Time to catch up:
* TigerBlog flew out to Northwestern with the field hockey team this past weekend. Sitting next to him on the flight to O'Hare was a very lively 86-year-old woman named Joan who was from Manasquan. TB asked her if she knew Jack Nicholson, who went to Manasquan High School, and Joan said 1) that she did, 2) that he was a very nice boy, 3) that they had stayed friends through the years and 4) that he had taken her best friend to the junior prom.
* Speaking of the field hockey team, the Tigers are home tomorrow at 4 against Cornell, who is now ranked 20th in both this week's NFHCA poll and the RPI. Princeton is ineligible to be ranked in the NFHCA poll because its record is 3-5 — though four of those losses are to Nos. 2, 3, 4 and 8 in this week's RPI — but Princeton is No. 16 in RPI.
Princeton has a stretch of three Ivy games in eight days, with Penn at Bedford Field Wednesday and then a trip to Brown a week from tomorrow. The Brown game, by the way, is followed two days later with a home game against Syracuse, who is 14 in the RPI.
* Speaking of teams with three Ivy games in eight days, the women's soccer team will also be starting that run this weekend, only a day later than the field hockey team.
Princeton is at Brown Saturday at 4, followed by a trip to Penn Wednesday at 6 and a home game against Yale a week from Saturday at 7. Brown, by the way, is 19-0-2 in its last 21 Ivy League games, making Saturday's game one of the biggest for a Princeton fall team.
The Ivy League has six teams in the top 77 of the RPI, led by Princeton, who checks in at No. 6. Brown is 30 spots back 36, with Columbia in between at 22. The others are Harvard at 68, Dartmouth at 76 and Yale at 77.
Princeton, Brown, Columbia and Dartmouth all won their first Ivy game (the Tigers defeated Cornell 4-2 and Brown defeated Harvard 2-0).
* If you're in Providence this weekend, you have a chance to see two very big Princeton events.
The first is tomorrow night, when the women's volleyball team takes on Brown to start its weekend trip, which ends Saturday at Yale. Brown lost to Yale in five sets this past weekend, with four decided by two points, including 18-16 in the fifth. Princeton opened its Ivy schedule by sweeping Penn.
Brown won the Ivy title in 2021. Princeton and Yale tied for the title a year ago, but Brown defeated Princeton in the Ivy League tournament semifinals before losing to Yale in the final.
* If you think you've seen a better fielding third baseman than Brooks Robinson, you haven't. The Orioles Hall of Famer passed away earlier this week, and he was before your time, check out some of the plays he made on YouTube.
* If you haven't been paying attention to the Major League Baseball standings, then you might not realize that Princeton alums Chris Young and Mike Hazen have done incredible jobs in turning around the Rangers and Diamondbacks as their general managers.
A year ago, those two were a combined 142-182. This year? The Rangers just took three straight from the Mariners while the Astros were getting swept as well to move 2.5 games in front in first place in the AL West. The Diamondbacks are in a four-team run for the final two NL Wild Card spots.
Whether they reach the postseason or not, the teams have improved already from those 142 wins to 171 and counting. That's an impressive turnaround in one year for the two former Tigers.
* The women's rugby team, in Year 2 as a varsity program, has made a huge jump in terms of competitiveness. In fact, the Tigers fell just one point short of their first win in the 15s when they fell 27-26 to Mount St. Mary's in their last game.
Princeton is at American International College Saturday at noon. AIC is 1-1, with a 65-0 loss to Harvard and a 105-0 win over New Haven.
* Finally, happy 78th birthday to Gary Walters, whose Princeton connection and love runs as deep as anyone's. Gary, of course, was the point guard on the 1965 NCAA Final Four men's basketball team, an assistant coach under Pete Carril and then the Director of Athletics for 20 years.
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