Off And Running

TigerBlog stopped at the bank machine this past Saturday morning.

When he got there, a man about 10 years or so older than TB was just finishing his transaction and getting back into his car. As it was a nice day, he had the top down on his convertible.

TigerBlog has never owned a convertible. In fact, he can't remember ever being in one, other than when he was really, really little and FatherBlog had one.

As the man got back into his car to drive away, he cranked his music to a very high level. TB found this odd, as the man was probably in his 60s, as opposed to his teens or 20s.

And then there was the song itself. It took TB a second to get it, but then he figured it out. It was "Silhouettes On The Shade," a song TB recognized from Saturday night oldies of long ago. He couldn't remember who sang it and never would have come up with The Rays.

"Silhouettes On The Shade" is a doo-wop song from 1957. It was redone many times, including by the Four Seasons, Frankie Lymon, Herman's Hermits and the Crests.

At least that's what it says on Wikipedia.

Anyway, the man from the bank machine was dressed for golf, and TB assumed that's where he was going next. Was this the music he listened to to get him pumped to play? Maybe.

Perhaps that was his standard Saturday morning pre-tee psych music.

One of the most common sites before any athletic event is that of the competitors with headphones on, listening to whatever it is that gets them ready to go. TigerBlog, were he about to play in the Super Bowl or - even bigger - the Major League Lacrosse championship game - would listen to "Born To Run," of course.

Anytime television cameras go into the locker room or shows an athlete not yet in uniform out on the field or court or walking off a bus, there they are, the headphone. Hey, you can go into a Princeton locker room before a game and see the same thing.

Oh, and this is completely unrelated to anything, but TigerBlog has been in the writing business for more than 30 years and has never gotten a definitive answer to the question of whether or not it should be "lockerroom" or "locker room."

There are other avenues for inspiration.

Mollie Marcoux turned to one such avenue yesterday as she led her first department-wide staff meeting.

Before she ever spoke, there was Kurt Russell as Herb Brooks in "Miracle." It was the scene in the lockerroom (or is it locker room?) before the U.S. played the Soviet Union.

Go ahead. Watch it. Click right HERE and do it. And try not to get moved by it.

Watch whatever you need. Listen to whatever gets you going.

Tonight is opening night, for Princeton Athletics 2014-15.

It's actually late for opening night. Pretty much every school everywhere has already played.

Princeton has one home game today. The women's soccer team opens Julie Shackford's final season as head coach with a game against Rutgers at 7.

Admission is free. As in no charge. So be there. 

Rutgers comes into the game having already played three times - and won all three. It's a tough task for a team in its opener to play a team playing its fourth game.

The field hockey team is at Duke, who is 2-0. The men's soccer team is at FDU, who is 0-2.

The women's volleyball team is actually the first team to play, as it goes at 12:30 today against Charlotte at Temple's tournament.

There is a difference between being in shape and being in game shape. The challenge for tonight isn't just the opponents themselves but the transition to competing in games that matter.

However it goes, tonight is the start of a new year. By the time June rolls around, Princeton will have had more than 600 other athletic contests. Will there be a national champion for the 44th straight year?

What teams will surprise? Which teams will win as they are expected to do? What will be the biggest story of the year?

It starts tonight.

Opening day.

Tramps like us? Baby, we were born to run.