Meryl, Maks And Colleen Smith

Back when TigerBlog lived in a rowhouse on the corner of Chestnut and Deklyn Streets in South Trenton, his landlord/roommate/friend Jim Chesko had one rule for his home.

Nobody was allowed to watch "Full House."

Ever.

While TigerBlog didn't love "Full House," he'd watch it every now and then. Not in Chesko's house though. Rules are rules.

To this day, TB isn't sure why Chesko hated "Full House" so much. It's not the kind of show that usually brings out that much animosity.

Yes, it was a cheesy little show and all. Still, it was good for a laugh every now and then. And it was certainly harmless.

Chesko was a human DVR long before such technology existed. He owned multiple VCRs, which for those under the age of 30 stood for "videocassette recorder." At the time, it was the cutting edge way to record TV and watch it later.

It relied on a videocassette, which was something that you actually had to buy at the store and put into the machine. A videocassette could record for either two, four or six hours, depending on the settings.

To watch, it was necessary to simply hit play. To move to a different part of the program, there was a fast-forward or reverse option.

Of course, the tapes had to be stored. And it took forever to fast forward or rewind, and you could never figure out exactly where you were on the tape, which made it a bigger pain.

And don't get TigerBlog started on the whole Beta vs. VHS debate. 

Chesko would edit the commercials out of the shows and store all of his tapes in chronological order, alphabetical by show. He had every episode of "Seinfeld," "Friends," and many others, including "The Gary Shandling Show," as TB recalls.

And yet he hated "Full House."

He was probably rooting against the oldest daughter from that show on "Dancing With The Stars," which had its season finale last night.

There were three teams left - the "Full House" daughter grown up, the woman whose legs were amputated below the knee after she had meningitis when she was 19 and the Olympic ice dancing gold medalist

TigerBlog is relatively new to "DWTS." As in about a week or so.

He watched enough to know he was rooting for the ice dancer, as compelling a story as the amputee was.

Her name is actually Amy Purdy, and her story is incredible. She by all rights should not have survived the illness, let alone come back to be a Paralympic champion and then a dancer on this show. To see her move now is incredible. 

TB had nothing against the "Full House" daughter, other than she clearly wasn't as good as the other two.

TB likes the show. It requires talent to do what they're doing, as opposed to some of the "fame for fame's sake" shows that pollute modern day television. He's not wild about Erin Andrews, but he likes the guy from "America's Funniest Home Videos" who is the host.

And the professional dancers? They're sort of ripped like no other.

The finale was spread out way too long, making it more of a spectacle than it needed to be. On the other hand, TB is relatively sure that there was a pretty sound business reason for it.

In the end, nearly three hours after the show came on, the first cut was made, and the "Full House" daughter was out. Then it was between Amy and Meryl Davis, the ice dancer, who had by far the best chemistry with her professional dancer of any of the contestants.

TigerBlog, by the way, was cracking himself up with how much he got into this whole thing.

TB thought Meryl was way better, and that it wasn't close. He wasn't ready to say that she would win, though, largely because of the sentimentality factor of voting for a dancer with no legs below her knees.

Then it was time for the requisite contrived drama before the announcement was made. And the winner? Meryl.

There was some sentimentality there. Maks, Meryl's partner, had never won. And let's face it, they were way better.

As for sentimentality, TigerBlog was happy to see Colleen Smith earned second-team All-America honors when the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches' Association team was released yesterday. Erin McMunn was the other Tiger honored, with a third-team honor.

Smith was injured just seconds into the Ivy League tournament semifinal against Cornell as she cut off the opening draw. Her injury wiped out her final postseason, as she missed the rest of that game and then the Ivy final against Penn, as well the NCAA tournament, where Princeton defeated Penn State and then lost to Virginia.

Smith is clearly Princeton's top defender, and so who knows what might have been different against UVa had she been able to play.

Well, maybe nothing.

In something of a statistical oddity, Princeton allowed 13 goals in all four games it played against Penn State and Virginia this season, with two games against both opponents, both of which were splits. There was one game with Smith and one game without Smith against each opponent.

Princeton lost to Penn State 13-12 in the regular season and then won 16-13 in the tournament. Princeton beat UVa 15-13 in the regular season and lost 13-11 in the tournament.

Obviously Smith would have been a big addition for the Princeton postseason. And it stinks to get hurt like that, especially as a senior.

It was nice to see her thought of so highly by the coaches. Hopefully it was some consolation to her after the injury.

As for DWTS, it's over, just when TB started to get into it.