A few thoughts ...
* Princeton's win over UMass was Bill Tierney's 30th in an NCAA tournament game, making him the second coach ever to reach the 30-mark (Virginia's Dom Starsia (28) and Syracuse's John Desko (24) are closing in as well). Roy Simmons Jr., Desko's predecessor at Syracuse, has the record at either 31 or 34, depending on which interpretation you wish to use. According to the official NCAA championships record book, "Paul Gait played in the 1990 championship while ineligible. Under NCAA rules, Syracuse and Paul Gait's records for that championship were vacated." Naturally, should Bill Tierney win one more NCAA game, he'll have tied what the NCAA recognizes as Simmons' total. You can make a case that without Paul Gait, perhaps Syracuse would not have won three games in 1990 in the tournament. Or you can point out that they still had Gary Gait. Either way, TigerBlog is going to go with 34 as the official record, which Tierney is probably okay with.
* Barring rainouts, off days, etc., Princeton alums Ross Ohlendorf of the Pirates and Chris Young of the Padres have settled into pitching on the same five-day rotation. Yesterday marked the third straight time they have pitched on the same day. According to Scott Bradley, the Princeton baseball coach, the last time before this that Ivy alums both started on the same day was when Ron Darling (Yale) and Mike Remlinger (Dartmouth) did so back in the late 1980s or early 1990s. Ohlendorf continues to thrive in Pittsburgh, where is now 4-3 with a 3.77 ERA after six innings of two-hit ball last night against the Cardinals. Young lost to the Cubs, but who knows? Perhaps the two can pitch together for the National League in the All-Star Game at some point. Against each other in the playoffs is a long shot at this point. Still, TigerBlog is grateful to the Yankees for trading Ohlendorf to the Pirates, which made balancing rooting for the Princeton alum and against the Yankees at the same time no longer necessary.
* Princeton's women's lacrosse team heads to Chicago today to take on Northwestern in the NCAA quarterfinals. It is the third time in five years that Princeton will play at Northwestern in the quarterfinals; the Wildcats won the previous two meetings, are undefeated this year and have won four straight NCAA titles. It's a great opportunity for the Tigers, who can disrupt what Northwestern has called its "Drive for Five." To see a non-East Coast traditional power do so well in lacrosse does raise the question of what the sport would look like for the traditional Eastern powers if the game expands nationally. Would the same powers dominate in men's and women's, or would it be a Final Four of Michigan, UCLA, Florida State and Texas?
* This month marks the 15th anniversary of when Princeton won the men's and women's NCAA lacrosse championships in the same year for the only time. It was the only time a men's and women's team had won the NCAA title in the same team sport in the same year until UConn swept the basketball championships in 2004. Wisconsin them matched it by winning both hockey championships in 2006.
* If you're a track and field fan, Weaver Track and Field Stadium is the place this weekend. Princeton will host the IC4A and ECAC championships beginning Friday and running through Sunday. The IC4A will be run for the 133rd time, and it is the oldest track and field meet in the world, TigerBlog believes.
* The final Ivy championship of the year is up for grabs in the women's open crew Eastern Sprints this weekend. Regardless of the outcome, Princeton has already clinched the Ivy League's unofficial all-sports points championship for the 23rd straight year, and 2008-09 is already the 17th academic year that Princeton has reached double figures in Ivy League championships.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
The Voice In The Headset
If you scroll down through the contacts in TigerBlog's cell phone, you'll come to an entry called "PTruck." It's between "Pizza Star" and "Putukian," the first being self-explanatory, the second being Margot Putukian, Princeton Athletics' team physician.
PTruck is a transliterative version of "Pietruch," someone TigerBlog has known for years and yet never actually met. And then today, unbelievably, there was "Pietruch," in the obituary section of the local paper.
Gary Pietruch was the engineer for almost every Princeton athletic event TigerBlog has broadcast for the last, oh, 10 years maybe. Every time TB had a game to do, Gary would be the one in the studio, connecting the broadcast from the game site to the airwaves.
TigerBlog spoke to him all the time and never once actually saw him in person. When TB stumbled upon the obituary, he was at a total loss for words. In fact, when TB first saw it and saw that he was 52 years old, the first thought was that it had to be the father, since TB would have guessed that Gary was much younger. Even after reading that he had graduated from Ewing High and was active on the alumni committee there and that he had then gone to Mercer County College and Temple, and even after seeing that it listed his passion as radio, TigerBlog didn't believe it was the same person.
There have been many occassions in the 20 years that TB has been broadcasting Princeton sports that there has been worry about the engineer. Will he show up? Will he be on time? What if he isn't? Then what? How are we going to get on the air?
With Gary, there was never any of that. In fact, during men's lacrosse broadcasts, we had developed a routine. TB would get to the location of the game and call in to connect the radio equipment. This would then enable TB to hear what was playing on the station at that moment.
Eventually, around 40 minutes before gametime, TigerBlog would call into the studio and ask for Gary. He was there, of course, 100% of the time. He'd always answer the phone the same way, with an elongated calling of TB's first name, starting high and then getting deeper.
We'd exchange a few pleasantries, and then we'd do a check of levels. Once that was done, he'd tell me that he was playing the open in 15 minutes or whatever it was, and that would be it. TB would put his headset on in 14:30 and then go when the cue was played.
During the games, TigerBlog would often hear Gary's voice through the headset, reminding him to take a station ID at the top of the hour or that we were getting either ahead or behind in breaks or sometimes even to comment on how the game was going. The only time TB even got remotely mad at him was when a two-minute break would be requested and Gary would only put on one minute of commercials. In the grand scheme of things, that's not quite a big deal.
TB could often imagine his sitting in the studio on a beautiful day, listening to a game that he often said he had never seen and knew little about. It's a pity that it took until reading his obit to realize that the studio was where he loved to be.
After reading Gary Pietruch's obit, TigerBlog felt like he'd lost a friend. Perhaps he was a friend TB had never met, but a friend nonetheless.
PTruck is a transliterative version of "Pietruch," someone TigerBlog has known for years and yet never actually met. And then today, unbelievably, there was "Pietruch," in the obituary section of the local paper.
Gary Pietruch was the engineer for almost every Princeton athletic event TigerBlog has broadcast for the last, oh, 10 years maybe. Every time TB had a game to do, Gary would be the one in the studio, connecting the broadcast from the game site to the airwaves.
TigerBlog spoke to him all the time and never once actually saw him in person. When TB stumbled upon the obituary, he was at a total loss for words. In fact, when TB first saw it and saw that he was 52 years old, the first thought was that it had to be the father, since TB would have guessed that Gary was much younger. Even after reading that he had graduated from Ewing High and was active on the alumni committee there and that he had then gone to Mercer County College and Temple, and even after seeing that it listed his passion as radio, TigerBlog didn't believe it was the same person.
There have been many occassions in the 20 years that TB has been broadcasting Princeton sports that there has been worry about the engineer. Will he show up? Will he be on time? What if he isn't? Then what? How are we going to get on the air?
With Gary, there was never any of that. In fact, during men's lacrosse broadcasts, we had developed a routine. TB would get to the location of the game and call in to connect the radio equipment. This would then enable TB to hear what was playing on the station at that moment.
Eventually, around 40 minutes before gametime, TigerBlog would call into the studio and ask for Gary. He was there, of course, 100% of the time. He'd always answer the phone the same way, with an elongated calling of TB's first name, starting high and then getting deeper.
We'd exchange a few pleasantries, and then we'd do a check of levels. Once that was done, he'd tell me that he was playing the open in 15 minutes or whatever it was, and that would be it. TB would put his headset on in 14:30 and then go when the cue was played.
During the games, TigerBlog would often hear Gary's voice through the headset, reminding him to take a station ID at the top of the hour or that we were getting either ahead or behind in breaks or sometimes even to comment on how the game was going. The only time TB even got remotely mad at him was when a two-minute break would be requested and Gary would only put on one minute of commercials. In the grand scheme of things, that's not quite a big deal.
TB could often imagine his sitting in the studio on a beautiful day, listening to a game that he often said he had never seen and knew little about. It's a pity that it took until reading his obit to realize that the studio was where he loved to be.
After reading Gary Pietruch's obit, TigerBlog felt like he'd lost a friend. Perhaps he was a friend TB had never met, but a friend nonetheless.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Gimme Three Steps
The I-Tunes Store is an amazing place. Anything you want is there. Music. Videos. Shows. Movies. Everything.
The basic concept is that you spend $.99 for a song. And then people buy them by the millions. And millions. And more. The store launched six years ago and has since had more than one billion songs legally downloaded, all for around a buck. That's a billion, as in 1,000,000,000 songs.
Before the store came along, illegal downloads of music seemed to be threatening the world. The basic thought was that people would never pay for the music if they could simply download it for free, even if there was some risk involved and the government was trying to make an example of some people.
And then the store came along. And people started paying for the music – and everything else, as technology evolved.
TigerBlog is a big I-Tunes fan. Since first buying "Gimme Three Steps" by Lynyrd Skynyrd, TB has gone on to rack up 361 songs from the store, as well as one video ("Girls In Their Summer Clothes," by Bruce Springsteen; TB highly recommends it if you're a fan of the Jersey Shore). The list of 361 songs includes quite a variety, led by Springsteen of course and including anything from any era (soundtrack from the movie "Once" is a must, but also including Bon Jovi to Bobby Darin to the Goo Goo Dolls and Go Gos to the Thompson Twins to old showtunes to Coldplay to Elvis (Presley and Costello) and holiday music and even Camp Rock (for Little Miss TigerBlog) and heaven forbid even modern music (for TigerBlog Jr.).
This is over a period of probably five years, and it is probably equal to the amount that TB spent on CDs in the same time period before.
Or, if you want, you can go all the way back to when TigerBlog and the rest of the world his age and older used to buy actual records. TB had a stack of albums, but they've disappeared over time.
So why all the I-Tunes talk? It's for two reasons - first, the impact it's had on the market and second, what it says about consumers. And then, how does all this apply to Princeton athletics?
Before the store came along, the idea that people would pay for music downloads on the Web was ludicrous. And yet people spend billions there. Why? It's the convenience. You are reminded of a song, and you go and spend a buck for it. This is at the same time that newspapers are going out of business because they have given away their product online, out of fear that people would never pay for internet subscriptions.
So, it's the convenience of it, the immediacy of it. How does that translate to Princeton athletics? What do Princeton fans want from the Department of Athletics on an immediate basis, even if there is a nominal fee attached to it? Does it involve ticketing? Information? Merchandise?
And then there's the question of what it's done to the market? When was the last time you bought a CD? Can't remember? TigerBlog certainly can't.
In other words, entire ways of doing business, entire beliefs of what people feel they must have, can be changed almost on a dime, if there is someone willing to take the chance and provide a higher quality alternative.
Here at the Princeton OAC, that's the core of discussions we've been having about the future of athletic communications. What is necessary, and what is a better alternative? And mostly, how do we do this without being afraid of abandoning traditional methods?
It's the time in college athletics to look around and see what models in society have worked and why and which ones haven't and why.
And then apply them to Princeton. Simple, right? We'll see.
The basic concept is that you spend $.99 for a song. And then people buy them by the millions. And millions. And more. The store launched six years ago and has since had more than one billion songs legally downloaded, all for around a buck. That's a billion, as in 1,000,000,000 songs.
Before the store came along, illegal downloads of music seemed to be threatening the world. The basic thought was that people would never pay for the music if they could simply download it for free, even if there was some risk involved and the government was trying to make an example of some people.
And then the store came along. And people started paying for the music – and everything else, as technology evolved.
TigerBlog is a big I-Tunes fan. Since first buying "Gimme Three Steps" by Lynyrd Skynyrd, TB has gone on to rack up 361 songs from the store, as well as one video ("Girls In Their Summer Clothes," by Bruce Springsteen; TB highly recommends it if you're a fan of the Jersey Shore). The list of 361 songs includes quite a variety, led by Springsteen of course and including anything from any era (soundtrack from the movie "Once" is a must, but also including Bon Jovi to Bobby Darin to the Goo Goo Dolls and Go Gos to the Thompson Twins to old showtunes to Coldplay to Elvis (Presley and Costello) and holiday music and even Camp Rock (for Little Miss TigerBlog) and heaven forbid even modern music (for TigerBlog Jr.).
This is over a period of probably five years, and it is probably equal to the amount that TB spent on CDs in the same time period before.
Or, if you want, you can go all the way back to when TigerBlog and the rest of the world his age and older used to buy actual records. TB had a stack of albums, but they've disappeared over time.
So why all the I-Tunes talk? It's for two reasons - first, the impact it's had on the market and second, what it says about consumers. And then, how does all this apply to Princeton athletics?
Before the store came along, the idea that people would pay for music downloads on the Web was ludicrous. And yet people spend billions there. Why? It's the convenience. You are reminded of a song, and you go and spend a buck for it. This is at the same time that newspapers are going out of business because they have given away their product online, out of fear that people would never pay for internet subscriptions.
So, it's the convenience of it, the immediacy of it. How does that translate to Princeton athletics? What do Princeton fans want from the Department of Athletics on an immediate basis, even if there is a nominal fee attached to it? Does it involve ticketing? Information? Merchandise?
And then there's the question of what it's done to the market? When was the last time you bought a CD? Can't remember? TigerBlog certainly can't.
In other words, entire ways of doing business, entire beliefs of what people feel they must have, can be changed almost on a dime, if there is someone willing to take the chance and provide a higher quality alternative.
Here at the Princeton OAC, that's the core of discussions we've been having about the future of athletic communications. What is necessary, and what is a better alternative? And mostly, how do we do this without being afraid of abandoning traditional methods?
It's the time in college athletics to look around and see what models in society have worked and why and which ones haven't and why.
And then apply them to Princeton. Simple, right? We'll see.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Hey Day
The 1983-84 academic year in West Philadelphia was a good one. It started when TigerBlog drew the No. 28 in the room drawer, which landed him and roommate Eric Weiss in a two-bedroom double on the 22nd floor of High Rise South, which could be the single-greatest dorm room on the campus.
By the time Hey Day (the tradition of when juniors become seniors, complete with the destroying straw hats; TigerBlog still has a picture of him, Weiss and Ed Mikus Jr. in red Hey Day shirts and mashed hats, with long hair that long ago vanished) rolled around in May, TB had met Mikus, Frohman, Glazer, Baker, Hatke and all the others who to this day come into Jadwin Gym for the Princeton-Penn games and shake their head when they see TigerBlog in his Princeton gear.
Yes, 1983-84 was good times in West Philly. As a matter of fact, it was the year that Penn won the highest number of Ivy titles in school history, a total of eight.
Other league schools and their highs for Ivy titles? Brown won seven in 1999-2000. Columbia? Five in 2006-07. Cornell won nine in 2005-06. Dartmouth has won five on five occasions, most recently in 1992-93. Yale's best is seven, achieved in the first year of full Ivy competition (1956-57) and repeated in 1989-90.
Harvard, among the other seven schools, is the only one who ever reached double figures, something the Crimson have done three times. Harvard's best was 14 Ivy titles in 2004-05.
This past weekend, Princeton won the Ivy League championship in men's lightweight rowing and women's track and field. Combining with the men's lacrosse championship (for a good story on Princeton lacrosse and the McBride cousins, check out M.A. Mehta in the Star-Ledger from Sunday), Princeton won three this spring and now has 11 for the academic year.
Those 11 championships tie for the eighth best total in school history. Princeton has now reached double figures in Ivy titles in 17 different academic years, with a high of 14 twice.
As TigerBlog has often said, it's easy to take this success for granted, but it's not something that happens accidentally.
So don't take it for granted. Don't think that Princeton is entitled to the Ivy titles every year, because the other seven schools are out there all the time working hard to knock the Tigers out of the top spot.
At the same time, enjoy it. Just take it easy on any straw hats you might see. Let our friends in West Philadelphia have their fun.
By the time Hey Day (the tradition of when juniors become seniors, complete with the destroying straw hats; TigerBlog still has a picture of him, Weiss and Ed Mikus Jr. in red Hey Day shirts and mashed hats, with long hair that long ago vanished) rolled around in May, TB had met Mikus, Frohman, Glazer, Baker, Hatke and all the others who to this day come into Jadwin Gym for the Princeton-Penn games and shake their head when they see TigerBlog in his Princeton gear.
Yes, 1983-84 was good times in West Philly. As a matter of fact, it was the year that Penn won the highest number of Ivy titles in school history, a total of eight.
Other league schools and their highs for Ivy titles? Brown won seven in 1999-2000. Columbia? Five in 2006-07. Cornell won nine in 2005-06. Dartmouth has won five on five occasions, most recently in 1992-93. Yale's best is seven, achieved in the first year of full Ivy competition (1956-57) and repeated in 1989-90.
Harvard, among the other seven schools, is the only one who ever reached double figures, something the Crimson have done three times. Harvard's best was 14 Ivy titles in 2004-05.
This past weekend, Princeton won the Ivy League championship in men's lightweight rowing and women's track and field. Combining with the men's lacrosse championship (for a good story on Princeton lacrosse and the McBride cousins, check out M.A. Mehta in the Star-Ledger from Sunday), Princeton won three this spring and now has 11 for the academic year.
Those 11 championships tie for the eighth best total in school history. Princeton has now reached double figures in Ivy titles in 17 different academic years, with a high of 14 twice.
As TigerBlog has often said, it's easy to take this success for granted, but it's not something that happens accidentally.
So don't take it for granted. Don't think that Princeton is entitled to the Ivy titles every year, because the other seven schools are out there all the time working hard to knock the Tigers out of the top spot.
At the same time, enjoy it. Just take it easy on any straw hats you might see. Let our friends in West Philadelphia have their fun.
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.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Novick-Casaceli-Aboff-Ashley Tournament Time
There have been a few posts on TigerBlog about Princeton's success across many sports, leading to the unofficial Ivy League all-sports title.
This weekend is the start of the payoff for all that success. Four Princeton teams will are NCAA bound, starting today.
Here's your four-day NCAA menu...
Thursday
Golfer Susannah Aboff gained a berth in the NCAA East Regional, the first round of which is Thursday. Aboff is the first Tiger women's golfer to appear in an NCAA regional since 2005, which was the last time Princeton won an Ivy League title and nabbed the league's NCAA automatic bid. The course is the University of Florida's home turf, Bostick Golf Course, and Aboff will have to finish as one of the top two scorers who are not on one of the top eight teams (of 21, plus two other individuals) in order to advance to the NCAA Championship. Her tee time is 7:30 a.m.
Golfer Susannah Aboff gained a berth in the NCAA East Regional, the first round of which is Thursday. Aboff is the first Tiger women's golfer to appear in an NCAA regional since 2005, which was the last time Princeton won an Ivy League title and nabbed the league's NCAA automatic bid. The course is the University of Florida's home turf, Bostick Golf Course, and Aboff will have to finish as one of the top two scorers who are not on one of the top eight teams (of 21, plus two other individuals) in order to advance to the NCAA Championship. Her tee time is 7:30 a.m.
Friday
For the first time since 2000, the women's tennis team is in the NCAA tournament and Florida International is Princeton's first-round opponent in Miami, Fla. Sophomore Blakely Ashley plays sixth singles for the Tigers, a young team on which all six singles starters are juniors or younger. Three of the top four players (Ivy League Rookie of the Year Lauren McHale, fellow Ivy first-teamer Hilary Bartlett and Ivy second-teamer Rachel Saiontz) on Princeton's singles ladder are freshmen. First serve on the University of Miami's courts for the Tiger cubs is 10 a.m.
Aboff will be back on the golf course Friday for her second round, which begins at 11:40 a.m.
Saturday
If things go well for the women's tennis team Friday, they'll be battling the Miami-Army winner at 1 p.m. Saturday in the second round. Princeton is 0-2 all-time in the NCAA tournament, but those results are relatively ancient history since the two losses were in 1983 and 2000. It was only three years ago that Penn was the last Ivy team to win an NCAA match, and Harvard has advanced to the Round of 16 this decade.
Aboff's third and final round at the NCAA East Regional will begin at 7:30 a.m. Saturday.
Sunday
The weekend's final day will belong to the laxers at Class of 1952 Stadium. The women's team, with senior Christine Casaceli as one of five 20+ goal scorers along with newly crowned Ivy League Player of the Year Holly McGarvie, will look to win a first-round NCAA game at home for the second straight year when the eighth-seeded Tigers meet Georgetown at 1:30 p.m. Tickets, which can be purchased here, are $10.
Later Sunday, at 5 p.m., the fourth-seeded men's lacrosse team, of which Tim Novick is one of a nine-member senior class that includes Mark Kovler as a first-team All-Ivy honoree, will be at home for the NCAAs for the first time since 2006 to host Massachusetts. The game will be televised live by ESPNU, but if you're in the area, come on out to '52 Stadium and make sure the bleachers are packed. Tickets can be purchased here and are $10.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Defensive Midfield Need Not Apply
The All-Ivy League men's lacrosse team was announced today, and Brendan Reilly, Josh Lesko and Charlie Kolkin were nowhere to be found. In fairness, neither were some of the other top players in the Ivy League who all play the same thankless positions.
Reilly, Lesko and Kolkin all play defensive midfield. Reilly and Lesko do it in an even more obscure way, at shortstick defensive midfield.
There have been times this year when Lesko has been Princeton's best player, and he has put up ridiculous stat lines like two goals, seven ground balls and two turnovers against Albany and a goal, a caused turnover and five ground balls against Brown. You could also make a case that for the entire season, Reilly might have played the position better than Lesko. As for Kolkin, he's as good a longstick midfielder as Princeton has ever had.
And yet none of them had a chance. Neither did the other Ivy players at those positions.
The reason is that the All-Ivy men's lacrosse team consists of three attackmen, three midfielders, three defensemen and a goalie, unless there is a tie for one of the spots. In some ways, this is good, because there are 10 players on the field at any given time and 10 players are therefore honored.
It's not the same in several other sports. Baseball, for instance, will have two starting pitchers, a relief pitcher, a utility player, a designated hitter, a catcher, four infielders and three outfielders. That's 13 players. Softball has all the same, minus a relief pitcher. There are currently 26 young men who can say they were a 2008 first-team All-Ivy League football player.
In men's lacrosse, though, the magic number is still 10.
It's very rare that true defensive midfielders are going to be honored above offensive midfielders who put up huge goal totals (and while we're on the subject offensive midfielders, was there really an Ivy League coach who thought Mark Kovler didn't deserve to be a first-team selection? TigerBlog was shocked to see that Kovler was not a unanimous selection). In the case of an LSM like Kolkin, he is nominated at the midfield position, which makes it even more unlikely that he'd be selected.
TigerBlog can't think of another situation in the league where players are basically exempt from All-Ivy consideration because of their position. If you're the best at what you do in the Ivy League in any other sport, you're going to be All-Ivy. But not defensive middies in men's lacrosse.
And yet you could never have a good team without them. Without Kolkin, Reilly and Lesko, Princeton is not 12-2, the Ivy League co-champion and the fourth seed in the NCAA tournament.
Back in 2001, TigerBlog wrote a feature about Winship Ross, another shortstick defensive middie who came away empty for postseason honors, and asked B.J. Prager, an All-Ivy and All-America attackman, about Ross.
"He makes me feel guilty," Prager said. His point was obvious.
Reilly, Lesko and Kolkin all play defensive midfield. Reilly and Lesko do it in an even more obscure way, at shortstick defensive midfield.
There have been times this year when Lesko has been Princeton's best player, and he has put up ridiculous stat lines like two goals, seven ground balls and two turnovers against Albany and a goal, a caused turnover and five ground balls against Brown. You could also make a case that for the entire season, Reilly might have played the position better than Lesko. As for Kolkin, he's as good a longstick midfielder as Princeton has ever had.
And yet none of them had a chance. Neither did the other Ivy players at those positions.
The reason is that the All-Ivy men's lacrosse team consists of three attackmen, three midfielders, three defensemen and a goalie, unless there is a tie for one of the spots. In some ways, this is good, because there are 10 players on the field at any given time and 10 players are therefore honored.
It's not the same in several other sports. Baseball, for instance, will have two starting pitchers, a relief pitcher, a utility player, a designated hitter, a catcher, four infielders and three outfielders. That's 13 players. Softball has all the same, minus a relief pitcher. There are currently 26 young men who can say they were a 2008 first-team All-Ivy League football player.
In men's lacrosse, though, the magic number is still 10.
It's very rare that true defensive midfielders are going to be honored above offensive midfielders who put up huge goal totals (and while we're on the subject offensive midfielders, was there really an Ivy League coach who thought Mark Kovler didn't deserve to be a first-team selection? TigerBlog was shocked to see that Kovler was not a unanimous selection). In the case of an LSM like Kolkin, he is nominated at the midfield position, which makes it even more unlikely that he'd be selected.
TigerBlog can't think of another situation in the league where players are basically exempt from All-Ivy consideration because of their position. If you're the best at what you do in the Ivy League in any other sport, you're going to be All-Ivy. But not defensive middies in men's lacrosse.
And yet you could never have a good team without them. Without Kolkin, Reilly and Lesko, Princeton is not 12-2, the Ivy League co-champion and the fourth seed in the NCAA tournament.
Back in 2001, TigerBlog wrote a feature about Winship Ross, another shortstick defensive middie who came away empty for postseason honors, and asked B.J. Prager, an All-Ivy and All-America attackman, about Ross.
"He makes me feel guilty," Prager said. His point was obvious.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
And Send The Backs Around The End
TigerBlog's roommate his senior year in West Philadelphia was a guy named Charlie, who subsequently went into the paper clip business and today runs several companies in Jacksonville. One day nearly three decades ago, a song came on the radio (or perhaps even a record was put on the turntable - which, for those of you who've never seen one, is what old people used to listen to music on). TigerBlog can't remember if it was "Hey Jude" by the Beatles or "Jersey Girl" by Bruce Springsteen.
What TB does remember is that when the part came on where it goes "la, la, la, la-la-la-la" (followed either by "hey, Jude" or "I'm in love with a Jersey girl," Charlie said "I like this song; the words are easy to remember."
There is something to be said for simplicity in lyrics, something that seemed to be missing in the late 1800s and early 1900s when old gentlemen of Princeton sat down to compose school songs.
"Turn every heart and every voice, bid every care withdraw. Let all with one accord rejoice, in praise of Old Nassau." That's pretty deep stuff. Ol' H.P. Peck of the Class of 1862 knew how to write.
TigerBlog was asked to send some information to the people who will be running the men's lacrosse Final Four in Foxboro (or is it Foxborough?) later this month. It was a standard request sent to probably 20 schools, asking for player head shots, the school logo and, most interestingly, an MP3 of the school fight song.
Which leads to the question: What is the Princeton fight song?
You have three basic contenders. One is "Old Nassau," which is the school alma mater and H.P.'s work. This isn't quite a fight song.
Then there's "Going Back to Nassau Hall," which is, to TigerBlog's knowledge, the only Princeton tradition that actually mentions the fact that the school is in New Jersey. It's a little peppier than "Old Nassau," though it's also not quite a fight song.
The one that TigerBlog sent is "The Princeton Cannon Song," for two reasons. First, this is an actual fight song. It conjures up memories of Palmer Stadium and touchdowns and Princetonians cheering and all that good stuff.
The interesting part of the last two of these songs, the latest of which dates back to 1906, is that they both mention football specifically. Football hadn't turned 40 yet by 1906, yet it so obviously consumed the University and its image, as well as the images of schools like Princeton. It's left TigerBlog to ask all kinds of questions: How did they distribute tickets? Did they have event meetings? How'd they do their marketing? Did people just show up?
Anyway, the Princeton Cannon Song is on its way to Foxboro, hopefully to be followed by the men's lacrosse team. The second reason TigerBlog chose this one?
He already had an mp3 of it, of course.
What TB does remember is that when the part came on where it goes "la, la, la, la-la-la-la" (followed either by "hey, Jude" or "I'm in love with a Jersey girl," Charlie said "I like this song; the words are easy to remember."
There is something to be said for simplicity in lyrics, something that seemed to be missing in the late 1800s and early 1900s when old gentlemen of Princeton sat down to compose school songs.
"Turn every heart and every voice, bid every care withdraw. Let all with one accord rejoice, in praise of Old Nassau." That's pretty deep stuff. Ol' H.P. Peck of the Class of 1862 knew how to write.
TigerBlog was asked to send some information to the people who will be running the men's lacrosse Final Four in Foxboro (or is it Foxborough?) later this month. It was a standard request sent to probably 20 schools, asking for player head shots, the school logo and, most interestingly, an MP3 of the school fight song.
Which leads to the question: What is the Princeton fight song?
You have three basic contenders. One is "Old Nassau," which is the school alma mater and H.P.'s work. This isn't quite a fight song.
Then there's "Going Back to Nassau Hall," which is, to TigerBlog's knowledge, the only Princeton tradition that actually mentions the fact that the school is in New Jersey. It's a little peppier than "Old Nassau," though it's also not quite a fight song.
The one that TigerBlog sent is "The Princeton Cannon Song," for two reasons. First, this is an actual fight song. It conjures up memories of Palmer Stadium and touchdowns and Princetonians cheering and all that good stuff.
The interesting part of the last two of these songs, the latest of which dates back to 1906, is that they both mention football specifically. Football hadn't turned 40 yet by 1906, yet it so obviously consumed the University and its image, as well as the images of schools like Princeton. It's left TigerBlog to ask all kinds of questions: How did they distribute tickets? Did they have event meetings? How'd they do their marketing? Did people just show up?
Anyway, the Princeton Cannon Song is on its way to Foxboro, hopefully to be followed by the men's lacrosse team. The second reason TigerBlog chose this one?
He already had an mp3 of it, of course.
Monday, May 4, 2009
K Band, Transponder 5
The NCAA men's selection show used to be televised only via satellite, which used to require all kinds of effort to be able to be seen here at Princeton.
First you had to find an available room that had the capability receive a satellite transmission. Then you had to go through the registrar's office to see if it could be used at the time you needed it. As TigerBlog recalls, two rooms on the first floor of McCosh were the prime locations.
Then you needed to go through media services to let them know the coordinates, which weren't "channel 5" or even "ESPN." No, you had to make sure you got it right, with names like "K Band, Transponder 5, Channel 236." Then you had no way to get in touch with anyone from media services on a Sunday night, because nobody had a cell phone yet.
As TigerBlog looks back at those times, they were among the most stressful moments he's had here at Princeton, hoping to avoid explaining to 48 lacrosse players and four coaches why the show was not going on. It ranks right up there with the two other greatest sources of stress: will the opposing football coach answer the phone for the weekly football conference call and will the national anthem play when the button is pushed? Speaking of the anthem, there was the time we accidentally played the national anthem of Hungary at a hockey game, but that's for another day.
Anyway, satellite coordinates have gone the way of many other outdated technologies. The 2009 men's selection show was on ESPNU; the women's show was on CBS College Sports. You can get both on many basic cable services, including here at TigerBlog HQ.
One recurrent TigerBlog theme, as loyal readers know, is the way the athletic communications world has changed and continues to change. The NCAA lacrosse selections are another good example.
Looking for information about the selections in 1996? Go to the local paper and hope there's a 10-inch story.
Looking today? Go to the Web, of course. You can get all the anaylsis you want.
For instance:
"Love the UMass path to Foxboro... if the offense can get refocused, move the ball around, and move without the ball, this team can beat both PU and Cornell! Of course they also need to limmit unforced turnovers to 6 or less."
The author of this interpretation? Well, he (or she, for that matter) is named "laxxal," which could make it the work of basically anyone (or at least someone with a flair for the palindrome). The spelling mistake and use of the exclamation point is all laxxal's.
Who is laxxal? Somebody who posts to the laxpower forum. By this morning, there was a thread called "2009 MD1 Tournament Seeding Announcements," which already had 64 responses and 2,786 page views. There were other threads about the selection criteria itself, the selection committee, the games themselves and any number of other areas.
There was one for NCAA picks, which "LI13" posted at 2:28 a.m. For the record, esteemed observers like "LI13" and "VTD" have Princeton in the Final Four, while "Rico8470" has Princeton in the final. On the other hand, "JeffCincy" and "TWLax" don't have Princeton past the quarterfinals.
There are other regulars, with names like "jhu6569" and "Doc Barrister" and "gobigred" and "ivyman" and even "gotigers." Some, very few, actually use their real names.
Several former Princeton players have asked TigerBlog if he is any of the people on the forum; the answer is no.
Still, TigerBlog is a loyal reader. And laxpower isn't the only site. Inside Lacrosse, for instance, constantly updated its "bracketology" all weekend, and many anonymous types posted there as well.
Yes, there are the uneducated posts, but in many cases, the posters are well-informed and thoughtful. TigerBlog wonders sometimes who these people are and where they get the time. Some are too close with too much information not to be either coaches or players.
It's a world that didn't exist a decade ago, and it's changed the way media is. Remember TB's rule No. 1 - people believe everything they read.
Even if it's written by someone named "lax fidelis" or "strannywastheman."
First you had to find an available room that had the capability receive a satellite transmission. Then you had to go through the registrar's office to see if it could be used at the time you needed it. As TigerBlog recalls, two rooms on the first floor of McCosh were the prime locations.
Then you needed to go through media services to let them know the coordinates, which weren't "channel 5" or even "ESPN." No, you had to make sure you got it right, with names like "K Band, Transponder 5, Channel 236." Then you had no way to get in touch with anyone from media services on a Sunday night, because nobody had a cell phone yet.
As TigerBlog looks back at those times, they were among the most stressful moments he's had here at Princeton, hoping to avoid explaining to 48 lacrosse players and four coaches why the show was not going on. It ranks right up there with the two other greatest sources of stress: will the opposing football coach answer the phone for the weekly football conference call and will the national anthem play when the button is pushed? Speaking of the anthem, there was the time we accidentally played the national anthem of Hungary at a hockey game, but that's for another day.
Anyway, satellite coordinates have gone the way of many other outdated technologies. The 2009 men's selection show was on ESPNU; the women's show was on CBS College Sports. You can get both on many basic cable services, including here at TigerBlog HQ.
One recurrent TigerBlog theme, as loyal readers know, is the way the athletic communications world has changed and continues to change. The NCAA lacrosse selections are another good example.
Looking for information about the selections in 1996? Go to the local paper and hope there's a 10-inch story.
Looking today? Go to the Web, of course. You can get all the anaylsis you want.
For instance:
"Love the UMass path to Foxboro... if the offense can get refocused, move the ball around, and move without the ball, this team can beat both PU and Cornell! Of course they also need to limmit unforced turnovers to 6 or less."
The author of this interpretation? Well, he (or she, for that matter) is named "laxxal," which could make it the work of basically anyone (or at least someone with a flair for the palindrome). The spelling mistake and use of the exclamation point is all laxxal's.
Who is laxxal? Somebody who posts to the laxpower forum. By this morning, there was a thread called "2009 MD1 Tournament Seeding Announcements," which already had 64 responses and 2,786 page views. There were other threads about the selection criteria itself, the selection committee, the games themselves and any number of other areas.
There was one for NCAA picks, which "LI13" posted at 2:28 a.m. For the record, esteemed observers like "LI13" and "VTD" have Princeton in the Final Four, while "Rico8470" has Princeton in the final. On the other hand, "JeffCincy" and "TWLax" don't have Princeton past the quarterfinals.
There are other regulars, with names like "jhu6569" and "Doc Barrister" and "gobigred" and "ivyman" and even "gotigers." Some, very few, actually use their real names.
Several former Princeton players have asked TigerBlog if he is any of the people on the forum; the answer is no.
Still, TigerBlog is a loyal reader. And laxpower isn't the only site. Inside Lacrosse, for instance, constantly updated its "bracketology" all weekend, and many anonymous types posted there as well.
Yes, there are the uneducated posts, but in many cases, the posters are well-informed and thoughtful. TigerBlog wonders sometimes who these people are and where they get the time. Some are too close with too much information not to be either coaches or players.
It's a world that didn't exist a decade ago, and it's changed the way media is. Remember TB's rule No. 1 - people believe everything they read.
Even if it's written by someone named "lax fidelis" or "strannywastheman."
Friday, May 1, 2009
Dancing 'Round The May Pole With A Football
TigerBlog drives past the University League Nursery School on his way in every morning. Each year on this day, he can see the little kids as they do their annual "Dance Around the May Pole," something both TigerBlog Jr. and Little Miss TigerBlog did when they attended the school back in the day.
It amazes TigerBlog to see how little time appears to pass between events that come up annually, as another year has flown by. The ULNS May Pole dance is one of those events. Has it really been a year since the last time TB drove by and saw them all lined up?
If years pass that quickly, then surely four months will go by in the blink of an eye. And so why not celebrate May Day by looking ahead to Tiger football 2009 and another annual event here in the Department of Athletics.
Put more simply, let's again ask the question of what is the best time to play home football games.
Princeton has five home games in 2009, beginning Saturday Sept. 19 against the Citadel. The other home games are Saturday Oct. 3 against Columbia, Thursday Oct. 8 against Colgate, Saturday Nov. 31 against Cornell and Saturday Nov. 14 against Yale.
So what are the right start times, keeping in mind that Colgate has been moved to Thursday night at 7 for ESPNU and that the Yale game is etched in stone at 1 pm unless TV comes in at the last minute? The Citadel and Columbia games figure to be when the weather is still very nice, though last year's Nov. 7 Friday night game against Penn was played in 65 degree temperatures.
The Cornell game is being played on Halloween. How does that impact the start time?
Let's start with the Columbia game. Logic suggests that good weather + youth sports during the day + nice stadium with lights = 6 pm start. Or at least 3 pm start. What does history teach us? Let's look at the last three Princeton-Columbia games at Princeton Stadium, all played on the same weekend and all, according to the box score, played in weather ranging from "nice" to "sunny" to "very pleasant."
The 2007 game was a 3:30 start. Attendance was 7,926.
The 2005 game was a 1:00 start. Attendance was 8,835.
The 2003 game was a 6:00 start. Attendance was 8,575.
So what can we conclude? Who knows? The 1:00 game had the best attendance, slightly better than the 6:00 start. The 3:30 start, which seems like a good time as well, was nearly 1,000 fans behind the 1:00 start.
If your average trick-or-treater is going in the late afternoon or evening, and your average Pop Warner season is over by Halloween, then 1:00 is probably a good time for Cornell.
And what would you do about Columbia? Try 6:00 again and see what happens?
Then multiply this out by every other sport and factor in shared facilities, overlapping events, marketing and corporate sponsorship tie-ins, and scheduling becomes incredibly difficult.
In the end, Princeton will figure out a start time for the Columbia game - and the other remaining ones - with all the best intentions of maximizing attendance across alums, students, local families, faculty/staff members and anyone else who wants to come.
And then it'll probably rain anyway.
It amazes TigerBlog to see how little time appears to pass between events that come up annually, as another year has flown by. The ULNS May Pole dance is one of those events. Has it really been a year since the last time TB drove by and saw them all lined up?
If years pass that quickly, then surely four months will go by in the blink of an eye. And so why not celebrate May Day by looking ahead to Tiger football 2009 and another annual event here in the Department of Athletics.
Put more simply, let's again ask the question of what is the best time to play home football games.
Princeton has five home games in 2009, beginning Saturday Sept. 19 against the Citadel. The other home games are Saturday Oct. 3 against Columbia, Thursday Oct. 8 against Colgate, Saturday Nov. 31 against Cornell and Saturday Nov. 14 against Yale.
So what are the right start times, keeping in mind that Colgate has been moved to Thursday night at 7 for ESPNU and that the Yale game is etched in stone at 1 pm unless TV comes in at the last minute? The Citadel and Columbia games figure to be when the weather is still very nice, though last year's Nov. 7 Friday night game against Penn was played in 65 degree temperatures.
The Cornell game is being played on Halloween. How does that impact the start time?
Let's start with the Columbia game. Logic suggests that good weather + youth sports during the day + nice stadium with lights = 6 pm start. Or at least 3 pm start. What does history teach us? Let's look at the last three Princeton-Columbia games at Princeton Stadium, all played on the same weekend and all, according to the box score, played in weather ranging from "nice" to "sunny" to "very pleasant."
The 2007 game was a 3:30 start. Attendance was 7,926.
The 2005 game was a 1:00 start. Attendance was 8,835.
The 2003 game was a 6:00 start. Attendance was 8,575.
So what can we conclude? Who knows? The 1:00 game had the best attendance, slightly better than the 6:00 start. The 3:30 start, which seems like a good time as well, was nearly 1,000 fans behind the 1:00 start.
If your average trick-or-treater is going in the late afternoon or evening, and your average Pop Warner season is over by Halloween, then 1:00 is probably a good time for Cornell.
And what would you do about Columbia? Try 6:00 again and see what happens?
Then multiply this out by every other sport and factor in shared facilities, overlapping events, marketing and corporate sponsorship tie-ins, and scheduling becomes incredibly difficult.
In the end, Princeton will figure out a start time for the Columbia game - and the other remaining ones - with all the best intentions of maximizing attendance across alums, students, local families, faculty/staff members and anyone else who wants to come.
And then it'll probably rain anyway.
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