Moving Day

Well, this is it. Today's the day.

After five decades of having its home on the balcony level of Jadwin Gym, the Princeton University Office of Athletic Communications is moving to E level. And today's the day.

TigerBlog is excited about it. 

Actually, today's the day that the furniture is being delivered. And with eight people who need to relocate to E level - TigerBlog, four athletic communications types, two video dudes and the IT guy - it's not all going to get done today.

TigerBlog, though, figures he can move his stuff down there in one day. He's spent some time this week cleaning out his desk drawers and his closet, and he's come across a lot of stuff he didn't realized he'd saved.

You know, like job performance appraisals. And old pictures. And old bills. And the letter he got from human resources the day he was hired.

Oh, and he found something he's glad he's kept, a letter from John Doar, thanking TigerBlog for nominating him for the NCAA Inspiration Award, which Mr. Doar won.

He found some other notes as well. And some things that TigerBlog Jr. wrote when he was in first grade and second grade, little stories for school, all about Princeton Athletics.

He also found pictures of TB and Miss TigerBlog, back in her Little Miss TigerBlog days, each year at the elementary school father/daughter dances.

He kept all of that stuff.

He threw away a lot of other stuff. And shredded some stuff too. Like old pay stubs, which have been sitting in his desk, perhaps as a reminder of a world before all of that was electronic.

He still has a ton of other stuff in his office, most of which will not be making the trip. He has a closet in his current space that has a file cabinet that hasn't been opened in at least 10 years; he has no idea what's in it. Why bother looking now? If he hasn't used it in 10 years, how can it be important?

It's like going through your closet, trying to decide what to keep and what to get rid of. If you haven't worn it in at least a year, then chances are you're never going to again.

His new office doesn't have a closet. His stated goal is to keep his new space as clutter-free as possible. He's not liking the chances, but he can try.

TigerBlog isn't 100 percent sure who is moving into the soon-to-be-vacated OAC space. It's the only space on the balcony that has offices that are connected on the inside, as the three OAC offices can be accessed without going out into the hallway. This, TB supposes, makes them valuable.

There was a time that the OAC extended into what was then the "back room," where three interns and some student workers could sit. When TigerBlog first started coming into the OAC, there was a student worker who was on the women's soccer and hockey teams named Mollie Marcoux who had a desk back there.

Through the years, the OAC had all that space in the back room and then saw that space sealed off and made into other offices, which now are the home of head men's basketball coach Mitch Henderson and compliance Assistant AD Kelly Widener.

Now? The OAC is packing up and moving downstairs. After nearly 50 years, more than half of which TigerBlog has been around it, the OAC can use a bit of a change.

So that's one big event for the weekend.

There are a few others in Princeton Athletics as well.

It's the end of the football season, for one, as Princeton is at Dartmouth tomorrow at noon. Another football season has zoomed by, and when TigerBlog remembers Princeton football 2015, he'll think injuries more than anything else.

The two biggest events for Princeton Athletics this weekend are also on the road, both today. Well, technically one is a neutral site.

The first is at 4 at the University of Virginia, where the Princeton women's soccer team will play the University of Southern California in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Princeton advanced with a dominating 4-2 win over Boston College in Round 1, with a pair of goals each from Mimi Asom and Tyler Lussi.

The winner of the game advances to the Round of 16, where Princeton last was in 2004, when it reached the Final Four. Beating USC won't be easy, as the Trojans are an NCAA tournament regular and the 10th-ranked team in the country.

On the other hand, games at this time of year are supposed to be hard. And Princeton has been on a great roll of late, with a 6-0-1 stampede through the Ivy League and an unbeaten streak of 13 games.

The soccer game will be over by the time the women's volleyball match starts in Cambridge.

If the women's soccer team might not have figured to still be playing the weekend before Thanksgiving when the season started, at least by midseason there was a reasonable chance to think it might be the case.

For women's volleyball, at one point the Tigers were 0-3 in the league. After one trip through the double-round robin, Princeton was 3-4.

Now?

Princeton tore through the league in the second half, avenging all four losses while going 7-0. And the Tigers got all the help they needed along the way, the result of which was a tie for the Ivy league championship with Harvard.

Tonight at 7 in Cambridge, Princeton will have a one-match playoff for the Ivy League's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Princeton will be led by the Ivy Coach of the Year, Sabrina King, and the Ivy Player of the Year Cara Mattaliano.

In all the time TB has been here, he considers the current run by the women's volleyball team to be one of the best stories he's witnessed.

Of course, he's witnessed all of these things to this point from the Jadwin balcony. Today it all changes.

TigerBlog's view from his office has been out across the track and to the football stadium. It's a very nice view, especially on a nice day, when the sun splashes across both.

Yesterday, his last day on the balcony, wasn't one of those days. It was raining and gray outside.


Yeah. It's time to move.