A Chilly 71?

TigerBlog was sitting outside of a Barnes & Noble yesterday afternoon, getting some work done while a classic rock radio station played in the background.

At one point, the DJ said that he'd be going to a commercial break and coming back with a song by Peter Wolf. He then said "and can you tell me what band Peter Wolf was the lead singer for before he did some solo stuff?"

To nobody in particular, though louder than he realized, TB said "The J. Geils Band." Then he realized that an older couple was walking past him and looked at him quizzically, at which point TB said "J. Geils was actually the lead guitar player."

They smiled and kept going on their way. 

Also, when the DJ came back, he said that he hoped everyone "was enjoying this chilly afternoon." Chilly? It was 71 degrees at the time.

Did TB mention that he's been working from Florida this week? Ah, 71 degrees on Jan. 31. 

Hey, welcome to February.

And with that ...

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TigerBlog was very dialed in on the 2024 Olympic qualifying tournament for field hockey two weeks ago. Now his attention turns to the situation in Olympic women's water polo.

Unlike in field hockey, where the United States team had to take the long way to its eventual qualification, the U.S. women's water polo team clinched its spot by winning the 2023 Pan Am Games. After that, the U.S. then came in an uncharacteristic fifth at the World Championships, after a quarterfinal upset at the hands of Italy.

The U.S. team has won the last three gold medals in Olympic women's water polo, which has been an Olympic sport only since 2000. Princeton alum Ashleigh Johnson has been the goalie for the U.S. team on its most recent two gold medal winning squads.

There will be 10 teams in the Olympic women's water polo tournament in Paris this summer. Of the 10 teams, eight have already clinched spots — the U.S., France, the Netherlands, Spain, Australia, China, Greece and South Africa. The last two spot will be determined at the World Aquatics Championships, which begin this weekend and run through Feb. 16, in Doha, the capital city of Qatar. 

All eight of the teams that have already qualified will be competing in Doha, and TB has no idea how the other two spots for the Olympic field will be determined.

He does know that in addition to Johnson, Princeton will be represented on the U.S. team by Jovana Sekulic, who is taking the year off from school to compete for an Olympic spot after scoring 76 goals and being named the CWPA Player of the Year, an All-American and an NCAA championship All-Tournament selection last year as a sophomore. 

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TigerBlog struck up a conversation with two Purdue basketball fans yesterday. TB went to a Purdue game at Mackey Arena in 2019, and it was the best power conference college basketball environment he's ever seen — and he's been to games at places like Duke, Kansas, North Carolina and Louisville, among many others. 

Since that experience TB has rooted for the Boilermakers. It's interesting to see the immediate connection you can have with people over a shared rooting interest, in this case Purdue men's basketball. And that shared interest is for a team that is hoping to avoid the miserable losses it had to St. Peters two years ago and FDU last year in the NCAA tournament. 

When TB mentioned he was from Princeton, they both started shaking and squealed "no, not another New Jersey school."

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Tomorrow will be a busy Friday on Princeton's campus. 

If you want to see high-level swimming and diving, the H-Y-P meet starts at 2 pm and continues at 6 pm both tomorrow and Saturday at DeNunzio Pool. Both the Princeton men's and women's teams are nationally ranked and in fact both are 24th in this week's College Swimming Coaches Association poll.

There is also women's tennis tomorrow at 1 in Jadwin Gym against Temple. 

The men's hockey and women's basketball teams are both home this weekend, beginning tomorrow at 7 with hockey at Baker Rink against Dartmouth and basketball in Jadwin against Yale. 

The men's volleyball team is home at 4 in Dillon Gym against Pepperdine.