DeNunzio Offense

This weekend's award for honesty goes to Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin.

His Rebels had just held of Kentucky Saturday 30-23, and now Kiffin was being interviewed on ESPN. The question was what he thought of the way his defensive line had stopped Kentucky in the fourth quarter, and this is what he said: 

"That's why we're paying them all that money." 

It looked to TigerBlog as if Kiffin wasn't sure he should say that or not and that he briefly hesitated before he spoke. Either way, it was honest. 

It was a great weekend to watch football and tennis on TV. TigerBlog certainly did Saturday. He saw South Florida come back to beat Florida for the first time ever — helped along considerably to 30 yards in penalties on the final drive, including one for spitting. 

What the heck? Spitting? That happened in the Cowboys-Eagles game Thursday night too. Six seconds in, for that matter.

The New York Giants? Just put Jaxson Dart out there and don't look back.  

The US Open tennis championships ended. This is unfortunate, because 1) it's a great event to watch for two-plus weeks and 2) because John McEnroe will not be broadcasting anything in the near future. McEnroe and his brother Patrick should be the broadcast team on every possible football game that they can fit into their schedules. 

As for the tennis, there was the women's final Saturday, when Aryna Sabalenka defeated Amanda Anisimova 6-3, 7-6. TB was rooting for Sabalenka, because she's his favorite player on the women's side and also because Anisimova's sister played at Penn. 

You do have to give Anisimova a ton of credit though. She lost the Wimbledon final 6-0, 6-0 to Iga Swiatek but then came back to beat her in the semifinal at the US Open, something that is just remarkable. Sabalenka was too much in the final, but Anisomova's day is coming. 

And the men? They should have two tournaments, one for everyone else and then a separate one where Alcaraz and Sinner play a best-of-seven. Alcaraz won yesterday's final in four sets, meaning those two split the four Majors this year. And last year. 

Meanwhile, back at Princeton, the men's water polo team started its season by going 5-0 at its own invitational at DeNunzio Pool.

The men's water polo team is one of three Princeton teams — along with the men's and women's lacrosse teams — that needs to replace its graduated all-time leading goal scorer. In the case of the men's water polo team, that means replacing Roko Pozaric, who finished his career with 281 goals, or 27 more than any other player in program history.

For good measure, Pozaric was also the 2025 Roper Trophy winner as the top senior male athlete. 

The first weekend of the new season had Princeton take on Mount St. Mary's, Cal Baptist, Santa Clara,  Bucknell and Wagner (as well as an exhibition game against European Cup champ Pro Recco). The five games against the U.S. college teams all went for Princeton, who put up big offensive numbers, even without Pozaric.

That's a really good sign, obviously. 

Princeton scored 18, 18, 12, 19 and 14 goals. The only really close game was against Santa Clara, which was a 12-11 Tiger win. Finn LeSeur scored six goals, on six shots, in that one. 

The first game of the weekend was an 18-10 win over the Mount, in which freshman Otto Stothart scored five times in his college debut. The Cal Baptist game? That was another 18-10 win, and this time Princeton had four players with three goals each.

That's how you replace your all-time leading goal scorer. 

Next up for the Tigers will be another invitational, this one at Navy. A trip to Annapolis will always be special, or at least for as long as former Princeton head coach Luis Nicolao coaches the Mids.

Ahead will be not one but two trips to California, as well as the Northeast Water Polo Conference regular season. The league tournament will be held Nov. 21-23, at Brown.

Doesn't that seem so far away right now? 

For the first weekend, it all went well for Princeton at DeNunzio. Even without Pozaric, there were still plenty of goals to go around.  

Off To The Races

The annual event known as the "Welcome Back Athletic Staff Meeting" was held yesterday morning in the First Campus Center. 

This was not TigerBlog's first such meeting, so he didn't have to stand up in front of the department to introduce himself, like all of the newbies in the department. Once again, TB tried to think of how it looked through their eyes. 

They came from very different backgrounds and do very different jobs now that they're at Princeton. There were coaches. There were athletic trainers. There were people in Campus Rec. 

And how did TB think it looked through those new eyes? 

He supposes it looked very welcoming, a place with very high standards of excellence and at the same time a place where it's a lot of fun to work. They had to be thinking "yes, I made a good decision to come here."

Ford Family Director of Athletics John Mack certainly values both sides, the competitive excellence and the fun. Need proof? There was a "Rock, Paper, Scissors" tournament that preceded the meeting. 

It may sound a bit corny, but it wasn't. It was an exercise as much about getting all of the people in the room to become a little more acquainted with everyone else, especially those outside their daily orbit. 

To that end, it definitely succeeded. 

And with that, yesterday turns into today, with a very, very busy weekend ahead.  

Prior to today, there have been six Princeton Athletic events involving two teams for 2025-26.

The breakdown is five women's soccer games and one women's rugby game. All of that is about to grow exponentially.  

The women's soccer team, by the way, got a big 2-2 tie at Miami last night, falling behind 2-0 and then rallying with two in the second half.  

Between today and Sunday, there will be 17 more events, with seven teams who will be competing. After that, it's off to the races for the new year. 

This weekend marks the start of the seasons for the women's volleyball team, the field hockey team, the men's soccer team, the men's and women's cross country teams, the men's water polo team and the men's golf team. 

Where to start? 

The men's soccer team was last seen powering through the Ivy League tournament and into the NCAA tournament via the automatic bid. The Tigers open their season tonight at 7 at home against Rutgers, who comes in with a record of 3-0-1 (a tie with Seton Hall and wins over Providence, James Madison and William & Mary).

Princeton definitely has some star power. Consider this: Key returners Daniel Ittycheria, Jack Jasinski and Giuliano Fravolini Whitchurch begin their senior season in the Orange & Black after playing pivotal roles in the Tigers' 2024 success. All three seniors were named United Soccer Coaches Players to Watch in their respective positions.

You can read more about the game HERE. Admission is free. 

The field hockey team is hosting what used to be the ACC/Ivy Crossover Challenge, only Louisville has been replaced with Old Dominion, rendering it "The Tiger Invitational." It starts today at 3:30 with Penn and North Carolina, followed by Princeton and ODU. 

The Ivy teams switch opponents Sunday, with Penn and ODU at 11 and Princeton and UNC at 1:30. 

Here's a fun note: Penn will also be at Princeton for the Ivy opener on Sept. 19, which means the Quakers will play three games at Princeton before playing one on their home field. For more fun notes, you can click HERE.

The men's water polo team will play six games in three days at the Princeton Invitational, beginning this morning at 10 against Mount St. Mary's. Princeton's schedule includes Pro Recco, tomorrow at 5. Who is Pro Recco? That would be the the champion  of the 2025 European Aquatics Euro Cup. 

That should be exciting. 

You can clock HERE for more on the weekend at DeNunzio, including the schedule for all of the teams involved. 

The women's volleyball season opens in Harrisonburg, Va., with the LD&B Insurance Invitational at James Madison. The Tigers will play Lehigh, Bellarmine and the host team.

Princeton won the program's 20th Ivy title a year ago. No other Ivy team has more than 14. 

HERE is more on the tournament in Virginia.  

And speaking of "off to the races," the cross country teams will host the Jersey Jam at the Meadows Course today. The men's race goes off at 6 tonight, with the women to follow at 6:30.

You can learn more HERE and HERE. 

There is also men's golf on the schedule, at a fall tournament at Duke.  

Love Story

TigerBlog is something of a romantic. 

You know, he loves his musical theater and "Notting Hill" and old movies where love conquers all. He was happy when Rachel and Ross got together for good. He can run down a list of love songs that get to him every time. 

What could be better? 

Hey, TB even wrote a romance novel once and is working on a second one. You didn't know that? You can get it HERE with his shameless plug. 

He wrote yesterday about the first day of classes and the lessons that come from the four years that the athletes spend here — the "Education Through Athletics." He's written so many times about the friendships that are born on Princeton's rosters and how they last forever.

What he's left out for the most part would be the most romantic piece. It seems that he can't look on a team's Instagram without seeing a former Tiger athlete marrying another one. 

He mentioned how men's soccer alum Daniel Diaz-Bonilla married field hockey alum Sammy Popper a few weeks ago. There were a slew of volleyball-volleyball marriages this past summer as well, most recently Mary Claire Bartlett and Devin Stearns. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by PrincetonVolley (@princetonvolley)

 

And to this list you can now add the coming union of two more Princeton soccer alums — Emma Davis and Kevin O'Toole, both of the Class of 2022. 

O'Toole as you probably remember won the Roper Trophy that year as the top senior male athlete in the class. Davis was also an All-Ivy selection. 

Again, TB saw the announcement on social media. When he did, he reached out to Kevin's mother Nancy, who went to the same high school as TigerBlog, to offer congratulations. During their conversation, he mentioned a mutual friend of theirs who recently became a grandfather, to which Nancy said something along the lines of not quite being ready for that. 

She did say that her son and Emma are made for each other. They certainly looked very much perfect together in this picture that Nancy sent to TB:

That will make your heart melt, right? 

Congratulations to Emma and Kevin (and the mother of the groom). And to everyone else who has or will meet a future spouse as a Princeton athlete. 

It's another special part of what goes on here. 

*

Here is something that speaks to another part of the core mission of Princeton Athletics:

As we close the third summer of the Tigers Together Journey to Athletics, I am certain of why this work matters. It is not merely about bringing students to campus, nor only about exposure to Princeton Athletics. It is about creating a space where young people can explore athletics as a canvas for leadership, painting their own identities and perspectives through the act of self-discovery shaped by persistence, not perfection. 

That caught your attention, right? It was written by Myles Smith, Princeton Associate Athletic Director. For more, you can read his piece from goprincetontigers.com HERE. 

*

The honor of playing the first game of the new NFL season belongs to the Super Bowl champs of the previous season, and this time that is the Philadelphia Eagles, who took down the Chiefs last February. 

The opening kickoff  will be tonight at Lincoln Financial Field, where the Eagles will host the Cowboys, who violated one of the biggest rules in sports last week. And what was that? 

Never do anything that makes your biggest opponents glad. In this case, it was the trade of Micah Parsons to the Packers. The corollary to Rule 1 is something like: "the idea is to get guys like Micah Parsons, not trade them away."

Princeton is represented by four players as opening day approaches. 

The @NFL season gets underway next week!

Super proud of our #PrincetonPros!

Let’s go @Steve_OCarlson, @AndreiIosivas, @Henbyrd and @TravisWJalen! #JUICE 🍊🥤 pic.twitter.com/wjRrNH2mXs

— Princeton Football (@PrincetonFTBL) August 29, 2025

Travis and the Indianapolis Colts open Sunday against the Dolphins. Iosivas, who has 10 TD receptions in his first two years and who has established himself as a big part of one of the best offenses in the NFL, opens his season against the Browns Sunday. 

* 

And while he's talking about the NFL, how about TB's picks for the year:

AFC Championship Game: Buffalo over Cincinnati
NFC Championship Game: Detroit over Washington
Super Bowl: Buffalo over Detroit

If he's right, he'll remind you in February. If he's wrong, you'll have long since forgotten.  

Back To School

TigerBlog remembers walking down Spruce Street towards the University Museum for his first-ever class as a college student. 

It was a perfect, sunny day. The walk took about 10 minutes or so, to a large lecture hall inside the building, which sits opposite Franklin Field. Anytime he's been back on the Penn campus for a game at the ancient stadium for all these decades, he's always glanced over at the museum and remembered that day.  

You know what really stands out? There was a crew paving a driveway at the hospital, and the smell of the tar was very strong and very prevalent. That smell has always taken him back to that walk.

He must have gone to at least a few other classes, since they did eventually give him a diploma. It currently sits proudly in a box inside a plastic bin on the bottom of a closet.

He also remembers walking outside of the David Rittenhouse Lab building, which is next to the Palestra, after the last final exam he ever took. It was also a sunny day, this time in May, not September. There used to be tennis courts in front of the DRL building and the Palestra, and he walked past them as he made his way back to his dorm. 

As he did so, he first threw into the garbage can at the one of the courts the pen he'd just used and the notebook he had. He also vividly remembers thinking that he had to replace "go to Penn" with "went to Penn."   

He has absolutely no memory of his walk to any other classroom, other than the generic "oh yeah, that class was in that building" thing. That first class and that final exam? 

Those he can remember in detail — even more than 40 years later. 

Who knew on that first day of school what direction his life would take? There was no way. 

If you'd joined him on his walk down Spruce Street and asked him what his career path would be, he would have said, probably with confidence, law. How wrong he would have been, right? 

Yesterday was the first day of classes at Princeton. 

For the members of the Class of 2029, it was the first time that they would be attending any college classes. Would they come away with the same memories that TB did all those years ago? 

For the returnees, it's the time to get back into whatever routine they have for classes, studying and all of that. Are they fans of early classes? Night classes? Labs? 

Princeton's approximately 1,000 athletes obviously had their first classes of 2025-26 yesterday. TigerBlog watched a lot of college football this past weekend, and he remarked to his friend Duncan Yin during one of those games that back when they were kids, you couldn't watch a college football game without having numerous mentions of majors, academic achievements and the rest. 

There was none of that on any of the games TB saw this weekend. There were references to where this one transferred from and what league that one played in a year ago. There was also talk of just how many news players were on each roster. 

The academic piece is not completely gone from college sports. One of TB's favorite things about Princeton is that it will never be gone from here. These are athletes who are also students, in an era when the phrase "student-athlete" mostly conjures up cynicism. 

Tiger freshmen have long answered the question "why Princeton?" with "it offers the best combination of athletics and academics." That remains the case today, and TB will never tire of hearing that. 

Congrats to all of the Princeton students who are now back into their classrooms. It's a lot of work, but it's well worth it.

For the athletes, you are challenging yourself in a way that not everyone your age is. This is what you've chosen, and you did so for a lot of reasons. Between now and the day that you are handed your own diploma and the day of your last competition as a Tiger, you will learn lessons about teamwork, time management, integrity and so many of the other values that combine to make up "Education Through Athletics."

In other words, what you learn about yourself will be as important to your future as what you learn from your professors. 

Julie Frymyer, TV Star

Did you see the commercial with Patrick Mahomes, Meghan Trainor and the Kansas City Chiefs' athletic trainer? 

It's cute and clever, with its play on an actual "trainer" and the pop star "Trainor," who tries to put a knee brace on an arm and who appears to have no idea who Mahomes is or what he does. Like TigerBlog said. Cute and clever.  

The one who steals the whole show, of course, is the athletic trainer, even if she has no lines in the commercial. Is it possible that TB is biased in his review? 

The athletic trainer in the commercial is Julie Frymyer. She's the one that Mahomes has credited with allowing him to play in the Super Bowl two years ago, when the Chiefs defeated the 49ers in OT for his third championship.

If you remember, Mahomes had been injured in the AFC Championship Game and appeared like he might be done for that game and a possible Super Bowl. Instead, he played through both. 

Here's what had to say after the AFC win: 

Julie WAS the reason i was the guy i was on the field today! It takes everyone but she lead the charge all week!!! Now let’s get Super Bowl ready!! https://t.co/glPKlL9Qz3

— Patrick Mahomes II (@PatrickMahomes) January 30, 2023

So what's the big deal about Julie Frymyer here?

Well, if you take a look at her resume, then you'll see where she worked before she went to Kansas City. And that would be ... 

... well, Princeton, obviously. 

Frymyer spent three years at Princeton as an athletic trainer. She and TB were fill-ins on the baseball team's trip to the 2016 NCAA regional in Lafayette, Louisiana. 

As TB has written many times before, that trip has been one of the highlights of his 30-plus years at Princeton. Lafayette turned out to be one of the best places you could ever hope to go for a college baseball regional, with huge crowds, the nicest people and great food. 

TB didn't see Frymyer much other than during that time, mostly saying "hello" to each other as they passed by on their way to here or there. He hasn't spoken to her since she left Princeton, even though she's still in his contacts as "Trainer Julie."

Still, he always remembers her as a very warm, friendly person who did her job very professionally. And she was a big part of the Tiger travel party for that great week in Lafayette. 

TB has even forgiven her for not following through on her promise to bake something for him for his birthday, which was a few weeks after the NCAA regional. In fairness, she didn't say which birthday, so maybe next year.  

He was happy for her when she moved on to the NFL and for when Mahomes began to give her so much credit for his success. Still, he was a bit stunned to see her on a TV commercial. And thrilled for her. 

He assumes that Mahomes was the driving force behind her appearance. The fact that Meaghan Trainor had the right last name to make it work might have been the starting point. 

After he saw the commercial, he texted "Trainer Julie." He wasn't sure she had the same number or even remembered him, but she got back to him quickly. 

He asked her what it was like to be in the commercial, and here is what she said: 

"It was a nerve wracking at first as it was out of my comfort zone, haha. But it was definitely a great experience and super fun. I'm very honored that they asked me to be a part of it. I'm privileged  and blessed to get to do what I love with such amazing people!"

As for the commercial, it starts with Frymyer's taping an ankle, while Trainor goes through her routine. It ends with a no-look fist bump between Frymyer and Mahomes. 

The connection between an athletic trainer and an athlete is a deep one, especially if the athlete is one who has to spend an unfortunate amount of time in the training room. That's a place where no athlete wants to be — but having full trust in the person whose job it is to get you back onto the playing field is essential. 

So is appreciating that effort. 

That's the best part of the commercial. Yes, it was great to see an old friend be included. 

It was even better to see who was doing the including — and why.  

 

From The Open

In which of these two pictures does Billie Jean King look happier? 

Is it the one with TigerBlog, or the one with the mystery woman on the left? Can anyone identify her? 

TB gives you a hint — She long ago went on record as saying she preferred Amtrak to airplanes. He'll give you a few paragraphs to figure it out. 

The picture of TB with Billie Jean King was taken when she attended a Princeton field hockey game a few years back. The one on the left was taken the other night at the U.S. Open, which is currently being played at the Billie Jean National Tennis Center in NewYork.

Here's the view that field hockey alums Gracie McGowan, Sam Davidson, Ellie Manriquez and Clare Brennan had Wednesday night at Arthur Ashe Stadium. It appears they were pretty far up there:

According to the TV broadcast, if you had a grounds pass, you could sit all the way up in the main stadium without paying extra. 

TigerBlog's U.S. Open tennis experience was back in 1984, when he covered the tournament for the Trenton Times. It remains one of his favorite experiences he's had in all his years in sportswriting. 

He stayed for two weeks at the apartment of his grandparents (may they rest in peace) in Kew Gardens, which is not very far from the tennis center. His seat in the main pressbox was next to a Detroit Free-Press writer named Mitch Albom. 

Meanwhile, the woman in the picture with Billie Jean King is Gladys Knight, a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Along with her backup singers — known as the Pips — her biggest hit was "Midnight Train To Georgia." She also sang the great song "You're The Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me" and a great rendition of "O Comes All Ye Faithful."

By the way, TB didn't know until yesterday that the three Pips were actually her brother and two of her cousins. 

TigerBlog has watched a lot the U.S. Open, which began a day earlier than ever before, back on Sunday. He continues to think that the best broadcaster of any sport is still John McEnroe. 

Oh, and anytime he hears Cliff Drysdale's Australian tones, it reminds of the time that TB gave Drysdale and Rod Laver a ride in his old VW Rabbit back to their hotel after they played an exhibition match at Jadwin Gym, back in the 1980s. 

This Open has already had a huge Princeton component to it as well. 

One of the bests matches of the tournament so far was the one between Coco Gauff and Ajla Tomljanovic, which Gauff won in three sets 6-4, 6-7, 7-5. It was preceded by a coin toss that featured Princeton Ford Family Director of Athletics John Mack and head men's basketball coach Mitch Henderson. 

This is from the goprincetontigers.com story: 

Princeton was represented by men's tennis head coach Billy Pate, women's tennis head coach Elizabeth Johnson, Ford Family Director of Athletics John Mack '00 and the University's vice president for capital projects Bill Kale at the awards reception. Later that evening, John Mack was joined by Princeton men's basketball head coach Mitch Henderson '98, a regular tennis player at Meadows, to participate in the official coin toss ahead at Arthur Ashe Stadium ahead of the evening's featured match in the U.S. Open between Coco Gauff and Ajla Tomljanovic. 

You can read the entire story HERE.

Henderson, by the way, is an avid tennis player. TigerBlog has played him in squash, tennis and ping pong, for that matter.

You already know he's competitive as anyone. What you forget until you see him on a court is how tall he is, which, along with his athleticism, gives him amazing court coverage.

TB has never played tennis with Bill Pate, but he has played squash against him. That's not a lot of fun either, since Billy's competitive side takes over and he plays somewhat like the Iroquois did when they invented lacrosse. 

The Open continues until a week from Sunday. TB continues to root for Ben Shelton, Frances Tiafoe, Novak Djokovic and Aryna Sabalenka. 

Oh, and remember, there is a women's soccer game Sunday at 11 am on Myslik Field at Roberts Stadium against Syracuse. And the women's rugby team opens its season tomorrow at 1 at LIU.

Goal Story

The Princeton women's soccer team has scored six goals in its history against its next two opponents, Ohio State and Syracuse. 

One of those goals was an own-goal. The remaining five goals belong to just two players. Can you name them? 

Now that's an obscure one. 

TigerBlog will give you a hint: This is from the story on goprincetontigers.com after the last meeting:

Princeton, now 3-0 against Big East teams this season, won its ninth straight game.

This tells you a few things. First, it had to be after the birth of the webpage in the late 1990s. Second, Syracuse was still in the Big East. 

Here's another hint: both players won the Ivy League Player of the Year Award. 

While you mull that over, TB will give you some specifics of the two upcoming games. Ohio State is here tonight at 7, while Syracuse will be here Sunday at 11 am.

Ohio State is ranked 25th nationally after last year's trip to the Sweet 16 and off to a 1-1-1 start, with a win over UNC Wilmington (1-0), a tie against Clemson (1-1) and a loss to South Carolina (1-0).

As for Syracuse, the Orange are 3-1, with wins over Charleston Southern, Niagara and Holy Cross and a loss to Canisius. 

Princeton is 0-1-1, with a 1-1 tie against Rutgers and a 2-1 loss to Loyola. It was a bit of a frustrating opening weekend for the Tigers, who outshot its two opponents by a combined 45-11. 

It is also possible that Princeton had its best goal it will have all year. That would be the one that Zoe Markesini scored against Loyola, a rocket from way outside the box. 

Here's a look at Zoe's goals from the award-winning week! pic.twitter.com/WEfoZ621jj

— Princeton WSoccer (@PrincetonWSoc) August 25, 2025

Could that have been any more impressive? It had everything — distance, power and perfect placement. When TB saw it live (on ESPN+ at least), he let out an audible "woa" at the shot. 

Markesini scored both Princeton goals last weekend, a performance that earned her Ivy League Offensive Defensive Player of the Week honors.  

Meanwhile, back at the two women who scored all five goals against this weekend's opponents, those two would be Emily Behncke and Esmeralda Negron, two names that should be familiar to even casual Princeton women's soccer fans. 

The game against Ohio State tonight will be the first ever between the two teams. The game Sunday against Syracuse will be the third in the series, with a pair of 3-1 wins, in 2003 and 2004. 

The own goal, plus single goals from Behncke and Negron, came in the 2003 game at Syracuse. The 2004 game, on old Lourie-Love Field, had two goals from Behncke and one from Negron. 

That 2004 Princeton team reached the NCAA Final Four, making it the only Ivy school ever to reach the Final Four in an NCAA tournament with at least 64 teams. That still stands. 

Those Tigers went 5-0 against Big East teams, with two of those wins against Villanova, in the second game of the season and then again in the NCAA second round. Villanova is still in the Big East.

The other three wins came against Syracuse, Rutgers and Boston College (Sweet 16). None of those three are still in the Big East, with 'Cuse and BC in the ACC and Rutgers in the Big Ten. 

Who would have foreseen any of that back when those games were played 21 years ago?  

That 2004 postseason run drew huge crowds to Lourie-Love, which was just a grass field with wooden stands, no restrooms, no team rooms, no press box and no concession stands. The success of that 2004 team led directly to the construction of the first Myslik Field at Roberts Stadium and, subsequently, its successor.

It's that new facility that will host the two games this weekend. Technically, Thursday isn't a weekend, but hey, close enough. 

Tonight it's Ohio State-Princeton at 7. Sunday it'll be Syracuse-Princeton at 11 am. Admission is free for all regular-season Princeton soccer games.

Photo Day

TigerBlog spent a little more than an hour yesterday in midday at the Jadwin Gym squash courts.

It was, for about 15 years, his normal spot around noon, pretty much every day. He'd go there and play his longtime colleague and friend Craig Sachson in their daily squash match, which, if he had to guess, Craig won probably 55 percent of the time.

It's been a long time since TB played squash — two knee surgeries worth. As TB wandered in and out of Courts 9 and 10, he couldn't help but think back to the glory days of lunchtime squash, often under the watchful eyes of Gail Ramsay and the late, great Bob Callahan. 

So what was the draw yesterday? 

Photo Day. 

It began at 7:30 in the morning with the football team and continued after that with cross country and then field hockey. When it was all over, TB asked photographer Greg Carroccio how many pictures he thought he and partner Ryan Samson took in all. 

His answer was 25,000.

And that doesn't count the number of pictures, probably an equal number or maybe even more, that were taken by the players themselves on their phones during the course of the day. 

For the freshmen, this was the first time they'd put on their game uniforms, which has to be quite a thrill for every one of them. For everyone else, it wasn't that same emotion, but it was a ton of fun for all of them.

There was this: 

And this:

 

And this:  

And this: 

 

And this:  

And, as TB mentioned, 24,996 or so others. 

Would you rather have the serious pose or the fun pose?  

TigerBlog contributed his own photos to the count while he was there with the field hockey team to get some behind-the-scenes content. The views that these photos get exceeds the number of pictures that were snapped.

If you have the chance to watch a team go through this, you'll see just how much joy it brings out. And there's always the "hey, can we come up with one more combination that we haven't had yet" feeling. 

When you think about college athletics from the outside, you think about the games, the championships. If you're like most fans, you probably think mostly about football and basketball, for that matter. 

When you've seen it from the inside, you know that the experience goes way beyond just that. The entirety of what being a college athlete is all about includes so many moments away from competitions, and it is those moments — such as a day like photo day — that elevates the overall experience to something incredibly special. 

And hey, even TB got into the mix yesterday.

From his place as an observer, he was invited into one of the shots with the field hockey team. He was told that he was needed for a video, after which there was a big group picture:

The field hockey team scrimmages today at 5 at home against Monmouth. Every athlete who had his or her picture taken yesterday will now get back to the more serious aspects of being on a college team. 

For 25,000 pictures worth yesterday? 

It was all smiles.  

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.  

Mind The Gap

TigerBlog was walking along the other day when he came upon an interesting sight.

He was walking on a pathway. About 10 yards ahead of him stood a man and woman on one side of the path and another man and woman on the other side. 

They were both walking dogs, one small and one big. As TB approached, the dogs stood in the middle, nose to nose. That's not what dogs usually do, right?  

As TB kept walking towards this group, the dogs continued their stare-down. At that point, TB stopped and bent down, at which point the dogs looked at him. 

And this is what he said to them: 

"Okay, go to your neutral corners and at the bell, come out barking."

And this was the response from the four humans:

" ............ "

Nothing. Not even a smile. Oh well.

TB also saw a young man who was running while wearing a shirt that said: "Mind the Gap." TB laughed out loud at that. 

If you've ever been on a train in England, then you get it. TB stopped him to tell him how much he liked the shirt, and the young man, clearly English, asked if TB had a favorite Premier League team. 

TB said "Bournemouth." Then he realized he could have said "Waterdogs."

That would have confused the Brit. It also wouldn't have been completely true. TB roots for every Premier League team with Princeton alums on it. 

Clearly, the young bloke meant the soccer league in England. TB could have flipped it around to mean the Premier Lacrosse League, whose playoffs began Saturday in Minneapolis.

The Utah Archers feature three Princeton alums (Ryan Ambler, Beau Pederson and Tom Schreiber) and a former Princeton head coach (Chris Bates). The Archers won the PLL title in 2023 and 2024 but did not make the playoffs this year, meaning there will be a new champ.

Will there be Princetonians who win it all? That's to be determined. 

There will, though, be at least one Princeton alum in the final come Sept. 14, when the championship game is held at the home of the Red Bulls in Harrison, N.J. 

Will it be Jake Stevens, a member of the New York Atlas? Or will it be Zach Currier and Michael Sowers, along with Bill Tierney, and the Waterdogs? 

Those two will play in the semifinals this coming Saturday at 3 at Suburu Park in Chester, Pa. The first semifinal will match the California Redwoods (with injured Princeton alum Sam English) and the Denver Outlaws (with no Princetonians).

The Atlas won the Eastern Conference title and earned a first-round bye. The Waterdogs took down the Maryland Whipsnakes 14-12 Saturday to earn their spot int he semifinals. 

Dave Giancola, the ESPN+ announcer for Princeton Football and Princeton Men's Lacrosse, texted TB during the game to ask him if Currier was the only player who ever played for Tierney, Bates and current head coach Matt Madalon.

That's a great question. Currier played for both Bates and Madalon at Princeton and now plays for Tierney. TB can't think of anyone else who has done so. 

Sowers, a finalist for PLL MVP and Attackman of the Year, had four goals and four assists against the Whipsnakes, whom he tortured this season to the tune of 20 points in three games. Sowers now has played in seven career PLL playoff games, with these totals: 22 goals, 15 assists, 37 points. 

Is that good? 

The Waterdogs are 6-1 in playoff games in which he's played, by the way. He was the 2022 PLL Championship Game MVP as well. 

As for Currier, he doesn't have the points totals that Sowers does, but he does have an extraordinary number of groundballs, considering he's not a face-off specialist or a longstick. In eight PLL playoff games, He has 48 GBs, including seven Saturday night. 

He does have 13 points to go with that, on nine goals and four assists. He didn't score Saturday night, as the Waterdogs got all 14 of their goals from three players on attack: Sowers, Kieran McArdle (6) and C.J. Kirst (4).  

If you're looking for tickets for the semifinals, you can find them HERE.