Catching Up

Well, there are some items to catch up on, including the news that George Wendt passed away last week.

You know that you've had an interesting life when your obituary is almost more about the fictional character you once played than it is about you. That was certainly the case here. 

Of course, that character was Norm on the long-running comedy "Cheers." And when you think of Norm, you think of "NORM!!!!" as he walks into the bar. 

What was your favorite? Was it: 

"Hey Norm, how's life treating you?"
"Like I slept with its wife."

or

"Hey Norm, how goes it?"
"It's a dog-eat-dog world out there and I''m wearing Milkbone underwear."

or 

"Hey Mr. Peterson, do you want a beer?"
"Stop with the stupid questions."

Those are great. This one might be the best:

Rest in peace, Mr. Peterson.

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The Indiana Fever, as you may be aware, have a player named Caitlin Clark. She seems to be worth watching. 

The Fever draw ratings that no other WNBA team could even dream of, every game, home or away. Her impact on WNBA revenues has been dramatic, obviously.

What you might not know is that the team's play-by-play man is John Nolan, who has built a nice career in Indiana calling baseball and college and G-League basketball. He's now in his first season behind the mic for the Fever. 

What is so special about him? A long time ago, TigerBlog tried to recruit him for a job at Princeton, after he'd done some broadcasting for the Tigers after he graduated from Syracuse. 

Nolan nicely turned down the job. It seems to have worked out for him. 

No hard feelings, John. Congrats on the new gig. 

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The Princeton Athletics calendar is not quite finished for 2024-25. What remains are the national championships for women's open rowing, men's lightweight and heavyweight rowing and men's and women's track and field. 

The rowing championships will be held this weekend in New Jersey, with the NCAA championships for women's open at Mercer Lake, not far from Princeton, and the men's IRA championships on the Cooper River in South Jersey. 

TigerBlog was at the women's championships outside of Dayton last year. He was at the IRA championships on the Cooper River in 1998, when the Tigers won the men's lightweight and heavyweight titles in a span of about 15 minutes. 

If you've ever been in the boathouse, you might have noticed the great picture of the two teams taken shortly after those championships in 1998. TB was taken right back to the moment every time he's see it, as he was standing directly next to the photographer at the time. 

As for track and field, the regionals began yesterday, with 32 Tigers in Jacksonville — 16 men, 16 women — looking to qualify for Eugene and the NCAA finals next week.

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Welcome back to Princeton Mike Brennan, a 1994 graduate and former point guard on the men's basketball team who is joining Mitch Henderson's staff this year for his second go-round as a Tiger assistant.

In all the years that TB has been around Princeton men's basketball, there haven't been too many guys he's liked more than Brennan. He doesn't say much, but what he says is definitely worth listening to.

Way back when, early in the 1994-95 season to be exact, TigerBlog and Pete Carril went into New York City for an interview on CBS with the legendary Pat O'Brien, who wanted to talk somewhat broadly about Carril and his career. 

Instead, all he got out of Carril was "I lost my point guard," a reference to the graduated Brennan. There weren't too many players Carril ever liked more than Brennan, whose career numbers weren't overwhelming but whose impact on the games he played was. 

If the stat for fewest turnovers per 40 minutes in a career had been tracked at Princeton, Brennan would be way, way, way up there on the list. 

You can read a lot more about his career achievements as an assistant at Princeton and Georgetown under Georgetown and as head coach at American, as well as his other stops, HERE.