Goodbye To August

So far in the summer of 2014, the temperature in Princeton has reached 90 degrees just three times. Not once has it been above 91.

The forecast is for the weather to get warmer in the next few days, with a chance to reach 90 twice over the weekend and the predicted high to reach 89 two other days.

It makes TigerBlog wonder if the human mind can actually distinguish between 89 and 90. Whenever TB hears of these things these days, he always goes back to what John Nolan, the radio voice of the Fort Wayne Tin Caps, said so profoundly at Jadwin Gym one night last winter about America's obsession with round numbers.

Anyway, TigerBlog will take the under for 90 degrees this weekend. He'll say it'll get no higher than 89 around here.

Certainly this morning there was no reason to suspect that a heat wave was looming. It was another in a series of beautiful, clear, no-humidity, high 50s/low 60s mornings, leading to another beautiful, clear, no-humidity, high 70s/low 80s afternoons. In other words, perfectly perfect, weather-wise at least.

John Bullis is completing his first summer here as Princeton's athletic videographer. He came here in the middle of the last athletic year, from Minneapolis. TB had to explain last winter that it's not usually that cold and snowy here, and now he's had to explain that New Jersey summers have always been famous for their heat and humidity.

As an aside, TigerBlog got an email recently from someone he doesn't know who said that TB seems to be obsessed with TV and the weather. He's not, though he is observant of both.

Anyway, here's another question - would you take a frozen, icy, snowy winter and chilly spring in exchange for an unbelievable summer and fall? That's basically what the last 12 months here have been.

Or would you prefer one of those never-snows, never-gets-too-cold winters if you also had to take a brutally hot and humid summer along with it? TigerBlog isn't sure, but he'd probably deal with the stiffling heat instead of the brutal cold.

Even if the weather looks like it has a chance to heat up a bit, the reality is that the summer is drawing to a close.

In some years, August crawls along. This year, nope. It flew by. TigerBlog can't remember a month that has ever gone as quickly, it would appear.

In fact, shockingly, this is it for August, at least as far as this blog goes. The next time we all get together again, it'll be September.

It'll be Tuesday, Sept. 2, to be exact. Labor Day is Monday, which makes this a long weekend.

Around here, it's the last gameless weekend for awhile.

Next week is game week, the first of the year. Not football game week quite yet, even as the rest of the high school and college football worlds have already kicked it off.

The first Princeton games for 2014-15 are one week from today, when the women's soccer team hosts Rutgers, the men's soccer team is at FDU, the field hockey team is at Duke and the women's volleyball team is at Temple's tournament. The men's water polo team opens its season by hosting the Princeton Invitational a week from tomorrow.

The football season will begin three weeks in the future and 3,000 miles to the west, where the Tigers will play San Diego. The home opener will be Sept. 27 against Davidson.

Kickoff for that game will be at 6, with fireworks to follow after the game. Everyone loves fireworks. Make sure you get there to see them.

TigerBlog would be in favor of an 11th football game and in favor of the Ivy League champion in the FCS playoffs, though not having those doesn't torture him as much as the addition of a basketball tournament would.

What he'd really see like to see is a league-wide off-week halfway through the season, after each team has played five games. It would space out the season a little more, enable it to start a week earlier, give teams a chance to get healthier in midweek.

It would also mean starting camps a week earlier or so, which would increase costs, so he's not 100% sure how it would fly. He just thinks it's a good idea.

In the meantime, it's not really time to focus on all that yet. It's not even Labor Day.

It's still August - though not for long.

It's one last summer Friday. Week after week this summer, it's gotten to be Friday, and TigerBlog has been stunned that another week has come and gone. Is that what happens when you get older?

That's too philosophical for right now. For now, TigerBlog wishes everyone a great, safe, fun holiday weekend.

And then next week, Princeton Athletics gets going.