Summer Friday

Welcome to the first full weekend of summer. 

What is on your dance card? Whatever it is, keep this in mind: there are eight weeks to go until the first Princeton Athletic event of the 2026-27 academic year. And, as he does every Friday in the summer, TigerBlog will remind you of the countdown as the new year approaches. 

In the meantime, have a great weekend — but only after you read up on this:

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Well, Princeton University is no longer the same. Karen Malec doesn't work here anymore. 

That's a tough sentence to write. There hasn't been a day, until today, where TB has worked at Princeton and Karen hasn't. 

As TB has written before, Karen announced her retirement back in March after 34 years at Princeton. Nobody has ever served the department with greater devotion and professionalism. Maybe others have been up there with her, but nobody has ever outdone her. As such, she clearly has earned her retirement and whatever she wants to do with it. 

It's just that it won't be the same without her. TB ran into her outside Jadwin on the 20,000 step walk the other day. He knows they'll stay in touch. It's just that, again, it won't be the same.  

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Speaking of 20,000-plus steps in a day, TigerBlog got this text from his colleague and friend Warren Croxton: 

"176 straight days of 20,000 steps."

Impressive Warren. It does make TB wonder how many steps Warren had 177 days ago. 

Also, it got TB to thinking. You could take 20,000 steps in the NBA and still not get called for traveling.  

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Cleveland State. 

That was the school TigerBlog couldn't remember the other day. Fortunately, his longtime friend Bruce Wood of the Big Green Alert emailed him the other day with the quote he couldn't remember. 

It came after TB wrote about Jerry Tarkanian and his issues with the NCAA. Tark had a wildly famous quote about the organization he hated. It went like this: 

"The NCAA is so mad at Kentucky they're going to give Cleveland State another year of probation." 

TB knew it was something like that. Thanks for the heads up Bruce. 

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The group stage of the World Cup is winding down, with the 32-team knockout round to come. This is the first time that there have been 48 teams in the draw and then 32 in the knockout round. 

Canada is one of the 32 teams who will continue to play beyond the group stage. Reaching the knockout round is a first for Canada, which had never won a World Cup game prior to this year.

The team is coached, of course, by Princeton alum Jesse Marsch. In a nice little World Cup fact, Marsch is now the second former Princeton men's soccer player to coach a team into the knockout round, along with Bob Bradley, who had been Marsch's coach at Princeton.  

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TigerBlog went to see "South Pacific" yesterday at the Bucks County Playhouse. The musical, which by the way was written by Rogers and Hammerstein in nearby Doylestown, has always been one of TB's favorites. 

He's mentioned this before, but musical theater is one of his favorite things, especially classics like "South Pacific." He doesn't like to see plays. He wants to walk out of the theater humming and singing, like he did yesterday. 

His seat was on the aisle, seat X101 to be exact. As it turns out, his seat was the aisle, middle and other aisle, since there was no other seat in the row. In fact, his seat was next to the lighting and sound board in the back of the theater. 

This was great for the first act and second act. It wasn't quite as peaceful at intermission, since it was directly in the path of those who needed to use the ladies room. That line snaked past TB's seat, and his determination to stick it out in his seat quickly ebbed when he got whacked by an older woman's walker. That's when he decided it would be best to stand off to the side til the curtain came back up. 

If you don't know much about the show, it's set in, well, you can guess that part, during World War II. One of the main characters is named Lt. Joe Cable, who is of all things a Princeton alum, at least a fictional one. He's also described as "athletic," though it never says what sport he played. 

After the show, TigerBlog ran into Lt. Nellie Forbush, or at least the actress who played her (Alexandra Socha). She had previously played Glinda in "Wicked" on Broadway; that's another of TB's all-time favorites. 

TB asked her if she knew Sam Gravitte, the former Princeton men's lacrosse player who had also been in "Wicked" on Broadway. She said that yes, she knew him, but no, they hadn't been in the show together. 

Sam is in a new show in New York City at the Laura Pels Theater on West 46th Street. This show is called "A Walk On The Moon," a musical based on the 1999 movie that is set in the summer of 1969. TB hasn't seen it yet, but he'd like to. He did see Sam as Fiyero (the male lead) in "Wicked" though, and he was spectacular. 

If you're interested in Sam's new show, you can get more information HERE.

See? Not all Princeton lacrosse alums in New York City work on Wall Street. At least one works on Broadway.