The Hunger Games

You don't want to mess with Carla Berube in any sort of competitive situation.

TigerBlog already knew this. Any Princeton women's basketball fan knows this about the team's coach.

March. June. What's the difference? 

When there's winning to be done, you want to be on Berube's team.

TB experienced that first-hand Friday morning in Jadwin Gym. Yes, this was the same venue in which Berube has coached the Tigers to a record of 47-4.

Those, though, were just basketball games. This was The Hunger Games.

Or at least the Princeton Department of Athletics version of it.

It came after the final department staff meeting of the year, during which Ford Family Director of Athletics John Mack awarded the Lorin Maurer Award, which is the highest departmental honor each year. The official language of the award is:

Awarded to that member of the Princeton Athletics family who best reflects the passion, dedication and infectious enthusiasm that defined Lorin Maurer’s character and her inspiring impact on colleagues and friends. Awarded in the memory of Lorin Maurer h78, 1978-2009.

As you possibly know from reading TigerBlog each Feb. 12, Lorin Maurer was a member of the department when she was killed in a plane crash in 2009 at the age of 30. The award has been given each year since her death.

This year's two winners were Lisa Van Ackeren and Nancy Donigan. Lisa, you probably know, as the ultra-successful head coach of the Princeton softball team. 

Nancy, if you don't know, is the longtime compliance assistant at Princeton. TB once wrote this about her:

Nancy is a Princeton Athletics staple. She's funny, well-meaning, empathetic and always upbeat.

That all still stands. 

It was a nice moment when Lisa and Nancy were given their awards. This wasn't a morning for "nice," though.

After all it was time to let the "Hunger" games begin.

Now TigerBlog had never read the book or seen the movie, so he had no idea what it was all about. As it turns out, you probably already know this part: In the actual Hunger Games, they play to the death. 

In the ones at Jadwin Gym, thankfully, they only played for points. 

There were seven "Districts." TB was in District 7, the Gray Team, along with, among others, Berube. In the end, it was the Red Team that won, edging out the Grays by one single point.

There were mental challenges, such as trivia and riddles. TB did well in those. Here's a riddle for you: Is it legal for a man to marry his widow's sister?

It took TB a few seconds to get that one. The answer of course, is:

TigerBlog took that picture just to prove that those words once appeared on the Jadwin Gym video board.

If TB's team lost in the end, it wasn't for lack of effort on the part of Berube. Oh, did she give her all.

This first came out in the second leg of the day, which was a game of musical chairs. This wasn't the little kid's birthday party version, though. This was intense from start to finish.

Wrestling coach Joe Dubuque was TB's favorite, until he was shockingly eliminated to leave Berube and softball assistant coach Megan Murray as the last two standing — though only one could be the last one sitting.

Murray, for her part, had pretty much demolished the field to that point, throwing an elbow or a knee as needed to get control of the last chair. This time, though, it was Berube, who got the seat, stood up and gave a fist pump. 

Oh, and here she is afterwards: 

That was nothing compared to the effort she gave in the final event of the day, the jousting. 

The Gray Team held a slim lead into that event and needed a win over the Blue Team in the semifinals to possibly clinch the Hunger Games. As TB understands it, in the movie it means that the winner gets to live. Here it meant a $100 gift card to a local spa, so it's not quite the same thing.

The jousting took place in a bounce house that had four foamish blocks where the competitors stood while they whacked at each other with weapons similar to swimming noodles. There would be two "Tributes" from each district who would enter. The last one standing would win for that team.

In this match, those two would be Dubuque and Berube. Realizing she was about to lose her balance, Berube launched herself at Dubuque, knocking him off his perch and having him hit the ground before she did — only to have her majestic move waved off by the referee, Mack himself.

Had it stood, it might have been Berube's finest Jadwin moment.

Ah, but it was not to be. There would be no spa days for the Gray Team.

There would be a lot food though. The Hunger Games were followed by the Hungry Games, in which the department members celebrated the end of another wildly successful year with basically an all-you-can-eat situation.

When it was over, TB went home and watched the original movie "The Hunger Games." 

Why did they form partnerships? Why didn't they kill the other Tributes in their alliance while they slept? They'd have to do it anyway.

Yeah, TB like the athletic department version better.