Whether or not you are Catholic - and TigerBlog is not Catholic - you have to be fascinated by the process of choosing a new Pope.
TigerBlog certainly was.
The whole black smoke/white smoke part is wildly dramatic, especially when news broke yesterday that white smoke was coming out of the chimney at the Vatican, much to the delight of the 100,000 or so in St. Peter's Square.
The white smoke meant that there was in fact a new Pope, chosen by a two-thirds majority by the Cardinals who had gathered only a day earlier to choose the successor to Pope Benedict XVI.
This led to about an hour of heightened suspense, as the world waited to see who it was. Would it be the first American Pope? Would it be an Italian? Would it be an African?
Instead, it turned out to be Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who chose the name Pope Francis I. The new Pontiff is from Argentina, making him the first South American Pope.
TigerBlog wonders if the election itself was contentious in any way, or what the actual business of choosing the new Pope would be like. Bergoglio was chosen on the fifth ballot.
And then there's the unveiling of the new Pontiff.
First the lights behind the curtain go on. Then the curtain opens. Then one of the Cardinals comes onto the balcony and announcers "Habemus Papum," or "We have a Pope," and then he says who it is.
And then the new Pope steps out.
TB suspects that the moments before that are fairly overwhelming for the man who was just elected.
Because Benedict retired, there is the almost-never-before situation of having a new Pope and living ex-Pope, something that hasn't happened in 700 years.
Pope Francis I is 76 years old, which is older than TB thought the new Pope would be. As Cardinal, Bergoglio lived in a small Buenos Aires apartment, took the bus to work and spent a lot of time with the poor in the slums. He is by all accounts a humble man.
TigerBlog has no segue from the new Pope to Princeton Athletics, and he's not even going to try.
Instead, he'll simply transition to the new subject.
Princeton has reached an interesting point in its athletic calendar.
It's mid-terms week, which will be followed by spring break. As a result, the next 43 Princeton athletic events will all be on the road.
In fact, there is no home event until a week from Friday, when Princeton hosts Yale in men's lacrosse.
Going even further, until the following weekend, there are 67 away events and six home events. The six? The men's lacrosse game, two women's lacrosse game, two men's volleyball matches and one rowing event.
The baseball and softball teams have their home openers March 30/31, and then the spring seasons really get into high gear.
For now, it's mid-terms and spring break trips. Baseball and softball, for instance, will go south next week and hope for 1) no rain and 2) warmer weather, in that order.
Not all road trips are long ones, as the men's lacrosse team is at Penn Saturday in a huge Ivy League opener. Princeton is ranked sixth or seventh, depending on which poll you like, while Penn is 13th or 14th. The Ivy League is 23-8 overall in non-league men's lacrosse games to date.
So there it is. After a winter of juggling what seems like a million events on campus each weekend, with home hockey and basketball every Friday and Saturday and then any number of other sports mixed in, the next two weeks are pretty quiet around here, as everyone is taking to the road.
And there's a new Pope.
It's a segue-free Thursday.
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
A Failed Pre-Law Student Updates The Ivy All-Sports Points Standings
It was about 2:00 yesterday afternoon when TIgerBlog saw the buses on the Jadwin apron.
The Coach USA buses always pull up there to load teams for road trips. Often there are multiple buses, especially on Thursday afternoons in the winter or Fridays in the fall and spring.
TB's first thought when he sees buses at random times, like a Tuesday afternoon, is basically "who is playing where tonight?"
He had the same thought yesterday, when it took him a few seconds to remember. Oh yeah. It was the basketball doubleheader at Penn.
There were many years when Princeton at Penn basketball was TB's favorite event of any athletic year, more so than the Super Bowl even.
It dated back to long before he rooted for Princeton in the rivalry, back to when he was a student at Penn, when he first saw one of the games between the two at the Palestra, from a seat behind the basket about halfway up.
Could he have even dreamed back then that Princeton-Penn basketball would become such a big part of his life? Not back then. Not when he was what he thought was a pre-law student.
TB actually went to college figuring he'd go to law school. Every now and then, he wonders what would have happened if he actually had done it. Would he have done what most lawyers he knows do and ended up in compliance?
TB can't imagine himself as a corporate lawyer. Maybe a judge. Yeah, he could see himself as a judge.
Ah, but that was not to be. Instead, he ended up in college athletics, in a league where Princeton and Penn dominated the men's basketball landscape for so many decades that their annual meetings where inevitably classics.
With his background as a failed pre-law student at one and an employee of the other, it's not hard to see why the rivalry became so big for him.
And there he was yesterday, focused on Princeton's lacrosse game with Manhattan, and as a result, he completely forgot that there was a basketball doubleheader at the Palestra.
In a million years he never would have guessed that would be possible.
Princeton's 15-2 win over Manhattan was the 100th in the coaching career of for Chris Bates. Next up is a trip to Penn Saturday, so TB will get there this week after all.
The games last night at the Palestra and Harvard's win over Columbia in women's basketball were the last Ivy League games of the winter season.
As with the end of any season, it was time for TB to update the Ivy League's unofficial all-sports points standings.
Again, to review, teams are awarded points based on league finish, with eight points for first, seven for second and so on. If teams tie in the standings, then they split those points, so that a tie for third is worth 5.5 points for each team.
Also, for sports where fewer than eight schools compete, the first place team still gets eight points and so on down. Only the 33 sports where the Ivy League crowns a champion are factored into the standings.
Princeton has won this "championship" for the last 26 years.
As a disclaimer, this is not an official Ivy League award or anything, just something that Princeton has been tracking.
As you might remember, Princeton won last year's title by the slimmest of margins, a one-point win over Harvard. To win by one point after contesting 33 sports is cutting it very close, something that caused TB to recheck the math three times.
With last year's tight finish, it was clear that almost any outcome of any game, even those that didn't involve Princeton and Harvard, impacted the final rankings.
Anyway, where do the standings for this year sit after the fall and winter?
Princeton is in first with 134 points, followed by Harvard with 116. Last year, when it became a one-point win, Harvard outscored Princeton by six points in the spring.
No other league school has more than 88.5 points.
As for total championships won through the fall and spring, Princeton has won nine so far this academic year, followed by five each for Cornell and Harvard.
One goal for Princeton each year is to reach double figures in Ivy League championships. Obviously Princeton needs one in the spring to get there.
Another is to keep the two big streaks alive.
The first, the one with at least one team or individual national champion, now sits at 42 straight after the field hockey and distance medley relay teams both won NCAA championships.
The Ivy all-sports championship streak is at 26, hoping to get to 27.
The Coach USA buses always pull up there to load teams for road trips. Often there are multiple buses, especially on Thursday afternoons in the winter or Fridays in the fall and spring.
TB's first thought when he sees buses at random times, like a Tuesday afternoon, is basically "who is playing where tonight?"
He had the same thought yesterday, when it took him a few seconds to remember. Oh yeah. It was the basketball doubleheader at Penn.
There were many years when Princeton at Penn basketball was TB's favorite event of any athletic year, more so than the Super Bowl even.
It dated back to long before he rooted for Princeton in the rivalry, back to when he was a student at Penn, when he first saw one of the games between the two at the Palestra, from a seat behind the basket about halfway up.
Could he have even dreamed back then that Princeton-Penn basketball would become such a big part of his life? Not back then. Not when he was what he thought was a pre-law student.
TB actually went to college figuring he'd go to law school. Every now and then, he wonders what would have happened if he actually had done it. Would he have done what most lawyers he knows do and ended up in compliance?
TB can't imagine himself as a corporate lawyer. Maybe a judge. Yeah, he could see himself as a judge.
Ah, but that was not to be. Instead, he ended up in college athletics, in a league where Princeton and Penn dominated the men's basketball landscape for so many decades that their annual meetings where inevitably classics.
With his background as a failed pre-law student at one and an employee of the other, it's not hard to see why the rivalry became so big for him.
And there he was yesterday, focused on Princeton's lacrosse game with Manhattan, and as a result, he completely forgot that there was a basketball doubleheader at the Palestra.
In a million years he never would have guessed that would be possible.
Princeton's 15-2 win over Manhattan was the 100th in the coaching career of for Chris Bates. Next up is a trip to Penn Saturday, so TB will get there this week after all.
The games last night at the Palestra and Harvard's win over Columbia in women's basketball were the last Ivy League games of the winter season.
As with the end of any season, it was time for TB to update the Ivy League's unofficial all-sports points standings.
Again, to review, teams are awarded points based on league finish, with eight points for first, seven for second and so on. If teams tie in the standings, then they split those points, so that a tie for third is worth 5.5 points for each team.
Also, for sports where fewer than eight schools compete, the first place team still gets eight points and so on down. Only the 33 sports where the Ivy League crowns a champion are factored into the standings.
Princeton has won this "championship" for the last 26 years.
As a disclaimer, this is not an official Ivy League award or anything, just something that Princeton has been tracking.
As you might remember, Princeton won last year's title by the slimmest of margins, a one-point win over Harvard. To win by one point after contesting 33 sports is cutting it very close, something that caused TB to recheck the math three times.
With last year's tight finish, it was clear that almost any outcome of any game, even those that didn't involve Princeton and Harvard, impacted the final rankings.
Anyway, where do the standings for this year sit after the fall and winter?
Princeton is in first with 134 points, followed by Harvard with 116. Last year, when it became a one-point win, Harvard outscored Princeton by six points in the spring.
No other league school has more than 88.5 points.
As for total championships won through the fall and spring, Princeton has won nine so far this academic year, followed by five each for Cornell and Harvard.
One goal for Princeton each year is to reach double figures in Ivy League championships. Obviously Princeton needs one in the spring to get there.
Another is to keep the two big streaks alive.
The first, the one with at least one team or individual national champion, now sits at 42 straight after the field hockey and distance medley relay teams both won NCAA championships.
The Ivy all-sports championship streak is at 26, hoping to get to 27.
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
What's The Point Of This?
Hey, Sun Belt Conference, welcome to a No. 16 seed.
What? That possible Sweet 16 trip? That's gone. Way gone. That ended when Middle Tennessee State, whose regular-season league record was five games better than any other team in the league, was beaten by Florida International in the conference tournament semifinals.
FIU then lost to Western Kentucky, the sixth seed, in the championship game. Western Kentucky, at 19-15, is likely headed to a No. 16 seed and quick first-round exit, whereas Middle Tennessee State might have made some noise with the right draw.
And then there's the Big South, where Liberty is headed to the play-in game, which makes one's league look like something of a joke. In the 12-team Big South, only two teams - Presbyterian and Longwood - had worse records than Liberty. Those two teams? Yeah, they were a combined 16-49 overall.
Liberty? The team got hot for a few days and stole the tournament. Good for them. Now they're headed to a play-in game.
Of course, there was a huge crowd to see Liberty defeat Gardner-Webb in the final. Well, if you consider 2,598 to be a huge crowd. The Sun Belt Conference final? The box score doesn't even list attendance.
TigerBlog, again, cannot for the life of him understand why one-bid basketball leagues want to have a conference tournament.
The big conferences? Yes, TigerBlog gets it. Huge crowds, a money-making venture, a chance to perhaps grab an additional bid or two.
The one-bid leagues? Where is the upside?
The idea that Middle Tennessee State isn't representing the Sun Belt in the NCAA tournament is ridiculous. As bad as it is that the league's chance to actually win an NCAA game is gone, even worse is the fact that every single regular-season game in the league was meaningless.
Every single one meant nothing. In fact, every single regular-season game in every one-bid league is meaningless, except for whether or not a team can get a bye in the first round of a tournament.
Ask Niagara, Loyola and Rider about the value of the MAAC regular season, where those three had a great race to the finish. None made the final, let alone the NCAA tournament.
MTSU entered the conference tournament knowing that its 27-4 record at the end of the regular season was worthless. It knew that it had to win the tournament to get into the NCAA. That's a lot of pressure to have hanging over you.
All of this brings us to the Ivy League.
Princeton is at Penn tonight in a doubleheader, with the women at 5 and the men following. Neither game means a thing for the postseason, as Princeton's women and Harvard's men have already clinched the conference titles and will represent the league in the NCAA tournaments.
As it should be.
The regular season matters. Maybe there are games at the end between teams that are mathematically eliminated, but then again the games tonight in Philadelphia wouldn't mean anything if there was a conference tournament coming up either.
Isn't it obvious? TigerBlog doesn't for the life of him understand why any league would want to compromise its chance to send its best team to the NCAA tournament. For what? To have a game on ESPN?
The big payoff is the NCAA tournament, figuratively and, if you manage to win, literally.
TB is a big fan of the Ivy League lacrosse tournaments? Why? Because the Ivy League isn't a one-bid league. Plus, after a single round-robin, the separation between the top teams in the league isn't as definitive.
The same is not true after a double round-robin.
Plus, in the Ivy League lacrosse tournament, only the top four in the regular season advance. The result is that the regular-season is completely enhanced, since every game ends up being wildly important.
If a one-bid basketball league wanted to have its top four play for an NCAA bid, okay, maybe.
Nah. On second thought, no way.
TigerBlog would love to see all of the other one-bid leagues follow the Ivy League example and simply send the regular-season champion to the tournament.
Until they do, then they're going to have completely meaningless regular seasons where nothing matters except for a few days this time or year.
It's not smart at all.
What? That possible Sweet 16 trip? That's gone. Way gone. That ended when Middle Tennessee State, whose regular-season league record was five games better than any other team in the league, was beaten by Florida International in the conference tournament semifinals.
FIU then lost to Western Kentucky, the sixth seed, in the championship game. Western Kentucky, at 19-15, is likely headed to a No. 16 seed and quick first-round exit, whereas Middle Tennessee State might have made some noise with the right draw.
And then there's the Big South, where Liberty is headed to the play-in game, which makes one's league look like something of a joke. In the 12-team Big South, only two teams - Presbyterian and Longwood - had worse records than Liberty. Those two teams? Yeah, they were a combined 16-49 overall.
Liberty? The team got hot for a few days and stole the tournament. Good for them. Now they're headed to a play-in game.
Of course, there was a huge crowd to see Liberty defeat Gardner-Webb in the final. Well, if you consider 2,598 to be a huge crowd. The Sun Belt Conference final? The box score doesn't even list attendance.
TigerBlog, again, cannot for the life of him understand why one-bid basketball leagues want to have a conference tournament.
The big conferences? Yes, TigerBlog gets it. Huge crowds, a money-making venture, a chance to perhaps grab an additional bid or two.
The one-bid leagues? Where is the upside?
The idea that Middle Tennessee State isn't representing the Sun Belt in the NCAA tournament is ridiculous. As bad as it is that the league's chance to actually win an NCAA game is gone, even worse is the fact that every single regular-season game in the league was meaningless.
Every single one meant nothing. In fact, every single regular-season game in every one-bid league is meaningless, except for whether or not a team can get a bye in the first round of a tournament.
Ask Niagara, Loyola and Rider about the value of the MAAC regular season, where those three had a great race to the finish. None made the final, let alone the NCAA tournament.
MTSU entered the conference tournament knowing that its 27-4 record at the end of the regular season was worthless. It knew that it had to win the tournament to get into the NCAA. That's a lot of pressure to have hanging over you.
All of this brings us to the Ivy League.
Princeton is at Penn tonight in a doubleheader, with the women at 5 and the men following. Neither game means a thing for the postseason, as Princeton's women and Harvard's men have already clinched the conference titles and will represent the league in the NCAA tournaments.
As it should be.
The regular season matters. Maybe there are games at the end between teams that are mathematically eliminated, but then again the games tonight in Philadelphia wouldn't mean anything if there was a conference tournament coming up either.
Isn't it obvious? TigerBlog doesn't for the life of him understand why any league would want to compromise its chance to send its best team to the NCAA tournament. For what? To have a game on ESPN?
The big payoff is the NCAA tournament, figuratively and, if you manage to win, literally.
TB is a big fan of the Ivy League lacrosse tournaments? Why? Because the Ivy League isn't a one-bid league. Plus, after a single round-robin, the separation between the top teams in the league isn't as definitive.
The same is not true after a double round-robin.
Plus, in the Ivy League lacrosse tournament, only the top four in the regular season advance. The result is that the regular-season is completely enhanced, since every game ends up being wildly important.
If a one-bid basketball league wanted to have its top four play for an NCAA bid, okay, maybe.
Nah. On second thought, no way.
TigerBlog would love to see all of the other one-bid leagues follow the Ivy League example and simply send the regular-season champion to the tournament.
Until they do, then they're going to have completely meaningless regular seasons where nothing matters except for a few days this time or year.
It's not smart at all.
Monday, March 11, 2013
"We Believe In Pete"
It was completely beautiful Saturday morning at around 10 as TigerBlog made the right turn off 15-501 onto the campus of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
As he came up the hill, he reached the stop sign where, if he made a left, he'd drive right past the mammoth Dean Smith Center, the home for Carolina basketball. Since he was early, he figured he would, and as he did, he found a few hundred people already milling around outside the building.
It was a pretty impressive site, considering that tip-off for UNC-Duke basketball was still 11 hours away. And, as TB tweeted, the Carolina fans were wearing t-shirts that seemed to indicate that they didn't quite like the Blue Devils.
TB then made a U-turn and headed up the hill, winding past Kenan Stadium and the baseball field (which is nicer than Waterfront Park, where the Trenton Thunder play, and Waterfront Park is pretty nice) and then to the top, where he turned left, parked and made the short walk down to Fetzer Field.
It was already near 60 and completely sunny by then, and it would get even warmer by the time the Princeton-North Carolina men's lacrosse game began at noon.
And by the time it ended, it was temperatures in the mid-60s and shots in the high 90s, as in 99 total shots between the teams, in a 16-15 Carolina win.
The men's lacrosse game was followed by UNC-Virginia women's lacrosse, which Carolina won 8-7.
TigerBlog joked yesterday that he wondered if there was a Carolina fan anywhere who said something like "well, the men's basketball team got thumped by Duke, but at least we won two good lacrosse games."
His sense is no.
What about at Princeton?
It's more likely that there are people here who thought "pretty good weekend even with what happened to men's basketball" than there were at Carolina.
Yes, Princeton did not have a great weekend in men's basketball. The Tigers fell twice on the road, Harvard swept, and the race is now over.
And it would have been great to get the lacrosse game, especially how it played out in the final 90 seconds.
Still, there were some great moments to this weekend.
First, the women's basketball team and men's swimming and diving teams both won Ivy League championships, something that has become an annual occurrence for both, with four straight for the women's basketball team and five straight for the men's swimming and diving team.
TigerBlog ranked the top five events of last weekend and heard some feedback from those who disagreed.
Were he ranking this week's big winners, he would have women's basketball and men's swimming and diving two and three, or maybe tied for second.
No. 1 this weekend?
The men's distance medley relay team of Michael Williams, Austin Hollimon, Russell Dinkins and Peter Callahan (go to the 3:45 mark of the video, by the way).
For the third straight weekend, the DMR used a furious finish by Callahan to win a huge event, first at Heps, then at a meet at Notre Dame that qualified them for the NCAAs and ultimately at the NCAA championship itself in Fayetteville, Ark.
What makes it more amazing is that Callahan is a senior who basically was out for the last 12 months due to injury. He ran for the first time after that recovery - and clearly is showing no ill-effects.
In the video of each race, Callahan bursts from the pack for a stunning kick to win going away.
And each time, he looked like it was effortless.
The kick Saturday night in Fayetteville began just a few steps before the start of the final lap. Callahan was sitting in third in what appeared to be anyone's race - and then he was gone.
And no one in the field could mount any kind of counter move.
TigerBlog isn't a track and field guy and doesn't pretend to know much about it, but it's wildly impressive to see what Callahan has done the last three weeks. Each time, he looks like he's simply shifting into another gear, and away he goes.
It's one thing to do it at Heps. It's another thing to do it the way he has the last two weekends, against teams stocked with runners of the highest level nationally.
If you take for granted the success of Princeton's track and field programs, then events like this should be a reminder of just how impressive what the Tigers do can be.
For Princeton, it was the first NCAA indoor running championship since 1975, when the Tigers won the 4x 2-mile, an event no longer contested. Of course, the last outdoor running title was a year ago, when Donn Cabral won the NCAA steeplechase.
TB loved the post race interview with the four Princeton runners, especially when Hollimon said "we believe in Pete."
Why wouldn't they?
After what he's done the last three weekends, who wouldn't?
As he came up the hill, he reached the stop sign where, if he made a left, he'd drive right past the mammoth Dean Smith Center, the home for Carolina basketball. Since he was early, he figured he would, and as he did, he found a few hundred people already milling around outside the building.
It was a pretty impressive site, considering that tip-off for UNC-Duke basketball was still 11 hours away. And, as TB tweeted, the Carolina fans were wearing t-shirts that seemed to indicate that they didn't quite like the Blue Devils.
TB then made a U-turn and headed up the hill, winding past Kenan Stadium and the baseball field (which is nicer than Waterfront Park, where the Trenton Thunder play, and Waterfront Park is pretty nice) and then to the top, where he turned left, parked and made the short walk down to Fetzer Field.
It was already near 60 and completely sunny by then, and it would get even warmer by the time the Princeton-North Carolina men's lacrosse game began at noon.
And by the time it ended, it was temperatures in the mid-60s and shots in the high 90s, as in 99 total shots between the teams, in a 16-15 Carolina win.
The men's lacrosse game was followed by UNC-Virginia women's lacrosse, which Carolina won 8-7.
TigerBlog joked yesterday that he wondered if there was a Carolina fan anywhere who said something like "well, the men's basketball team got thumped by Duke, but at least we won two good lacrosse games."
His sense is no.
What about at Princeton?
It's more likely that there are people here who thought "pretty good weekend even with what happened to men's basketball" than there were at Carolina.
Yes, Princeton did not have a great weekend in men's basketball. The Tigers fell twice on the road, Harvard swept, and the race is now over.
And it would have been great to get the lacrosse game, especially how it played out in the final 90 seconds.
Still, there were some great moments to this weekend.
First, the women's basketball team and men's swimming and diving teams both won Ivy League championships, something that has become an annual occurrence for both, with four straight for the women's basketball team and five straight for the men's swimming and diving team.
TigerBlog ranked the top five events of last weekend and heard some feedback from those who disagreed.
Were he ranking this week's big winners, he would have women's basketball and men's swimming and diving two and three, or maybe tied for second.
No. 1 this weekend?
The men's distance medley relay team of Michael Williams, Austin Hollimon, Russell Dinkins and Peter Callahan (go to the 3:45 mark of the video, by the way).
For the third straight weekend, the DMR used a furious finish by Callahan to win a huge event, first at Heps, then at a meet at Notre Dame that qualified them for the NCAAs and ultimately at the NCAA championship itself in Fayetteville, Ark.
What makes it more amazing is that Callahan is a senior who basically was out for the last 12 months due to injury. He ran for the first time after that recovery - and clearly is showing no ill-effects.
In the video of each race, Callahan bursts from the pack for a stunning kick to win going away.
And each time, he looked like it was effortless.
The kick Saturday night in Fayetteville began just a few steps before the start of the final lap. Callahan was sitting in third in what appeared to be anyone's race - and then he was gone.
And no one in the field could mount any kind of counter move.
TigerBlog isn't a track and field guy and doesn't pretend to know much about it, but it's wildly impressive to see what Callahan has done the last three weeks. Each time, he looks like he's simply shifting into another gear, and away he goes.
It's one thing to do it at Heps. It's another thing to do it the way he has the last two weekends, against teams stocked with runners of the highest level nationally.
If you take for granted the success of Princeton's track and field programs, then events like this should be a reminder of just how impressive what the Tigers do can be.
For Princeton, it was the first NCAA indoor running championship since 1975, when the Tigers won the 4x 2-mile, an event no longer contested. Of course, the last outdoor running title was a year ago, when Donn Cabral won the NCAA steeplechase.
TB loved the post race interview with the four Princeton runners, especially when Hollimon said "we believe in Pete."
Why wouldn't they?
After what he's done the last three weekends, who wouldn't?
Friday, March 8, 2013
Elaine, Elaine, Elaine, Elaine
You know what movie was on the other night?
"The Graduate."
TigerBlog had already seen it several times before the night a few days before commencement when the movie was shown to any soon-to-be Penn graduate who wandered in for the screening. That's the viewing that stands out the most, especially the part where Ben's dad asks him what those four years of college were for, and Ben has absolutely no answer for him.
That made the entire class howl with laughter. Perhaps some of it was nervous laughter, knowing that everyone in the room had to face the same question.
The movie tells the story of Ben, an accomplished student, cross country runner and college newspaper editor who graduates from a prestigious Eastern college, comes back to California and, well, starts having an affair with his father's partner's wife, whose name is, of course, Mrs. Robinson.
As an aside, Ben is played by Dustin Hoffman and Mrs. Robinson is played by Ann Bancroft. In the movie, they're supposed to be separated by 25 years or so. In reality, Bancroft was only six years older than Hoffman.
Anyway, it doesn't really work out between Ben and Mrs. Robinson, largely because Ben falls in love with someone else, Elaine Robinson. It gets a bit complicated at the end, and eventually they both somehow have the right amount for bus fare in Santa Barbara shortly after Ben shrieks Elaine's name several times from high above a church.
If you haven't seen the movie, make sure you put it on your list.
The movie is from 1967, and you don't need to look at the movie's Wikipedia entry to know that. It's obvious by the hairstyles, the clothes, the societal mores - all of it.
There are two things that stood out to TigerBlog the first time he saw it, the 25 or so times since then he's seen it, and the time the other day that he saw it.
First, the Simon and Garfunkel music fits so perfectly into the storyline.
Second, there are some extraordinary camera angles, which resulted in having so much of the filming be so unique.
TigerBlog had his mind on other graduates this week as well as he wrote the script for senior night for the women's basketball team, one of three teams competing for Ivy League championships this weekend.
Princeton hosts Yale and Brown tonight and tomorrow, and should Princeton win both, then the team would clinch a fourth straight outright Ivy League title.
Add in the fact that Princeton beat Yale by 46 and Brown by 31 the first time around, on the road, and the chances for there to be a celebration at Jadwin Gym this weekend are reasonable.
It's also senior night for the most successful class in Ivy women's basketball history. Should Princeton win the league, then the Class of 2013 would be the first in league women's basketball history to play in four NCAA tournaments. The only other class to play in four NCAAs (dating back to freshman eligibility in the mid-1970s) was Princeton's men's class of 1992.
Attendance for women's basketball has nearly tripled from the time this class arrived to now. Much of that can be attributed to Niveen Rasheed, who plays for the final time in her spectacular career at Jadwin.
The men are also playing for a championship this weekend.
Princeton is 9-2 in the league. Harvard is 9-3.
Princeton is at Yale (who beat Princeton the first time) and Brown this weekend and then Penn Tuesday. Harvard is home against Columbia (who beat Harvard the first time) and Cornell.
Obviously if Princeton wins out, it will win the league championship outright and advance to the NCAA tournament. If Harvard gains one game in the loss column the rest of the way, then there will be co-champions and a one-game playoff for the Ivy's bid to the NCAA tournament.
For Princeton, it's an envious position. Win three and you're in the tournament. Of course, all three are on the road.
For Harvard, it's win twice at home and hope for some help.
The other Ivy title up for grabs is in men's swimming and diving.
The champion there will also either be Princeton or Harvard. After Day 1 Thursday at Brown's new pool, Harvard had 467 points, Princeton had 423 points, and nobody else had more than 301.
TigerBlog doesn't know much about the order that the events are held in and who is favored where, so Harvard's lead could be anything from a mirage to insurmountable.
Still, Princeton and Harvard have a great rivalry going in men's swimming and diving. In fact, when was the last year that someone other than one or the other got even a share of the title was in 1993, when Yale and Harvard split the league championship.
The last time a team other than Princeton or Harvard won it outright? How about 1970.
These are the last three Ivy titles of the winter. They could all be decided this weekend or linger into Tuesday.
And there's a chance for another playoff or two (mathematically at least) next weekend.
If nothing else, make sure you're at Jadwin Saturday night, to see Niveen Rasheed and the rest of the Class of 2013 play there for the last time.
"The Graduate."
TigerBlog had already seen it several times before the night a few days before commencement when the movie was shown to any soon-to-be Penn graduate who wandered in for the screening. That's the viewing that stands out the most, especially the part where Ben's dad asks him what those four years of college were for, and Ben has absolutely no answer for him.
That made the entire class howl with laughter. Perhaps some of it was nervous laughter, knowing that everyone in the room had to face the same question.
The movie tells the story of Ben, an accomplished student, cross country runner and college newspaper editor who graduates from a prestigious Eastern college, comes back to California and, well, starts having an affair with his father's partner's wife, whose name is, of course, Mrs. Robinson.
As an aside, Ben is played by Dustin Hoffman and Mrs. Robinson is played by Ann Bancroft. In the movie, they're supposed to be separated by 25 years or so. In reality, Bancroft was only six years older than Hoffman.
Anyway, it doesn't really work out between Ben and Mrs. Robinson, largely because Ben falls in love with someone else, Elaine Robinson. It gets a bit complicated at the end, and eventually they both somehow have the right amount for bus fare in Santa Barbara shortly after Ben shrieks Elaine's name several times from high above a church.
If you haven't seen the movie, make sure you put it on your list.
The movie is from 1967, and you don't need to look at the movie's Wikipedia entry to know that. It's obvious by the hairstyles, the clothes, the societal mores - all of it.
There are two things that stood out to TigerBlog the first time he saw it, the 25 or so times since then he's seen it, and the time the other day that he saw it.
First, the Simon and Garfunkel music fits so perfectly into the storyline.
Second, there are some extraordinary camera angles, which resulted in having so much of the filming be so unique.
TigerBlog had his mind on other graduates this week as well as he wrote the script for senior night for the women's basketball team, one of three teams competing for Ivy League championships this weekend.
Princeton hosts Yale and Brown tonight and tomorrow, and should Princeton win both, then the team would clinch a fourth straight outright Ivy League title.
Add in the fact that Princeton beat Yale by 46 and Brown by 31 the first time around, on the road, and the chances for there to be a celebration at Jadwin Gym this weekend are reasonable.
It's also senior night for the most successful class in Ivy women's basketball history. Should Princeton win the league, then the Class of 2013 would be the first in league women's basketball history to play in four NCAA tournaments. The only other class to play in four NCAAs (dating back to freshman eligibility in the mid-1970s) was Princeton's men's class of 1992.
Attendance for women's basketball has nearly tripled from the time this class arrived to now. Much of that can be attributed to Niveen Rasheed, who plays for the final time in her spectacular career at Jadwin.
The men are also playing for a championship this weekend.
Princeton is 9-2 in the league. Harvard is 9-3.
Princeton is at Yale (who beat Princeton the first time) and Brown this weekend and then Penn Tuesday. Harvard is home against Columbia (who beat Harvard the first time) and Cornell.
Obviously if Princeton wins out, it will win the league championship outright and advance to the NCAA tournament. If Harvard gains one game in the loss column the rest of the way, then there will be co-champions and a one-game playoff for the Ivy's bid to the NCAA tournament.
For Princeton, it's an envious position. Win three and you're in the tournament. Of course, all three are on the road.
For Harvard, it's win twice at home and hope for some help.
The other Ivy title up for grabs is in men's swimming and diving.
The champion there will also either be Princeton or Harvard. After Day 1 Thursday at Brown's new pool, Harvard had 467 points, Princeton had 423 points, and nobody else had more than 301.
TigerBlog doesn't know much about the order that the events are held in and who is favored where, so Harvard's lead could be anything from a mirage to insurmountable.
Still, Princeton and Harvard have a great rivalry going in men's swimming and diving. In fact, when was the last year that someone other than one or the other got even a share of the title was in 1993, when Yale and Harvard split the league championship.
The last time a team other than Princeton or Harvard won it outright? How about 1970.
These are the last three Ivy titles of the winter. They could all be decided this weekend or linger into Tuesday.
And there's a chance for another playoff or two (mathematically at least) next weekend.
If nothing else, make sure you're at Jadwin Saturday night, to see Niveen Rasheed and the rest of the Class of 2013 play there for the last time.
Thursday, March 7, 2013
The Spotlight Shines On Chris Massey
Chris Massey stands in the middle of the picture, the center of attention for once.
He's surrounded on both sides by three teammates, a total of six men in the 30s who together dominated the world of college lacrosse as Princeton undergraduates in a way that has not been duplicated since.
TigerBlog took one look at the picture and immediately recognized the faces. He could run down the considerable list of achievements for all the men in the picture, and he was going to do just that until he remembered, for once, it's all about Chris Massey.
TigerBlog thinks that Chris Massey is the most underrated player he's seen in the 24 years he's been around Princeton lacrosse.
Massey is the second leading goal scorer in Princeton history with 146. Sean Hartofilis, who TB thinks is the second most underrated player he's seen here, is third with 126.
Massey holds the school record with at least one goal in 46 straight games. He scored 31 goals in 11 NCAA tournament games, a total that ranked ninth all-time when he graduated. His 192 points are fifth all-time at Princeton.
So how can he be underrated?
It's because of some of the other people in the picture. Especially the one two in from the left (Jon Hess) and all the way to the right (Jesse Hubbard).
Princeton's attack unit back then was always Hess, Hubbard and Massey. Never Massey, Hubbard and Hess.
Hubbard was one who wowed people with the power of his game and his sheer physical presence. Hess was the one who wowed people with his finesse and vision, and he was clearly the spokesman for the group.
Massey? He was steady. All he did was show up game after game after game and score goal after goal after goal, often in huge spots.
And he never got the attention of the other two. Which was fine with him. Hey, he was never even a first-team All-America, something that is ridiculous, given that Massey is as good a lacrosse player who played anywhere from 1995-98.
All of that is why it was a bit rare for him to be the center of attention the way he was this past Saturday night, when he was inducted into the Long Island Lacrosse Hall of Fame, by the U.S. Lacrosse Long Island/Metropolitan New York chapter.
Getting into the Long Island Hall of Fame for lacrosse is like getting into the Texas Hall of Fame for high school football or the Jersey Shore Hall of Fame for beaches.
Massey won championships in high school (Garden City) and professionally (Long Island Lizards) on Long Island. His greatest moments in lacrosse came at Princeton.
Okay, TigerBlog will include two Hess-Hubbard-Massey numbers, because even though the spotlight was on Chris Massey, it's hard to ignore what the three of them did together, including:
* 618 points in 60 games
* 121 points in 11 NCAA tournament games
Princeton averaged 15.7 goals per game in 1996, 14.9 in 1997 and 14.5 in 1998.
The current Tigers don't approach those numbers, but the current 11.7 goals per game would be the most by a Princeton team since the 2002 team averaged 12.1.
Princeton is off to a great start at 3-0, with three very impressive wins.
The first, at Hofstra, was the debut of the completely rebuilt Tigers. The second, at Johns Hopkins, was, well, at Johns Hopkins, which speaks for itself.
Most recently, Princeton exploded past Villanova in the fourth quarter of a 14-11 win Tuesday night. After trailing 10-7 in the third, Princeton scored seven of the last eight goals.
These Tigers are exciting, that's for sure. The attack unit of Ryan Ambler, Jeff Froccaro and Mike MacDonald and the first midfield of Tom Schreiber, Kip Orban and Jake Froccaro share the ball well and play at a fast, aggressive tempo.
The rules changes that were intended to push the pace of the game have certainly favored Princeton, which wants to play that way. The defense and goalie, completely overhauled since last year, have been impressive.
Next up for Princeton is a game Saturday at North Carolina. The Tar Heels are 2-2, with three straight one-goal games (losses to Notre Dame and UMass with a win over Fairfield), but UNC's roster is stocked with explosive talent everywhere.
It'll be a big test for Princeton, who has the short turnaround after the game against 'Nova and the long bus ride to Chapel Hill, plus an early start Saturday (noon).
Still, it's been a great few weeks for Princeton lacrosse. The Tigers aren't alone among Ivy League teams that have gotten out of the gate quickly, but perhaps no team in the country has been more impressive in the early going relative to what was expected after the massive graduation losses from last year and key injuries from this year.
These Tigers are definitely fun to watch.
And it's early yet.
Saturday is a good test, but it's not even midterm week yet. On the field or off.
So far, though, Princeton gets a solid A.
He's surrounded on both sides by three teammates, a total of six men in the 30s who together dominated the world of college lacrosse as Princeton undergraduates in a way that has not been duplicated since.
TigerBlog took one look at the picture and immediately recognized the faces. He could run down the considerable list of achievements for all the men in the picture, and he was going to do just that until he remembered, for once, it's all about Chris Massey.
TigerBlog thinks that Chris Massey is the most underrated player he's seen in the 24 years he's been around Princeton lacrosse.
Massey is the second leading goal scorer in Princeton history with 146. Sean Hartofilis, who TB thinks is the second most underrated player he's seen here, is third with 126.
Massey holds the school record with at least one goal in 46 straight games. He scored 31 goals in 11 NCAA tournament games, a total that ranked ninth all-time when he graduated. His 192 points are fifth all-time at Princeton.
So how can he be underrated?
It's because of some of the other people in the picture. Especially the one two in from the left (Jon Hess) and all the way to the right (Jesse Hubbard).
Princeton's attack unit back then was always Hess, Hubbard and Massey. Never Massey, Hubbard and Hess.
Hubbard was one who wowed people with the power of his game and his sheer physical presence. Hess was the one who wowed people with his finesse and vision, and he was clearly the spokesman for the group.
Massey? He was steady. All he did was show up game after game after game and score goal after goal after goal, often in huge spots.
And he never got the attention of the other two. Which was fine with him. Hey, he was never even a first-team All-America, something that is ridiculous, given that Massey is as good a lacrosse player who played anywhere from 1995-98.
All of that is why it was a bit rare for him to be the center of attention the way he was this past Saturday night, when he was inducted into the Long Island Lacrosse Hall of Fame, by the U.S. Lacrosse Long Island/Metropolitan New York chapter.
Getting into the Long Island Hall of Fame for lacrosse is like getting into the Texas Hall of Fame for high school football or the Jersey Shore Hall of Fame for beaches.
Massey won championships in high school (Garden City) and professionally (Long Island Lizards) on Long Island. His greatest moments in lacrosse came at Princeton.
Okay, TigerBlog will include two Hess-Hubbard-Massey numbers, because even though the spotlight was on Chris Massey, it's hard to ignore what the three of them did together, including:
* 618 points in 60 games
* 121 points in 11 NCAA tournament games
Princeton averaged 15.7 goals per game in 1996, 14.9 in 1997 and 14.5 in 1998.
The current Tigers don't approach those numbers, but the current 11.7 goals per game would be the most by a Princeton team since the 2002 team averaged 12.1.
Princeton is off to a great start at 3-0, with three very impressive wins.
The first, at Hofstra, was the debut of the completely rebuilt Tigers. The second, at Johns Hopkins, was, well, at Johns Hopkins, which speaks for itself.
Most recently, Princeton exploded past Villanova in the fourth quarter of a 14-11 win Tuesday night. After trailing 10-7 in the third, Princeton scored seven of the last eight goals.
These Tigers are exciting, that's for sure. The attack unit of Ryan Ambler, Jeff Froccaro and Mike MacDonald and the first midfield of Tom Schreiber, Kip Orban and Jake Froccaro share the ball well and play at a fast, aggressive tempo.
The rules changes that were intended to push the pace of the game have certainly favored Princeton, which wants to play that way. The defense and goalie, completely overhauled since last year, have been impressive.
Next up for Princeton is a game Saturday at North Carolina. The Tar Heels are 2-2, with three straight one-goal games (losses to Notre Dame and UMass with a win over Fairfield), but UNC's roster is stocked with explosive talent everywhere.
It'll be a big test for Princeton, who has the short turnaround after the game against 'Nova and the long bus ride to Chapel Hill, plus an early start Saturday (noon).
Still, it's been a great few weeks for Princeton lacrosse. The Tigers aren't alone among Ivy League teams that have gotten out of the gate quickly, but perhaps no team in the country has been more impressive in the early going relative to what was expected after the massive graduation losses from last year and key injuries from this year.
These Tigers are definitely fun to watch.
And it's early yet.
Saturday is a good test, but it's not even midterm week yet. On the field or off.
So far, though, Princeton gets a solid A.
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
DMR Goes To ARK
TigerBlog watched the video of the Princeton men's distance medley relay team as it qualified for the NCAA championships, and he couldn't help but be impressed.
With the closing sprint of Peter Callahan, obviously, and then the shot of the scoreboard after.
Anything that reads " 1. Princeton, 2. Stanford" is fairly impressive, no?
The distance medley relay is a fairly unique event, in that the four competitors run different distances. The first runner goes 1,200 meters, followed by 400, 800 and 1,600. In the end, it all adds up to 4,000 meters.
At least that's what it says on Wikipedia, where the event has its own entry.
According to Wikipedia, the world record is 9:15.56, an outdoor mark. The American indoor record is 9:21.77.
Princeton - with a foursome of Michael Williams, Austin Hollimon, Russell Dinkins and Callahan - ran 9:27.74 at the Alex Wilson meet at Notre Dame over the weekend, and in doing so did more than come less than six seconds away from the American record.
For starters, it's an Ivy League record. For another, it was the second-fastest time this year by a college DMR, and it qualified Princeton for this weekend's NCAA championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Princeton would not be getting out of town now had it not been for the ridiculous run that Callahan had. Running not far from his home of Evanston, Ill., Callahan was in sixth - and last - place with fewer than two laps to go and then in fifth with half a lap to go.
And then?
Bang. He was off and gone.
Callahan blitzed past runners from Illinois, Oklahoma State and Arkansas and then found himself trailing only Stanford, though he was quickly running out of time. Not that it would matter.
Callahan went from well behind the leader to well in front of him in no time. By the time Callahan crossed the finish, he had plenty of room to spare.
And, judging from the video, he didn't look like it was all that tough for him. Half a lap to go? Fifth place? No problem. He simply went into another gear.
In fact, it looked like the runners in the other video were putting out way more effort. Those runners would be the members of the Princeton track and field team who were watching in the lockerroom in Caldwell Field House and appeared to use up way more energy cheering and celebrating than Callahan did chasing down the field.
There will actually be five Princeton men's athletes competing, as Damon McLean will be in the triple jump, where he finished eight outdoors last year.
By the way, the video from the lockerroom is what TB envisioned when the decision was made to abandon printed recruiting guides a few years back. The goal was to show in live action what the experience of a Princeton student-athlete is. That video, shot with a cell phone, accomplishes way more than any printed piece could.
TigerBlog had a listing of the top five achievements from this past weekend, and the DMR race wasn't one of them.
Again, that shows how great a weekend last weekend was for the Tigers.
This one could be pretty good too, with men's basketball, women's basketball and men's swimming and diving competing for the final Ivy League championships of the winter and some nice early-season matchups for spring teams, including the men's lacrosse game at North Carolina Saturday.
And then there are the NCAA track and field championships.
Princeton has the second-fastest time in the country this indoor season (1.14 seconds behind Penn State), so clearly the Tigers have to be taken seriously as contenders.
Especially with the way Callahan can finish a race, something he's now done two weekends in a row, first at Heps and last weekend at Notre Dame.
Can he do it three weekends in a row?
It'll be worth watching.
With the closing sprint of Peter Callahan, obviously, and then the shot of the scoreboard after.
Anything that reads " 1. Princeton, 2. Stanford" is fairly impressive, no?
The distance medley relay is a fairly unique event, in that the four competitors run different distances. The first runner goes 1,200 meters, followed by 400, 800 and 1,600. In the end, it all adds up to 4,000 meters.
At least that's what it says on Wikipedia, where the event has its own entry.
According to Wikipedia, the world record is 9:15.56, an outdoor mark. The American indoor record is 9:21.77.
Princeton - with a foursome of Michael Williams, Austin Hollimon, Russell Dinkins and Callahan - ran 9:27.74 at the Alex Wilson meet at Notre Dame over the weekend, and in doing so did more than come less than six seconds away from the American record.
For starters, it's an Ivy League record. For another, it was the second-fastest time this year by a college DMR, and it qualified Princeton for this weekend's NCAA championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Princeton would not be getting out of town now had it not been for the ridiculous run that Callahan had. Running not far from his home of Evanston, Ill., Callahan was in sixth - and last - place with fewer than two laps to go and then in fifth with half a lap to go.
And then?
Bang. He was off and gone.
Callahan blitzed past runners from Illinois, Oklahoma State and Arkansas and then found himself trailing only Stanford, though he was quickly running out of time. Not that it would matter.
Callahan went from well behind the leader to well in front of him in no time. By the time Callahan crossed the finish, he had plenty of room to spare.
And, judging from the video, he didn't look like it was all that tough for him. Half a lap to go? Fifth place? No problem. He simply went into another gear.
In fact, it looked like the runners in the other video were putting out way more effort. Those runners would be the members of the Princeton track and field team who were watching in the lockerroom in Caldwell Field House and appeared to use up way more energy cheering and celebrating than Callahan did chasing down the field.
There will actually be five Princeton men's athletes competing, as Damon McLean will be in the triple jump, where he finished eight outdoors last year.
By the way, the video from the lockerroom is what TB envisioned when the decision was made to abandon printed recruiting guides a few years back. The goal was to show in live action what the experience of a Princeton student-athlete is. That video, shot with a cell phone, accomplishes way more than any printed piece could.
TigerBlog had a listing of the top five achievements from this past weekend, and the DMR race wasn't one of them.
Again, that shows how great a weekend last weekend was for the Tigers.
This one could be pretty good too, with men's basketball, women's basketball and men's swimming and diving competing for the final Ivy League championships of the winter and some nice early-season matchups for spring teams, including the men's lacrosse game at North Carolina Saturday.
And then there are the NCAA track and field championships.
Princeton has the second-fastest time in the country this indoor season (1.14 seconds behind Penn State), so clearly the Tigers have to be taken seriously as contenders.
Especially with the way Callahan can finish a race, something he's now done two weekends in a row, first at Heps and last weekend at Notre Dame.
Can he do it three weekends in a row?
It'll be worth watching.
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Stop Storming
As we learned yesterday, TigerBlog watched the second half of the Princeton-Harvard men's basketball game Friday night in the Johns Hopkins sports information office.
As the final seconds ticked away, TB had these two thoughts:
1) nice win
2) don't storm the court; please don't storm the court
TigerBlog is a fan of great moments of spontaneous celebration, with the emphasis on the word spontaneous.
Court storming? Not spontaneous.
And possibly dangerous. Someone's going to get trampled at some point, right?
Oh, and by the way. If your team beats Duke and you really want to rub it in? Calmly applaud and then leave quietly, as if it's something you actually expected your team to do, rather than acting like a win over Duke is the ultimate accomplishment in all of human creation.
Thankfully, nobody stormed the Jadwin Gym court Friday after the win.
For starters, it wasn't the ultimate accomplishment - though it was a huge one.
Princeton spent all of last week focused on Friday night, knowing full well that a loss to Harvard in that game would basically have ended the Tigers' season. Had Princeton lost, then Harvard would have been two games clear of Princeton in the loss column with three remaining.
Yes, yes, TB knows what happened Saturday night. Harvard fell behind big at Penn and tried to come back, only to fall short at the end.
And perhaps the same thing would have happened had Harvard won Friday. It's just that the Crimson would still be one game up with two to play, and Princeton would need help from Columbia and/or Cornell.
As it stands now, Princeton knows that if it wins all three of its games (at Yale, at Brown, at Penn) that it will be the outright champion. If it wins two of three, it'll be no worse than co-champion with a playoff game for the NCAA bid.
That one game Friday was a huge swing.
TB doesn't want to talk about Friday, though.
He wants to talk about Saturday.
When you're around Ivy League basketball as long as TB has been, it's easy to forget the uniqueness of the format. In an effort to minimize the amount of class time missed, the league schedules its games for Friday/Saturday.
The road teams have to travel between the games, either a short distance between Philadelphia and Princeton, a more-than-two-hour distance between Providence and New Haven and Hanover and Cambridge or a nearly four-hour ride between Ithaca and New York City.
And then they have to play again. It's not easy.
It might even be harder than playing back-to-back in hockey, because the minutes are spread among seven or eight players rather than an entire hockey roster.
The physical grind took a back seat to the mental one this past Saturday though, at least for Princeton and Harvard.
It was clear that they were both so focused on the game Friday that they had little emotion left for Saturday. The result was a lackluster first half for Princeton that saw the Tigers trail Dartmouth at intermission before Will Barrett put on an epic shooting display en route to a career-high 24, as Princeton escaped 58-53 against a team it had beaten by 18 on its home court earlier this season.
Harvard wasn't as lucky. The Crimson had a lost weekend, largely because of the slow start against Penn. And that was natural. Why wouldn't Harvard be a bit flat?
TB wonders whether or not it's better to have the bigger game Friday or Saturday. If it's Friday, then there is the huge risk of being unable to pump it back up the next night. If it's Saturday, then Friday is going to be a struggle emotionally.
The fact that Princeton and Penn dominated the league for so long meant that there weren't too many head-to-head battles for first place on Fridays and Saturdays through the years.
Now it's about the final seven days of the season, or possibly more.
Princeton has already lost to Yale, and Harvard has already lost to Columbia.
TigerBlog's sense is that the Crimson are going to win twice this weekend and be 11-3 in the clubhouse a week from today, when Princeton is at Penn. At least Princeton has to think that way.
Brown, by the way, is playing better now, so Saturday night won't be easy either. Nor will Tuesday.
It's an exciting time for the men's basketball team and the Ivy League race.
And it goes without saying that TB is happy that Princeton and Harvard are playing for more than just the top seed in an Ivy tournament.
As the final seconds ticked away, TB had these two thoughts:
1) nice win
2) don't storm the court; please don't storm the court
TigerBlog is a fan of great moments of spontaneous celebration, with the emphasis on the word spontaneous.
Court storming? Not spontaneous.
And possibly dangerous. Someone's going to get trampled at some point, right?
Oh, and by the way. If your team beats Duke and you really want to rub it in? Calmly applaud and then leave quietly, as if it's something you actually expected your team to do, rather than acting like a win over Duke is the ultimate accomplishment in all of human creation.
Thankfully, nobody stormed the Jadwin Gym court Friday after the win.
For starters, it wasn't the ultimate accomplishment - though it was a huge one.
Princeton spent all of last week focused on Friday night, knowing full well that a loss to Harvard in that game would basically have ended the Tigers' season. Had Princeton lost, then Harvard would have been two games clear of Princeton in the loss column with three remaining.
Yes, yes, TB knows what happened Saturday night. Harvard fell behind big at Penn and tried to come back, only to fall short at the end.
And perhaps the same thing would have happened had Harvard won Friday. It's just that the Crimson would still be one game up with two to play, and Princeton would need help from Columbia and/or Cornell.
As it stands now, Princeton knows that if it wins all three of its games (at Yale, at Brown, at Penn) that it will be the outright champion. If it wins two of three, it'll be no worse than co-champion with a playoff game for the NCAA bid.
That one game Friday was a huge swing.
TB doesn't want to talk about Friday, though.
He wants to talk about Saturday.
When you're around Ivy League basketball as long as TB has been, it's easy to forget the uniqueness of the format. In an effort to minimize the amount of class time missed, the league schedules its games for Friday/Saturday.
The road teams have to travel between the games, either a short distance between Philadelphia and Princeton, a more-than-two-hour distance between Providence and New Haven and Hanover and Cambridge or a nearly four-hour ride between Ithaca and New York City.
And then they have to play again. It's not easy.
It might even be harder than playing back-to-back in hockey, because the minutes are spread among seven or eight players rather than an entire hockey roster.
The physical grind took a back seat to the mental one this past Saturday though, at least for Princeton and Harvard.
It was clear that they were both so focused on the game Friday that they had little emotion left for Saturday. The result was a lackluster first half for Princeton that saw the Tigers trail Dartmouth at intermission before Will Barrett put on an epic shooting display en route to a career-high 24, as Princeton escaped 58-53 against a team it had beaten by 18 on its home court earlier this season.
Harvard wasn't as lucky. The Crimson had a lost weekend, largely because of the slow start against Penn. And that was natural. Why wouldn't Harvard be a bit flat?
TB wonders whether or not it's better to have the bigger game Friday or Saturday. If it's Friday, then there is the huge risk of being unable to pump it back up the next night. If it's Saturday, then Friday is going to be a struggle emotionally.
The fact that Princeton and Penn dominated the league for so long meant that there weren't too many head-to-head battles for first place on Fridays and Saturdays through the years.
Now it's about the final seven days of the season, or possibly more.
Princeton has already lost to Yale, and Harvard has already lost to Columbia.
TigerBlog's sense is that the Crimson are going to win twice this weekend and be 11-3 in the clubhouse a week from today, when Princeton is at Penn. At least Princeton has to think that way.
Brown, by the way, is playing better now, so Saturday night won't be easy either. Nor will Tuesday.
It's an exciting time for the men's basketball team and the Ivy League race.
And it goes without saying that TB is happy that Princeton and Harvard are playing for more than just the top seed in an Ivy tournament.
Monday, March 4, 2013
Five From The Weekend
TigerBlog was in the sports information office at Johns Hopkins University Friday around 8:15.
Princeton's impressive 11-8 win over the Blue Jays in men's lacrosse had ended a little more than an hour earlier, and TB was basically done with everything he had to do. All that was left was to remember that University becomes Roland and that he needed to turn left on Cold Spring to get to I-83.
Of course, Princeton was playing Harvard in men's basketball, Game 2 of the Princeton ESPNU doubleheader from Friday. And the second half was just starting.
TB had DVRd the game, and his plan was to try to get home to see it without finding out what happened. That plan went by the wayside, though, when TB decided to watch the end of the game before he hit the road, even though it backed him up another hour - and cost him a chance to get food at the team postgame reception.
So, while Ernie Larossa - JHU's venerable and universally well-liked head of athletic communications - hardly glanced at the game on the TV in his own office, TB sat and watched the second half.
The ESPNU doubleheader couldn't have gone much better for Princeton.
Actually, the whole weekend was a pretty good one, with a few setbacks along the way. Hey, even one of the big setbacks was a team that was a pretty big winner anyway.
The men's lacrosse team had itself a great win over Hopkins. The Blue Jays were ranked third coming in and playing on their home field. It was a great challenge for the Tigers and their rebuilt team, with so many new faces playing so many key roles, especially on defense.
And yet Princeton looked great, from start to finish. Princeton handled every challenge, from winning only 7 of 22 face-offs to being outshot 17-5 in the first quarter to giving up three goals in three minutes in the third quarter to fall behind. When the polls came out this morning, Princeton had jumped from 12th last week to fifth this week.
And for all that, TigerBlog ranks Princeton as the fifth-biggest winner among Princeton teams this weekend.
TigerBlog will put the men's lacrosse team fifth. And here's the rest of the top five:
4. Women's basketball
Huh? The Tigers lost. Yet the Princeton women are so good that even when they lose they win.
Princeton lost to Harvard Friday night and came back to defeat Dartmouth Saturday in a tough, tough game. And yet the women still won big, as big as they do when they blast teams by 40 or 50 or more.
How so? Three ways.
First, because Harvard defeated Penn Saturday night, Princeton has a two game lead over both the Quakers and Crimson. Wins this weekend at home against Yale and Brown, both of whom Princeton defeated easily on the road earlier this year, will wrap up a fourth straight Ivy title and NCAA tournament berth.
Second, the Tigers waited until after they'd won 33 straight Ivy League games, setting a new record, to finally lose one.
Third, Princeton learned a valuable lesson, that nothing can ever been taken for granted, not on any possession, let alone any game. The loss will clearly refocus the Tigers as they head down the stretch.
3. Women's fencing
Princeton was the prohibitive favorite to the win the league - and then the Tigers went out and swept through the league, running their streak to 25 straight matches at the Ivy League dual meet championships.
Princeton has now won four straight Ivy women's fencing titles, something that hadn't been done since Penn won six straight from 1983-88. That's a quarter-century ago.
2. Men's basketball
The men's basketball team did not win the Ivy championship this weekend. And, for that matter, there's no guarantee that what happened this weekend will carry over through a very challenging rest of the season.
Still, this weekend could not have been better. Princeton gutted out a 58-53 win over Harvard, led by a hop-on-my-back performance from Ian Hummer (23 points, 14 rebounds), Friday night. Had Princeton lost, it would have had almost no chance in the Ivy race.
Then, to top it off, Penn rose up and beat Harvard Saturday night. Now, Princeton - who beat Dartmouth Saturday - finds itself one game ahead of Harvard in the loss column with games at Yale, Brown and Penn remaining. Harvard is home for Columbia and Cornell.
Princeton lost to Yale the first time around. Harvard lost to Columbia.
1. Women's swimming and diving
While the fencers were expected to roll, the swimming and diving team wasn't. Princeton actually had lost to Harvard in a dual meet during the season and trailed for a small time during Saturday's final session, but it was all Tigers in the end.
Princeton, who did not win last year, won its 21st Ivy League title - and 11th in the last 14 years.
In many of those years, Princeton was just get-off-the-bus-swim-take-the-trophy-go-home better than everyone else. Not this time around. Princeton had to scramble for every point, and this meet clearly could have gone against the Tigers just as easily as it went for them.
In the end, Princeton defeated Harvard by nearly 100 points.
Princeton's impressive 11-8 win over the Blue Jays in men's lacrosse had ended a little more than an hour earlier, and TB was basically done with everything he had to do. All that was left was to remember that University becomes Roland and that he needed to turn left on Cold Spring to get to I-83.
Of course, Princeton was playing Harvard in men's basketball, Game 2 of the Princeton ESPNU doubleheader from Friday. And the second half was just starting.
TB had DVRd the game, and his plan was to try to get home to see it without finding out what happened. That plan went by the wayside, though, when TB decided to watch the end of the game before he hit the road, even though it backed him up another hour - and cost him a chance to get food at the team postgame reception.
So, while Ernie Larossa - JHU's venerable and universally well-liked head of athletic communications - hardly glanced at the game on the TV in his own office, TB sat and watched the second half.
The ESPNU doubleheader couldn't have gone much better for Princeton.
Actually, the whole weekend was a pretty good one, with a few setbacks along the way. Hey, even one of the big setbacks was a team that was a pretty big winner anyway.
The men's lacrosse team had itself a great win over Hopkins. The Blue Jays were ranked third coming in and playing on their home field. It was a great challenge for the Tigers and their rebuilt team, with so many new faces playing so many key roles, especially on defense.
And yet Princeton looked great, from start to finish. Princeton handled every challenge, from winning only 7 of 22 face-offs to being outshot 17-5 in the first quarter to giving up three goals in three minutes in the third quarter to fall behind. When the polls came out this morning, Princeton had jumped from 12th last week to fifth this week.
And for all that, TigerBlog ranks Princeton as the fifth-biggest winner among Princeton teams this weekend.
TigerBlog will put the men's lacrosse team fifth. And here's the rest of the top five:
4. Women's basketball
Huh? The Tigers lost. Yet the Princeton women are so good that even when they lose they win.
Princeton lost to Harvard Friday night and came back to defeat Dartmouth Saturday in a tough, tough game. And yet the women still won big, as big as they do when they blast teams by 40 or 50 or more.
How so? Three ways.
First, because Harvard defeated Penn Saturday night, Princeton has a two game lead over both the Quakers and Crimson. Wins this weekend at home against Yale and Brown, both of whom Princeton defeated easily on the road earlier this year, will wrap up a fourth straight Ivy title and NCAA tournament berth.
Second, the Tigers waited until after they'd won 33 straight Ivy League games, setting a new record, to finally lose one.
Third, Princeton learned a valuable lesson, that nothing can ever been taken for granted, not on any possession, let alone any game. The loss will clearly refocus the Tigers as they head down the stretch.
3. Women's fencing
Princeton was the prohibitive favorite to the win the league - and then the Tigers went out and swept through the league, running their streak to 25 straight matches at the Ivy League dual meet championships.
Princeton has now won four straight Ivy women's fencing titles, something that hadn't been done since Penn won six straight from 1983-88. That's a quarter-century ago.
2. Men's basketball
The men's basketball team did not win the Ivy championship this weekend. And, for that matter, there's no guarantee that what happened this weekend will carry over through a very challenging rest of the season.
Still, this weekend could not have been better. Princeton gutted out a 58-53 win over Harvard, led by a hop-on-my-back performance from Ian Hummer (23 points, 14 rebounds), Friday night. Had Princeton lost, it would have had almost no chance in the Ivy race.
Then, to top it off, Penn rose up and beat Harvard Saturday night. Now, Princeton - who beat Dartmouth Saturday - finds itself one game ahead of Harvard in the loss column with games at Yale, Brown and Penn remaining. Harvard is home for Columbia and Cornell.
Princeton lost to Yale the first time around. Harvard lost to Columbia.
1. Women's swimming and diving
While the fencers were expected to roll, the swimming and diving team wasn't. Princeton actually had lost to Harvard in a dual meet during the season and trailed for a small time during Saturday's final session, but it was all Tigers in the end.
Princeton, who did not win last year, won its 21st Ivy League title - and 11th in the last 14 years.
In many of those years, Princeton was just get-off-the-bus-swim-take-the-trophy-go-home better than everyone else. Not this time around. Princeton had to scramble for every point, and this meet clearly could have gone against the Tigers just as easily as it went for them.
In the end, Princeton defeated Harvard by nearly 100 points.
Friday, March 1, 2013
Doubleheader Friday
TigerBlog is not a NASCAR fan. Or an auto racing fan in general. Or a Danica Patrick fan.
He used to be into the Indy 500 when he was younger. And he has memories of rooting for A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti.
He does love how the Daytona 500, the biggest race of the NASCAR season, is the first race of the season. He's always thought that the BCS championship game should follow the same formula and be the first game of the postseason, followed by all the other bowls.
The Daytona 500 was on the other day, and as usual it didn't really hold TigerBlog's attention. As he started flipping through the channels, he came across something he considered to be interesting programming, though he still can't figure out if it was smart or not.
There it was on one of the other networks, the movie "Days of Thunder."
Though he's not a huge fan of NASCAR, TB does like the movie "Days of Thunder." Robert Duvall is tremendous in it, for starters.
And of course it's Tom Cruise at his apex.
If TB has a complaint about Tom Cruise back then, it's not that his movies weren't great. They were.
It's that in every movie, Cruise was the greatest whatever he was, either the greatest Navy lawyer, the greatest sports agent, the greatest fighter pilot, the greatest pool player - and even the greatest race car driver, which he is in "Days of Thunder."
So anyway, TB couldn't believe that the movie was on opposite the Daytona 500. Ironically, the movie ends at the Daytona 500, as Cole (Cruise) races there. If you haven't seen the movie, see if you can guess what happens at the end.
Anyway, it was a fictional account of the Daytona 500 against the actual Daytona 500. Is that good programming?
On the one hand it is, because if you're in the mood for the Daytona 500 but the race is dragging, then there's always the movie. On the other hand, it's terrible programming, because why watch a fictional account of the race when you can watch the actual one?
In the world of much better programming, there is later today on ESPNU.
Princeton has itself an ESPNU doubleheader, beginning at 5 when the men's lacrosse team is at Johns Hopkins and then continuing at 7 when Princeton hosts Harvard in men's basketball.
Princeton, ranked 12th in both polls, is 1-0 in men's lacrosse with a 10-7 opening day win over Hofstra. Johns Hopkins is 3-0 and ranked third in both polls.
The biggest note from the game is that Princeton has just two returning starters from the Princeton-Hopkins game of two years ago - midfielder Tom Schreiber and attackman Jeff Froccaro, who was a starting middie back then. The Blue Jays? They return eight starters from that game.
That's eight starters back, including the entire first midfield, entire defense and goalie.
For Princeton, it's a tough test, heading into Homewood Field to take on such a veteran team. The Tigers have a dynamic offense and a rebuilt defense, but hey, it's a great opportunity.
Princeton went 1-33 against Johns Hopkins over, obviously, a 34-year stretch, including 0 for 24 from 1967 to 1990. Since then Princeton is 15-10 against the Blue Jays, including 3-0 in the NCAA tournament.
Once the lacrosse game is over, then it's time for men's basketball on ESPNU.
Princeton is 7-2 in the league; Harvard is 9-1. Every other team in the league has five or more losses.
Obviously, then, it doesn't any kind of genius to figure out that the game at Jadwin is huge.
Harvard can't clinch the league with a win, but it can put itself firmly into the driver's seat. Princeton can't win the league with a win, but it can get even in the loss column.
Most importantly, Princeton can still get to the NCAA tournament by winning its remaining games. Should Harvard win tonight, then that would change.
The teams have put together a great rivalry in recent years, highlighted by the playoff game two years ago, the one where Douglas Davis hit the shot at the buzzer to put Princeton into the 2011 NCAA tournament.
Who will go to the 2013 NCAA tournament? Will there be another playoff?
The game tonight will go a long way to answering those questions. It's the kind of game that the two teams have been getting ready for the entire season. TB will be shocked if both teams don't play well.
And if you can't get to Jadwin to see it in person? Then you can watch it on ESPNU.
After you watch the men's lacrosse game.
Now that's great programming.
He used to be into the Indy 500 when he was younger. And he has memories of rooting for A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti.
He does love how the Daytona 500, the biggest race of the NASCAR season, is the first race of the season. He's always thought that the BCS championship game should follow the same formula and be the first game of the postseason, followed by all the other bowls.
The Daytona 500 was on the other day, and as usual it didn't really hold TigerBlog's attention. As he started flipping through the channels, he came across something he considered to be interesting programming, though he still can't figure out if it was smart or not.
There it was on one of the other networks, the movie "Days of Thunder."
Though he's not a huge fan of NASCAR, TB does like the movie "Days of Thunder." Robert Duvall is tremendous in it, for starters.
And of course it's Tom Cruise at his apex.
If TB has a complaint about Tom Cruise back then, it's not that his movies weren't great. They were.
It's that in every movie, Cruise was the greatest whatever he was, either the greatest Navy lawyer, the greatest sports agent, the greatest fighter pilot, the greatest pool player - and even the greatest race car driver, which he is in "Days of Thunder."
So anyway, TB couldn't believe that the movie was on opposite the Daytona 500. Ironically, the movie ends at the Daytona 500, as Cole (Cruise) races there. If you haven't seen the movie, see if you can guess what happens at the end.
Anyway, it was a fictional account of the Daytona 500 against the actual Daytona 500. Is that good programming?
On the one hand it is, because if you're in the mood for the Daytona 500 but the race is dragging, then there's always the movie. On the other hand, it's terrible programming, because why watch a fictional account of the race when you can watch the actual one?
In the world of much better programming, there is later today on ESPNU.
Princeton has itself an ESPNU doubleheader, beginning at 5 when the men's lacrosse team is at Johns Hopkins and then continuing at 7 when Princeton hosts Harvard in men's basketball.
Princeton, ranked 12th in both polls, is 1-0 in men's lacrosse with a 10-7 opening day win over Hofstra. Johns Hopkins is 3-0 and ranked third in both polls.
The biggest note from the game is that Princeton has just two returning starters from the Princeton-Hopkins game of two years ago - midfielder Tom Schreiber and attackman Jeff Froccaro, who was a starting middie back then. The Blue Jays? They return eight starters from that game.
That's eight starters back, including the entire first midfield, entire defense and goalie.
For Princeton, it's a tough test, heading into Homewood Field to take on such a veteran team. The Tigers have a dynamic offense and a rebuilt defense, but hey, it's a great opportunity.
Princeton went 1-33 against Johns Hopkins over, obviously, a 34-year stretch, including 0 for 24 from 1967 to 1990. Since then Princeton is 15-10 against the Blue Jays, including 3-0 in the NCAA tournament.
Once the lacrosse game is over, then it's time for men's basketball on ESPNU.
Princeton is 7-2 in the league; Harvard is 9-1. Every other team in the league has five or more losses.
Obviously, then, it doesn't any kind of genius to figure out that the game at Jadwin is huge.
Harvard can't clinch the league with a win, but it can put itself firmly into the driver's seat. Princeton can't win the league with a win, but it can get even in the loss column.
Most importantly, Princeton can still get to the NCAA tournament by winning its remaining games. Should Harvard win tonight, then that would change.
The teams have put together a great rivalry in recent years, highlighted by the playoff game two years ago, the one where Douglas Davis hit the shot at the buzzer to put Princeton into the 2011 NCAA tournament.
Who will go to the 2013 NCAA tournament? Will there be another playoff?
The game tonight will go a long way to answering those questions. It's the kind of game that the two teams have been getting ready for the entire season. TB will be shocked if both teams don't play well.
And if you can't get to Jadwin to see it in person? Then you can watch it on ESPNU.
After you watch the men's lacrosse game.
Now that's great programming.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
