TigerBlog was fascinated by last night’s Cavs-Celtics game and all of its implications. After 48 hours of the all-hands-on-deck media watch of the King, could Lebron inspire him to match his Game 5 performance in Detroit three years ago? Would we, as the ads like to claim, witness another historic night?
Somewhere between Bron-Bron’s first and ninth turnover, TB had a pretty good hunch the answer was no.
TB feels like the only true NBA fan left between New York City and Philadelphia — a fact that could quickly change come free agency this summer. While it is somewhat stunning to think that Lebron is out of the playoffs and the hated Celtics aren’t, there is something comforting in knowing that the individual could not beat the team.
Outside of a few exceptions, sports are traditionally centered around the team philosophy. Even some individual-based ones like track and swimming still honor the team ultimately; Princeton won four Ivy League titles in an eight-day stretch this past winter to prove that very fact.
But there may not be another sport that is as dependent on the team philosophy as rowing.
Eight rowers. One coxswain. One boat. One rhythmic motion.
For 2,000 meters, each member of the boat must be in absolute harmony with everybody else to achieve peak speed. The slightest of errors, be it at 300 or 1800 meters, can cost two to three seconds.
Two to three seconds will cost somebody the Ivy League title Sunday.
When current heavyweight coach Greg Hughes was leading the Princeton lightweights, he talked at length about the excitement of the Eastern Sprints (each team competes for the Eastern title Sunday, while all but women’s lightweight crew also competes for the Ivy League title). It is a day when all slates are clean, and an Ivy League title is only 4,000 meters away.
The day is fairly simple. All of the Eastern conference (EARC for men, EAWRC for women) crews are seeded into heats. There are the varsity eight heats, which determine the top champions, but also competitions for other J.V. and freshman boats. With only a few exceptions, a team needs a certain finish in a heat to qualify for a grand final.
That’s the first half of the 4,000 meters. You don’t need to be perfect, but you better be pretty good.
In the late afternoon or early evening, the six boats left standing (rowing?) will line up side-by-side. Between them and the Eastern and Ivy title is 2,000 meters of water. In that moment, eight rowers, each of whom spent countless hours on an erg preparing for these next few minutes, know that perfection is mandatory.
There has been plenty of talk (and there will be plenty more) that the overwhelming pressure of the series was what hurt Lebron most. But that was pressure spread over seven games in one of a possible four series. For these rowers, many of whom will never compete at a higher level than this, the pressure is condensed into seven minutes on one day.
And that’s not just for Princeton rowers. You don’t think the student-athletes at Harvard, Yale, Navy and Penn want to win just as badly? They will feel the same pressure too.
In many sports, you can analyze matchups and get a sense of how things should go. How has this line handled a blitzing defense? How does that point guard react in a press? Does this wrestler prefer to ride or be on his feet?
On Sunday, Harvard’s crew can’t go into a left-wing lock against Princeton. Yale can’t go into a four corners offense if it leads Cornell. Every team gets eight oars and 2,000 meters of open water to figure out a winner.
It is one of the great days of sport in the Ivy League, and it has the chance to be an incredible one for Princeton. Each of the Tigers’ four varsity crews has a good chance to make its own grand final, and three are seeded in their respective top two heading into the weekend. Lightweight rivalries (the men with Harvard, the women with Wisconsin) will be the story of those two championship regattas.
The heavyweight men, seeded fifth, are looking to bounce back from a disappointing effort last season and possibly stun some of the top ranked boats in the national polls, including Brown and Harvard.
And the open women, possibly the best story at Princeton this spring, are looking to punctuate a storybook regular season with its first EAWRC title since 2006. The Tiger women are ranked second nationally and have three boats with very real chances to win their respective finals. But with recent national powers like Brown and Yale lurking, they know that nothing is assured.
All we know is the 2010 Eastern rowing championships are Sunday, and thrills are most definitely assured.
And maybe Lebron will stop by to watch.
Showing posts with label rowing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rowing. Show all posts
Friday, May 14, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Lake Effect
TigerBlog was at an event at Little Miss TigerBlog's elementary school when he noticed one of those learning posters that hang on the walls.
This particular one was a math poster, done by a professional company, not by the school or a teacher or a student. And there, on the poster, was the following problem:
If three pounds of bananas cost $1, how much do 11 pounds of bananas cost?
The poster then solved the problem, except it solved it by figuring out how much one pound of bananas would cost. The mistake was either that it was supposed to say "how much does one pound of bananas cost" or be solved for 11 pounds of bananas. Of course, had it meant to be solved for one pound, it would have changed "do" to "does."
It all left TigerBlog wondering how in the world this poster ever made it past all of the eyes that have to have seen it without anyone's noticing this, from the production of it through the school itself?
As an aside, the correct answer is $3.67.
Since TB aced that little test, he came up with another one for himself.
If Princeton has 1,000 varsity athletes and the four rowing teams account for 200 athletes (using approximations, of course), what percentage of the Princeton athletics are rowers?
Or, even better than that, what percentage of the undergraduate population of 4,900 are varsity rowers?
The first answer, of course, is that approximately 20% of Princeton's varsity athletes are rowers. The second answer, let's see, 200 divided by 4,900, so that's two divided by 49 so that's, well, a little more than 4%.
In other words, if you're in a lecture with 200 random students, then eight of those 200 would be varsity rowers.
Each varsity program at Princeton has its unique features, and rowing certainly does. For starters, there are more rowers than any other kinds of athletes.
Each gender has two varsity programs within the main program, yet all four (men's lightweight, men's heavyweight, women's open, women's lightweight) consider themselves to be one entity of Princeton Rowing. All four share one office, with no sub-divisions within that office.
To say it's a close-knit group would be an understatement. It has great camaraderie among its coaches and athletes, and its alumni group is as loyal and supportive as any.
It's also a Princeton team through and through. There are four head coaches, three of whom are Princeton alums: men's heavyweight coach Greg Hughes, men's lightweight coach Marty Crotty, women's lightweight coach Paul Rassam. The one who is not a Princeton alum, women's open coach Lori Dauphiny, has been here for 19 years, 14 of which have been spent as head coach.
There are also five assistant coaches, of whom four are Princeton grads.
For a pretty good look at what life in the boathouse is like, you might try watching this video.
Rowing itself is a physically demanding sport, one that completely zaps its competitors each time out. It's much like cross country in that it leaves the rowers wiped out the second they reach the finish line, except that in rowing, there's the extra issue that each rower has to be completely aligned with the others in the boat or else the boat will not go in the right direction.
The 2010 Princeton spring rowing season opens this Saturday, with women's open racing at Princeton while the men's lightweights are on the road. This begins a stretch where for about two months there will be racing on Lake Carnegie on most Saturdays.
Racing days at the boathouse are huge athletic/social events, and they begin first thing in the morning with novice races and third varsity races and build their way up to the first varsity.
One of the best parts of crew is the history of it, as the sport dates to June 13, 1872, the date of Princeton's first-ever race.
Each week, the teams row against one or two or three opponents, often for exotic sounding prizes such as The Eisenberg Cup, The Class of 1984 Plaque, The Childs Cup, The Compton Cup and many others.
TigerBlog was the rowing contact in 1998, when Princeton won the men's lightweight and heavyweight national championships on the Cooper River in Camden less than 30 minutes apart. There is a picture in the boathouse of the massive post-race celebration, and TB remembers standing next to the photographer as it was taken.
It's a picture of complete joy, one of the great celebration pictures that TB has ever seen. It's blown up in the boathouse to be several square feet.
TB's experience with the rowing programs was brief, but it did show him what a unique sport it is and how much the people who compete and coach for Princeton love it.
Check them out one Saturday morning. They're well worth watching.
This particular one was a math poster, done by a professional company, not by the school or a teacher or a student. And there, on the poster, was the following problem:
If three pounds of bananas cost $1, how much do 11 pounds of bananas cost?
The poster then solved the problem, except it solved it by figuring out how much one pound of bananas would cost. The mistake was either that it was supposed to say "how much does one pound of bananas cost" or be solved for 11 pounds of bananas. Of course, had it meant to be solved for one pound, it would have changed "do" to "does."
It all left TigerBlog wondering how in the world this poster ever made it past all of the eyes that have to have seen it without anyone's noticing this, from the production of it through the school itself?
As an aside, the correct answer is $3.67.
Since TB aced that little test, he came up with another one for himself.
If Princeton has 1,000 varsity athletes and the four rowing teams account for 200 athletes (using approximations, of course), what percentage of the Princeton athletics are rowers?
Or, even better than that, what percentage of the undergraduate population of 4,900 are varsity rowers?
The first answer, of course, is that approximately 20% of Princeton's varsity athletes are rowers. The second answer, let's see, 200 divided by 4,900, so that's two divided by 49 so that's, well, a little more than 4%.
In other words, if you're in a lecture with 200 random students, then eight of those 200 would be varsity rowers.
Each varsity program at Princeton has its unique features, and rowing certainly does. For starters, there are more rowers than any other kinds of athletes.
Each gender has two varsity programs within the main program, yet all four (men's lightweight, men's heavyweight, women's open, women's lightweight) consider themselves to be one entity of Princeton Rowing. All four share one office, with no sub-divisions within that office.
To say it's a close-knit group would be an understatement. It has great camaraderie among its coaches and athletes, and its alumni group is as loyal and supportive as any.
It's also a Princeton team through and through. There are four head coaches, three of whom are Princeton alums: men's heavyweight coach Greg Hughes, men's lightweight coach Marty Crotty, women's lightweight coach Paul Rassam. The one who is not a Princeton alum, women's open coach Lori Dauphiny, has been here for 19 years, 14 of which have been spent as head coach.
There are also five assistant coaches, of whom four are Princeton grads.
For a pretty good look at what life in the boathouse is like, you might try watching this video.
Rowing itself is a physically demanding sport, one that completely zaps its competitors each time out. It's much like cross country in that it leaves the rowers wiped out the second they reach the finish line, except that in rowing, there's the extra issue that each rower has to be completely aligned with the others in the boat or else the boat will not go in the right direction.
The 2010 Princeton spring rowing season opens this Saturday, with women's open racing at Princeton while the men's lightweights are on the road. This begins a stretch where for about two months there will be racing on Lake Carnegie on most Saturdays.
Racing days at the boathouse are huge athletic/social events, and they begin first thing in the morning with novice races and third varsity races and build their way up to the first varsity.
One of the best parts of crew is the history of it, as the sport dates to June 13, 1872, the date of Princeton's first-ever race.
Each week, the teams row against one or two or three opponents, often for exotic sounding prizes such as The Eisenberg Cup, The Class of 1984 Plaque, The Childs Cup, The Compton Cup and many others.
TigerBlog was the rowing contact in 1998, when Princeton won the men's lightweight and heavyweight national championships on the Cooper River in Camden less than 30 minutes apart. There is a picture in the boathouse of the massive post-race celebration, and TB remembers standing next to the photographer as it was taken.
It's a picture of complete joy, one of the great celebration pictures that TB has ever seen. It's blown up in the boathouse to be several square feet.
TB's experience with the rowing programs was brief, but it did show him what a unique sport it is and how much the people who compete and coach for Princeton love it.
Check them out one Saturday morning. They're well worth watching.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
The Known Winner
There is something exciting about the unknown. From centuries ago, when new lands were being discovered, to modern times and our quest to explore the solar system, there is something truly fascinating about knowing the unknown.
When Curtis Jordan ended his brilliant career as the Princeton heavyweight crew coach, Princeton director of athletics Gary Walters had the opportunity to play Lewis & Clark. He boarded his own NASA shuttle and launched into the unknown world of potential replacements. The ever-expanding sport of rowing has talented candidates from coast to coast.
It was undoubtedly an exciting mission. But when Walters concluded his national search, he made the right decision. In the sea of unknowns, there was that one special known.
Greg Hughes is the new Princeton heavyweight coach.
Personally, TB couldn’t be happier for Hughes, a colleague he has worked with since 2002 and a man who has taught him more about the sport than anybody else. Hughes is a good man who has assisted TB on several projects, ranging from media guides to online videos, and he’s done it with patience, knowledge and the coolest, deepest voice east of James Earl Jones.
Professionally, thought, TB also thinks this move is the absolute right one. The coaching credentials are there, and you can learn them by clicking on the above link and reading the introductory press release on GoPrincetonTigers.com. But there is more than just a list of championships that make this the right decision (although it’s an impressive list).
Hughes has a way of connecting with his rowers that keeps them motivated. It’s one thing to improve from one season to the next. Hughes took a program in 2006 and made it better in 2007. Then he did it again in 2008. And then he took it that one final step further in 2009, when he built one of the premier lightweight crews in Princeton history. He never let the team think it reached its peak, and he never took a shot at it when his rowers took a step back.
Go back to the 2008 IRA national championships. After finishing second at the EARC championship weeks earlier, Princeton had a national title in sight. His rowers took the charge and went after Cornell for about 1500 meters. They could have settled into a nice pace and cruised to a medal of some sort, but Hughes loves the sport and the competition — and clearly he imparted that on his rowers. The potential winning pace proved to be too much for that squad, and Princeton ended up getting passed by three boats and missed the medal stand altogether.
Afterwards, this was what Hughes said:
I have never been more proud of a crew. They took control of the national championship race early and they turned it into pure guts race for the win. Much congratulations goes to Cornell on an outstanding season. They beat our best and I think that our best was very good.
Furthermore, Hughes seeked TB out to make sure that quote was added to the story. He wanted to make sure he congratulated both Cornell and his own team for the race. Why?
Hughes loves the sport. He loves rowing at the highest level, and if another team’s best defeats his best, he’s the first one there to offer congratulations. If that sounds familiar, it should; as one TB reader pointed out, Curtis Jordan did the same thing after California topped Princeton for the 2006 national championship.
Class follows class.
Besides his obvious ability to coach the sport, Hughes is also a perfect fit in this age of technology. He has been out in front in the use of social networking to help promote the program; from the web site to creating his own Twitter page, Hughes has a unique understanding of how to best use all possible avenues to help promote both the program and the sport. When the athletic department was discussing all of the new technological changes for the coming year, Hughes could actually use his own experiences to talk about the exciting possibilities out there.
Hughes is a former national champion rower for Princeton. He coached a Princeton team to a national champion, and he was the freshman heavyweight coach for the eventual EARC and Henley champion heavyweight Class of 2006. He represents everything that is good about the Princeton rowing tradition, and TB suspects the Princeton rowing alumni will be thrilled with this decision.
Put TB first on that list.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Jordan Rules
Another coaching legend has just left the building.
Glenn Nelson took a combined 1110 volleyball victories to the golf course. Bill Tierney took 238 lacrosse victories to Denver. And now Curtis Jordan will take 131 heavyweight wins and 186 overall Princeton crew victories into a well-earned retirement.
TigerBlog worked with Jordan for the last eight years and knows that what made him a special figure goes far beyond the numbers.
A few of TB’s favorite anecdotes about Jordan hopefully tell a little bit more about the man and what made him such a legendary success at the boathouse.
In 2006, Princeton heavyweight crew was loaded. The squad returned the majority of a boat that finished second at both Easterns and IRAs the previous year, and it included several members of the 2003 IRA freshman and Henley Temple Cup Challenge champion.
While some would look to curtail expectations for a team like that, Jordan wasn’t interested. He must have known it would be phony to his rowers to say anything else. "I worry about that around sophomores," Jordan said before the season. "Pressure is part of the game. They know what they are here to do."
He also made a point to not over-coach them. He knew what they needed, and then he got out of the way. Over the span of 12 months, that crew became the first collegiate boat to win the Head of the Charles; it went 9-0 in the regular season and won its first Eastern/Ivy League title since 2001 and it ended the year by winning the Ladies Plate Challenge at Henley, the program’s first victory for a varsity heavyweight eight.
The only blemish, if you want to call it that, was a silver medal at the IRA championships. California, the power program out west that year, went head-to-head with Princeton on a rainy Saturday morning on Cooper River for the national championship. The Golden Bears rallied in the final 500 meters to win a thriller over the Tigers.
Afterwards, Jordan didn’t bother with excuses. He didn’t talk about weather or scholarships or pressure or anything else. Instead, he talked about the team and how disappointed it was, because it came here to win. There was no edge of anger in his voice, as if the team had somehow cost him a chance at the title. He simply, honestly reflected the disappointment he knew his rowers felt, but he added mention about his pride in the amazing season.
This past season was a much different, much tougher one. A team that had talent simply never found the cohesion to form a winning boat. Perhaps a loss in the Childs Cup to Columbia put bad thoughts in their heads to early in the season, but the 2009 rowers simply never turned it around.
How did Jordan, accustomed to a career of wins and medal stands, handle it?
During a midseason interview, he acknowledged the toughness of the season, but never once called out his rowers. Instead, he talked about the pride he felt in the work ethic and resilience of this particular group. While some coaches might be hurt by a particular group like this, he hurt for them.
To TB, these two teams showed Jordan’s unique ability to honestly assess each individual team and coach or manage it effectively. He demanded excellence, and in a career that spanned more than three times as many wins as defeats, his teams were excellent far more often than not.
Congratulations to Curtis Jordan on his retirement. After overseeing the greatest years of Princeton heavyweight rowing, you leave the biggest of shoes to fill.
Glenn Nelson took a combined 1110 volleyball victories to the golf course. Bill Tierney took 238 lacrosse victories to Denver. And now Curtis Jordan will take 131 heavyweight wins and 186 overall Princeton crew victories into a well-earned retirement.
TigerBlog worked with Jordan for the last eight years and knows that what made him a special figure goes far beyond the numbers.
A few of TB’s favorite anecdotes about Jordan hopefully tell a little bit more about the man and what made him such a legendary success at the boathouse.
In 2006, Princeton heavyweight crew was loaded. The squad returned the majority of a boat that finished second at both Easterns and IRAs the previous year, and it included several members of the 2003 IRA freshman and Henley Temple Cup Challenge champion.
While some would look to curtail expectations for a team like that, Jordan wasn’t interested. He must have known it would be phony to his rowers to say anything else. "I worry about that around sophomores," Jordan said before the season. "Pressure is part of the game. They know what they are here to do."
He also made a point to not over-coach them. He knew what they needed, and then he got out of the way. Over the span of 12 months, that crew became the first collegiate boat to win the Head of the Charles; it went 9-0 in the regular season and won its first Eastern/Ivy League title since 2001 and it ended the year by winning the Ladies Plate Challenge at Henley, the program’s first victory for a varsity heavyweight eight.
The only blemish, if you want to call it that, was a silver medal at the IRA championships. California, the power program out west that year, went head-to-head with Princeton on a rainy Saturday morning on Cooper River for the national championship. The Golden Bears rallied in the final 500 meters to win a thriller over the Tigers.
Afterwards, Jordan didn’t bother with excuses. He didn’t talk about weather or scholarships or pressure or anything else. Instead, he talked about the team and how disappointed it was, because it came here to win. There was no edge of anger in his voice, as if the team had somehow cost him a chance at the title. He simply, honestly reflected the disappointment he knew his rowers felt, but he added mention about his pride in the amazing season.
This past season was a much different, much tougher one. A team that had talent simply never found the cohesion to form a winning boat. Perhaps a loss in the Childs Cup to Columbia put bad thoughts in their heads to early in the season, but the 2009 rowers simply never turned it around.
How did Jordan, accustomed to a career of wins and medal stands, handle it?
During a midseason interview, he acknowledged the toughness of the season, but never once called out his rowers. Instead, he talked about the pride he felt in the work ethic and resilience of this particular group. While some coaches might be hurt by a particular group like this, he hurt for them.
To TB, these two teams showed Jordan’s unique ability to honestly assess each individual team and coach or manage it effectively. He demanded excellence, and in a career that spanned more than three times as many wins as defeats, his teams were excellent far more often than not.
Congratulations to Curtis Jordan on his retirement. After overseeing the greatest years of Princeton heavyweight rowing, you leave the biggest of shoes to fill.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Would The Henley Model Work In America?
For the ninth time in University history, the Royal Henley Regatta crowned a champion from Princeton. On Sunday, the undefeated and national champion Princeton men's lightweights became international champions by topping the Brown freshman heavyweights (and four other crews) to win the Temple Challenge Cup.
For the season, Princeton went to the starting line 13 times against a grand total of 29 opponents and never once crossed the finish line second. Whether it was a dual race, a heat, a championship final or a Henley showdown, Princeton always finished first. It is an amazing feat and surely deserves its due credit. The Henley Royal Regatta web site is filled with information and photos from Sunday's championship and is worth a visit for all rowing fans, and GoPrincetonTigers.com has followed the team closely with stories and videos during this championship season.
For today, though, TigerBlog has a question to the many rowing fans out there. Is there a place for the Henley model in American collegiate rowing?
Having covered the sport for seven years, TB appreciates the importance of tradition in the sport. To alter the EARC, EAWRC or IRA national championships would probably be sacrilege to those who have grown up in the sport. A six-boat championship final, following days of heats, repechages and semifinals, certainly is an exciting and fair way to determine a champion.
But nothing in collegiate sports grips the country like March Madness. Even in a year (like 2009) when most of the games really don't live up to the hype, the overall tournament is always a success. And part of the reason why, at least in TB's opinion, is that you can put almost anything into a bracket and get people interested.
Perhaps this is worth a try in collegiate rowing now. Since you could never change the way champions are crowned, how about starting each season with an American "Henley" challenge?
You take the top 16 varsity eights from the IRA heavyweight and NCAA open women championships and the top four from both lightweight divisions and you send them to one location the next March for a season-opening competition. You could do the competition in two days, with one race in the morning and another in the afternoon (and the lightweights would only need one day). Not only could it draw some early interest to the sport, but it would add some actual drama to the third-level finals at IRAs and NCAAs; all of the sudden, the difference between fourth and fifth place is significant.
TB knows the heavyweights compete in the prestigious Copley Cup competition in San Diego early in the season, and that draws many of the national powers, so perhaps that would be the weekend to try this format. You would have all of the nation's best rowers in one spot for the only time of the year (since the open women don't go to IRAs) and could have an amazing showcase for the sport to begin each season.
To all of the rowing faithful out there, would you be interested in a little April Madness on the water?
For the season, Princeton went to the starting line 13 times against a grand total of 29 opponents and never once crossed the finish line second. Whether it was a dual race, a heat, a championship final or a Henley showdown, Princeton always finished first. It is an amazing feat and surely deserves its due credit. The Henley Royal Regatta web site is filled with information and photos from Sunday's championship and is worth a visit for all rowing fans, and GoPrincetonTigers.com has followed the team closely with stories and videos during this championship season.
For today, though, TigerBlog has a question to the many rowing fans out there. Is there a place for the Henley model in American collegiate rowing?
Having covered the sport for seven years, TB appreciates the importance of tradition in the sport. To alter the EARC, EAWRC or IRA national championships would probably be sacrilege to those who have grown up in the sport. A six-boat championship final, following days of heats, repechages and semifinals, certainly is an exciting and fair way to determine a champion.
But nothing in collegiate sports grips the country like March Madness. Even in a year (like 2009) when most of the games really don't live up to the hype, the overall tournament is always a success. And part of the reason why, at least in TB's opinion, is that you can put almost anything into a bracket and get people interested.
Perhaps this is worth a try in collegiate rowing now. Since you could never change the way champions are crowned, how about starting each season with an American "Henley" challenge?
You take the top 16 varsity eights from the IRA heavyweight and NCAA open women championships and the top four from both lightweight divisions and you send them to one location the next March for a season-opening competition. You could do the competition in two days, with one race in the morning and another in the afternoon (and the lightweights would only need one day). Not only could it draw some early interest to the sport, but it would add some actual drama to the third-level finals at IRAs and NCAAs; all of the sudden, the difference between fourth and fifth place is significant.
TB knows the heavyweights compete in the prestigious Copley Cup competition in San Diego early in the season, and that draws many of the national powers, so perhaps that would be the weekend to try this format. You would have all of the nation's best rowers in one spot for the only time of the year (since the open women don't go to IRAs) and could have an amazing showcase for the sport to begin each season.
To all of the rowing faithful out there, would you be interested in a little April Madness on the water?
Monday, June 8, 2009
Luke, I Am Your Father...
Men's lightweight rowing coach Greg Hughes is a favorite here at TigerBlog HQ for two reasons. One, he is a forward thinker who has been greatly helpful in our move towards more technological material online.
Two, he makes Darth Vader sound like Mickey Mouse.
Hughes has been a favorite around the boathouse for a much longer time, though. In 1996, as a senior on the men's lightweight crew, he helped Princeton surge to a national championship by the slimmest of margins — .01 of a second. Basically, it's the amount of time it took you to read that last sentence, multiplied by 500.
As the heavyweight assistant coach, he guided a 2003 novice crew that won the Royal Henley regatta and would eventually become a senior class that won the Ivy League title and finished second at nationals.
It was the summer of 2005 when he got the chance to replace his former head coach, the retiring Joe Murtaugh. TigerBlog remembers the moment he saw Hughes in Gary Walters' office, put two and two together and immediately thought that this was the perfect fit. Since then, it's been an upward climb that culminated in the perfect 2009 season.
Men's lightweight rowing is a sport full of parity. The league powers include Ivy League schools, as well as Navy and Georgetown. It's a small pool of young men who can get into those schools, and an even smaller pool that can handle the weight restrictions and still row at a high level. It's a sport where A beats B, B beats C and C beats A. Then they get to the championship weekend, and D wins. And really, nobody saw D after it lost to E, which got killed by A, B and C.
That parity existed this year, except for A. Princeton was A. B might have beaten C, lost to D, tied with E and never raced F. It didn't matter. None of those letters even touched A.
When Princeton was challenged each week of the regular season, it always won. When Princeton had to race two times to win its first Eastern/Ivy League title, it won. When Princeton took four weeks off, flew to Sacramento and had one race to win the national title against a field of letters looking for the stunner, it won.
And it won in style. Five hundred meters into the race, the gold was all but decided.
The driving force has been Hughes, a determined and driven coach who strives for excellence in a sport he obviously has deep respect for. He didn't like a school newspaper headline once that referred to a previous year's win as a "rout" because he thought it disrespected the other school's rowers. He cherishes Sprints because, to him, it's the ultimate in competition.
The program has taken a step forward every year since he's taken over. That trend can't possibly continue next year. Perfection can be matched, but can't be topped.
But if you're going to try matching it, Greg Hughes gives you a chance.
Two, he makes Darth Vader sound like Mickey Mouse.
Hughes has been a favorite around the boathouse for a much longer time, though. In 1996, as a senior on the men's lightweight crew, he helped Princeton surge to a national championship by the slimmest of margins — .01 of a second. Basically, it's the amount of time it took you to read that last sentence, multiplied by 500.
As the heavyweight assistant coach, he guided a 2003 novice crew that won the Royal Henley regatta and would eventually become a senior class that won the Ivy League title and finished second at nationals.
It was the summer of 2005 when he got the chance to replace his former head coach, the retiring Joe Murtaugh. TigerBlog remembers the moment he saw Hughes in Gary Walters' office, put two and two together and immediately thought that this was the perfect fit. Since then, it's been an upward climb that culminated in the perfect 2009 season.
Men's lightweight rowing is a sport full of parity. The league powers include Ivy League schools, as well as Navy and Georgetown. It's a small pool of young men who can get into those schools, and an even smaller pool that can handle the weight restrictions and still row at a high level. It's a sport where A beats B, B beats C and C beats A. Then they get to the championship weekend, and D wins. And really, nobody saw D after it lost to E, which got killed by A, B and C.
That parity existed this year, except for A. Princeton was A. B might have beaten C, lost to D, tied with E and never raced F. It didn't matter. None of those letters even touched A.
When Princeton was challenged each week of the regular season, it always won. When Princeton had to race two times to win its first Eastern/Ivy League title, it won. When Princeton took four weeks off, flew to Sacramento and had one race to win the national title against a field of letters looking for the stunner, it won.
And it won in style. Five hundred meters into the race, the gold was all but decided.
The driving force has been Hughes, a determined and driven coach who strives for excellence in a sport he obviously has deep respect for. He didn't like a school newspaper headline once that referred to a previous year's win as a "rout" because he thought it disrespected the other school's rowers. He cherishes Sprints because, to him, it's the ultimate in competition.
The program has taken a step forward every year since he's taken over. That trend can't possibly continue next year. Perfection can be matched, but can't be topped.
But if you're going to try matching it, Greg Hughes gives you a chance.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Greatness That Apparently Never Happened
You're in Detroit, and it's the culmination of another March Madness. North Carolina has just shredded Michigan State in a 40-minute snoozer and is ready to collect its well-deserved NCAA title.
But wait. Here comes Michigan State's JV team, and boy, do they look tough. And who is that waiting in the rear? That's right, it's Tom Izzo's best 2-on-2 team. Uh-oh, Roy Williams may have a problem on his hands. In fact, UConn looks like it has a pretty good JV team waiting in the wings too. Maybe this whole thing is really up for grabs.
Absurd, right?
If you think the 2009 NCAA men's basketball championship was a blowout, you should have been by Mercer Lake on May 28, 2006. It was the NCAA varsity eight grand final in open rowing. The best six boats in the country lined up together, each 2,000 meters from championship glory.
Last year, Yale won that grand final by less than one second over Stanford. The year before, Yale won by less than two seconds over Ohio State. In 2005, Cal topped Princeton by just over two seconds.
But on that day in 2006, Princeton won the grand final by 6.4 seconds. To go back to the basketball analogy, the walk-ons are running up and down the court with multiple TV timeouts still left. The starters are fighting over which part of the net they want to cut first.
That 2006 Princeton crew was one of the best in NCAA history. Maybe it wasn't the best ever; Yale is riding two straight victories and could easily win the 2009 title, while Princeton only had the one championship. But Princeton is in the conversation.
At least, Princeton should be. But as time goes on, people will forget that team. How is that possible? Who could forget such a great NCAA champion?
Because, amazingly, Princeton wasn't actually the 2006 NCAA champion.
Don't believe it. Click here, the OFFICIAL site of the NCAA. California and Brown shared the NCAA title, despite the fact that neither boat finished within six seconds of Princeton. In fact, TigerBlog remembers members of both the Cal and Brown crews gathering around the officials to determine the exact order of that grand final. When it was ruled that Cal finished in 6:43.26, while Brown finished in 6:43.52, the Golden Bears exploded in celebration.
Never has second place felt so good; after all, second place made them the NCAA champion.
Title IX allows programs a maximum of 20 scholarships for open rowing. This has accelerated the growth of the sport and allows many more girls the opportunity to compete in an NCAA sport in college. Nobody is against that. Because of the 20 scholarships, the NCAA has decided to recognize an overall team champion, which is comprised of a first varsity eight, a second varsity eight and a varsity four. In comparison, men's heavyweight, men's lightweight and women's lightweight rowing determines its national champion by the winner of the IRA varsity eight grand final.
You can debate which is the most fair or the most logical. TigerBlog looked at different collegiate web sites, and for the most part, story headlines and lead paragraphs tell you first and foremost how the varsity eight finished. The sport's own poll, the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association/USRowing poll, even ranks teams solely by varsity eight boats. And yet, at the end, the biggest title in the sport goes to the team with the best 1-20 rowers, not the best 1-8.
TigerBlog doesn't agree with it, but it's the way it is. That's not even the point here. This is a sport that generates so much of its publicity on the first varsity crews, that prides itself on the best eight-woman boat each school can offer. And yet, on the NCAA's own web site, those boats are forgotten. That 2006 Princeton 8+, which included two Olympians, a U-23 gold medalist and a rower competing for a spot on the Elite national team, has been forgotten by its own organization.
And someday will be forgotten by the fans of its own sport. The NCAA has chosen its own way to crown a champion, and it seems unlikely that will ever change. One can only hope the NCAA does a better job telling the story of its past, and especially those championship boats that helped grow the sport along the way.
And if they won't, the admittedly biased TigerBlog will. The team of stroke Caroline Lind, #7 Kristin Haraldsdottir, #6 Jackie Zider, #5 Devan Darby, #4 Andreanne Morin, #3 Caroline Kruse, #2 Genevra Stone, bow Kate Bertko and coxswain Lizzie Agnew was and still is the best boat TB has ever seen, and its dominant performance on May 28, 2006 can't ever be forgotten.
But wait. Here comes Michigan State's JV team, and boy, do they look tough. And who is that waiting in the rear? That's right, it's Tom Izzo's best 2-on-2 team. Uh-oh, Roy Williams may have a problem on his hands. In fact, UConn looks like it has a pretty good JV team waiting in the wings too. Maybe this whole thing is really up for grabs.
Absurd, right?
If you think the 2009 NCAA men's basketball championship was a blowout, you should have been by Mercer Lake on May 28, 2006. It was the NCAA varsity eight grand final in open rowing. The best six boats in the country lined up together, each 2,000 meters from championship glory.
Last year, Yale won that grand final by less than one second over Stanford. The year before, Yale won by less than two seconds over Ohio State. In 2005, Cal topped Princeton by just over two seconds.
But on that day in 2006, Princeton won the grand final by 6.4 seconds. To go back to the basketball analogy, the walk-ons are running up and down the court with multiple TV timeouts still left. The starters are fighting over which part of the net they want to cut first.
That 2006 Princeton crew was one of the best in NCAA history. Maybe it wasn't the best ever; Yale is riding two straight victories and could easily win the 2009 title, while Princeton only had the one championship. But Princeton is in the conversation.
At least, Princeton should be. But as time goes on, people will forget that team. How is that possible? Who could forget such a great NCAA champion?
Because, amazingly, Princeton wasn't actually the 2006 NCAA champion.
Don't believe it. Click here, the OFFICIAL site of the NCAA. California and Brown shared the NCAA title, despite the fact that neither boat finished within six seconds of Princeton. In fact, TigerBlog remembers members of both the Cal and Brown crews gathering around the officials to determine the exact order of that grand final. When it was ruled that Cal finished in 6:43.26, while Brown finished in 6:43.52, the Golden Bears exploded in celebration.
Never has second place felt so good; after all, second place made them the NCAA champion.
Title IX allows programs a maximum of 20 scholarships for open rowing. This has accelerated the growth of the sport and allows many more girls the opportunity to compete in an NCAA sport in college. Nobody is against that. Because of the 20 scholarships, the NCAA has decided to recognize an overall team champion, which is comprised of a first varsity eight, a second varsity eight and a varsity four. In comparison, men's heavyweight, men's lightweight and women's lightweight rowing determines its national champion by the winner of the IRA varsity eight grand final.
You can debate which is the most fair or the most logical. TigerBlog looked at different collegiate web sites, and for the most part, story headlines and lead paragraphs tell you first and foremost how the varsity eight finished. The sport's own poll, the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association/USRowing poll, even ranks teams solely by varsity eight boats. And yet, at the end, the biggest title in the sport goes to the team with the best 1-20 rowers, not the best 1-8.
TigerBlog doesn't agree with it, but it's the way it is. That's not even the point here. This is a sport that generates so much of its publicity on the first varsity crews, that prides itself on the best eight-woman boat each school can offer. And yet, on the NCAA's own web site, those boats are forgotten. That 2006 Princeton 8+, which included two Olympians, a U-23 gold medalist and a rower competing for a spot on the Elite national team, has been forgotten by its own organization.
And someday will be forgotten by the fans of its own sport. The NCAA has chosen its own way to crown a champion, and it seems unlikely that will ever change. One can only hope the NCAA does a better job telling the story of its past, and especially those championship boats that helped grow the sport along the way.
And if they won't, the admittedly biased TigerBlog will. The team of stroke Caroline Lind, #7 Kristin Haraldsdottir, #6 Jackie Zider, #5 Devan Darby, #4 Andreanne Morin, #3 Caroline Kruse, #2 Genevra Stone, bow Kate Bertko and coxswain Lizzie Agnew was and still is the best boat TB has ever seen, and its dominant performance on May 28, 2006 can't ever be forgotten.
Friday, May 8, 2009
A Postseason For Everybody
Because of the overwhelming popularity of the NCAA men's basketball tournament and, to a slightly lesser degree, the "Championship Week" bonanza on ESPN, the Ivy League has often been the center of attention in the conversation about postseasons.As you are probably well aware, most Ivy League champions, including both men's and women's basketball, are determined in the regular season. You play 14 games, and if you win more than anybody else, you are the champion.
What it may lack in excitement, it more than makes up for in fairness. But sports is entertainment, and entertainment should be exciting, right? But it should also be fair, shouldn't it?
Baseball and softball both use four-team divisions and let the two division winners battle in a best-of-three for the title. Starting next season, both men's and women's lacrosse leagues will send its top four teams to an Ivy League tournament for the league title. Both seem to be happy compromises between fair and exciting.
And then there are sports that determine champions in a one-meet extravaganza, when everybody seemingly has an even chance. Both swimming & diving and track & field are among those groups, but realistically, rarely does more than two or three teams have a true chance at a title. With so many events, you can typically get a sense of which teams are deep enough to truly contend. The best men's swimmer in the Ivy League this year was Yale's Alex Righi; he won all three conference titles he entered and carried the Bulldogs singlehandedly to 21st place at the NCAA Championships.
And yet, Yale was never on Princeton's radar during the championship meet. The Tigers defeated Harvard for the 2009 title; since 1993, the men's swimming and diving title has gone to either Princeton or Harvard. The best teams usually win the swimming or track titles, although upsets have happened.
All that brings us to Sunday in Worcester, Mass. Lake Quinsigamond will serve as host to the 2009 EARC men's rowing championships, where both the Princeton heavyweight and lightweight crews will compete for the Ivy League championships. The two teams couldn't be going into the weekend on more different paths: the heavyweights completed one of their toughest regular seasons ever, losing their last five races and only beating Penn during the regular season; the lightweights beat everybody on their schedule by at least three seconds.
And yet, they are both in the exact same position heading into the weekend. They both need to qualify for the finals during a morning heat and win the grand final to take the title. And since it's only one event, there is no reliance on overall team depth. Perform badly, you're going to lose. Simple.
Both head coaches, Curtis Jordan (heavyweight) and Greg Hughes (lightweight), understand the significance of the weekend. Three years ago, Jordan took the best team in the east to Sprints, knowing that anything less than gold would be considered a failure. The pressure was on, and to the credit of that 2006 power, Princeton won gold. Now, his team goes with a bit of an S.O.S. mantra -- Save Our Season. As the 11th-seeded crew, simply making the grand final would seem to be an extraordinary accomplishment.
But what happens if they do? What happens if Princeton, which still has significant talent, finally puts 2000 meters together and pulls off an upset in its first heat? All of the sudden, the Tigers will row a race with one thing it has lacked all season: confidence. Furthermore, it would be a boat absolutely bereft of expectations with everything to gain.
To a degree, the opposite is true for the lightweights. Princeton has been atop the rankings all season and anything short of victory would be disappointing, although not shocking. The men's lightweight field is so close that Hughes thinks six teams have a real shot at winning; based on heat draws, it is more than conceivable that those six (Princeton, Harvard, Cornell, Yale, Navy and Georgetown) will line up next to each other at 5:30 p.m. Sunday.
To his credit, Hughes doesn't wish his team got any extra advantage from the regular season. He has always praised the excitement of Sprints, and his was the team that emerged from a mix to make a trip to the medal stand in his second season.
So do you prefer the needle to point closer to fair or to exciting? Either way, Princeton would benefit this weekend. If it was just based on regular season success, the heavyweights wouldn't go to sleep Saturday night with realistic dreams of an Ivy League title. The lightweights sure would, though, and maybe the road would be a little easier.
Instead, all slates are wiped clean. On Sunday, in what is easily one of the most exciting days in collegiate rowing, two Ivy League champions will be decided on the same lake, in the same weather, by the same standards. Two trips, 2,000 meters: fastest team wins.
Truth be told, there is something very fair about that.
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