The Mid-Point

Has it really been six weeks since Princeton played UL-Lafayette in the opening game of the NCAA baseball regional?

Six weeks?

If you paid attention at all, you know that the trip to the regional was one of TigerBlog's favorite Princeton trips ever. The atmosphere at the games themselves was unlike anything TB had ever experienced, and there were parts away from the stadium that were incredible also.

And that was six weeks ago.

Princeton lost to UL-Lafayette 5-3 on that Friday and was eliminated the next day by Sam Houston State 7-2.

TigerBlog thought Sam Houston State was really good. The Bearkats put a lot of pressure on Arizona both times the teams met in the regional, and Sam Houston was eventually eliminated with a 6-5 loss. Arizona then beat UL-Lafayette twice - and then won the Super Regional and its division at the College World Series to get all the way to the championship series, only to lose in three games to Coastal Carolina.

In other words, Princeton found itself in a pretty strong regional. The host team (TigerBlog came back with two Ragin' Cajun t shirts) was ranked 17th, and even though UL-Lafayette lost twice to Arizona, it still outscored the Wildcats 14-12 counting its win the first meeting they had. And Sam Houston barely was edged by Arizona.

In the end, it was Arizona who made the big run. It could definitely have been UL-Lafayette. Sam Houston was going to be pesky no matter what.

Princeton actually led in its first game at the regional 3-2 before the home team rallied. Chad Powers was great that night, with eight strikeouts and no walks in front of an absolutely packed house.

Yup. That was six weeks ago tonight.

What's six weeks from today? The first athletic event of the 2016-17 season for Princeton.

That would be on Aug. 26, when the women's soccer team hosts Fordham. Two days later, the Tigers also host Villanova. Make sure you're there. What? You have something already planned for Aug. 28?

 The women's soccer team, by the way, should be well worth seeing.

Tyler Lussi, who is starting to put herself into the national team picture with the U-23 team, will be chasing down Esmeralda Negron's career records for goals and points, for the men's and women's programs (she is four goals and 12 points away from tying them). Sophomore Mimi Asom, the Ivy Rookie of the Year who has been with the U-20 national team, will then try to chase down whatever records that Lussi puts up.

Anyway, what does that make today?

Well, the baseball games were the last games of the 2015-16 academic year, though track and field athletes competed a week later.

But basically, that makes this weekend the mid-point between the end of the old year and the start of the new year.

It's mid-July, of course. The forecast for Princeton is summery. And it's going to stay that way for awhile. The next 15 days, apparently, will have no day that will have a high temperature lower than 86.

Hazy. Hot. Humid. Toss in some thunderstorms. This is not TB's first July in New Jersey.

Since it's a Friday in July, TigerBlog can take a paragraph or two to say that there is no part of him that understands the whole Pokemon Go thing. And there's no part of him that wants to participate in it either.

Apparently there have been some people who have actually gotten hurt playing this game. TB saw one story, for instance, from Auburn, N.Y., outside of Syracuse, where a driver playing the game smashed into a tree.

This is from a wire story:

New mobile game Pokemon Go has become an overnight sensation with U.S. fans but also played a role in armed robberies in Missouri, the discovery of a body in Wyoming and minor injuries to fans distracted by the app, officials and news media reported on Monday.
The "augmented reality" game based on the 1990s Japanese franchise surged to the top of Apple Inc's app charts over the weekend. Gamers use their mobile devices to find and capture virtual Pokemon characters such as cuddly yellow Pikachu at various real-life locations.
Five days after its release, the game now is on more Android phones than dating app Tinder, and its rate of daily active users was neck and neck with social network Twitter, according to analytics firm SimilarWeb.
Highlighting a dark side to its popularity, the game was used by four teens in Missouri to lure nearly a dozen victims into armed robberies, police and media reports said.

What else?

This is a big weekend for Austin Sims and Michael Sowers of the men's lacrosse team. They'll play in the U-19 World Championship gold medal game tomorrow.

For the most part, though, it's a quiet time for Princeton Athletics.

And the mid-point from last year to next year.

Next year will be here soon enough.