Zooming By

In a world of Zoom meetings, TigerBlog has observed a new phenomenon.

Every call, it seems, includes a moment where someone says to someone else: "you're muted."

As you're probably aware, when you are on a Zoom meeting, you have the option of muting yourself, which most people tend to do. The only problem is that when you are called on to contribute or simply want to speak up, you have to remember to unmute yourself.

What ends up happening, however, is that the person speaks for a few seconds and nobody can hear what it being said. That's when the "you're muted" cries begin.

Then the person unmutes and then has to start from the beginning.

The other Zoom phenomenon is when someone's either pet or baby makes an appearance. Those are always welcome.

It's a Zoom world these days. And a "zoom" one. Lower case z on that one.

Does it seem to you that the days zoom by now? It does to TigerBlog.

It seems like each day is over in a blink, which is the opposite of what you'd expect. You'd figure that these days would drag, since most of the time is being spent inside, and one day looks very much like another.

Hey, even the time spent commuting has been eliminated. Wouldn't that make it seem like the days are longer?

TB has a theory on this.

It's because there's nothing at the end of the week to look forward to.

Whatever you do on the weekends, it's always out there calling to you as the weekday goes by. And it always seems to be make those week days slow down, right?

This week has certainly zoomed by. It's Friday already.

Had the spring played out normally, it would still be Tuesday. Maybe Wednesday.

Why?

Because had this been a normal spring, then tomorrow would have been the lacrosse doubleheader against Cornell on Sherrerd Field. The women would have been clinching their seventh straight Ivy League championship, and the men's game would have matched Princeton and Cornell, both of whom were 5-0 when the season ended.

How great would it have been if they were now both 5-0 in the league?

Oh, and TB fully acknowledges that every other Ivy League men's team figures it would have been unbeaten at this point and that the Cornell women figured it would be they who would be winning the league title, just as Penn and Dartmouth probably figured that they already would have done it.

But hey, the Cornell and Princeton men were ranked second and third when the season ended in March and the Princeton women have won six straight titles. So maybe TB wouldn't have been very far off.

Either way, this week would have dragged for TB. It would have been "can you believe there are still four days left until the game starts?"

Maybe that's why time is moving slowly.

It would have been another big spring weekend for all of Princeton's teams. They all would have had their weeks crawl along, waiting to get out there and compete.

It will still be a big weekend for one Princeton athlete, a fall athlete. This weekend is the NFL draft, and depending on whom you believe and what you read, Princeton quarterback Kevin Davidson will either be selected on the draft's final day or be a very quick signee for some team once it ends tomorrow.

TB has never liked the NFL draft all that much. In fact, he considers it the most over-hyped, under-delivering annual sporting event.

It's made an industry out of draft analysts, and fans cheer and boo their team's selections. And guess what? Nobody knows what's what.

Will Joe Burrow lead the Cincinnati Bengals to a Super Bowl or two and make the Hall of Fame? Will he be average for his career? A total bust?

All three of those are equal possibilities.

For all of the time and money and talk and talk and talk about the draft, nobody really knows much about how any of the players chosen in last night's first round or any of the rounds that follow will actually do. Half of the first rounders will never amount to much.

But hey. There will be stories assigning grades to teams for their drafts once it ends, even though it actually takes a few years to evaluate.

And who has ever heard of any of these guys beyond a few skill positions guys or a defensive player or two? Oh well. That's the NFL draft rant.

In the meantime, TB would love to see Davidson get drafted. He led Princeton to an 8-2 record in his lone year as the starting quarterback, but it's his size (6-4, 225) and arm strength (significant) that will get his name called, if it is.

Last weekend it was Bella Alarie's turn in the draft. This weekend, hopefully, it'll be Davidson's.