At least according to TigerBlog's iPhone anyway. The day topped out two degrees short of 90, ending a streak of nine consecutive days of temps in the 90s here in the tropics.
It didn't seem like it was anywhere near 90 yesterday, perhaps because of the lower humidity. In fact, this week hasn't seemed nearly as oppressive as last week.
And what did the end of the 90 degree streak call to TigerBlog's mind? Of course, it was the second game of the 2015 men's lacrosse season, the one where Princeton and Hofstra played in a driving snowstorm that left the field covered in several inches of snow by game's end.
Hey, it's been almost six months now since that game.
Actually, when TigerBlog released the Princeton Class of 2019 for men's lacrosse the other day, he used a picture of the No. 20 Princeton jersey (belonging to Braedon Gait) and the No. 19 Princeton jersey (belonging to Bobby Weaver). Pretty clever, no?
When TB went through the pictures of the Manhattan game, one week earlier than the Hofstra game, he remembered that it had snowed on that day as well. At least in the second half, which is when the picture of Gait was taken.
The snow that day, though, was nothing like it was for the Hofstra game. In fact, TB has never seen lacrosse played in weather like that before.
Mike MacDonald and Zach Currier, both from Canada, had huge days. TigerBlog went back and reread his story about the game, which started with this rather flowery sentence: The only thing more beautiful than the peacefully falling snow on Sherrerd Field Saturday afternoon was the way the Princeton men's lacrosse team clicked on offense in the third quarter.
Not bad, right? TB did mention that MacDonald and Currier were big in the game and that they were from Canada, with the implication that because they were Canadian that they wouldn't mind the snow. TB never actually asked either. Maybe they hate the snow.
It reminds him of an old joke - two camels were walking in the desert when one said to the other "I don't care what anybody says. I'm thirsty."
Anyway, TigerBlog tweeted a picture from that Hofstra game yesterday, just for fun. This picture, to be exact:
TigerBlog saw that the picture had been retweeted by Austin Sims, a rising sophomore on the team. He also saw that Sims had tweeted a link to a story in Business Insider, entitled "The 29 Most Successful Princeton Alumni of All-Time."
The world of online media is built around things like this. Lists of this. Lists of that. You read one story, and all along the side you can click on one list or another, like the most horribly scary pictures ever or the best looking athletes ever or pictures of celebrities at their proms or something.
It's all designed to get as many clicks as possible, which in turn can translate into ad revenue. It's the 2015 version of circulation.
The list of Princeton alums wasn't designed to turn one story into 29 clicks. TigerBlog was able to read the entire list as one story, which is a rarity these days.
Anyway, as far as this list goes, TB couldn't help but notice one thing right away. And it was sort of shocking.
Of the nine current Supreme Court Justices, three of them are Princeton alums - Samuel Alito, Elene Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor. There have been other Surpreme Court Justices through the years. None made the list.
But David Duchovny did? And Ellie Kemper, who went from the field hockey team to a reasonably successful acting career. And they got picked over the three Justices?
So did Brooke Shields and Dean Cain. Perhaps you remember Cain as a record-setting defensive back, who set Division I-AA records for interceptions in a season and career, both of which have since been broken. Of course, his little write-up says he played on the basketball team, as opposed to football and volleyball, which he also played.
Speaking of basketball, Bill Bradley made it of course.
So did Michelle Obama, the current First Lady of the United States. Woodrow Wilson and James Madison, the two Princeton alums who became Presidents of the United States. Ted Cruz, who wants to be the next one, is also there. Cruz graduated in 1992.
Donald Rumsfeld, who served as Secretary of Defense for two different Presidents, was honored. He also wrestled and played lightweight football at Princeton.
F. Scott Fitzgerald was there. So were a bunch of others. You can see for yourself. And why 29? That's a weird number. What about, as former Princeton broadcaster John Nolan said, America's obsession with round numbers?
Princeton has had so many successful alums through the years that it's hard to pick just 29. TigerBlog's list would have been wildly different.
So other than the Supreme Court Justices, who else should have been there?
John McPhee, obviously.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment