Take Two

TigerBlog is doing something today that he's never done before in the history of this blog.

He's starting over after having finished.

He had 821 words in the bank, plenty for one day. And he re-read it, and in doing so came to this conclusion: what he wrote was dull.

So he trashed it. And now he's starting over.

He's never done that before. At least he doesn't think he has. If he did, he can't remember.

He could have stayed with what he had. It wasn't that bad. It's just that there wasn't much substance to it.

Hey, he can be forgiven. It's early July, the hardest time of the year to find stuff to write about, especially considering that Princeton Athletics is seven weeks away from its first games. That's a lot of days to fill without the benefit of having events to use as subject matter.

When TB first started doing this, he thought he might take the summers off. Or only write two or three days a week. Or do a "best of" format, by repeating earlier blogs as the summer went on.

Actually, that last one isn't a bad idea. But no, he's always found something new to say. And if he had a really dull one every now and then, so what, right?

But he couldn't let his first version for today stand. And so here we are.

It's a shame too, because he was done. And now he's starting over.

So where to start on the restart?

How about in Cuba?

One of the stories on the main page of goprincetontigers.com is a video from the trip to Cuba that the men's and women's track and field teams recently made. You can see it by clicking HERE.

So there was Cuba. It seemed like the teams had a good time there, and it certainly seemed like they had a full exposure to the local culture, which is one of the main reasons to have these trips. 

Then there was the women's water polo story from Monday, the one where Princeton players Ashleigh Johnson and Ashley Hatcher are competing at the Pan Am Games in Toronto. Johnson is with the U.S. team, while Hatcher is with Argentina.

So that's two items down.

The lead story on goprincetontigers.com yesteday was about how men's basketball alum T.J. Bray will play with the Knicks team in the Las Vegas Summer League. It's a step in the direction of the NBA for Bray, who played in the league last year and then played in Italy.

TigerBlog has no idea how many players make the leap from the Las Vegas league all the way to the NBA. His sense is it isn't many, but it's an opportunity at least.

Bray isn't the only Princeton player in the league. Ian Hummer, the second leading scorer in Princeton men's basketball history, is also playing, with Sacramento's team.

Track. Water polo. Basketball.

There were also stories on the main page from tennis, golf and hockey. That's a pretty normal summer situation, with a fairly random variety of sports represented. Last week it was all rowing all the time with the Henley event.

So what else can TB say?

His old friend "Big Green Alert Guy" wrote this on his blog yesterday: Regular readers of this site know that I lament the end of the printed media guides. I have a bookshelf lined with them and go back to them all the time. I'm just not sure as technologies and servers and sports information directors change that we'll always be able to find older material on the web. In fact, I'm sure we won't.

TigerBlog is filled with respect for BGA and the job he's always done, but he has a 180 degree disagreement with his friend on this subject. Media guides. The idea of doing them again sends shivers down TB's back.

Does BGA have a good point? Maybe. Depends who you ask. To TB, they're just out-of-date forms of information that were a drain on the budget.

If BGA has a point that TB agrees with, it's that there is a responsibility on the part of those in athletic communications to make sure that the older material about which he speaks is preserved and readily available. In fact, TB wishes that Princeton had more complete archives going back for every sport from Day 1, though it doesn't. No school does.

What there does exist needs to be well documented and aggressively updated. Hopefully BGA won't be right about his concerns.

What else?

Oh yeah, with "Parenthood" done, he's looking for another show. He was on Netflix, scrolling around, when he stumbled on a movie of the children's series "Kipper."

The title character is a dog, a British one at that. His best friend is another dog, this one named, of all things, "Tiger."

TigerBlog Jr. and Miss TigerBlog both watched "Kipper" and had "Kipper" books when they were really little. Neither remembered anything about the show.

TigerBlog did, especially the part where the two dogs greet each other, with thick, thick British accents - "Hello Kipper. Hello Tiger."

Hilarious.

Anyway, he's trying out "Turn," the story of the spies during the American Revolution. He's a few episodes into it, but it's really good.

And that's about all he has for you today.

Okay, this isn't the best day of TigerBlogging ever. But that's okay.

It's way better than what it would have been if he hadn't started over.

What did he originally write?

He deleted it and can't remember. And it's much better this way.