Out Of The Trap

Math question: If a picture is worth 1,000 words and the average word count here each day is between 700 and 800 words, how much of a picture does TigerBlog need to post?

In this case, he'll paste the whole picture, which should in turn tell the whole story about how his foursome did at the Princeton Friends of Lacrosse golf outing. TB will say that it's possible that he and his group made golf history:

 

In case you can't tell, that's a sand trap, and those are four golf balls that all made their way into said bunker late in the round. Has that ever happened before? Anywhere? On any level? 

Hey, for the record, all four got out of the trap on the first try, so that's something at least. 

What did TB shoot? He has no idea. He stopped counting after about 14 holes. He can say that he hit enough good shots to make him think he could be good and so many bad shots that he knows he never will be.

He also knows that other than three shots (two with a 3-wood on par-5s and a six-iron on a par-3), he played the entire round with just three clubs: a 5-wood, a pitching wedge and a putter. The two shots with the 3-wood went about 30 yards or so combined, and the tee shot with the 6-iron, which came on the closest to the pin hole, drifted about

His group included Phil Gaffney of the Class of 1965 and the Ughetta brothers, Rob (Class of 1989) and Ted (Class of 1990). 

They didn't exactly win anything, though Ted came close to Mark Whaling, Class of 1998 and an All-Ivy pick in football and lacrosse, for longest drive. Had there been contests for "longest round," then they would have won, as they ended up as the only ones on the course after about five hours. The same is true for "most words spoken between shots," and, as TB thinks about it, the latter explains the former (and also explains why two groups played through).

The golf outing isn't about playing big-time golf, of course. These are highly competitive athletes, though, and the desire to win every time out never goes away. 

But no, it wasn't about who won. It was about friendships, those that formed from being teammates either recently or decades ago, and those that formed on the course. It's what being part of a program is all about — relationships.

Prior to Monday, TB had never met Gaffney or the Ughettas. They had never met each other (the brothers obviously had). By the end of the round, they had talked about countless people they all had in common, even sometimes separated by a generation or two.

For instance, a teammate of Phil's, also Class of 1965, had a daughter who went to Andover with the two brothers. It was that kind of day.

By the time the round was over, the other three had figured out that TB was something of an expert on the history of the lacrosse program. Or perhaps a little odd, in that each time an alum's name came up and they asked TB if he knew where they were from, he obviously did. 

The day began with lunch and ended with dinner. There wasn't much in the way of a formal program, just a few words from head coach Matt Madalon and Friends' Group president Greg Seaman. Ford Family Director of Athletics John Mack was there before the golf to say hello and meet some of the alums whose names he knew but had never actually met. TB is reasonably sure that if he had it to do all over again, Mack would have tried lacrosse instead of track and field. 

Most importantly, at least from TB's standpoint, was the love shown by everyone there for Bryce Chase, who has been with the program for more than 60 years, and Bryce's late wife Phyllis. You could tell the emotions were genuine, and you could also tell just how much Bryce and Phyllis mean to everyone there. How big is that for Bryce as he goes forward? Very.  

TigerBlog, as you have probably surmised, is no golfer, but the lacrosse golf outing is one of his favorite days of the year. He knew most of the people there long before Monday, and now he's added some others to the group.

Now multiply this out by alumni functions in every Princeton sport, and you start to get a pretty good idea of how positive, how formative, how long-lasting the athletic experience is.