Lagniappe

Lagniappe.

Did you know that this is a word? TigerBlog didn't. 

What does it mean? According to Mr. Webster: 

a small gift given to a customer by a merchant at the time of a purchase
broadly : something given or obtained gratuitously or by way of good measure; i.e., The waiter added a cup of lobster bisque as a lagniappe to the meal.

Now if you were in a restaurant and a waiter said to you: "Please enjoy this lobster bisque as a lagniappe," what would your response be? Confusion? Would you get a food taster? 

If it sounds like a New York Times crossword puzzle word, it is. Said puzzle has become TB's new, well, he doesn't want to say obsession. It's more like his new hobby. 

He was never into the crossword puzzle until maybe two weeks ago. Two days ago he, for the first time ever, completed the entire Sunday puzzle. 

He does this online, and he has a few rules. First, if he answers a clue but isn't sure if he has it correct, he can look it up — but if he's wrong, that means he's lost. If he's right, he can continue on. Second, no collaboration. 

The Princeton honor code applies here as well. 

Once all the squares are filled in, it either tells you that you won or that you have at least one incorrect square. The problem is that it won't tell you which square or squares might be wrong. 

TigerBlog doesn't charge for this content, so he can't really offer you a Lagniappe. Just know that if he could, it probably wouldn't be the lobster bisque.

Meanwhile, did you see what happened in the football game between UC-Davis and Mercer the other day? And yes, TB realizes how insane it is to be talking about actual college football games already. 

Anyway, Mercer and UC-Davis played in the "11th Annual FCS Kickoff," held in Montgomery, Ala. It was a pretty high-stakes game, even for this time of year, as UC-Davis was ranked seventh and Mercer was ranked 11th in the preseason poll. 

UC-Davis ran out to a 23-3 lead. Mercer roared back, cutting it to 23-17 midway through the fourth quarter and having a first-and-10 at the UC-Davis 48 with 7:46 left.

How would it end?

It wouldn't.  

Instead, lightning and heavy rain decided to show up at that exact moment and then linger the rest of the night. The result was a game that was deemed a no-contest, without even the statistics to count. 

Here was the headline on Mercer's webpage: Weather Wins FCS Kickoff. That's pretty good stuff. 

The "C" in "UC-Davis" stands for California, by the way. How'd you like to have flown all the way to Alabama and play in a game that never finished? And will next year's edition still be the 11th, since this one never actually happened? 

TB brings all of this up because Mercer will be at Princeton to take on the Tigers on Oct. 11. The teams met in Macon, Ga., a year ago.

That game will be Princeton's fourth and Mercer's seventh sixth. Mercer's attempted season opener was on the day of Princeton's first practice.

As TigerBlog was walking into Jadwin yesterday morning, he saw the Tigers at it on Finney/Campbell practice fields. There is a precision to football practices that is almost like a military drill, much more so than other teams simply because of the number of athletes who participate. 

They move from station to station, individual to group, all under the direction of the officers, or, as they are known, coaches. Every play is rehearsed over and over for when it is needed in the season. Every defensive call is ingrained until it is all just muscle memory. 

It is a fascinating dynamic to watch, if you've never done so.

Princeton opens its season against San Diego three weeks from Saturday, with a noon kickoff on Powers Field at Princeton Stadium.  Ticket information is HERE. Remember — there is a new ticketing system this year, so you'll need to familiarize yourself with it. 

San Diego opens its season Saturday at home against Cal-Poly.  

Today is photo day for Princeton football, and a handful of other fall teams. It's part of the preseason, another step towards the opener, which will be here soon enough. 

And then those 10 weeks will fly by, like they always do.