Happy 15th Anniversary

TigerBlog has a colonoscopy this morning.

Too much information? Nope. It's a public service announcement. 

TB knows too many people who put the simple procedure off because it doesn't sound like fun — and it's not. This will be TB's third, and none of them are all that pleasant. 

You know what's less pleasant? Colon cancer. Or any other kind. There have been too many people TB knows who have been beaten by the disease for him to be deterred by a little unpleasantness — and you shouldn't be either. 

Whether you're in TB's age range and you need a colonoscopy or any other screening, don't put it off. TB's longtime colleague and friend Nancy Donigan thought about putting off her mammogram for another year but didn't — and it saved her life, since a cancerous tumor was discovered and treated in time. 

And that's TB's TMI PSA.

And don't worry. There will still be an entry here tomorrow. TB wouldn't have it any other way.

In fact, this week marks a big anniversary for TigerBlog. It's now been 15 years since there has been a business day without a blog entry.

That's 15 years of five days a week, minus Monday holidays and plus a few special editions. That's a few short of 4,000 entries.

TigerBlog brings this up not to praise himself, though if you ask him what he's most proud of from all of his years here it's been either doing this every day or the women's athletics history book (click HERE). 

It is about two things. First, there is TB's determination not to let the streak end. Second, though, it's about the greatness of Princeton Athletics and those who compete here, coach here and work here. There is a never-ending variety of stories to tell, and so it occurred to TB long ago that he would never run out of subjects. 

It's also been a very different way of writing, since TB is both a narrator and a participant, and he would never have guessed that he would be writing so much about himself. When he was in the newspaper business all those years ago, he was taught by the late, great Harvey Yavener that "The news is the news, your reporting the news is not news."

The blog began in 2008 as a supplement to the regular coverage on goprincetontigers.com, and it was actually created by Yariv Amir, then one of TB's colleagues in the Office of Athletic Communications and now the Director of Athletics at Colgate. 

In the first iteration, the blog was mostly used for in-game updating, but it wasn't much different than regular live stats. It wasn't until TB first started to write about his experiences in covering Princeton that it began to catch on. 

Through the years, there have been a handful of others who have made contributions. In the beginning, other OAC members made contributions, but TB didn't want to dump it on anyone else. 

As such, he began to write every day. He also offered this space for guest bloggers, and he's had a few take him up on it. Just yesterday, there was a very well-received guest entry by Duncan Yin of the Class of 1982. Others who have written more than once include his former colleague and great friend David Rosenfeld, men's soccer head coach Jim Barlow, great friend and fellow Penn grad Zack DiGregorio and Tad La Fountain III of the Class of 1972, whom TB finally got to meet at the Ivy baseball tournament last spring.

As for TB, he has written blogs in seven different countries. He's written through illnesses, surgeries, family events, vacations — even a global pandemic that brought the athletics world to a stop.

He's written through three athletic directors, all of whom could have shut it down if they wanted. As he's said before, this isn't exactly standard college athletic communications stuff, and so he offers his thanks to Gary Walters, Mollie Marcoux Samaan and now John Mack. 

So why do it every day? It's because of the audience. It's been an incredibly well-received endeavor, especially by alums. The readership has grown considerably through the years, and it's reached well beyond 1,000 per day on many, many occasions. 

The most read single entry? That one had more than 30,000 views, and it was about TB's experience with the baseball team at the 2016 NCAA tournament in Lafayette, Louisiana.

TB wanted to mention the anniversary because it's important to him. 

He also wants to thank everyone who reads it, either on a daily basis or now and then. One day the streak will end — but it won't be tomorrow, or anytime soon, he hopes.