying it's cold, wet and flakish?"

That's the morning around here. Cold, wet and flakish.

TigerBlog much, much, much prefers hot, sunny and humid, if he had to pick between the two.

The ride actually wasn't that bad, since everyone went pretty slowly. For the record, snow started around 7:30 and is expected to last until late afternoon, with accumulation between three and six inches. Inconvenient and annoying, but hardly a blizzard.

This comes on the heels of Sunday's snow event, which left very little snow around here but nearly in foot in Philadelphia.

If you saw the Eagles-Lions game the other day, you had to be love it. The field was completely covered by snow, except for where TV superimposed the numbers on the field.

There couldn't have been anyone who watched the game and didn't think how great it was, football in the snow. For TigerBlog - and about 50 million other people, give or take - it took him back to when he was a kid, and any snowfall meant football in the snow.

The Super Bowl is seven weeks from Sunday, if TigerBlog has added it up correctly. Maybe six, if he hasn't. No, seven.

Unlike any other Super Bowl before it, this one will be played in a cold weather area without a domed stadium. More specifically, it'll be held at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, home of the Jets and Giants, neither of whom will be in it.

What if the weather is that day is like it is today?

Odds are against it. In fact, it's way more likely to be clear and around 40 or so than it is to snow. TB is pretty sure that this area has already gotten more snow this week than it did all last year combined.

TB watched "PTI" yesterday, and Tony Kornheiser asked Mike Wilbon if he would like to see snow like at the Eagles game for the Super Bowl, and Wilbon replied that he'd like to see three times as much. Who wouldn't?

Meanwhile, the college football bowl schedule is out, and there are exactly two games of interest for TB. First is the national championship game between Auburn and Florida State; there can't be anyone other than a Crimson Tide fan who is sad that Alabama is not in it.

The other game? The Pinstripe Bowl between Rutgers and Notre Dame. That's a great one.

Oh, and TB once again renews his belief that the BCS championship game should be the first bowl game, not the last.

Ivy League football ended a few weeks ago, and with it came the end of one of the great seasons Princeton has had in a long time.

The perfect ending would have been an outright championship and a sweep of the offensive and defensive Bushnell Cups. In the end, Princeton would have to share both with Harvard, but hey, that's okay.

Quinn Epperly won the league's Offensive Player of the Year award, in what should have been a surprise to no one. Epperly had a ridiculous season, throwing for 25 touchdowns and running for 18 more, making him the first Ivy League player ever with at least 40 touchdowns of total offense. The 25 TD passes tied the school record; the 18 rushing touchdowns were one off the school record.

Considering those records are held by a quarterback in a pass-happy offense (Doug Butler) and a running back in a power offense (Keith Elias) - oh, and they are the all-time leaders in passing and rushing at Princeton - to have one player tie one and come that close to the other in the same year is ridiculous.

Epperly set a bunch of records. TB will simply quote the story on goprincetontigers.com:
He set an NCAA record with 29 straight completions in Princeton’s 53-20 victory over Cornell; that followed Princeton’s 51-48 triple-overtime win at Harvard, when Epperly set Princeton single-game records for both completions (37) and passing touchdowns (six). He set an Ivy League record by earning the Offensive Player of the Week honor six times, including five in a row; all six of his honors followed Princeton’s six Ivy League victories.
He ended the season ranked first nationally in points responsible per game (26.6), sixth in both completion percentage and scoring, and seventh in rushing touchdowns. Epperly is the only player in Ivy League history to account for more than 40 touchdowns in a single season; he had 43 during the Ivy championship performance.

More than the numbers, though, Epperly was a mesmerizing performer all season, a can't-take-your-eyes-off-him player who had a ton of highlights - and huge moments when they were most needed.

On the defensive side of the ball, Caraun Reid was one of two finalists for the Bushnell Cup, along with Harvard's Zach Hodges. Unlike the offensive player, this one was a toss-up, and the winner turned out to be Hodges.

The 2013 Princeton football will always be an amazingly special one.

And the future? Princeton figures to be a co-favorite next year along with Harvard. With its depth now on both sides of the ball, Princeton appears to be more than a one-hit wonder.

At least that's the hope.

What made 2013 special was how unexpected it all was. The memories of the season are still vivid, of the comebacks, of the championship, of the bonfire.

Perhaps 2013 will be end up being remembered more for being the year Princeton football turned the corner.
That would be the best possible legacy for this team.