TigerBlog's cousin Paul - and his wife Maureen - have a very nice little porch out the back door of their house in Montclair, which is a little more than an hour north of Princeton, outside of New York City.
The porch is typical, with a table, some chairs, a nearby grill and some shade. It's a great place to be on a warm afternoon in the summer, or, sometimes, the second weekend of December.
If you live in the general Princeton area, it was easy to forget that Christmas is less than two weeks away. Not with the weather this weekend.
There were convertibles with their top down. There were people eating outside at restaurants. Everywhere TB looked, he saw signs of summer, or at least late spring or early fall.
TigerBlog himself sat out on his cousin's porch in shorts and a shirt, with no sweater, sweatshirt or jacket, let alone coat. He did this in mid-December.
TB's cousin Janet was there as well. Janet is Paul's sister; their late-father Larry was MotherBlog's brother.
TigerBlog mentioned to BrotherBlog a week ago or so that when he writes about his childhood, he's also writing about BB's, and he wonders if he remembers things the same way his brother does. The same is true of Janet and Paul, who were there were so many holidays, so many special moments, so many get-togethers going back as long as TB can remember.
Janet is two years older than TigerBlog. She has a heart of gold and a great sense of humor, and she sees everyone for exactly who they are. She's impossible to B.S., which means she sees right through anyone who tries.
Like TB, for instance. She's one of the few people TB knows who make him feel like he's still a kid, all with this simple look that she gives him when he's trying to B.S. her. She never falls for it, even if everyone else around does, and that look is her way of saying so.
At the same time, she's fiercely loyal and supportive, and TigerBlog knows she would never let him down. That's a good combination - always there for him while also holding him accountable.
Janet is a regular TigerBlog reader, she says. She's not much of a sports fan, though, so she says that usually tunes out once the parts about Princeton sports begin.
So Janet, if you're reading this - TB has never really taken the time to tell his cousin how special she is to him, and he just wanted to do it now.
And now you can stop reading, because the rest is about Princeton sports. Specifically basketball, for which there are two home games this week, one each for the men and women.
The Princeton women have been outscored in the fourth quarter of its last two games by a combined 39-19, which would be troubling were it not for the fact that Princeton outscored its last two opponents by a combined 123-78 in the first three quarters.
In its most recent game, Princeton defeated Pitt 61-47. Pitt, by the way, plays in the ACC.
The final score hardly tells the story. Princeton started the game on an 18-0 run and pushed it to 28-2 before the end of the first quarter.
Princeton is home tonight at 7 against Fordham. The Tigers are 8-1 this year, which makes them 39-2 in their last 41 games.
Princeton destroyed the Ivy League a year ago with a 14-0 run that included one game closer than 10 points, and 13 that were over basically after the began. This year? Ivy women's basketball might be a bit tougher.
As of right now, five of the eight league teams are above .500 and a sixth is at .500.
Princeton is actually tied for the best record in the league with Brown, who is also 8-1. The Bears have a win over Providence, who is 3-6 but owns a win over Monmouth. This comes a year after Brown was 10-18 overall, 4-10 in the league.
Princeton has been to five NCAA tournaments in the last six years. Penn went to the other, two years ago. So far this year, the Quakers are 5-2, with one of their losses a tight one against Duke.
The Tigers open the Ivy season Jan. 9 against Penn at the Palestra, as part of a women's/men's doubleheader.
As for the men, Princeton defeated Lipscomb 78-64 Saturday in Tennessee to improve to 5-2. Next up for the men is a home game against Liberty Thursday at 7.
In Princeton's five wins, the Tigers have scored 82.4 points per game. In their two losses, that number is 63.5.
As for the rest of the league, there are three teams above .500 and a fourth at .500, with Princeton's 5-2 the best record.
It's hard to draw too many conclusions this early into the season. In fact, it's too hard until teams start to play in the league, and that is still awhile away. Even at this point last year, did anyone realize that Princeton was going to destroy the league the way it did on the women's side?
For now, it's still about figuring things out, who is in the rotation, what offense and defense works, who can be on the court with whom and who cannot be on the court with whom. Things get more intense after the new year.
So enjoy the two games this week.
As a reminder, it's the women tonight at 7 against Fordham and the men Thursday at 7 against Liberty.
Monday, December 14, 2015
Friday, December 11, 2015
The Holiday Party
The Ford Family Dancers, as it were.
Turns out, they're both pretty good. In the case of Mollie Marcoux, the current Ford Family Director of Athletics, that's not too surprising.
In the case of the Ford Family Director of Athletics Emeritus, Gary Walters, well, that's not quite what TigerBlog expected. TB does have to admit it, though. Gary can move.
For the most part, though, it was a young crowd out on the dance floor. And by young, TigerBlog means single digits. If the current generation of Princeton's athletic department has a wallflower or two, the next generation looks like it was born to dance. There was an army of them out there dancing to the music, at least after they got done in the bounce house.
Nobody better embodied this youth movement than Chase Dubuque, the son of wrestling assistant coach Joe Dubuque. How does a kid his age (apparently he's 8) learn to dance like that?
TigerBlog figures in the Dubuque house, it's hurry through dinner and homework and then let the dancing begin. It was a real family event, with Chase and his parents out there.
TigerBlog is not a dancer. It is not his thing at all. He doesn't like it, and he's awful at it. That's a bad combination.
Because he's so bad at it, he has a real appreciation for those who are good at it. And for those who aren't but are willing to put themselves out there, something TB has never wanted to do.
That's why he has to tip his cap to Ryan Yurko of the business office, who finally, finally worked up the courage to get out on the floor. And to John Bullis, video dude, who at one point was the only man who was dancing.
TigerBlog has been to more than 20 holiday parties. Last night's was the best one yet.
Maybe it's because it transitioned to Jadwin Gym's lobby, after spending quite a few years at the boathouse. The lobby at Jadwin gave the party more room and a much bigger dance floor.
Or maybe it's because, children notwithstanding, the Department of Athletics appears to be getting a bit younger. and with that comes more energy and more, well, life.
TigerBlog has been to all kinds of holiday parties. At one, Gary had asked TB to write Christmas jokes, which he dutifully did. They were good ones too; TB could have made them work. Gary? He didn't get so much as a chuckle. So what did he do? Threw TigerBlog under the bus, that's what, saying to the crowd "hey, he wrote them."
There were holiday parties in restaurants. One was at the top of Fine Tower, and it was interrupted by a fire alarm that caused the building to be evacuated. There was one that had a 45-minute slideshow celebrating the 250th anniversary of the University. That would have been back in 1996. There were many, many, many that featured a gift exchange. You know, somebody gets a gift and then the next person gets to either take that one or choose an unopened one.
The party last night basically said "the food is here, the drinks are over there, the dance floor is there, go have fun." It was simple, and it worked.
TigerBlog has spent a lot of time with a lot of the people who were there last night. They go to meetings together. They go to games together. They pass by each others offices and say hey and get back to work. They play basketball together at lunch. Or they go out to eat.
Most of the time, they're focused on the day's tasks. And the big picture of putting successful teams on the various playing fields.
TigerBlog thinks that people who work in athletics are united with a fairly strong bond, one that comes from being a collective group that is charged with representing the University against other colleges. It makes everyone who works in that group a member of the team - the "team around the team," Marcoux calls it - rather than a bunch of individuals who are just doing a job.
As a result, having a night like the holiday party is a chance for that team to be together in a way-more-relaxed way than normal. And it makes that bond even more obvious.
For TigerBlog, there were several highlights of the party.
One was a chance to see Mike Cross, himself a veteran of several Princeton holiday parties, before he left to be the AD at Bradley and now is at Penn State. He's back in town to see women's hockey tonight and tomorrow.
Cross has been gone from Princeton for six years. He quickly pointed out to TigerBlog how different the campus looks, even on the walk from Baker Rink to Jadwin.
Another highlight was seeing Kristen Callahan, who gave TB a reminder that not everyone he'd want to have been there was able to be there. Kristen is the widow of Bob Callahan, the longtime men's squash coach, who passed away in January. Bob fought brain cancer hard, and he fought it with grace and class and humility.
In death, Bob was an inspiration. In life, he was one of the absolute best people TigerBlog has ever met. Kristen and TB got to spend a really nice few minutes talking about Bob; it made TB smile and tear up, all at the same time. Bob would have laughed at that.
There were other nice moments too. Hey, anytime there's the chance to see water polo coach Luis Nicolao as Santa Claus is a nice moment.
Mostly, though, it was the chance to spend time in a casual, happy, festive setting with a group of people who work really hard together all year round.
They're good people. They're dedicated people. They're the kind of people you want to be around for all that time, as everyone tries so hard to make Princeton even more of a special place, to make Princeton Athletics even more successful, to give the athletes an even better four years.
Princeton Athletics is something special. It's not just because of the history and the winning teams and all of the on-field success.
It's the people. All of them, who together make up Princeton's Department of Athletics.
And, as last night showed, it's a group that knows how to have fun at a party.
Thursday, December 10, 2015
The Tippy Martinez Story
So this is the Tippy Martinez story.
Back in the early 1980s, the Baltimore Orioles had a really good lefthanded reliever named Tippy Martinez. He was part of a 1-2 combo in the bullpen that featured a righthander named Sammie Stewart.
Apparently, post-baseball life hasn't gone well for Stewart, by the way. When TigerBlog did a search to make sure he had the right guy, he found out Stewart spent about 10 years in and out of prison, including from 2006-13, before trying to turn his life around.
Anyway, about 20 years before that, Stewart was having a relatively unhittable relief outing against the Yankees on a late June night.
It was June 23, 1984, to be precise. TigerBlog was there. It was the only time he ever went to a game at Baltimore's old Memorial Stadium, which was the longtime home of the Orioles and the Baltimore Colts, before they moved to Indianapolis.
TigerBlog made the trip with his junior year roommate Eric Weiss, who these days is a lawyer. Eric grew up in the Long Island town of Merrick, so you can figure out for yourself that his first name and hometown rhyme.
TB is pretty sure he and Weiss sat in the upper level down the first base line as the Orioles took the lead and looked in control. It was 4-2 into the ninth, and Stewart stayed in to get an out before Martinez, with one on, came in to face a lefty, Steve Kemp.
The idea of a seventh-inning pitcher, an eighth-inning pitcher and a closer hadn't evolved yet. Back then, it was mostly righty vs. righty, lefty vs. lefty that managers tried to get for their pitchers. And so that was the logic.
It didn't quite work, as Kemp hit a ball that now, 31 years later, is probably still going up, tying the game at 4-4. The Yankees then won it with a run in the 11th.
As TB and Eric left, they heard behind them someone who said that the O's should never have taken Stewart out. In that moment, TigerBlog had crystallized for him the concept that the outcome does not determine whether or not the decision was a good one. It's the logic behind it is the decider.
And the fact that the Orioles lost? Immaterial.
So that's the Tippy Martinez story.
TigerBlog has referred back to that hundreds of times since, mostly about coaching decisions. Like the one Tom Coughlin made Sunday not to kick a field goal. Get a first down (with two yards) or a touchdown (with four yards), and that's a win for the Giants.
TB was fine with the logic, so it was the right decision.
As TB said the other day, he watched the end of the Giants game just before the start of the Princeton-Michigan women's basketball game, where he was one of nearly 2,000 in the building.
The crowd was a bit smaller Tuesday night for the game against Monmouth, but TigerBlog was there. So was men's lacrosse consigliere Bryce Chase.
As TB and Bryce talked at halftime, Hal Feiveson, an Academic Athletic-Fellow who had a long career in the Woodrow Wilson School before retiring a few years ago, walked by. TigerBlog assumed Bryce and Hal knew each other for a long time, but as it turned out, they had only met casually at some point, they both thought.
TigerBlog then guessed that, perhaps somewhat conservatively, Bryce and Hal had attended the same Princeton sporting event at least 1,000 times.
If they want to push that number up, they're running out of chances in 2015.
Princeton has 11 home events remaining in the calendar year, of which eight are this coming weekend. And the ninth is Monday.
There is the New Year's Invitational track and field meet for men and women tomorrow in Jadwin. There's women's hockey tomorrow night (7) and Saturday afternoon (3) against Penn State. There's wrestling at Dillon at 7 tomorrow against Navy.
The women's basketball team hosts Pitt - an NCAA tournament team a year ago - Saturday at 3 and then Fordham Monday at 7.
And there's the men's hockey game against the U.S. U-18 team Saturday at 7.
After those nine? Men's basketball Thursday against Liberty and then Dec. 22 against Bucknell.
There are a bunch of road events too. There are 10, in fact, meaning there are only 21 events left in 2015.
Of course, the schedule picks up right in 2016, actually on Jan. 1.
Still, the next few weeks will be fairly quiet around here.
Well, other than that whole Christmas/New Year's thing.
Back in the early 1980s, the Baltimore Orioles had a really good lefthanded reliever named Tippy Martinez. He was part of a 1-2 combo in the bullpen that featured a righthander named Sammie Stewart.
Apparently, post-baseball life hasn't gone well for Stewart, by the way. When TigerBlog did a search to make sure he had the right guy, he found out Stewart spent about 10 years in and out of prison, including from 2006-13, before trying to turn his life around.
Anyway, about 20 years before that, Stewart was having a relatively unhittable relief outing against the Yankees on a late June night.
It was June 23, 1984, to be precise. TigerBlog was there. It was the only time he ever went to a game at Baltimore's old Memorial Stadium, which was the longtime home of the Orioles and the Baltimore Colts, before they moved to Indianapolis.
TigerBlog made the trip with his junior year roommate Eric Weiss, who these days is a lawyer. Eric grew up in the Long Island town of Merrick, so you can figure out for yourself that his first name and hometown rhyme.
TB is pretty sure he and Weiss sat in the upper level down the first base line as the Orioles took the lead and looked in control. It was 4-2 into the ninth, and Stewart stayed in to get an out before Martinez, with one on, came in to face a lefty, Steve Kemp.
The idea of a seventh-inning pitcher, an eighth-inning pitcher and a closer hadn't evolved yet. Back then, it was mostly righty vs. righty, lefty vs. lefty that managers tried to get for their pitchers. And so that was the logic.
It didn't quite work, as Kemp hit a ball that now, 31 years later, is probably still going up, tying the game at 4-4. The Yankees then won it with a run in the 11th.
As TB and Eric left, they heard behind them someone who said that the O's should never have taken Stewart out. In that moment, TigerBlog had crystallized for him the concept that the outcome does not determine whether or not the decision was a good one. It's the logic behind it is the decider.
And the fact that the Orioles lost? Immaterial.
So that's the Tippy Martinez story.
TigerBlog has referred back to that hundreds of times since, mostly about coaching decisions. Like the one Tom Coughlin made Sunday not to kick a field goal. Get a first down (with two yards) or a touchdown (with four yards), and that's a win for the Giants.
TB was fine with the logic, so it was the right decision.
As TB said the other day, he watched the end of the Giants game just before the start of the Princeton-Michigan women's basketball game, where he was one of nearly 2,000 in the building.
The crowd was a bit smaller Tuesday night for the game against Monmouth, but TigerBlog was there. So was men's lacrosse consigliere Bryce Chase.
As TB and Bryce talked at halftime, Hal Feiveson, an Academic Athletic-Fellow who had a long career in the Woodrow Wilson School before retiring a few years ago, walked by. TigerBlog assumed Bryce and Hal knew each other for a long time, but as it turned out, they had only met casually at some point, they both thought.
TigerBlog then guessed that, perhaps somewhat conservatively, Bryce and Hal had attended the same Princeton sporting event at least 1,000 times.
If they want to push that number up, they're running out of chances in 2015.
Princeton has 11 home events remaining in the calendar year, of which eight are this coming weekend. And the ninth is Monday.
There is the New Year's Invitational track and field meet for men and women tomorrow in Jadwin. There's women's hockey tomorrow night (7) and Saturday afternoon (3) against Penn State. There's wrestling at Dillon at 7 tomorrow against Navy.
The women's basketball team hosts Pitt - an NCAA tournament team a year ago - Saturday at 3 and then Fordham Monday at 7.
And there's the men's hockey game against the U.S. U-18 team Saturday at 7.
After those nine? Men's basketball Thursday against Liberty and then Dec. 22 against Bucknell.
There are a bunch of road events too. There are 10, in fact, meaning there are only 21 events left in 2015.
Of course, the schedule picks up right in 2016, actually on Jan. 1.
Still, the next few weeks will be fairly quiet around here.
Well, other than that whole Christmas/New Year's thing.
Wednesday, December 9, 2015
A Perfect Weekend
TigerBlog was at the women's hockey games this past weekend.
Late in Saturday's game, TB was standing next to Gary Walters, when a woman who TB surmises is Kelsey Koelzer's mother approached the Ford Family Director of Athletics Emeritus.
"I know you," she said.
What did she say next? You were the AD here for 20 years? You were the head of the NCAA Division I men's basketball committee? You were on some of the best teams Princeton has ever fielded in any sport?
Nope.
"You were the Tiger," she said.
TigerBlog couldn't help but laugh at that. The woman told Gary how she'd seen him in the last "Who's the Tiger" video, which ends with Gary in the Tiger suit as he mops the Jadwin court. It's funny stuff.
The way TB figured it might be Koelzer's mother was that she mentioned how she's seen them all and that, TB thinks she said, her daughter was in the first one. That would be Koelzer, who had one of the most subtly funny moments of the 12-part series, when she sat in a study session in a hockey uniform with her skates up on the desk.
That's funny.
Koelzer had a nice supporting role in the series. She had a lead role this past weekend for the women's hockey team.
It was Koelzer's goal in overtime that beat Harvard 2-1 Friday night to start the Tigers to their big weekend, which concluded Saturday with a 4-1 win over Dartmouth.
The sweep vaulted Princeton into a tie with Harvard for second place in the ECAC with 11 points, though Princeton has played one more game to date. The Ivy League standings are even more favorable than the ECAC ones, as Princeton is now alone in first place at 4-1-0, for eight points. Dartmouth is in second, with five.
Those standings are even more unreliable now than the ECAC ones. Princeton, for example, has played five Ivy League games. Cornell has played one, which just happens to be a 2-1 win over Princeton.
For those who don't know, the Ivy League hockey standings are determined by ECAC league games between Ivy teams. In other words, those games sort of double count, in the ECAC and the Ivy standings.
Of course, that hardly matters at this point of the season.
What does matter is that Princeton has shown it belongs. TigerBlog won't pretend he knows much about hockey, but he does know that Princeton looked really good in the two games he saw this weekend.
The Tigers shared the puck well. They got some really good goaltending from Kimberly Newell. They didn't panic when they trailed 1-0 in both games, on Friday night into the third period and into the second Saturday.
In fact, Harvard took its 1-0 lead just about midway through the third, after 50 scoreless minutes. Princeton? It took 1:02 for Princeton to get the equalizer. And then, after failing to convert a 5-on-3 advantage late in the third, Koelzer took matters into her own hands, basically challenging
three Harvard defenders by herself on her way to the game-winner (which you can see HERE).
In Saturday's game, it was 1-0 Dartmouth on a first period goal, and it stayed that way until 9:30 was left in the second, when Princeton tied it. Then it took 33 seconds to make it 2-1. And less than four more minutes to make it 3-1.
The Princeton women weren't the only ones to have a big weekend.
The men's team also swept, winning at Brown and Yale, giving Princeton a women's/men's ECAC sweep in the same weekend for the first time since 2011.
The men are in Year 2 under Ron Fogarty, and it's obvious the team is making progress. A year ago, Princeton went 4-23-3 and never won back-to-back games. Now, through 12 games, Princeton is 4-8-0, with its modest two-game winning streak. Actually, in ECAC games, it's a three-game winning streak.
And of those three wins, two are against teams that were ranked, Clarkson who was No. 20 and Yale who was No. 10.
Next up for both teams is Penn State, which means a date for the men with former Princeton coach Guy Gadowsky, who took the Tigers to the NCAA tournament in 2008 and 2009.
The men are at Penn State Friday night. The women are home with Penn State Friday and Saturday, when the men host the U.S. U-18 team.
There are no league games left for the women until Jan. 1. The men play home-and-home with Quinnipiac on Dec. 29 and 30.
Then it'll be time for the 2016 portion of the schedule.
If the ECAC playoffs started today, Princeton's men would be hosting. That would be a huge accomplishment if it happens in a few months.
For now, it's a good chance to look ahead to this weekend and then the holidays - and look back on a perfect weekend.
For the women and the men.
Late in Saturday's game, TB was standing next to Gary Walters, when a woman who TB surmises is Kelsey Koelzer's mother approached the Ford Family Director of Athletics Emeritus.
"I know you," she said.
What did she say next? You were the AD here for 20 years? You were the head of the NCAA Division I men's basketball committee? You were on some of the best teams Princeton has ever fielded in any sport?
Nope.
"You were the Tiger," she said.
TigerBlog couldn't help but laugh at that. The woman told Gary how she'd seen him in the last "Who's the Tiger" video, which ends with Gary in the Tiger suit as he mops the Jadwin court. It's funny stuff.
The way TB figured it might be Koelzer's mother was that she mentioned how she's seen them all and that, TB thinks she said, her daughter was in the first one. That would be Koelzer, who had one of the most subtly funny moments of the 12-part series, when she sat in a study session in a hockey uniform with her skates up on the desk.
That's funny.
Koelzer had a nice supporting role in the series. She had a lead role this past weekend for the women's hockey team.
It was Koelzer's goal in overtime that beat Harvard 2-1 Friday night to start the Tigers to their big weekend, which concluded Saturday with a 4-1 win over Dartmouth.
The sweep vaulted Princeton into a tie with Harvard for second place in the ECAC with 11 points, though Princeton has played one more game to date. The Ivy League standings are even more favorable than the ECAC ones, as Princeton is now alone in first place at 4-1-0, for eight points. Dartmouth is in second, with five.
Those standings are even more unreliable now than the ECAC ones. Princeton, for example, has played five Ivy League games. Cornell has played one, which just happens to be a 2-1 win over Princeton.
For those who don't know, the Ivy League hockey standings are determined by ECAC league games between Ivy teams. In other words, those games sort of double count, in the ECAC and the Ivy standings.
Of course, that hardly matters at this point of the season.
What does matter is that Princeton has shown it belongs. TigerBlog won't pretend he knows much about hockey, but he does know that Princeton looked really good in the two games he saw this weekend.
The Tigers shared the puck well. They got some really good goaltending from Kimberly Newell. They didn't panic when they trailed 1-0 in both games, on Friday night into the third period and into the second Saturday.
In fact, Harvard took its 1-0 lead just about midway through the third, after 50 scoreless minutes. Princeton? It took 1:02 for Princeton to get the equalizer. And then, after failing to convert a 5-on-3 advantage late in the third, Koelzer took matters into her own hands, basically challenging
three Harvard defenders by herself on her way to the game-winner (which you can see HERE).
In Saturday's game, it was 1-0 Dartmouth on a first period goal, and it stayed that way until 9:30 was left in the second, when Princeton tied it. Then it took 33 seconds to make it 2-1. And less than four more minutes to make it 3-1.
The Princeton women weren't the only ones to have a big weekend.
The men's team also swept, winning at Brown and Yale, giving Princeton a women's/men's ECAC sweep in the same weekend for the first time since 2011.
The men are in Year 2 under Ron Fogarty, and it's obvious the team is making progress. A year ago, Princeton went 4-23-3 and never won back-to-back games. Now, through 12 games, Princeton is 4-8-0, with its modest two-game winning streak. Actually, in ECAC games, it's a three-game winning streak.
And of those three wins, two are against teams that were ranked, Clarkson who was No. 20 and Yale who was No. 10.
Next up for both teams is Penn State, which means a date for the men with former Princeton coach Guy Gadowsky, who took the Tigers to the NCAA tournament in 2008 and 2009.
The men are at Penn State Friday night. The women are home with Penn State Friday and Saturday, when the men host the U.S. U-18 team.
There are no league games left for the women until Jan. 1. The men play home-and-home with Quinnipiac on Dec. 29 and 30.
Then it'll be time for the 2016 portion of the schedule.
If the ECAC playoffs started today, Princeton's men would be hosting. That would be a huge accomplishment if it happens in a few months.
For now, it's a good chance to look ahead to this weekend and then the holidays - and look back on a perfect weekend.
For the women and the men.
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
Princeton Versus The Hawks
TigerBlog can look up all kinds of facts, though some are lost to history and others are just too impossible to track down.
He's wondering the last time the Princeton men's and women's basketball teams both played games on the same night against opponents from two different schools but with the same nickname.
You know, like tonight, when the men are at the Hawks of St. Joe's and the women are home with the Hawks of Monmouth.
If he wants to try to research it with the archives that are stored on E level, he can just walk down the hallway now.
It's official. The Office of Athletic Communications is now on E level of Jadwin Gym. It's been about a week now since everyone has really been moved in, and yesterday afternoon the last piece of the new equation arrived.
It was the new refrigerator.
All that was left was to collect the keys from the old space, which is now basically empty, except for old furniture that will be removed shortly. Pretty soon, it'll be a brand-new space for someone else, the OAC's nearly 50 years there just a memory.
The new space is great. Almost everyone in Jadwin has been to visit - pretty much once each. Now that the newness is wearing off, it'll be easier to tell what the normal visitor flow will be.
The big concern about being downstairs is the absence of daylight. For his entire Princeton career, TigerBlog has looked out across his desk at a window, a balcony, a huge glass front and beyond it the football stadium. Since 1998, the track has been outside the stadium.
Now? If he looks up from his desk, he sees a wall.
So far, it's been fine. Actually, one big difference came up Sunday, when instead of being able to run up to his office before a basketball game, he had to go all the way down to E level.
While he was down there, he watched the end of the Giants-Jets game. He doesn't blame Coughlin for going for it on that fourth down, and neither would anyone else if it had been successful, the Giants got a TD and the game basically was over there.
It's the Tippy Martinez story all over again. TigerBlog will tell that story one day, but the short version is that the outcome after a decision doesn't decide if the decision was correct or not. The logic of the decision was. And in this case, Coughlin's decision-making was good.
Anyway, TB also wanted to watch the beginning of the Princeton-Michigan women's basketball game on television for a few reasons.
One, he wanted to see how Jadwin looked for the women's game, and it looked tremendous. Second, the game was an "at home" broadcast, and TB wanted to see if he could tell the difference.
By "at home," ESPN means that its announcers and most of its production staff are not at the site of the game. Instead, they are in Charlotte or Bristol, watching the game on monitors and producing it from there. The obvious advantage is reduced production and travel costs, as the on-site staff was 18 people instead of the usual 40 or so.
TB would prefer not to have known that the announcers weren't here to see if he could figure it out. He sensed it was a little different, since they couldn't sense the atmosphere in the building and feed off of that energy at times, but maybe he was just thinking that because he knew it was the case.
Speaking of "at home," the Princeton women's basketball team is at home for a bunch of games in a short time. The Michigan game - an impressive 74-57 Tiger win - was the first of four home games in an eight-day stretch.
The run continues tonight, when Monmouth is at Jadwin.
Hopefully the Monmouth women are as entertaining as the men. Surely you have seen something already about the Monmouth men's team's bench, whose members have been featured basically everywhere for their celebrating techniques, especially after the Hawks defeated Notre Dame.
Monmouth's women are 2-4 on the season, though the Hawks are coming off a 23-point win over Niagara in their last game.
After Monmouth, Princeton will host Pitt Saturday at 3. Pitt is 5-3 before tonight's game at home against Mt. St. Mary's (including an 82-45 loss to Michigan in Ann Arbor last week). The last of the four game stretch will be Monday night against Fordham, a WNIT team a year ago.
That's four chances in eight days to see a show well worth seeing, the Princeton women's basketball show. And nearly 2,000 fans were here Sunday for the first one.
TigerBlog isn't sure the last time Princeton women played four non-league home games in eight days. Obviously consecutive home Ivy weekends add up to four home games in eight days, so TB isn't counting that.
After the Fordham game, Princeton will be home in women's basketball once in the following 46 days, with a Jan. 3 game against Hampton.
As for the men, they have their Hawks tonight too, as TB said. The ones from St. Joe's.
Princeton is coming off its first loss of the year, a 91-77 decision at Stony Brook Saturday. St. Joe's is 5-2, with losses to Florida and Villanova - and an 80-78 win over Columbia in its most recent game.
The men are in a stretch of playing eight of 10 games on the road, with home games Dec. 17 against Liberty and Dec. 22 against Bucknell. In fact, those will be Princeton's only two home games in a 54-day stretch.
On the other hand, Philadelphia isn't too far.
So pick one of the games and get to it.
Princeton versus the Hawks. Two different ones, for that matter.
He's wondering the last time the Princeton men's and women's basketball teams both played games on the same night against opponents from two different schools but with the same nickname.
You know, like tonight, when the men are at the Hawks of St. Joe's and the women are home with the Hawks of Monmouth.
If he wants to try to research it with the archives that are stored on E level, he can just walk down the hallway now.
It's official. The Office of Athletic Communications is now on E level of Jadwin Gym. It's been about a week now since everyone has really been moved in, and yesterday afternoon the last piece of the new equation arrived.
It was the new refrigerator.
All that was left was to collect the keys from the old space, which is now basically empty, except for old furniture that will be removed shortly. Pretty soon, it'll be a brand-new space for someone else, the OAC's nearly 50 years there just a memory.
The new space is great. Almost everyone in Jadwin has been to visit - pretty much once each. Now that the newness is wearing off, it'll be easier to tell what the normal visitor flow will be.
The big concern about being downstairs is the absence of daylight. For his entire Princeton career, TigerBlog has looked out across his desk at a window, a balcony, a huge glass front and beyond it the football stadium. Since 1998, the track has been outside the stadium.
Now? If he looks up from his desk, he sees a wall.
So far, it's been fine. Actually, one big difference came up Sunday, when instead of being able to run up to his office before a basketball game, he had to go all the way down to E level.
While he was down there, he watched the end of the Giants-Jets game. He doesn't blame Coughlin for going for it on that fourth down, and neither would anyone else if it had been successful, the Giants got a TD and the game basically was over there.
It's the Tippy Martinez story all over again. TigerBlog will tell that story one day, but the short version is that the outcome after a decision doesn't decide if the decision was correct or not. The logic of the decision was. And in this case, Coughlin's decision-making was good.
Anyway, TB also wanted to watch the beginning of the Princeton-Michigan women's basketball game on television for a few reasons.
One, he wanted to see how Jadwin looked for the women's game, and it looked tremendous. Second, the game was an "at home" broadcast, and TB wanted to see if he could tell the difference.
By "at home," ESPN means that its announcers and most of its production staff are not at the site of the game. Instead, they are in Charlotte or Bristol, watching the game on monitors and producing it from there. The obvious advantage is reduced production and travel costs, as the on-site staff was 18 people instead of the usual 40 or so.
TB would prefer not to have known that the announcers weren't here to see if he could figure it out. He sensed it was a little different, since they couldn't sense the atmosphere in the building and feed off of that energy at times, but maybe he was just thinking that because he knew it was the case.
Speaking of "at home," the Princeton women's basketball team is at home for a bunch of games in a short time. The Michigan game - an impressive 74-57 Tiger win - was the first of four home games in an eight-day stretch.
The run continues tonight, when Monmouth is at Jadwin.
Hopefully the Monmouth women are as entertaining as the men. Surely you have seen something already about the Monmouth men's team's bench, whose members have been featured basically everywhere for their celebrating techniques, especially after the Hawks defeated Notre Dame.
Monmouth's women are 2-4 on the season, though the Hawks are coming off a 23-point win over Niagara in their last game.
After Monmouth, Princeton will host Pitt Saturday at 3. Pitt is 5-3 before tonight's game at home against Mt. St. Mary's (including an 82-45 loss to Michigan in Ann Arbor last week). The last of the four game stretch will be Monday night against Fordham, a WNIT team a year ago.
That's four chances in eight days to see a show well worth seeing, the Princeton women's basketball show. And nearly 2,000 fans were here Sunday for the first one.
TigerBlog isn't sure the last time Princeton women played four non-league home games in eight days. Obviously consecutive home Ivy weekends add up to four home games in eight days, so TB isn't counting that.
After the Fordham game, Princeton will be home in women's basketball once in the following 46 days, with a Jan. 3 game against Hampton.
As for the men, they have their Hawks tonight too, as TB said. The ones from St. Joe's.
Princeton is coming off its first loss of the year, a 91-77 decision at Stony Brook Saturday. St. Joe's is 5-2, with losses to Florida and Villanova - and an 80-78 win over Columbia in its most recent game.
The men are in a stretch of playing eight of 10 games on the road, with home games Dec. 17 against Liberty and Dec. 22 against Bucknell. In fact, those will be Princeton's only two home games in a 54-day stretch.
On the other hand, Philadelphia isn't too far.
So pick one of the games and get to it.
Princeton versus the Hawks. Two different ones, for that matter.
Monday, December 7, 2015
A Sunday Afternoon Party At Jadwin
It was halftime of the Princeton-Michigan women's basketball game yesterday afternoon at Jadwin Gym when TigerBlog saw an instantly familiar face.
It was Damani Leech, Class of 1998. Damani was a three-time first-team All-Ivy League football player at Princeton, an achievement not too many others have matched.
Joining Damani on the "first-team All-Ivy in three different years" list are Derek Graham, Matt Evans, Dennis Norman and Caraun Reid. TigerBlog thinks that's it. If he's missed anyone, he apologizes.
Beyond his on-field accomplishments, Damani was also responsible for two technological firsts for TigerBlog.
The first was TB's inaugural experience with auto-correct. TigerBlog typed "Damani" in Microsoft Word, and it autocorrected it to "Ad Man." And this was long before "Mad Men" became a show.
The second was that TB had a great picture of Leech, an actual photograph. It became the first one TB ever scanned.
TigerBlog hasn't seen Leech in years. He knew that Damani had a big position with the NCAA for years, and now Damani is working for the NFL in New York City.
Damani was in Princeton to participate in the Princeton Varsity Club's Insiders Look at Careers in Sports event. And for the basketball game.
It was sort of a mix of sporting event and party at Jadwin yesterday afternoon. The exclamation point on the party was supplied by Michelle Miller with a minute to go.
Miller was trapped a few feet behind the three-point line as the shot clock was about to expire when she heaved the ball in the general direction of the basket. Of course it swished in.
That's how it went for the Princeton women's basketball team.
The opponent, Michigan, was 7-0 coming into Jadwin Gym. The Wolverines were a WNIT semifinalist team a year ago. They are in the Big Ten. They averaged 88 points per game coming into the game. This was no pushover.
Add to that the fact that Princeton had beaten Michigan by 30 a year ago, which certainly must have been on the team's collective minds before the game.
None of it mattered. Princeton won the game 74-57, holding the Wolverines 31 points below their average.
This was no ordinary game for Princeton. In addition to playing such a big-name team, the game was on ESPN2, which brought with it a large national audience.
Princeton has worked hard to make its name on the national scale. It's come with five NCAA tournaments in the last six years, including last year's 30-0 run through the regular season.
Each year, Princeton has had to prove that it's more than just one player or one class, that each year is its own challenge and ultimately its own success story. This year's team won't have a perfect regular season, not with a 71-64 loss to 21st-ranked Seton Hall.
But that doesn't mean that this team has fallen out of the national conversation for this year. Far from it. In fact, the Tigers looked great against Michigan.
Princeton shot exactly 50% for the game, while holding Michigan to 38% shooting. Playing against a team known for its pressure D, it was Princeton who forced 22 turnovers.
Beyond the numbers, Princeton continues to simply look the part of a good, confident, veteran, athletic, multi-faceted, balanced team. It's easy to tell just by watching them play.
Jadwin looked great, with fans on both sides, many of them dressed in orange. Princeton, TB led 3-0 on an Annie Tarakchian three-pointer with 1:24 gone in the game, and the Tigers would never trail or even be tied the rest of the way.
Miller led the Tigers with 24, including 6 of 8 three-point shooting. Alex Wheatley, Amanda Berntsen and Vanessa Smith were all great as well.
Going head-to-head with the NFL, Christmas shopping and any number of other options, Princeton-Michigan drew just short of 2,000 fans to Jadwin. That's in addition to all the people who watched on television.
It was good to see Damani.
Back when he played football at Princeton, TigerBlog isn't sure he ever would have imagine the heights that the women's basketball team has reached. He's not sure he would have imagined an ESPN2 audience, a large Jadwin crowd, a nationally relevant program.
That's what Princeton women's basketball has become.
To TigerBlog, what speaks the loudest about what Courtney Banghart has done is the number of men and boys who are her team's game. They know. They appreciate what they're seeing.
It's extraordinary, really. Don't underestimate or gloss over how incredible an accomplishment that is.
Yesterday afternoon was more than a game, though. It was, as TB said, a party. A Sunday afternoon Jadwin party.
One that was all Princeton.
It was Damani Leech, Class of 1998. Damani was a three-time first-team All-Ivy League football player at Princeton, an achievement not too many others have matched.
Joining Damani on the "first-team All-Ivy in three different years" list are Derek Graham, Matt Evans, Dennis Norman and Caraun Reid. TigerBlog thinks that's it. If he's missed anyone, he apologizes.
Beyond his on-field accomplishments, Damani was also responsible for two technological firsts for TigerBlog.
The first was TB's inaugural experience with auto-correct. TigerBlog typed "Damani" in Microsoft Word, and it autocorrected it to "Ad Man." And this was long before "Mad Men" became a show.
The second was that TB had a great picture of Leech, an actual photograph. It became the first one TB ever scanned.
TigerBlog hasn't seen Leech in years. He knew that Damani had a big position with the NCAA for years, and now Damani is working for the NFL in New York City.
Damani was in Princeton to participate in the Princeton Varsity Club's Insiders Look at Careers in Sports event. And for the basketball game.
It was sort of a mix of sporting event and party at Jadwin yesterday afternoon. The exclamation point on the party was supplied by Michelle Miller with a minute to go.
Miller was trapped a few feet behind the three-point line as the shot clock was about to expire when she heaved the ball in the general direction of the basket. Of course it swished in.
That's how it went for the Princeton women's basketball team.
The opponent, Michigan, was 7-0 coming into Jadwin Gym. The Wolverines were a WNIT semifinalist team a year ago. They are in the Big Ten. They averaged 88 points per game coming into the game. This was no pushover.
Add to that the fact that Princeton had beaten Michigan by 30 a year ago, which certainly must have been on the team's collective minds before the game.
None of it mattered. Princeton won the game 74-57, holding the Wolverines 31 points below their average.
This was no ordinary game for Princeton. In addition to playing such a big-name team, the game was on ESPN2, which brought with it a large national audience.
Princeton has worked hard to make its name on the national scale. It's come with five NCAA tournaments in the last six years, including last year's 30-0 run through the regular season.
Each year, Princeton has had to prove that it's more than just one player or one class, that each year is its own challenge and ultimately its own success story. This year's team won't have a perfect regular season, not with a 71-64 loss to 21st-ranked Seton Hall.
But that doesn't mean that this team has fallen out of the national conversation for this year. Far from it. In fact, the Tigers looked great against Michigan.
Princeton shot exactly 50% for the game, while holding Michigan to 38% shooting. Playing against a team known for its pressure D, it was Princeton who forced 22 turnovers.
Beyond the numbers, Princeton continues to simply look the part of a good, confident, veteran, athletic, multi-faceted, balanced team. It's easy to tell just by watching them play.
Jadwin looked great, with fans on both sides, many of them dressed in orange. Princeton, TB led 3-0 on an Annie Tarakchian three-pointer with 1:24 gone in the game, and the Tigers would never trail or even be tied the rest of the way.
Miller led the Tigers with 24, including 6 of 8 three-point shooting. Alex Wheatley, Amanda Berntsen and Vanessa Smith were all great as well.
Going head-to-head with the NFL, Christmas shopping and any number of other options, Princeton-Michigan drew just short of 2,000 fans to Jadwin. That's in addition to all the people who watched on television.
It was good to see Damani.
Back when he played football at Princeton, TigerBlog isn't sure he ever would have imagine the heights that the women's basketball team has reached. He's not sure he would have imagined an ESPN2 audience, a large Jadwin crowd, a nationally relevant program.
That's what Princeton women's basketball has become.
To TigerBlog, what speaks the loudest about what Courtney Banghart has done is the number of men and boys who are her team's game. They know. They appreciate what they're seeing.
It's extraordinary, really. Don't underestimate or gloss over how incredible an accomplishment that is.
Yesterday afternoon was more than a game, though. It was, as TB said, a party. A Sunday afternoon Jadwin party.
One that was all Princeton.
Friday, December 4, 2015
Weekend Hoops
There is no way to tell how long the ride is from Princeton to Stony Brook.
It could be about 2.5 hours. It could be forever. Depends on the Long Island traffic.
TigerBlog has done it once, this past spring, when Princeton played lacrosse out there. That was on a Saturday, when the traffic was a little lighter.
As an aside, if you've forgotten what last year's spring weather was like, that game was played on April 4, on a field completely lined with snow.
Anyway, TB has been to Hofstra a million times, but he'd never been to Stony Brook before that.
It's a really nice campus, with outstanding athletic facilities. That's the first thing he noticed. It's a way bigger campus than TB would have guessed, with an enrollment of more than 25,000. That's pretty big.
Princeton's men's basketball team will be out there tomorrow afternoon at 2 to take on the Seawolves. If you're a Princeton fan, you can do that game and, regardless of traffic, be back here in plenty of time for the other big Princeton basketball game this weekend, the women's game against unbeaten Michigan Sunday.
For the men, Stony Brook is a strong opponent. The Seawolves are a perennial contender in the America East, and their best result this year to date is actually a loss, in OT to No. 13 Vanderbilt.
Princeton is 4-0 and looking to do something that it has never done before, ever, in the history of the program, and that's score at least 90 points in three straight games. Actually, that's a subplot. Princeton is just looking to get to 5-0.
On the women's side, the 5-1 Tigers host Michigan, who will bring a gaudy 7-0 record into the game. And will be smarting after last year's 30-point loss to Princeton in Ann Arbor.
The game can be seen on ESPN2. That's a pretty significant thing.
Women's basketball doesn't make it onto ESPN or ESPN2 all that often, and when it does, it usually involves UConn or Notre Dame or teams like that. Or both, as they play on ESPN tomorrow.
Now it's Princeton's turn to be on a bigger stage.
Why? Because Princeton has made a significant impact on women's college basketball on a national level, and it's been that way for the last seven years now. Yes, last year's record-breaking season was epic, but don't forget that Princeton has been to the NCAA tournament five times in six years now. And those five would be the five best seeds for an Ivy League team in league history.
Oh, and the game also marks the return to Jadwin Gym of Melanie Moore, who was on Courtney Banghart's original staff here at Princeton.
So that's two pretty good basketball games this weekend that are on the schedule. Both of which are seeable for Princeton fans in person.
One of them, though, is seeable anywhere.
That says a lot about where the college sports world has gone in the last 20 or so years. When TigerBlog first started here, it was a big thing to have a men's basketball game on ESPN. Or ESPN2, back when ESPN2 was supposed to be the more casual younger brother of the main channel, and so it had much more informal graphics and looks.
TB isn't sure if you remember that.
Princeton was fortunate that it was able to work out an agreement with ESPN when ESPNU first came along, and Princeton Athletics and ESPN have had a great relationship for more than a decade. This has opened the door for several Princeton teams to have games televised by the company that can honestly call itself the "worldwide leader" in this area.
ESPN has also been open to the idea of having women's teams featured as well, including in the past Princeton soccer and water polo.
The current agreement has seven Princeton home events per year on one of the ESPN networks, but it's almost always been ESPNU.
And yes, the WatchESPN app and ESPN3 have brought the games to iPads and phones and laptops and all. And yes, there are very few cable companies that don't have ESPNU on the basic package.
But still, there's something a little special about having an event on ESPN2.
And women's basketball to boot.
Princeton at 5-1, against Michigan at 7-0, on ESPN2 Sunday at 4.
The Princeton women have earned this moment in the spotlight.
It could be about 2.5 hours. It could be forever. Depends on the Long Island traffic.
TigerBlog has done it once, this past spring, when Princeton played lacrosse out there. That was on a Saturday, when the traffic was a little lighter.
As an aside, if you've forgotten what last year's spring weather was like, that game was played on April 4, on a field completely lined with snow.
Anyway, TB has been to Hofstra a million times, but he'd never been to Stony Brook before that.
It's a really nice campus, with outstanding athletic facilities. That's the first thing he noticed. It's a way bigger campus than TB would have guessed, with an enrollment of more than 25,000. That's pretty big.
Princeton's men's basketball team will be out there tomorrow afternoon at 2 to take on the Seawolves. If you're a Princeton fan, you can do that game and, regardless of traffic, be back here in plenty of time for the other big Princeton basketball game this weekend, the women's game against unbeaten Michigan Sunday.
For the men, Stony Brook is a strong opponent. The Seawolves are a perennial contender in the America East, and their best result this year to date is actually a loss, in OT to No. 13 Vanderbilt.
Princeton is 4-0 and looking to do something that it has never done before, ever, in the history of the program, and that's score at least 90 points in three straight games. Actually, that's a subplot. Princeton is just looking to get to 5-0.
On the women's side, the 5-1 Tigers host Michigan, who will bring a gaudy 7-0 record into the game. And will be smarting after last year's 30-point loss to Princeton in Ann Arbor.
The game can be seen on ESPN2. That's a pretty significant thing.
Women's basketball doesn't make it onto ESPN or ESPN2 all that often, and when it does, it usually involves UConn or Notre Dame or teams like that. Or both, as they play on ESPN tomorrow.
Now it's Princeton's turn to be on a bigger stage.
Why? Because Princeton has made a significant impact on women's college basketball on a national level, and it's been that way for the last seven years now. Yes, last year's record-breaking season was epic, but don't forget that Princeton has been to the NCAA tournament five times in six years now. And those five would be the five best seeds for an Ivy League team in league history.
Oh, and the game also marks the return to Jadwin Gym of Melanie Moore, who was on Courtney Banghart's original staff here at Princeton.
So that's two pretty good basketball games this weekend that are on the schedule. Both of which are seeable for Princeton fans in person.
One of them, though, is seeable anywhere.
That says a lot about where the college sports world has gone in the last 20 or so years. When TigerBlog first started here, it was a big thing to have a men's basketball game on ESPN. Or ESPN2, back when ESPN2 was supposed to be the more casual younger brother of the main channel, and so it had much more informal graphics and looks.
TB isn't sure if you remember that.
Princeton was fortunate that it was able to work out an agreement with ESPN when ESPNU first came along, and Princeton Athletics and ESPN have had a great relationship for more than a decade. This has opened the door for several Princeton teams to have games televised by the company that can honestly call itself the "worldwide leader" in this area.
ESPN has also been open to the idea of having women's teams featured as well, including in the past Princeton soccer and water polo.
The current agreement has seven Princeton home events per year on one of the ESPN networks, but it's almost always been ESPNU.
And yes, the WatchESPN app and ESPN3 have brought the games to iPads and phones and laptops and all. And yes, there are very few cable companies that don't have ESPNU on the basic package.
But still, there's something a little special about having an event on ESPN2.
And women's basketball to boot.
Princeton at 5-1, against Michigan at 7-0, on ESPN2 Sunday at 4.
The Princeton women have earned this moment in the spotlight.
Thursday, December 3, 2015
A Man You'd Let Coach Your Kid - Even In A Speedo
TigerBlog was driving down the Princeton Pike Tuesday afternoon a little past 5.
The Princeton Pike is one of three parallel roads that connects Princeton to I-95, which is a distance of about five miles or so. The other two are Route 1, which is southeast of Princeton Pike, and Route 206, which is northwest.
If you leave Princeton at 5, it can take you awhile to get to 95, no matter which of the routes you take. TigerBlog likes to drive up 206 onto Nassau Street in the morning, but that can be a long wait going the other way in the evening.
The Princeton Pike is probably the fastest of the three in the afternoon. Even if Route 1 is a little faster, it's too much of a nightmare to go on anyway at that time.
The area where the Princeton Pike backs up is just past Province Line Road, which is about a mile from 95. For some reason, traffic stops there and crawls the last mile, though really it only takes about five minutes to get there. It's not exactly like trying to get into the Lincoln Tunnel or something like that.
Anyway, when TB was driving down there Tuesday, he came to the light at Province Line Road, which was green as he approached, and then yellow. He thought the person in front of him should have stopped, but he (or she) kept going. Okay, it was more yellow than red at that point.
By the time TigerBlog got to the light, it was completely red, so he stopped. What was the big deal anyway? It was clear that the traffic on the other side of the light was going nowhere, as usual.
So what happened next? The person behind TigerBlog went around him, into the intersection and across. And the person behind that car too.
TigerBlog was stunned. Two cars went through the light after it had turned red. And they had to go around TigerBlog on the right to do so. And they were going nowhere anyway.
The second car got about a third of the way into the intersection before the cars starting coming the other way. Rather than stopping and backing up, that car kept inching forward, forcing the on-coming cars to stop and wait, even though that car couldn't get all the way across the intersection because the traffic was backed up.
TigerBlog didn't suffer from road rage. He suffered from road curiosity. He wanted to know what they were both thinking. Were they texting and didn't see that the light was red? Were the in a hurry? Did they simply not care? Were they just awful drivers?
Sadly, TB will never find out.
A few minutes earlier, he had been on his way to the Jadwin Gym parking lot when he walked past Luis Nicolao, the men's and women's water polo coach. Luis stood all by himself in the darkness on a warm, drizzly night, so TigerBlog forgot for a moment that he wasn't on his way home.
Nope, he was on his way to California. So was the men's water polo team.
A few minutes after TB started talking to Luis, a bus pulled up behind them. Shortly after that, the team came out, and then they were on the bus on their way to the airport.
The occasion was the trip to the NCAA championships. Princeton, the College Water Polo Association champion, was on its way to Los Angeles, where the Tigers were one of six teams in the field.
Already in Los Angeles was TigerBlog's colleague Ben Badua, who hasn't exactly been around here lately.
He left last Wednesday with the women's basketball team, who played in a tournament at Loyola Marymount last Friday and Saturday. If you missed those scores, they were Princeton a lot, the two teams they played a little.
Ben is the OAC contact for women's basketball and men's water polo, among other sports. When the women's basketball team flew back Saturday night, Ben stayed out there, waiting for the water polo team to show up.
The last time TB talked to Ben, he had found a place Sunday to watch the Giants. It was in Santa Monica. On the one hand, TB felt bad that Ben had to stay out there for a few extra days. On the other hand, you know, it was Southern California.
As for the water polo team, its opponent in the play-in game tonight will be the University of California-San Diego. For the winner, there is UCLA, the top seed, in Saturday's semifinals.
The six-team field is Princeton and five California schools.
It's not surprising. Nicolao has built a powerhouse in men's and women's water polo here.
In his 18 years coaching the two programs, Nicolao has put together a combined record of 773-280, which means winning nearly three of every four times out. The men are 363-145, while the woman are 410-135.
The men have won nine Southern Division titles and four Eastern championship, while the women have won nine Southern and four Eastern. This is his seventh NCAA tournament trip, five of which have come in the last five years.
Luis is quite possibly the funniest person who works in the athletic department. He's certainly the only one who ever wore a speedo to the senior athlete year-end banquet.
He's also exactly the kind of person you'd want your child to play for in college. If you saw him in one of the "Who's the Tiger" videos, you can see that.
Water polo isn't one of the 33 official Ivy League sports - and of course it's obviously heavily California-centric - so it flies under the radar a bit here.
But take nothing away from what Princeton water polo has accomplished, men's and women's. And the coach.
The fall of 2015 is just another chapter in that success.
The Princeton Pike is one of three parallel roads that connects Princeton to I-95, which is a distance of about five miles or so. The other two are Route 1, which is southeast of Princeton Pike, and Route 206, which is northwest.
If you leave Princeton at 5, it can take you awhile to get to 95, no matter which of the routes you take. TigerBlog likes to drive up 206 onto Nassau Street in the morning, but that can be a long wait going the other way in the evening.
The Princeton Pike is probably the fastest of the three in the afternoon. Even if Route 1 is a little faster, it's too much of a nightmare to go on anyway at that time.
The area where the Princeton Pike backs up is just past Province Line Road, which is about a mile from 95. For some reason, traffic stops there and crawls the last mile, though really it only takes about five minutes to get there. It's not exactly like trying to get into the Lincoln Tunnel or something like that.
Anyway, when TB was driving down there Tuesday, he came to the light at Province Line Road, which was green as he approached, and then yellow. He thought the person in front of him should have stopped, but he (or she) kept going. Okay, it was more yellow than red at that point.
By the time TigerBlog got to the light, it was completely red, so he stopped. What was the big deal anyway? It was clear that the traffic on the other side of the light was going nowhere, as usual.
So what happened next? The person behind TigerBlog went around him, into the intersection and across. And the person behind that car too.
TigerBlog was stunned. Two cars went through the light after it had turned red. And they had to go around TigerBlog on the right to do so. And they were going nowhere anyway.
The second car got about a third of the way into the intersection before the cars starting coming the other way. Rather than stopping and backing up, that car kept inching forward, forcing the on-coming cars to stop and wait, even though that car couldn't get all the way across the intersection because the traffic was backed up.
TigerBlog didn't suffer from road rage. He suffered from road curiosity. He wanted to know what they were both thinking. Were they texting and didn't see that the light was red? Were the in a hurry? Did they simply not care? Were they just awful drivers?
Sadly, TB will never find out.
A few minutes earlier, he had been on his way to the Jadwin Gym parking lot when he walked past Luis Nicolao, the men's and women's water polo coach. Luis stood all by himself in the darkness on a warm, drizzly night, so TigerBlog forgot for a moment that he wasn't on his way home.
Nope, he was on his way to California. So was the men's water polo team.
A few minutes after TB started talking to Luis, a bus pulled up behind them. Shortly after that, the team came out, and then they were on the bus on their way to the airport.
The occasion was the trip to the NCAA championships. Princeton, the College Water Polo Association champion, was on its way to Los Angeles, where the Tigers were one of six teams in the field.
Already in Los Angeles was TigerBlog's colleague Ben Badua, who hasn't exactly been around here lately.
He left last Wednesday with the women's basketball team, who played in a tournament at Loyola Marymount last Friday and Saturday. If you missed those scores, they were Princeton a lot, the two teams they played a little.
Ben is the OAC contact for women's basketball and men's water polo, among other sports. When the women's basketball team flew back Saturday night, Ben stayed out there, waiting for the water polo team to show up.
The last time TB talked to Ben, he had found a place Sunday to watch the Giants. It was in Santa Monica. On the one hand, TB felt bad that Ben had to stay out there for a few extra days. On the other hand, you know, it was Southern California.
As for the water polo team, its opponent in the play-in game tonight will be the University of California-San Diego. For the winner, there is UCLA, the top seed, in Saturday's semifinals.
The six-team field is Princeton and five California schools.
It's not surprising. Nicolao has built a powerhouse in men's and women's water polo here.
In his 18 years coaching the two programs, Nicolao has put together a combined record of 773-280, which means winning nearly three of every four times out. The men are 363-145, while the woman are 410-135.
The men have won nine Southern Division titles and four Eastern championship, while the women have won nine Southern and four Eastern. This is his seventh NCAA tournament trip, five of which have come in the last five years.
Luis is quite possibly the funniest person who works in the athletic department. He's certainly the only one who ever wore a speedo to the senior athlete year-end banquet.
He's also exactly the kind of person you'd want your child to play for in college. If you saw him in one of the "Who's the Tiger" videos, you can see that.
Water polo isn't one of the 33 official Ivy League sports - and of course it's obviously heavily California-centric - so it flies under the radar a bit here.
But take nothing away from what Princeton water polo has accomplished, men's and women's. And the coach.
The fall of 2015 is just another chapter in that success.
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
Ninety Plus
So which is a better way to put this?
Is it 1) Princeton has scored at least 90 points in consecutive men's basketball games for the first time since 1974 or 2) Princeton has scored more than 90 points in consecutive men's basketball games for the first time since 1972.
See, back in 1974, Princeton beat Columbia 90-47 and Columbia 92-56 on the same weekend. Princeton beat Harvard 91-66 and then Cornell in its next game 96-69 two years earlier.
The current Princeton men's basketball team has had 104 and 91 in its last two games. By the way, the final scores of the last two games were 104-52 over Lafayette and 91-61 over Fairleigh Dickinson.
Digging a little deeper shows that this is the fourth time in program history that Princeton has scored at least 195 points in a two-game span. The other three:
* 206 vs. Dartmouth/Harvard in 1967
* 201 vs. Colgate/Davidson in 1967
* 200 vs. Columbia/Cornell in 1965
As an aside, Gary Walters started all six of the games TB references above. Gary thinks Ed Hummer did as well, and possibly Robbie Brown.
Anyway, to that you can now add 195 against Lafayette and Fairleigh Dickinson in 2016.
The last two games marked the fourth and fifth times in Mitch Henderson's tenure as Tiger head coach that Princeton has reached at least 90 points. How rare is that?
Consider that in the tenures of his three immediate predecessors - Sydney Johnson, Joe Scott, John Thompson - Princeton reached at least 90 points only once, and that was against Division III Ursinus in 2003. In other words (unless TigerBlog is missing a game), Princeton didn't reach 90 points any other time from 2000-01 through 2010-11.
And in the Bill Carmody years? Princeton reached at least 90 points twice, both times against Division III schools. The last time before Henderson became head coach that Princeton reached 90 points against a Division I school?
How about back under Pete Carril, in 1995, against Cornell, a 95-69 win.
Here's something Princeton has never done: score at least 90 points in three straight games. The Tigers next chance will be Saturday at 2 at Stony Brook.
By the way, Stony Brook's Island Federal Credit Union Arena is beautiful. If you're going to be in the neighborhood Saturday, make sure you check out the game.
The team against which Princeton is attempting to reach 90 again is 3-2 and allows 56.6 points per game. Of course, early season numbers being what they are, Stony Brook allowed 32 against the Merchant Marine Academy and 42 against Farmingdale State, so it's a little skewed.
Stony Brook is a pretty good team. The Seawolves were 23-12 a year ago, and they came heartbreakingly close to reaching the NCAA tournament after falling 51-50 to Albany in the America East title game on a shot with 1.6 seconds left - this after Stony Brook led 49-42 with 1:43 to go.
Stony Brook's two losses are in OT at Vanderbilt and by one at Western Kentucky. Those two teams are a combined 8-4.
Reaching 90 again won't be easy. It's also not the goal. The idea, as someone infamously said once, is to win the game.
Still, something is different about these Tigers, who are 4-0 and averaging 83.5 points per game, tied for 44th in Division I. Maybe the new shot clock (30 seconds instead of 35) means scoring should be up, but that doesn't account for these numbers.
Look at the KenPom numbers for Adjusted Tempo. Princeton ranks 83rd in Division I. That's possessions per 40 minutes, so clearly the Tigers are pushing the pace.
There are 351 teams in Division I men's basketball. The teams ranked 349th, 350th and 351st in Adjusted Tempo are Denver (coached by Joe Scott), Holy Cross (coached by Bill Carmody) and American (coached by Mike Brennan). Those are familiar names to Princeton fans.
Hey, Georgetown is 230th. Richmond is 192nd. The only direct Princeton basketball relative above the Tigers is Fairfield, at 64th.
In other words, Mitch Henderson is playing at a faster tempo than Princeton basketball has traditionally been played. And faster than the overwhelming majority of the Princeton basketball family continues to do so elsewhere.
So far, it seems to be working.
It's way too early in the season to figure out what's going to be in February and March. Hey, there will be some huge tests this month, beginning Saturday and including, among others, games at St. Joe's, Maryland and Miami.
Still, these Tigers have been fun to watch so far. And they've looked pretty good too.
You can't ask for much more out of your November.
Is it 1) Princeton has scored at least 90 points in consecutive men's basketball games for the first time since 1974 or 2) Princeton has scored more than 90 points in consecutive men's basketball games for the first time since 1972.
See, back in 1974, Princeton beat Columbia 90-47 and Columbia 92-56 on the same weekend. Princeton beat Harvard 91-66 and then Cornell in its next game 96-69 two years earlier.
The current Princeton men's basketball team has had 104 and 91 in its last two games. By the way, the final scores of the last two games were 104-52 over Lafayette and 91-61 over Fairleigh Dickinson.
Digging a little deeper shows that this is the fourth time in program history that Princeton has scored at least 195 points in a two-game span. The other three:
* 206 vs. Dartmouth/Harvard in 1967
* 201 vs. Colgate/Davidson in 1967
* 200 vs. Columbia/Cornell in 1965
As an aside, Gary Walters started all six of the games TB references above. Gary thinks Ed Hummer did as well, and possibly Robbie Brown.
Anyway, to that you can now add 195 against Lafayette and Fairleigh Dickinson in 2016.
The last two games marked the fourth and fifth times in Mitch Henderson's tenure as Tiger head coach that Princeton has reached at least 90 points. How rare is that?
Consider that in the tenures of his three immediate predecessors - Sydney Johnson, Joe Scott, John Thompson - Princeton reached at least 90 points only once, and that was against Division III Ursinus in 2003. In other words (unless TigerBlog is missing a game), Princeton didn't reach 90 points any other time from 2000-01 through 2010-11.
And in the Bill Carmody years? Princeton reached at least 90 points twice, both times against Division III schools. The last time before Henderson became head coach that Princeton reached 90 points against a Division I school?
How about back under Pete Carril, in 1995, against Cornell, a 95-69 win.
Here's something Princeton has never done: score at least 90 points in three straight games. The Tigers next chance will be Saturday at 2 at Stony Brook.
By the way, Stony Brook's Island Federal Credit Union Arena is beautiful. If you're going to be in the neighborhood Saturday, make sure you check out the game.
The team against which Princeton is attempting to reach 90 again is 3-2 and allows 56.6 points per game. Of course, early season numbers being what they are, Stony Brook allowed 32 against the Merchant Marine Academy and 42 against Farmingdale State, so it's a little skewed.
Stony Brook is a pretty good team. The Seawolves were 23-12 a year ago, and they came heartbreakingly close to reaching the NCAA tournament after falling 51-50 to Albany in the America East title game on a shot with 1.6 seconds left - this after Stony Brook led 49-42 with 1:43 to go.
Stony Brook's two losses are in OT at Vanderbilt and by one at Western Kentucky. Those two teams are a combined 8-4.
Reaching 90 again won't be easy. It's also not the goal. The idea, as someone infamously said once, is to win the game.
Still, something is different about these Tigers, who are 4-0 and averaging 83.5 points per game, tied for 44th in Division I. Maybe the new shot clock (30 seconds instead of 35) means scoring should be up, but that doesn't account for these numbers.
Look at the KenPom numbers for Adjusted Tempo. Princeton ranks 83rd in Division I. That's possessions per 40 minutes, so clearly the Tigers are pushing the pace.
There are 351 teams in Division I men's basketball. The teams ranked 349th, 350th and 351st in Adjusted Tempo are Denver (coached by Joe Scott), Holy Cross (coached by Bill Carmody) and American (coached by Mike Brennan). Those are familiar names to Princeton fans.
Hey, Georgetown is 230th. Richmond is 192nd. The only direct Princeton basketball relative above the Tigers is Fairfield, at 64th.
In other words, Mitch Henderson is playing at a faster tempo than Princeton basketball has traditionally been played. And faster than the overwhelming majority of the Princeton basketball family continues to do so elsewhere.
So far, it seems to be working.
It's way too early in the season to figure out what's going to be in February and March. Hey, there will be some huge tests this month, beginning Saturday and including, among others, games at St. Joe's, Maryland and Miami.
Still, these Tigers have been fun to watch so far. And they've looked pretty good too.
You can't ask for much more out of your November.
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
TAGD Time
About a year ago, the Princeton track and field teams were competing at the Armory in New York City when there was a mascot race.
The Princeton Tiger won easily. Who was the Tiger? A then-freshman named Max Schwegman, a member of the men's track team.
Back in the spring, TigerBlog and Princeton video man John Bullis started down the path of doing the "Who's the Tiger" video series. Step 1 was to find someone who could play the Tiger.
Enter Schwegman. Max signed up for two videos, which were filmed in the same day, before school ended.
At the time, the point of the videos was to be a complement to the "Achieve, Serve, Lead" series, two videos with the Tiger in a funny situation. Then, after the first two, the idea of having an entire series of videos in the "Who's the Tiger" theme, all leading up to TAGD.
As today is TAGD, the series ended yesterday. There are 12 videos in all in the "WTT" series, and they're modeled on the SportsCenter commercials in which athletes in uniform are put into comic situations.
TigerBlog likes all 12. Of course he does. He and Bullis, along with Princeton's second video dude, Cody Chrusciel, are responsible for them.
The point really was to just have fun and make a funny finished product. Maybe you think that the videos succeeded. Maybe you don't.
If they were funny, it's because they had simple punchlines that were well-executed. And who did the executing? Princeton athletes, and two coaches.
What is TB's favorite? The one entitled "The Audition," with men's lacrosse player Sam Gravitte and softball player Riley Wilkinson.
While everyone who was in the videos was excellent, there are some who really stood out.
Like wrestler Chris Perez in the very first one, when he took his mouthpiece out in the study hall and said "I thought it was a real tiger."
And men's hockey player Kyle Rankin in the second-to-last one, when he improved the line "with the addition of moose" and with his perfectly stated "how fast can you run, bud" taunt of the Tiger.
And Kendall Peterkin of the women's volleyball team with her line "well that's awkward" when the second tiger comes off the elevator.
And rower Pat Eble in the "Animal Crackers" one, with his line "Hippopotamus. Cool."
Oh, and a special recognition has to go to Paul Franklin, a longtime sportswriter in the area who was in the second one. If nothing else, he certainly looked the part.
The MVP of the series, though, was Max. He's a natural, especially with his unscripted reactions to the lines that were thrown his way.
Somehow he was able make it seem like he could roll his eyes or change his facial expression, even though he was wearing a tiger head that didn't move. He has a real future in being a mascot, if he wants to go that route.
As the series went further down the road, the question became "well, who is the tiger? Who should be the tiger at the end?"
In the end, a different path was taken. Hopefully you saw the last one. If not, you can see that one, and the other 11, right HERE.
TigerBlog likes the ending. The basic premise is that there is no one tiger, that the tiger is the sum of all of the Princeton Athletics parts.
Okay, it's a little hokey. That's okay.
Maybe TB likes it because on a lot of levels, it's really how it is around here.
Today is TAGD. For the second year in a row, Princeton Athletics is having a 24-hour give day, one that pits Friends Groups against each other to win additional prizes, depending on what levels can be reached.
All of the information on TAGD can be found HERE, at the TAGD website.
It's a 24-hour event, one that started at midnight Eastern and goes through midnight Eastern tonight. It's an event that brings out the best in the people who work at Princeton Athletics, as they will be locked in for the entire 24 hours.
TigerBlog tries to tell Princeton people all the time that the loyalty of this University is unique. Maybe Princetonians don't get it because it's all they've known, but that's TB's point.
The loyalty to the school begins early on, at orientation. It's how Princeton works. It's not how every other school works.
This is why Princetonians support the school in such high numbers. It's why Reunions becomes a must-attend event year after year.
So now you know who the tiger is. It's you. It's everyone you went to school here with. It's every athlete. It's every coach.
In the videos, it was Max Schwegman. And he was great at it.
In real life, it's everyone.
Happy TAGD.
The Princeton Tiger won easily. Who was the Tiger? A then-freshman named Max Schwegman, a member of the men's track team.
Back in the spring, TigerBlog and Princeton video man John Bullis started down the path of doing the "Who's the Tiger" video series. Step 1 was to find someone who could play the Tiger.
Enter Schwegman. Max signed up for two videos, which were filmed in the same day, before school ended.
At the time, the point of the videos was to be a complement to the "Achieve, Serve, Lead" series, two videos with the Tiger in a funny situation. Then, after the first two, the idea of having an entire series of videos in the "Who's the Tiger" theme, all leading up to TAGD.
As today is TAGD, the series ended yesterday. There are 12 videos in all in the "WTT" series, and they're modeled on the SportsCenter commercials in which athletes in uniform are put into comic situations.
TigerBlog likes all 12. Of course he does. He and Bullis, along with Princeton's second video dude, Cody Chrusciel, are responsible for them.
The point really was to just have fun and make a funny finished product. Maybe you think that the videos succeeded. Maybe you don't.
If they were funny, it's because they had simple punchlines that were well-executed. And who did the executing? Princeton athletes, and two coaches.
What is TB's favorite? The one entitled "The Audition," with men's lacrosse player Sam Gravitte and softball player Riley Wilkinson.
While everyone who was in the videos was excellent, there are some who really stood out.
Like wrestler Chris Perez in the very first one, when he took his mouthpiece out in the study hall and said "I thought it was a real tiger."
And men's hockey player Kyle Rankin in the second-to-last one, when he improved the line "with the addition of moose" and with his perfectly stated "how fast can you run, bud" taunt of the Tiger.
And Kendall Peterkin of the women's volleyball team with her line "well that's awkward" when the second tiger comes off the elevator.
And rower Pat Eble in the "Animal Crackers" one, with his line "Hippopotamus. Cool."
Oh, and a special recognition has to go to Paul Franklin, a longtime sportswriter in the area who was in the second one. If nothing else, he certainly looked the part.
The MVP of the series, though, was Max. He's a natural, especially with his unscripted reactions to the lines that were thrown his way.
Somehow he was able make it seem like he could roll his eyes or change his facial expression, even though he was wearing a tiger head that didn't move. He has a real future in being a mascot, if he wants to go that route.
As the series went further down the road, the question became "well, who is the tiger? Who should be the tiger at the end?"
In the end, a different path was taken. Hopefully you saw the last one. If not, you can see that one, and the other 11, right HERE.
TigerBlog likes the ending. The basic premise is that there is no one tiger, that the tiger is the sum of all of the Princeton Athletics parts.
Okay, it's a little hokey. That's okay.
Maybe TB likes it because on a lot of levels, it's really how it is around here.
Today is TAGD. For the second year in a row, Princeton Athletics is having a 24-hour give day, one that pits Friends Groups against each other to win additional prizes, depending on what levels can be reached.
All of the information on TAGD can be found HERE, at the TAGD website.
It's a 24-hour event, one that started at midnight Eastern and goes through midnight Eastern tonight. It's an event that brings out the best in the people who work at Princeton Athletics, as they will be locked in for the entire 24 hours.
TigerBlog tries to tell Princeton people all the time that the loyalty of this University is unique. Maybe Princetonians don't get it because it's all they've known, but that's TB's point.
The loyalty to the school begins early on, at orientation. It's how Princeton works. It's not how every other school works.
This is why Princetonians support the school in such high numbers. It's why Reunions becomes a must-attend event year after year.
So now you know who the tiger is. It's you. It's everyone you went to school here with. It's every athlete. It's every coach.
In the videos, it was Max Schwegman. And he was great at it.
In real life, it's everyone.
Happy TAGD.
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