A Day Of Orange And Black

Ah, Halloween.

A day of candy. Of children in costumes. Of ghost and goblins. Of scares and frights.

And a day when the rest of the country realizes what Princetonians know every day: That the best color scheme is Orange and Black.

What is going on in places like West Philadelphia, Cambridge and New Haven today? Are the offices of our colleagues throughout the Ivy League decorated in Orange and Black? They must be, right?

As TigerBlog's kids are a bit past the excitement of Halloween, he has lost track of what the dominant costumes of the day are. Craig Sachson, who works here in the OAC and has a first-grade daughter, said that there will be more than a few little girls dressed up as Elsa and Anna from "Frozen."

There was a time when those same-aged little girls dressed up as the wholesome, family-friendly "Hannah Montana." Look how that worked out.

TigerBlog can never remember having a great Halloween costume. He actually laughs every time he sees a movie or TV show where every single person at the party has the most clever, most creative costume ever.

His experience was always thinking that his idea of piecing together a costume was: "this is bad."

As for the candy part, TigerBlog is much more into cantaloupe, apples, bananas and grapes - red grapes - than he is candy right now. Actually, he's afraid of candy, because he thinks if he has one M&M, he's going to be immediately hooked again and start eating them by the millions again.

So with no interest in candy and kids who are past their trick-or-treating prime, TigerBlog is content to head to Newark today for the Liberty Hockey Invitational.

It's opening night for Princeton men's hockey, which starts a new season with a new coach, Ron Fogarty, a man who seemingly boundless enthusiasm for his program. The Tigers take on Yale at 7:30, after UConn plays Merrimack at 4:30. The consolation and championship games are Sunday.

TigerBlog has never been to the Prudential Center before. He's looking forward to it. He's also never been to the new Yankee Stadium, Citi Field or the Barclay's Center. All in good time, he supposes.

TigerBlog figures to follow up the hockey games with the Ivy League Heptagonal cross country championships tomorrow morning. The women race at 11, followed by the men.

If you've been to Heps cross country, it's one of the best annual events in Ivy League athletics. Hopefully the weather will cooperate at least a little bit.

There are some huge games this weekend for Princeton athletics as well, mostly in Ithaca, N.Y.

The football team plays Cornell at 12:30, in a game that can be seen on Fox College Sports. Princeton is coming off its big loss to Harvard last week, and playing in Ithaca has never been easy.

Still, the Tigers are 2-1 in the Ivy League and need to win to stay in the league race, with games against Penn, Yale and Dartmouth still to come.

The field hockey team is playing at noon at Cornell in a game that will have a huge impact on the Ivy League championship. The Tigers and Big Red, along with Columbia, are tied for first, at 4-1 each; the Lions are at Yale tomorrow.

Princeton can earn a share of the league championship with wins tomorrow and next week at home against Penn, but to get to the NCAA tournament, the Tigers will need Columbia to also lose, either to Yale or next week against Harvard.

There is also a soccer doubleheader at Cornell, with the women at 2:30 and the men after. The men are in the middle of a crowded race for the league championship.

The men's water polo team has a big game at Bucknell tomorrow as well.

It's a big day for Orange and Black. Followed by a big weekend for the Orange and Black.

Have fun. Stay safe.