POTUS Championships

Spoiler - There are no politics here. Not to worry. 

There is, however, an issue that TigerBlog has with counting.

Okay, here goes. How is Donald Trump the 45th and 47th President of the United States? Obviously, his terms have not been consecutive, which is also true of one other President, Grover Cleveland. 

In case you don't know this, Cleveland is buried in Princeton, New Jersey. He was the 22nd and 24th President, elected in 1884 and 1892. Who was elected in between? That would be Benjamin Harrison. 

So here's TB's question: If you're counting each term separately, then why don't the Presidents who served consecutively count as two as well? By that logic, shouldn't George Washington have been the first and second President?

If you did the math, you'd find out that Mr. Trump was the 68th and now 70th President. Perhaps there's money to be made off of such merchandise? 

It would have been funnier if George Carlin had done this. And TigerBlog will admit that the strangest things bother him. 

Seriously? Why wouldn't every term count separately. TB was never was a big fan of the whole Grover Cleveland controversy of whether he should have been 22 and 24. 

He remembers a day in fifth grade social studies, back at old Milford Brook School, when he got into a heated discussion with his teacher — Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler —over how Cleveland could be two Presidents when he was one person. He ended up in the principal's office over that one.

Okay, nothing in the previous paragraph ever actually happened. Who was Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler? If you're in TigerBlog's age range, you already know.

With that, TB would like to update something he wrote eight years ago after the Presidential inauguration, when he asked this question: Which President can claim the most Princeton Ivy League championships during his administration?

Dwight Eisenhower, as President, was in office for Princeton's first 13 Ivy League championships. The lowest number belongs to Kennedy, whose term in office was cut short in one of the great tragedies in this country's history. Kennedy, before his assassination, was in office for 10 Princeton championships.

LBJ served more than four years, and used that time to set the record to that point, with 17 titles. 

Nixon was the President from January 1969 through August of 1974. Ford, who took office when Nixon resigned, served from then until January of 1977, or less then half the time of Nixon, but Princeton won the same number - 13 - under each.

The first women's Ivy championship was won in 1973-74, by Radcliffe in women's rowing. Princeton's first came the next year, in women's basketball, won by the Tigers as Watergate was just about to end the Nixon administration.

Carter won 33 championships, or at least Princeton did in his four years in office. That was actually more than any two of his predecessors combined.

Reagan, as the first President to serve two full terms after women started to compete for Ivy titles, shattered the record, with 64. George H.W. Bush, who would not win re-election, won 31.

Ah, but then came the Bill Clinton years. Princeton would win 92 Ivy League championships in his eight years as President, the most under any administration.

As for George W. Bush, he's second with 85. Mr. Obama had 83 on his resume. Princeton won 39 in Trump's first term, though that number would have been higher had it not been for the pandemic. The same is true of Mr. Biden's term, which ended with 41, though it would have clearly been way higher without the pandemic. He probably would have gotten well into the 50s. 

If you're a pure partisan, that's 276 for Democrats and 258 for Republicans.

So congratulations to Bill Clinton on still holding the record. Will it stand for four more years? Mr. Trump needs 53 to tie. That's asking a lot. 

On the other hand, isn't that something that can unite all Princetonians, if not Americans?

And there you go. See? Nothing political.