License Plates

TigerBlog was driving along yesterday when he noticed that the license plate on the car in front of him ended with "YAV."

Ah, Yav. 

To TigerBlog, "YAV" will always be Harvey Yavener, the longtime local sportswriter who has been one of the most influential people in TB's life. Yav lived into his 90s before passing away two years ago.

If you were ever interviewed by Yav, you remember it. If you ever were in a press conference with Yav, you remember it as well. 

He had a way of making an impression.  

TB will have to reach out to his longtime friend over at the Big Green Alert blog, Bruce Wood, who has to have any number of Yav stories to tell.  

The license plate that ended with "YAV" was one of four that TB has seen in the last few days that conjured up Princeton Athletic memories. Seriously. He's not making this up. 

The first one he saw was "UVA96." 

TigerBlog wanted to follow that car to see if it was a former Virginia men's lacrosse player. Or even fan. 

It it was, then that person would have said "grrrrrr" to TigerBlog. After all, Princeton defeated Virginia in overtime in the NCAA final in both 1994 and 1996. 

Those UVa teams had some of the best players who have ever played, including Michael Watson and Doug Knight, teammates on attack who are both in the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame. Watson, in fact, was the Most Outstanding Player of the 1996 Final Four. 

Those two teamed with Tim Whiteley to form one of the greatest attack units ever — only to be foiled on Memorial Day with OT goals from Princeton's Kevin Lowe and Jesse Hubbard (both Hall of Famers themselves).

Then there was the license plate that ended in "149." What immediately came to mind? 

That would be "Princeton 14, Dartmouth 9."

Obviously TigerBlog is referring to the 2018 football game on Powers Field between a pair of 7-0 teams. It was an epic defensive struggle, one that started with two long scoring drives on each team's first possession and then turned into one where every yard the rest of the way was a struggle. 

Dartmouth's only points after its first drive came on a safety. Princeton's only points after its first drive came on a fourth-quarter touchdown run from John Lovett. 

Princeton went 10-0 that year. Dartmouth went 9-1. That game remains the best Ivy League football game TigerBlog has ever seen. 

This is from the Daily Princetonian:

Princeton came back into the ball game Saturday to nose out a fighting Dartmouth team, 14 to 9. It was as fine an exhibition of cool headedness, determination and fight as has been shown by any Tiger team in recent years.  

If that doesn't sound like writing from 2018, that's because it was from 1940. Did you know that Princeton rallied past Dartmouth in the fourth quarter for a 14-9 win that season too? 

In that game, Dartmouth kicked a field goal from the Tiger 8-yard line to go up 9-7 with a little more than five minutes left, only to have Princeton's David Allerdice bring his team down the field with his passing, including the winning TD pass with two minutes left. 

Then there was one other license plate, though this one wasn't quite like the others. This one was simply "GO TGRS."

When he saw that one, TB was positive that some major Princeton fan was in front of him. Who was it? Would he recognize the driver?

He even sped up to pass the car and see who was driving. Would he figure it out? Or would he get pulled over, because by the time he pulled up next to the car, he was going around 80.

Well, neither possibility actually played out. 

Instead, there was a man behind the wheel who turned to face TB, presumably to see who it was who was chasing him. And there he was, with his gray hair sticking out under his hat.

And what about that hat? Did it say "Princeton Basketball?" Or "Princeton Soccer." Or "Princeton Anything." 

Nope. It said ...  

... Auburn. 

What a letdown that was.