It was about 12 hours after TigerBlog had first watched the Olympics yesterday before he saw Bob Costas.
It made him think that the Olympics are really two separate entities in one.
First, there's the packaged, fluffy, "star"-driven primetime coverage, NBC as cheerleader. You know. It's Michael Phelps. Michael Phelps. Michael Phelps. More Michael Phelps.
And the other American swimmers. And the American gymnasts. Next week it'll be the American track and field athletes and Usain Bolt.
By the way, ask yourself what the coverage of Michael Phelps would be if he wasn't an American. What if he was Australian, or, egads, a Russian?
Anyway, TigerBlog is sort of fascinated by the dynamic. Those three sports - track and field, swimming and gymnastics - are wildly popular, the most popular of the Olympic sports. And then they disappear from the mainstream sports world for four years, until the resurface at the next Olympics to again dominate ratings.
It's not like these sports draw good ratings, or any ratings, for any other events. Michael Phelps, Michael Phelps, Michael Phelps, Michael Phelps? Did anyone see him compete in the last four years?
It would be like having LeBron James win the NBA title, disappear and then reappear in 2020, once again to earn massive ratings.
Tokyo, by the way, is the site of the next Olympics. It is 13 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time there. You think this year's Olympics are over-packaged? Wait until primetime here corresponds to 8 am or so at the actual site.
So that's one version of the Olympics.
The other one is the one that TB spent much of his day following. It's all the other events, the ones that aren't commercialized. Watching them, TB almost felt as though this was a world away from the rest of the Games that are on NBC at night.
In these Olympics, there are not great ratings to be had. There are no Wheaties boxes awaiting. These are athletes who have trained so far from the spotlight for years and years to reach this moment, and they are competing in sports that the average viewer has never seen, doesn't understand and has no interest in watching.
And that's okay with these Olympians. You can see what it means to them when at the medal ceremonies, whether it's gold, silver or bronze.
TigerBlog loves these Olympics.
Part of it is seeing such a great variety of events. Aided by NBC's very wise commitment to streaming everything, TigerBlog was able to see pieces of all of the following sports yesterday alone: sailing, canoeing, fencing, water polo, rowing, men's field hockey, women's field hockey, judo, badminton, golf, tennis and probably some others, including swimming.
The other reason TB loves these Olympics is that there are so many Princetonians involved.
There were 10 of them who competed yesterday. TB saw all of them.
It started early, with the rowers. The ones who had the best morning were Lauren Wilkinson, who helped the Canadian women's 8s into the final, and Glenn Ochal, who did the same for the American men.
Kat Holmes helped the U.S. women's epee squad to a fifth-place finish, after a tough 24-23 loss to Romania in the quarterfinals. How tough was that for the Americans? Romania then beat Russia and China fairly easily to win the gold medal.
The day ended with a 3-0 win over India for the U.S. women's field hockey team, with the Reinprecht sisters and Kat Sharkey. The Americans are now 4-0, with only a game against Great Britain for the group championship tomorrow before the knockout round starts next week.
The U.S. finished last among 12 teams in 2012. This time, the team will be assured of no worse than second place in its group, which means either China or New Zealand in the quarters, as opposed to powers the Netherlands and Germany.
That left one other Princetonian, who played her second game in the late morning. That would be the incredible Ashleigh Johnson, the goalie for the U.S. women's water polo team, who defeated China 12-4.
The announcers for the game gushed over Johnson, and with good reason. She made eight saves in the game, making ridiculous plays look somewhat easy. And that doesn't even count how many shots went wide because Chinese shooters felt they needed to be perfect, or loose balls that Johnson corralled in front of her goal before they could turn into shots.
TigerBlog has said this before, but if you haven't seen Johnson play in person, make sure you get out to DeNunzio Pool this coming spring to see her with the Tigers. She is amazing.
Princeton has yet to win a medal in Rio, but those opportunities are coming.
Johnson and the U.S. team are pretty much a lock to get a medal and are favored for gold. The Canadian women's 8s will be tough to keep out of the top three. The American men have as good a shot as anyone. Those races are tomorrow, by the way.
Diana Matheson, who won a bronze medal four years ago, plays today in the quarterfinals for Canada against France in women's soccer. Gevvie Stone rows in women's singles this morning as well.
The first Princeton events of the new academic year are two weeks away, with a pair of women's soccer game, the first one against Fordham 14 days from now.
For now, though, the Olympics are in full swing. And not just the ones you see at night on NBC.
The other ones too.
The Princeton ones.
Friday, August 12, 2016
Thursday, August 11, 2016
A Huge Princeton Day In Rio
The Princeton football team was picked to finish fifth in the preseason poll that was released Tuesday on Ivy League football media day.
TigerBlog struggles to call that media day. Ivy football media day used to be one of the highlights of TB's annual calendar, along with Ivy League athletic communications meetings, which would be the day before.
Those were the days. Meet at Yale, passionately discussing things that long ago became obsolete, often butting heads with the late Kathy Slattery of Dartmouth, all under the guise of her mantra that she repeated before each meeting: "For the good of the clan."
Then it would be dinner with his colleagues around the league. And then it would be football media day the next day. Followed by golf.
TigerBlog last played golf at one of the Ivy media days, at Yale. He isn't a very good golfer, and actually would play once a year. On the 17th hole on a very humid day, he hit his tee shot to the green on a par 3 but had his 8-iron slip out of his hands and helicopter majestically - into a lake.
He didn't finish the hole, and he hasn't hit a golf ball since.
Oh, and Ivy football media day provided a bit of stress each year to make sure the football media guide was done in time and in Connecticut before the first reporter showed up. This usually came down to the wire.
Nobody liked the media guides more than TB's friend Bruce Wood of Big Green Alert, by the way.
Princeton long ago abandoned printing media guides, and printing most things, for that matter. It took TB a few years to figure out how to speak "printing," with the different paper that could be used, what a "bleed" was, how best to bind things, how the ink worked, all of it. He doesn't miss producing guides, which he thought were outdated a few years before they stopped being produced, but he does miss the whole printing process.
Anyway, Princeton was picked to finish fifth. TigerBlog supposes that's a good thing. The last time Princeton won the championship, it was picked to finish sixth, as TB remembers it.
Still, it's hard to think football right now. Maybe when the Olympics are over, which they most certainly are not.
Today is a huge day for Princeton in Rio.
There are five Princeton rowers who will be competing as they get closer to the finals. Kat Holmes fences for a team medal. Ashleigh Johnson is back for her second water polo match, and the U.S. field hockey team - with three Princeton alums - has a quick turnaround as it continues to establish itself as a legitimate medal threat.
Added up, and that's 10 Princeton athletes who will be competing today. The only ones who aren't in action are Diana Matheson, who will play in the quarterfinals with Canada in women's soccer Friday, and Donn Cabral, whose 3,000-meter steeplechase first round is Monday, and Gevvie Stone, who would have rowed today but had it pushed back until tomorrow by the weather.
The full Olympic schedule and results for Princeton's 13 athletes can be found HERE.
Also, of the 10 Princeton athletes today, almost all of them will be finished by lunch time. Only the field hockey game, against India at 6:30, is later than 12:10.
The rowing and fencing will be streamed live.
You can watch Johnson on NBC at 10:40. The field hockey game will be on NBCSN, with Mike Corey again on for the play-by-play as he continues to master the sport. All announcers should be like Corey, who isn't yelling but is instead calmly telling the story of the game. And he's educating those who don't know field hockey that well either with his knowledge of the rules and the game.
The U.S. will be playing for the second time in two days and fourth time this week. The Americans are now 3-0, and Katie Reinprecht had her second goal of the tournament in the 6-1 win over Japan yesterday. She is one of three Princeton alums, along with Julia Reinprecht and Kat Sharkey (who had two assists yesterday), on the U.S. team.
Princeton has gotten great press out of the field hockey tournament. Even former coach Kristen Holmes-Winn and current coach Carla Tagliente were mentioned on yesterday's broadcast.
The U.S. finished last - 12th out of 12 teams - in London four years ago. Clearly this time is different.
In fact, the U.S. has already clinched a spot in the quarterfinals. So has Great Britain, whom the U.S. will play Saturday in the final group game.
The quarterfinals will be Sunday, where the U.S. is likely to play either China or New Zealand. If they can get through that game, then it'll be playing for medals.
First, though, there is today against India.
Only Kat Holmes can win a medal today. The rest of the Princeton group is not in the finals of any other event - yet.
But it's still a huge day, an exciting one.
Make sure you're watching at work.
Have your boss call TigerBlog; he'll make sure it's okay.
TigerBlog struggles to call that media day. Ivy football media day used to be one of the highlights of TB's annual calendar, along with Ivy League athletic communications meetings, which would be the day before.
Those were the days. Meet at Yale, passionately discussing things that long ago became obsolete, often butting heads with the late Kathy Slattery of Dartmouth, all under the guise of her mantra that she repeated before each meeting: "For the good of the clan."
Then it would be dinner with his colleagues around the league. And then it would be football media day the next day. Followed by golf.
TigerBlog last played golf at one of the Ivy media days, at Yale. He isn't a very good golfer, and actually would play once a year. On the 17th hole on a very humid day, he hit his tee shot to the green on a par 3 but had his 8-iron slip out of his hands and helicopter majestically - into a lake.
He didn't finish the hole, and he hasn't hit a golf ball since.
Oh, and Ivy football media day provided a bit of stress each year to make sure the football media guide was done in time and in Connecticut before the first reporter showed up. This usually came down to the wire.
Nobody liked the media guides more than TB's friend Bruce Wood of Big Green Alert, by the way.
Princeton long ago abandoned printing media guides, and printing most things, for that matter. It took TB a few years to figure out how to speak "printing," with the different paper that could be used, what a "bleed" was, how best to bind things, how the ink worked, all of it. He doesn't miss producing guides, which he thought were outdated a few years before they stopped being produced, but he does miss the whole printing process.
Anyway, Princeton was picked to finish fifth. TigerBlog supposes that's a good thing. The last time Princeton won the championship, it was picked to finish sixth, as TB remembers it.
Still, it's hard to think football right now. Maybe when the Olympics are over, which they most certainly are not.
Today is a huge day for Princeton in Rio.
There are five Princeton rowers who will be competing as they get closer to the finals. Kat Holmes fences for a team medal. Ashleigh Johnson is back for her second water polo match, and the U.S. field hockey team - with three Princeton alums - has a quick turnaround as it continues to establish itself as a legitimate medal threat.
Added up, and that's 10 Princeton athletes who will be competing today. The only ones who aren't in action are Diana Matheson, who will play in the quarterfinals with Canada in women's soccer Friday, and Donn Cabral, whose 3,000-meter steeplechase first round is Monday, and Gevvie Stone, who would have rowed today but had it pushed back until tomorrow by the weather.
The full Olympic schedule and results for Princeton's 13 athletes can be found HERE.
Also, of the 10 Princeton athletes today, almost all of them will be finished by lunch time. Only the field hockey game, against India at 6:30, is later than 12:10.
The rowing and fencing will be streamed live.
You can watch Johnson on NBC at 10:40. The field hockey game will be on NBCSN, with Mike Corey again on for the play-by-play as he continues to master the sport. All announcers should be like Corey, who isn't yelling but is instead calmly telling the story of the game. And he's educating those who don't know field hockey that well either with his knowledge of the rules and the game.
The U.S. will be playing for the second time in two days and fourth time this week. The Americans are now 3-0, and Katie Reinprecht had her second goal of the tournament in the 6-1 win over Japan yesterday. She is one of three Princeton alums, along with Julia Reinprecht and Kat Sharkey (who had two assists yesterday), on the U.S. team.
Princeton has gotten great press out of the field hockey tournament. Even former coach Kristen Holmes-Winn and current coach Carla Tagliente were mentioned on yesterday's broadcast.
The U.S. finished last - 12th out of 12 teams - in London four years ago. Clearly this time is different.
In fact, the U.S. has already clinched a spot in the quarterfinals. So has Great Britain, whom the U.S. will play Saturday in the final group game.
The quarterfinals will be Sunday, where the U.S. is likely to play either China or New Zealand. If they can get through that game, then it'll be playing for medals.
First, though, there is today against India.
Only Kat Holmes can win a medal today. The rest of the Princeton group is not in the finals of any other event - yet.
But it's still a huge day, an exciting one.
Make sure you're watching at work.
Have your boss call TigerBlog; he'll make sure it's okay.
Wednesday, August 10, 2016
Where Miracles Happen
"Princeton," TigerBlog said.
Jeff then asked TB if he had played lacrosse at Princeton. It was easy to understand why.
The ice cream place was in Lake Placid, site of a lacrosse summit that saw more than 250 teams 24 divisions - for boys and girls, men and women - settle into the Adirondacks at various times last week. The youngest players weren't in high school yet; the oldest players graduated high school more than 50 years ago. This year was the 27th edition of the tournament.
As you walked along Main Street, all you saw were lacrosse players, in lacrosse gear of all kinds. Colorful club uniforms. T shirts with college names and "Lacrosse" underneath. Or the high school versions of the same.
Jeff? No. He wasn't there for the lacrosse. He was a native of Lake Placid, lived there his whole life, and now he was out with a group of a half-dozen or so teenage girls, two of whom were his granddaughters, the rest their friends.
Of course, there's only one question you can ask of a lifelong native of this town, and TigerBlog asked it immediately. "What," TB asked, "was this place like for the Olympics?"
Jeff answered the question and then some. But TigerBlog will get to that in a second.
You can't come into Lake Placid without reminders of the 1980 Winter Olympics everywhere. Even 105.5 FM on the radio bills itself as "the Olympic Region's classic rock station," even if the Olympics haven't been here in 36 years.
TigerBlog had never been to Lake Placid before. Besides the radio station, the first sign that something had been there before was the massive ski jumps that can be seen from Route 73. Who in the world would ever go up to the top of those and jump off?
As you near the center of town, you drive by Lake Placid High School. In front of the building sits a concrete oval with grass in the middle, giving the impression of an abandoned site for the school's track and field team. But no, it's actually where the Olympic speed skating was held in 1980.
There is a big mural on one side of the oval, and it is framed by something that is a reminder that Eric Heiden picked the wrong Olympics to do something amazing. Heiden, if you don't remember, won gold medals in all five distances in the 1980 Olympics. There is a big picture of Heiden on the mural, above which rises the Olympic ice arena, site of the greatest sporting event of all time, the Miracle on Ice.
When TigerBlog went into the rink, it was almost eerie. It was like being at the sight of a famous battlefield almost, a place where something so historic took place that even all these decades later, standing there in near silence, it's impossible not to be awed.
So let's get back to Jeff.
"The men's hockey team was here in October of 1979," he said. "They practiced and played a few exhibitions at the arena as something of a test run. They'd hang out at a bar on Main Street called 'Jimmy's 21,' and I got to know a bunch of them there."
By the time the Games started, Jeff had tickets to pretty much everything, including ice hockey. He went to all of the preliminary rounds games, and then, when it came time for the U.S.-Soviet Union game, he did something that he still can't believe.
"I thought the game was going to be a blow out," he said. "I liked those guys a lot, and I didn't want to see them lose big. So ... I gave my tickets to my brother."
The game, of course, was hardly a blowout. In fact, it was the single greatest game ever played, anywhere, in any sport. The U.S., with its team of amateur college players, defeated the overwhelmingly favored Soviets 4-3.
"I was at Mirror Lake, across the street from the rink, for the medal ceremony for the men's slalom," Jeff said. "Behind us, you could hear, coming from the arena, a sound. It was going 'boom, boom, boom.' 'Boom, boom, boom.' We couldn't tell what the sound was at first. Then we figured it out. It was the crowd, chanting 'U-S-A, U-S-A.' They actually had to stop the medal ceremony for awhile."
TigerBlog was amazed by Jeff and his story, how he brought to life those days that TB had seen on TV and been so mesmerized by all those years ago. Jeff did go to the game two days later, when the U.S. defeated Finland to clinch the gold medal, scoring three times in the third period to win 4-2.
"Herb Brooks told them after the second period that if they didn't win that game, they'd take it to their graves," Jeff said.
With that, TB took his milkshake, gave Jeff a big handshake, and was off on his way again.
TigerBlog didn't play in the tournament, though he could have gotten on with a team or two in the over-50 divisions. TigerBlog Jr. did play, reuniting with his club team, playing against other teams loaded with current college players as well. They did well, winning three of four, but winning isn't really what the point of the tournament really is.
It's about lacrosse, and it's about friendships. In TBJ's case, it's with a bunch of guys he grew up playing with in the summer.
For many of the others there, the friendships go back much further.
There were teams of college alums who had takeoffs of their school nicknames, most notably the "Gray Danes," who were former Albany Great Danes. They had t-shirts that said "the older I get, the better I was."
TigerBlog saw former players from Harvard, and Cornell, and Brown, and a million other schools. And, of course, Princeton.
The first person TB saw when he checked into the hotel was former Princeton All-America defenseman John Harrington. He was on the phone in the lobby, outside a room where there was a gathering of a bunch of former Tigers.
Everywhere TB went in town, he saw someone from Princeton lacrosse.
Go to breakfast? There's Princeton all-time great Jon Hess and his family.
Go to dinner? Current Tiger Sam Bonafede walks in.
Go back to the hotel? There is Sean Hartofilis, one of the clutchest scorers in the history of the NCAA tournament.
Walking down Main Street? There is Matt Striebel, one of the best players Major League Lacrosse has ever seen.
Even when TB went to a field to see the Princeton alums play, there on the next field were five current players - Braedon Gait, Emmett Cordrey, J.T. Caputo, Bear Altemus and Jack O'Brien.
That's how it was all weekend. Princeton lacrosse was everywhere. So were people from all corners of the lacrosse world. TB even ran into one of TBJ's high school coaches, who was playing in the oldest division, the over-60 group.
The games themselves were played at a park across the street from the ski jump, which is near the site of the bobsled and luge. The Opening Ceremonies were held on this field, which was quite a contrast from the billion dollar production that was going on in Rio.
One game would feature recent college All-Americas. The next game on the same field could be the over-50 and over-60 guys.
Lake Placid likes to bill itself as a town "where miracles happen," and yes, the greatest sports miracle ever happened there 36 years ago.
Now, though, it's more of a place where once a year, for nearly three decades, every segment of the lacrosse world makes its pilgrimage. They come for the sport, and they are all playing to win, without making it that obvious that they are trying their best.
And they come for the fun. They come to do things like Ryan Mollett, another former All-America defenseman and the first player selected in the first MLL draft, did in one game, when with a long pole he threw a perfect behind-the-back pass about 30 yards right into the stick of a cutting teammate. Three things about that play - 1) Mollett is nearly 40 years old, 2) he never in a billion years would have dreamed of throwing such a pass when he played at Princeton for Bill Tierney and 3) the pass didn't matter because a timeout was called a split second before he threw it.
Mostly, though, they come for the friendships, born recently or decades ago, the ones that are renewed annually in this town framed by such natural beauty in all directions, the ones that will endure forever.
That is no miracle.
That is simply the best part of sports, in this case, the sport of lacrosse.
Tuesday, August 9, 2016
Princetonians In Rio !!!!!!!
TigerBlog is not an exclamation point sort of guy.
His favorite punctuation mark is the semicolon. You know. Connects two thoughts. No conjunction breaking it up. Figure it out.
The exclamation point? It's overused, especially these days, with social media and all, where every thought and sentiment seems to be followed by multiple exclamation points.
TigerBlog is different. He's very cautious with his exclamation points. If he uses them two or three times a year, that's a lot.
He would maybe, though, throw an exclamation point or two to Princeton's start at the Rio Olympic Games. Maybe.
Princeton is off to a tremendous start.
Let's begin with the three Tiger alums on the U.S. field hockey team - Kat Sharkey, Julia Reinprecht and Katie Reinprecht.
The three Princetonians played a big role as the U.S. defeated Australia 2-1 yesterday morning to improve to 2-0-0 in Group B. There are six teams in each group; the top four advance to the quarterfinals.
Note the use of the semicolon, by the way?
The Americans have six points (three for each win). That's twice as many as the team had for the entire group stage in 2012 in London, where the Reinprechts had their first Olympic experience. This is Sharkey's first time in the Olympics.
The game, by the way, featured play-by-play voice Mike Corey, who is one of the best lacrosse announcers out there and who has done many Princeton games through the years. It's good to see him get a shot at the Olympics.
As for U.S. field hockey, this time around, it appears that the team is looking to make a run into next week. There are three more group games to play, and then the quarterfinals will begin Monday.
It's possible the U.S. team has already clinched a spot in the quarterfinals. Six points are a lot in a six-team group.
On the other hand, being 2-0-0 is a huge jump start on getting a good seed out of the group and making a run to a medal. The U.S. has won exactly one field hockey medal, a bronze in Los Angeles in 1984. The Australians, the team that the U.S. beat yesterday, has won three gold medals (field hockey first appeared in the 1980 Olympics).
As an aside, men's field hockey first was held in the 1908 Olympics. The U.S. has won one bronze medal on the men's side, that one back in 1932, also in Los Angeles.
The Canadian women's soccer team has also won one medal, a bronze, in its Olympic history. That one came four years ago in London, courtesy of a goal in stoppage time by Princeton alum Diana Matheson.
Canada's women's soccer team, like the U.S. field hockey team, is 2-0-0 in the group stage. Matheson, like Sharkey and the Reinprechts, is playing a huge role for her team.
The difference between women's soccer and field hockey is that there are only four teams in each soccer group. Canada, who plays Germany this afternoon, has already clinched a spot in the quarterfinals. A win or tie would give Canada the group championship; a loss would mean Germany wins the group.
Either way, Canada has already accomplished something big. No matter what happens today, Canada will be on the opposite side of the bracket from the Americans, who have won three straight gold medals and who beat Canada 4-3 in an epic semifinal four years ago.
Another Princeton athlete competes for the first time today, and that's Ashleigh Johnson, the goalie for the women's water polo team. The U.S. team, favored for the gold medal, plays its first game this morning at 10:40 against Spain.
In addition to the field hockey win, yesterday was a busy day for Princeton's rowers. Glenn Ochal, Kate Bertko and Lauren Wilkinson all raced, and none was able to advance directly to the finals. They all, however, still have a chance to get there.
So does Meghan O'Leary, the former Princeton contact with ESPN, who is in her first Olympics as a rower. She advanced to the semifinals as well.
Today will be even busier on the water, with Bertko in an elimination race, Gevvie Stone in the quarterfinals and Tyler Nase and Robin Prendes in the semifinals. TigerBlog watched Nase and Prendes yesterday, and that is grueling stuff.
The worst part of the Olympics is the primetime, pre-packaged, over-promotion-of-certain athletes, mostly-tape-delayed stuff that is rammed down the viewers' collective throats. And it's so simplistic.
Michael Phelps? He's "good." Make sure there's a shot of his mother too. American gymnasts? Also "good." They all have such great back stories too, right? They all said they'd be Olympians when they were six. They all had to have incredible sacrifices by their families. They all had to overcome everything everywhere every day.
Now go away for four more years and then you can have new "heroes" shoved down your throat. On tape delay.
It's enough already. And apparently the ratings reflect it.
The best part of the Olympics is everything else. Just the competition, all day, in sports that aren't usually at the forefront.
And, for TigerBlog, the Princetonians.
Go Tigers!!!!!!!
His favorite punctuation mark is the semicolon. You know. Connects two thoughts. No conjunction breaking it up. Figure it out.
The exclamation point? It's overused, especially these days, with social media and all, where every thought and sentiment seems to be followed by multiple exclamation points.
TigerBlog is different. He's very cautious with his exclamation points. If he uses them two or three times a year, that's a lot.
He would maybe, though, throw an exclamation point or two to Princeton's start at the Rio Olympic Games. Maybe.
Princeton is off to a tremendous start.
Let's begin with the three Tiger alums on the U.S. field hockey team - Kat Sharkey, Julia Reinprecht and Katie Reinprecht.
The three Princetonians played a big role as the U.S. defeated Australia 2-1 yesterday morning to improve to 2-0-0 in Group B. There are six teams in each group; the top four advance to the quarterfinals.
Note the use of the semicolon, by the way?
The Americans have six points (three for each win). That's twice as many as the team had for the entire group stage in 2012 in London, where the Reinprechts had their first Olympic experience. This is Sharkey's first time in the Olympics.
The game, by the way, featured play-by-play voice Mike Corey, who is one of the best lacrosse announcers out there and who has done many Princeton games through the years. It's good to see him get a shot at the Olympics.
As for U.S. field hockey, this time around, it appears that the team is looking to make a run into next week. There are three more group games to play, and then the quarterfinals will begin Monday.
It's possible the U.S. team has already clinched a spot in the quarterfinals. Six points are a lot in a six-team group.
On the other hand, being 2-0-0 is a huge jump start on getting a good seed out of the group and making a run to a medal. The U.S. has won exactly one field hockey medal, a bronze in Los Angeles in 1984. The Australians, the team that the U.S. beat yesterday, has won three gold medals (field hockey first appeared in the 1980 Olympics).
As an aside, men's field hockey first was held in the 1908 Olympics. The U.S. has won one bronze medal on the men's side, that one back in 1932, also in Los Angeles.
The Canadian women's soccer team has also won one medal, a bronze, in its Olympic history. That one came four years ago in London, courtesy of a goal in stoppage time by Princeton alum Diana Matheson.
Canada's women's soccer team, like the U.S. field hockey team, is 2-0-0 in the group stage. Matheson, like Sharkey and the Reinprechts, is playing a huge role for her team.
The difference between women's soccer and field hockey is that there are only four teams in each soccer group. Canada, who plays Germany this afternoon, has already clinched a spot in the quarterfinals. A win or tie would give Canada the group championship; a loss would mean Germany wins the group.
Either way, Canada has already accomplished something big. No matter what happens today, Canada will be on the opposite side of the bracket from the Americans, who have won three straight gold medals and who beat Canada 4-3 in an epic semifinal four years ago.
Another Princeton athlete competes for the first time today, and that's Ashleigh Johnson, the goalie for the women's water polo team. The U.S. team, favored for the gold medal, plays its first game this morning at 10:40 against Spain.
In addition to the field hockey win, yesterday was a busy day for Princeton's rowers. Glenn Ochal, Kate Bertko and Lauren Wilkinson all raced, and none was able to advance directly to the finals. They all, however, still have a chance to get there.
So does Meghan O'Leary, the former Princeton contact with ESPN, who is in her first Olympics as a rower. She advanced to the semifinals as well.
Today will be even busier on the water, with Bertko in an elimination race, Gevvie Stone in the quarterfinals and Tyler Nase and Robin Prendes in the semifinals. TigerBlog watched Nase and Prendes yesterday, and that is grueling stuff.
The worst part of the Olympics is the primetime, pre-packaged, over-promotion-of-certain athletes, mostly-tape-delayed stuff that is rammed down the viewers' collective throats. And it's so simplistic.
Michael Phelps? He's "good." Make sure there's a shot of his mother too. American gymnasts? Also "good." They all have such great back stories too, right? They all said they'd be Olympians when they were six. They all had to have incredible sacrifices by their families. They all had to overcome everything everywhere every day.
Now go away for four more years and then you can have new "heroes" shoved down your throat. On tape delay.
It's enough already. And apparently the ratings reflect it.
The best part of the Olympics is everything else. Just the competition, all day, in sports that aren't usually at the forefront.
And, for TigerBlog, the Princetonians.
Go Tigers!!!!!!!
Monday, August 8, 2016
Guest TigerBlog - Opening The Olympics
Okay, whoever is organizing the Opening Ceremonies for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, TigerBlog is going to save you a lot of time, money and headaches. And you'll get way better reviews than you'll get if you don't listen to him.
Here's all anyone wants to see: 1) a short video introduction of the Olympics and the host city, 2) the parade of athletes, 3) the lighting of the torch by a local athletic hero. That's it. Nothing else.
The Opening Ceremonies for the current Olympic Games in Rio were, well, awful. They took forever. The packaging on TV was brutal. They got destroyed on Twitter and in the media.
The best part was seeing the Princeton athletes who are competing as they came into the stadium. The worst part was everything else.
So yeah, just follow TigerBlog's script, Tokyo, and you'll be all set.
TigerBlog didn't get to see that much of the first few days of the Olympics, for reasons he'll get into tomorrow or Wednesday. As a result, he's turned the floor today over to his OAC colleague Kristy McNeil, who offers her thoughts on the Opening Ceremonies and the start of the Rio Games.
As I was watching the Opening Ceremonies Friday night, I thought briefly of live tweeting it.
Live tweeting has been something that has become second nature for us SIDs to do during games. Our office has to be one of, if not the most, sarcastic OAC offices in the Ivy League. In a good way.
So what would I have tweeted?
"Metal bugs trot out. I can see you people carrying them! Why aren't you even trying to hide?"
"Men in THONGS."
"Brazil are you really claiming first in flight?! Did you walk on the moon first too!"
I checked on Twitter to compare my imaginary tweets to what others were saying, and surprise - the opening ceremonies weren't live. Why this never dawned on me I don't know... my excuse: It was Friday, my office was flooded, it was a long week.
On Twitter, I was getting updates on what was actually going on, live. For instance, I saw Gisele walk in her silver lamé dress 15 minutes before NBC showed it. Why did NBC say this Gisele segment was going to be so amazing? All she did was walk a catwalk, like she's done a thousand times before. I mean, I get it - she's pretty. Even better looking now with her plastic surgery (yea she did, I read it in US Weekly. Google it if you don't believe me).
The best part of the Opening Ceremony is the Parade of Nations. This year we didn't have to wait as long to see the US contingent, as they came out under "E" in the Portuguese language as Estados Unidos.
It’s great to see the pride on these athletes' faces, when you can see their faces when they aren’t obscured by their own cameras capturing the experience themselves #selfiestickgalore.
Princeton women’s track & field assistant coach Priscilla Frederick was the first athlete I recognized. She is the only female to represent her country of Antigua & Barbuda, and her purple hair made her stand out even more. Best of luck to her in the high jump.
Listening to the trio of Matt Lauer, Meredith Vieira and Hoda Kotb was slightly painful. It reminded me of the SNL skit with Will Ferrell on the keyboard, as Marty & Bobbi Culp who head the music department at Alta Dena Middle School. You can see it HERE.
As the US came out, I was on high alert to try to spot as many Princetonians as I could (Princeton has 13 athletes in Rio, by far the most of any Ivy school, if TB hasn't mentioned that yet), though our three field hockey players, Katie and Julia Reinprecht and Kat Sharkey would not attend the ceremony because they had a game the next day.
After I spotted THE Donn Cabral, took a snap and posted on social media, the parade of nations was on to letter M. Now it was 11:30 p.m. I couldn’t do it any longer. Sorry Nauru, Suriname, Tuvalu and others. Blame NBC and their commercials every eight minutes.
If there were a drinking game every time NBC mentioned Michael Phelps, Alyson Felix or the women’s gymnastics team….
We have more athletes competing than any other nation, yet NBC wants to keep mentioning these select few. Why? Do you think we’re dumb and don’t know anything about sports?
One of my favorite moments of the weekend came during women’s beach volleyball.
It was the Swiss vs. China. (Don’t get me started on why I think this is on in prime time). There was a controversial call made on China’s match point. Video review officials gave the point to China. The Swiss go to the net and argue with the officials. You can see for yourself on the video review that the Swiss did have a legitimate claim. The Chinese are signing volleyballs and tossing them in the stands in victory.
NBC goes back to the studio with Bob Costas, who says something to the effect of ‘wow that’s something,’ and then NBC goes into a pre-taped segment on the Amazon. After two or three minutes, they cut back to beach volleyball, where the officals have decided to have a re-do of the match point after the Swiss lobbied hard enough. The Swiss win the next point, but China finishes it off on the next serve and the match is NOW officially over. Seriously NBC. If I wanted to watch a segment on the Amazon, I’ll turn on Nat Geo. I’m here to watch sports. Sports.
Thankfully there is live streaming. That is where I had to turn to watch the US women’s field hockey team defeat the favorite to win the gold, Argentina, thanks to Katie Reinprecht's giving the US a 1-0 lead and Kat Sharkey's having the wherewithal to jump up so the penalty corner shot could make its way into the goal for a 2-0 lead.
And where I got to watch a peaceful women’s soccer game sans commentators. Canada vs Zimbabwe, where Canada dominated. Princeton’s Diana Matheson played a huge role in the win. She nearly put one away at the near corner in the 15th minute and four minutes later drew a penalty kick after getting crushed by the goalkeeper. That set up Christine Sinclair (one of my personal favorite soccer players, out of Portland) to make it 2-0 Canucks. In the 42nd minute Matheson had a goal waved off due to offsides.
I read that viewership of the primetime coverage in its nice little packages is way down. And I know why. The live streaming is way better. It’s live. It doesn’t have annoying commercials and commentators who speak as though you’re an idiot. And it’s where you can actually see sports.
Live streaming is where I watched the first ever Olympic rugby game, which was the US women vs. Australia. There’s a lot of parts of the game I enjoy but the constant touching I’m not a fan of. Like the scrums. They’re all sweaty and putting their arms around each other – bleh!
Then there’s the intensity of the table tennis serve as the hand goes way up and you expect a big blast and it’s a perfectly placed little bounce.
There were commentators doing the men’s kayak yesterday and they were hilarious. “Whoah, that was a terrible start!” “It says here he practices yoga. That should help his mind after this finish.” Just awesome. I think the accents just make it better too.
For the most part, though, the announcers aren't making the events any better. They're too scripted. They're trying too hard to sell a product, and you can't do that in sports, let alone at the Olympics. The outcome dictates the story, not the other way around. And it can come from any athlete or any sport.
If I want the full Olympic experience of watching an array sports from athletes from all different countries, not just Michael Phelps, Alyson Felix or the women’s gymnastics team, I’ll be turning in online.
Just like my grandparents did.
Here's all anyone wants to see: 1) a short video introduction of the Olympics and the host city, 2) the parade of athletes, 3) the lighting of the torch by a local athletic hero. That's it. Nothing else.
The Opening Ceremonies for the current Olympic Games in Rio were, well, awful. They took forever. The packaging on TV was brutal. They got destroyed on Twitter and in the media.
The best part was seeing the Princeton athletes who are competing as they came into the stadium. The worst part was everything else.
So yeah, just follow TigerBlog's script, Tokyo, and you'll be all set.
TigerBlog didn't get to see that much of the first few days of the Olympics, for reasons he'll get into tomorrow or Wednesday. As a result, he's turned the floor today over to his OAC colleague Kristy McNeil, who offers her thoughts on the Opening Ceremonies and the start of the Rio Games.
As I was watching the Opening Ceremonies Friday night, I thought briefly of live tweeting it.
Live tweeting has been something that has become second nature for us SIDs to do during games. Our office has to be one of, if not the most, sarcastic OAC offices in the Ivy League. In a good way.
So what would I have tweeted?
"Metal bugs trot out. I can see you people carrying them! Why aren't you even trying to hide?"
"Men in THONGS."
"Brazil are you really claiming first in flight?! Did you walk on the moon first too!"
I checked on Twitter to compare my imaginary tweets to what others were saying, and surprise - the opening ceremonies weren't live. Why this never dawned on me I don't know... my excuse: It was Friday, my office was flooded, it was a long week.
On Twitter, I was getting updates on what was actually going on, live. For instance, I saw Gisele walk in her silver lamé dress 15 minutes before NBC showed it. Why did NBC say this Gisele segment was going to be so amazing? All she did was walk a catwalk, like she's done a thousand times before. I mean, I get it - she's pretty. Even better looking now with her plastic surgery (yea she did, I read it in US Weekly. Google it if you don't believe me).
The best part of the Opening Ceremony is the Parade of Nations. This year we didn't have to wait as long to see the US contingent, as they came out under "E" in the Portuguese language as Estados Unidos.
It’s great to see the pride on these athletes' faces, when you can see their faces when they aren’t obscured by their own cameras capturing the experience themselves #selfiestickgalore.
Princeton women’s track & field assistant coach Priscilla Frederick was the first athlete I recognized. She is the only female to represent her country of Antigua & Barbuda, and her purple hair made her stand out even more. Best of luck to her in the high jump.
Listening to the trio of Matt Lauer, Meredith Vieira and Hoda Kotb was slightly painful. It reminded me of the SNL skit with Will Ferrell on the keyboard, as Marty & Bobbi Culp who head the music department at Alta Dena Middle School. You can see it HERE.
As the US came out, I was on high alert to try to spot as many Princetonians as I could (Princeton has 13 athletes in Rio, by far the most of any Ivy school, if TB hasn't mentioned that yet), though our three field hockey players, Katie and Julia Reinprecht and Kat Sharkey would not attend the ceremony because they had a game the next day.
After I spotted THE Donn Cabral, took a snap and posted on social media, the parade of nations was on to letter M. Now it was 11:30 p.m. I couldn’t do it any longer. Sorry Nauru, Suriname, Tuvalu and others. Blame NBC and their commercials every eight minutes.
If there were a drinking game every time NBC mentioned Michael Phelps, Alyson Felix or the women’s gymnastics team….
We have more athletes competing than any other nation, yet NBC wants to keep mentioning these select few. Why? Do you think we’re dumb and don’t know anything about sports?
One of my favorite moments of the weekend came during women’s beach volleyball.
It was the Swiss vs. China. (Don’t get me started on why I think this is on in prime time). There was a controversial call made on China’s match point. Video review officials gave the point to China. The Swiss go to the net and argue with the officials. You can see for yourself on the video review that the Swiss did have a legitimate claim. The Chinese are signing volleyballs and tossing them in the stands in victory.
NBC goes back to the studio with Bob Costas, who says something to the effect of ‘wow that’s something,’ and then NBC goes into a pre-taped segment on the Amazon. After two or three minutes, they cut back to beach volleyball, where the officals have decided to have a re-do of the match point after the Swiss lobbied hard enough. The Swiss win the next point, but China finishes it off on the next serve and the match is NOW officially over. Seriously NBC. If I wanted to watch a segment on the Amazon, I’ll turn on Nat Geo. I’m here to watch sports. Sports.
Thankfully there is live streaming. That is where I had to turn to watch the US women’s field hockey team defeat the favorite to win the gold, Argentina, thanks to Katie Reinprecht's giving the US a 1-0 lead and Kat Sharkey's having the wherewithal to jump up so the penalty corner shot could make its way into the goal for a 2-0 lead.
And where I got to watch a peaceful women’s soccer game sans commentators. Canada vs Zimbabwe, where Canada dominated. Princeton’s Diana Matheson played a huge role in the win. She nearly put one away at the near corner in the 15th minute and four minutes later drew a penalty kick after getting crushed by the goalkeeper. That set up Christine Sinclair (one of my personal favorite soccer players, out of Portland) to make it 2-0 Canucks. In the 42nd minute Matheson had a goal waved off due to offsides.
I read that viewership of the primetime coverage in its nice little packages is way down. And I know why. The live streaming is way better. It’s live. It doesn’t have annoying commercials and commentators who speak as though you’re an idiot. And it’s where you can actually see sports.
Live streaming is where I watched the first ever Olympic rugby game, which was the US women vs. Australia. There’s a lot of parts of the game I enjoy but the constant touching I’m not a fan of. Like the scrums. They’re all sweaty and putting their arms around each other – bleh!
Then there’s the intensity of the table tennis serve as the hand goes way up and you expect a big blast and it’s a perfectly placed little bounce.
There were commentators doing the men’s kayak yesterday and they were hilarious. “Whoah, that was a terrible start!” “It says here he practices yoga. That should help his mind after this finish.” Just awesome. I think the accents just make it better too.
For the most part, though, the announcers aren't making the events any better. They're too scripted. They're trying too hard to sell a product, and you can't do that in sports, let alone at the Olympics. The outcome dictates the story, not the other way around. And it can come from any athlete or any sport.
If I want the full Olympic experience of watching an array sports from athletes from all different countries, not just Michael Phelps, Alyson Felix or the women’s gymnastics team, I’ll be turning in online.
Just like my grandparents did.
Friday, August 5, 2016
Olympic Village
TigerBlog recently learned that the prime sunburning hours are between 2 and 4 in the afternoon.
This is sort of contrary to what he's always believed. He figured the prime sunburn time would be between 10 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon.
As a result, he's often gone without sunscreen after 2. Turns out that's been a mistake.
The two worst places TigerBlog has ever gotten sunburned have been the top of his feet and the top of his head. The sunburned feet came in North Carolina in the early 1990s and was awful; TigerBlog has never again made the mistake of not putting copious amounts of sunscreen on his feet.
As for the top of his head? Well, let's just say that TigerBlog hasn't really need a hair brush in a few decades, which is good in some ways (he can get his hair cut in six minutes) and bad in others (his head will get badly burned if it's not covered in sunscreen or covered by a hat).
As an aside, TigerBlog had really, really long hair in the 1970s. He looks way better now.
TB packed plenty of sunscreen for his trip this weekend to Lake Placid. He's here for the Olympics.
Well, not quite. He's here in the Adirondacks as the Olympics begin.
Lake Placid as you might know has hosted the Olympics twice, both times the Winter Olympics. The first time was in 1932, when Canada won the gold medal in hockey and the U.S. won the silver medal.
The second time was in 1980. You don't need TigerBlog to tell you who won the gold medal in hockey that year.
Until yesterday, TigerBlog had never been to Lake Placid. Why now?
Well what else? Lacrosse. The Lake Placid Lacrosse Summit, to be exact.
TigerBlog Jr. is playing, reuniting with the guys who played together for seven summers as kids up through high school for this tournament.
TB has never been to this event, which appears to have brought basically anyone who owns a lacrosse stick to this small village. There are events for high school boys and girls, all the way up to grand masters. TigerBlog should have brought his stuff and gotten on a team; it's been awhile since he's had a knee operation.
There will be a ton of Princeton lacrosse players who will be here as well on various teams in various divisions, including several who will play tonight in the Major League Lacrosse Legends Alumni Game. Princeton will be represented by Damien Davis, Josh Sims, Jon Hess, Matt Striebel, Ryan Mollett and Chris Massey, who between them have 13 NCAA championship rings. That's a lot of winning.
Jeff Froccaro will be here as well, with a team that will be playing to help raise funds for the Army Ranger Lead The Way Fund, in memory of former Duke lacrosse player Jimmy Regan, who lost his life in Iraq in 2007. For more information about the project, click HERE.
If you want to see a great picture, by the way, go to the women's hockey page of goprincetontigers.com. Or click HERE.
The picture is of Kelsey Koelzer, who will be arriving here when TigerBlog leaves. Koelzer will be here as part of a festival that saw 95 players invited, and they will be competing for spots on the U-22 and U-18 national teams.
So the sports scene in Lake Placid is always a busy one. And TigerBlog will do his best to see some of the Olympic sites, though he can't guarantee he'll be heading down the bobsled while he's here.
Still, this is the site of Olympics past.
The current Olympic Village is in Rio, where the Opening Ceremonies are today. The soccer competition has already started, though, and Canada - with Princeton alum Diana Matheson - got a big 2-0 win over Australia Wednesday that almost assures a spot for the Canadians in the quarterfinals.
Tomorrow is a huge day for Princeton at the Olympics, as more than half of the 13 Princeton athletes will be competing, in field hockey, rowing, soccer and fencing.
Again, you can follow all of the Princetonians in the Olympics right HERE.
The start of the Olympics means that there are also three weeks until the first Princeton athletic event of the academic year. But hey, that will be here soon enough.
For now, it's time to enjoy the start of one of the greatest sporting events in the world. You know, the Lacrosse Summit.
Or the Olympics.
Either one.
This is sort of contrary to what he's always believed. He figured the prime sunburn time would be between 10 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon.
As a result, he's often gone without sunscreen after 2. Turns out that's been a mistake.
The two worst places TigerBlog has ever gotten sunburned have been the top of his feet and the top of his head. The sunburned feet came in North Carolina in the early 1990s and was awful; TigerBlog has never again made the mistake of not putting copious amounts of sunscreen on his feet.
As for the top of his head? Well, let's just say that TigerBlog hasn't really need a hair brush in a few decades, which is good in some ways (he can get his hair cut in six minutes) and bad in others (his head will get badly burned if it's not covered in sunscreen or covered by a hat).
As an aside, TigerBlog had really, really long hair in the 1970s. He looks way better now.
TB packed plenty of sunscreen for his trip this weekend to Lake Placid. He's here for the Olympics.
Well, not quite. He's here in the Adirondacks as the Olympics begin.
Lake Placid as you might know has hosted the Olympics twice, both times the Winter Olympics. The first time was in 1932, when Canada won the gold medal in hockey and the U.S. won the silver medal.
The second time was in 1980. You don't need TigerBlog to tell you who won the gold medal in hockey that year.
Until yesterday, TigerBlog had never been to Lake Placid. Why now?
Well what else? Lacrosse. The Lake Placid Lacrosse Summit, to be exact.
TigerBlog Jr. is playing, reuniting with the guys who played together for seven summers as kids up through high school for this tournament.
TB has never been to this event, which appears to have brought basically anyone who owns a lacrosse stick to this small village. There are events for high school boys and girls, all the way up to grand masters. TigerBlog should have brought his stuff and gotten on a team; it's been awhile since he's had a knee operation.
There will be a ton of Princeton lacrosse players who will be here as well on various teams in various divisions, including several who will play tonight in the Major League Lacrosse Legends Alumni Game. Princeton will be represented by Damien Davis, Josh Sims, Jon Hess, Matt Striebel, Ryan Mollett and Chris Massey, who between them have 13 NCAA championship rings. That's a lot of winning.
Jeff Froccaro will be here as well, with a team that will be playing to help raise funds for the Army Ranger Lead The Way Fund, in memory of former Duke lacrosse player Jimmy Regan, who lost his life in Iraq in 2007. For more information about the project, click HERE.
If you want to see a great picture, by the way, go to the women's hockey page of goprincetontigers.com. Or click HERE.
The picture is of Kelsey Koelzer, who will be arriving here when TigerBlog leaves. Koelzer will be here as part of a festival that saw 95 players invited, and they will be competing for spots on the U-22 and U-18 national teams.
So the sports scene in Lake Placid is always a busy one. And TigerBlog will do his best to see some of the Olympic sites, though he can't guarantee he'll be heading down the bobsled while he's here.
Still, this is the site of Olympics past.
The current Olympic Village is in Rio, where the Opening Ceremonies are today. The soccer competition has already started, though, and Canada - with Princeton alum Diana Matheson - got a big 2-0 win over Australia Wednesday that almost assures a spot for the Canadians in the quarterfinals.
Tomorrow is a huge day for Princeton at the Olympics, as more than half of the 13 Princeton athletes will be competing, in field hockey, rowing, soccer and fencing.
Again, you can follow all of the Princetonians in the Olympics right HERE.
The start of the Olympics means that there are also three weeks until the first Princeton athletic event of the academic year. But hey, that will be here soon enough.
For now, it's time to enjoy the start of one of the greatest sporting events in the world. You know, the Lacrosse Summit.
Or the Olympics.
Either one.
Thursday, August 4, 2016
Four Princeton Alums Pitch In One Night
TigerBlog isn't sure if he ever mentioned this before. Maybe he'll go back in the archives and check.
Yes. Yes, he did mention that he went with the baseball team to Louisiana for the NCAA Regional in June. And yes, as he thinks back on it, he may have also mentioned that he enjoyed his time there very much.
Princeton was there with Arizona, who finished as the national runner-up, Sam Houston State and Louisiana-Lafayette. They are all baseball powers.
As TigerBlog pointed out to the assembled media there, Princeton had three players in the Major Leagues at the time. The other three combined had none.
As it turns out, that number has since doubled.
Princeton has had an incredible six players in the Major Leagues so for this season: Chris Young, Ross Ohlendorf, Matt Bowman, Will Venable, David Hale and the newest member of the club, Danny Barnes, who was called up Tuesday by the Blue Jays.
Even more amazingly, four of the pitchers pitched in games Tuesday night.
Let's start with Barnes.
Rather than have a chance to soak it all in, Barnes was thrown to the wolves instead. The Blue Jays, who are one game back of the Orioles for first in the AL East, led Houston 2-1 heading to the bottom of the eighth.
In came Barnes, for his Major League debut. And how did he respond? With a scoreless inning, including a pair of strikeouts.
As for the rest of the Tigers?
Young picked up a win for the Royals in relief. Young, as you might recall, played a huge role in Kansas City's World Series championship last fall.
Bowman pitched two-thirds of an inning of scoreless relief for the Cardinals. When TB clicked on Bowman's bio, he learned that he is a native of Chevy Chase, Md.; maybe Bowman liked to go the same Houlihans in Mazza Gallerie that MotherBlog did.
Also, Bowman has now pitched in 37 games for the Cards, with a 2.96 ERA, with 34 strikeouts and 12 walks. St. Louis is probably not going to catch the Cubs for the division title but will be right there for the wild cards.
Oh, and on the other side of the field from Bowman Tuesday night was Ohlendorf, who pitched an inning in relief for the Reds in that game. Cincinnati won 7-5.
Four Princeton alums who pitched in the Major Leagues in one night?
TigerBlog considers himself a Princeton Athletic historian as much as anything else, and the idea that Princeton had four alums who pitched in one night is way, way up there on the list of major accomplishments that he's ever heard of here.
The Olympics are the big story for now in the world of sports.
TigerBlog saw a graphic the other day that said that Princeton ranked sixth among American colleges in number of Olympians. Of course, the same graphic said Princeton has 12 Olympians, when the correct number is actually 13. That would actually tie Princeton for fourth, behind Stanford, Cal and USC.
That same graphic, though, didn't include some other schools that TB knows should have been there, and of course it had the mistake in Princeton's total. Still, Princeton is close to the top nationally in producing Olympians.
It also made TB wonder how many other schools have had more than six players in the Major Leagues this year. Or had four alums pitch on the same night this year - or any other year, for that matter.
It's all a tribute to Scott Bradley and the way he runs his program at Princeton.
Bradley himself was a longtime Major League player (a catcher), and he clearly knows how to develop Major Leaguers as a coach. When TB was in Louisiana, he saw first-hand why, and it's because Bradley's Princeton team has the feel of a professional team, with trust, respect and accountability at the forefront.
He has also done an incredible job of bringing in players - especially pitchers - who understand that the value of the academic side of Princeton doesn't mean having to sacrifice the Major League opportunity. If anything, it enhances it, since a high school pitcher can come to Princeton, mature, get the kind of education that Princeton offers and not get his arm burned out in the process.
It works the same way with the Olympians. Princeton in no way provides a roadblock to any athletic opportunity.
That, of course, is the best part. The combination of both, and the people who come here who value both.
Yes. Yes, he did mention that he went with the baseball team to Louisiana for the NCAA Regional in June. And yes, as he thinks back on it, he may have also mentioned that he enjoyed his time there very much.
Princeton was there with Arizona, who finished as the national runner-up, Sam Houston State and Louisiana-Lafayette. They are all baseball powers.
As TigerBlog pointed out to the assembled media there, Princeton had three players in the Major Leagues at the time. The other three combined had none.
As it turns out, that number has since doubled.
Princeton has had an incredible six players in the Major Leagues so for this season: Chris Young, Ross Ohlendorf, Matt Bowman, Will Venable, David Hale and the newest member of the club, Danny Barnes, who was called up Tuesday by the Blue Jays.
Even more amazingly, four of the pitchers pitched in games Tuesday night.
Let's start with Barnes.
Rather than have a chance to soak it all in, Barnes was thrown to the wolves instead. The Blue Jays, who are one game back of the Orioles for first in the AL East, led Houston 2-1 heading to the bottom of the eighth.
In came Barnes, for his Major League debut. And how did he respond? With a scoreless inning, including a pair of strikeouts.
As for the rest of the Tigers?
Young picked up a win for the Royals in relief. Young, as you might recall, played a huge role in Kansas City's World Series championship last fall.
Bowman pitched two-thirds of an inning of scoreless relief for the Cardinals. When TB clicked on Bowman's bio, he learned that he is a native of Chevy Chase, Md.; maybe Bowman liked to go the same Houlihans in Mazza Gallerie that MotherBlog did.
Also, Bowman has now pitched in 37 games for the Cards, with a 2.96 ERA, with 34 strikeouts and 12 walks. St. Louis is probably not going to catch the Cubs for the division title but will be right there for the wild cards.
Oh, and on the other side of the field from Bowman Tuesday night was Ohlendorf, who pitched an inning in relief for the Reds in that game. Cincinnati won 7-5.
Four Princeton alums who pitched in the Major Leagues in one night?
TigerBlog considers himself a Princeton Athletic historian as much as anything else, and the idea that Princeton had four alums who pitched in one night is way, way up there on the list of major accomplishments that he's ever heard of here.
The Olympics are the big story for now in the world of sports.
TigerBlog saw a graphic the other day that said that Princeton ranked sixth among American colleges in number of Olympians. Of course, the same graphic said Princeton has 12 Olympians, when the correct number is actually 13. That would actually tie Princeton for fourth, behind Stanford, Cal and USC.
That same graphic, though, didn't include some other schools that TB knows should have been there, and of course it had the mistake in Princeton's total. Still, Princeton is close to the top nationally in producing Olympians.
It also made TB wonder how many other schools have had more than six players in the Major Leagues this year. Or had four alums pitch on the same night this year - or any other year, for that matter.
It's all a tribute to Scott Bradley and the way he runs his program at Princeton.
Bradley himself was a longtime Major League player (a catcher), and he clearly knows how to develop Major Leaguers as a coach. When TB was in Louisiana, he saw first-hand why, and it's because Bradley's Princeton team has the feel of a professional team, with trust, respect and accountability at the forefront.
He has also done an incredible job of bringing in players - especially pitchers - who understand that the value of the academic side of Princeton doesn't mean having to sacrifice the Major League opportunity. If anything, it enhances it, since a high school pitcher can come to Princeton, mature, get the kind of education that Princeton offers and not get his arm burned out in the process.
It works the same way with the Olympians. Princeton in no way provides a roadblock to any athletic opportunity.
That, of course, is the best part. The combination of both, and the people who come here who value both.
Wednesday, August 3, 2016
Diana Matheson Goes Back To The Olympics
GoPrincetonTigers.com Olympic Page
TigerBlog is about halfway through Season 4 of "Wentworth" on Netflix.
The show is the Australian version of "Orange Is The New Black." Actually, it's way better than "Orange Is The New Black."
TigerBlog isn't sure that "Orange Is The New Black" knows exactly what it is trying to be. Is it funny? Serious? The mix doesn't always work.
"Wentworth" has no illusions of being a comedy. It is exactly what a prison drama should be, with its sense of the fear, frustration, boredom, loneliness and helplessness that the inmates live with everyday. And with a constant reminder of why these women are in prison in the first place.
It's a tough trick, to make sympathetic characters out of people who are criminals and in prison. If you look at "The Sopranos," for instance, it's easy to forget that Tony, one of the most lovable characters in TV history, is actually a sociopath and mob boss.
In Wentworth's prison, the line blurs between "good" and "bad." Yes, Bea - the leader among the prisoners - tried to kill her husband and did actually kill someone else, but she does have the best interest of the other inmates in mind. And she is painted as a person who never set out to hurt anyone but was forced into circumstances that led her down this path.
Yes, there are some inmates who have absolutely no sense of right and wrong and were destined to end up where they are. Then there are the rest, who, like Bea, made bad choices along the way and now are dealing with the awful consequences while trying to let their "good" side win out over their "bad" side.
The dynamic of the relationship between the prisoners and the guards is also portrayed well. There is a hint of friendship between them, coupled with a constant need on the part of the guards to remind the inmates of the reality of their situation, which is that the guards can go home when their shifts are over but they'll be here for years or, in Bea's case, forever.
The best character on the show is Frankie, who was paroled at the end of Season 3 and who hasn't figured prominently in the first half of Season 4. Frankie is something of a hybrid between the two kinds of inmates - she has a big heart and is a bit of a psycho who thinks nothing of lashing out (in a big way, like a "throwing a pan of hot oil on someone on live TV" sort of way).
TigerBlog senses that there will be more of Frankie in the second half of the season. He hopes it's not because she's sent back to the prison, though.
And then there's Ferguson, the former governor of the prison who is now an inmate. That part is a bit contrived, but it doesn't take away from just how evil a character Ferguson is.
TigerBlog figures that her character is so evil that the other actors on the show must hate her in real life too.
If you have seen "Orange Is The New Black," which is basically everyone with Netflix, but haven't seen "Wentworth," which is also basically everyone with Netflix, then you've been watching the wrong show.
"Wentworth" is a big hit in Australia, and it has won numerous awards there. In fact, the actresses who play Bea, Frankie and Ferguson have all won Best Actress in a drama awards, which has to be unique among any show in any country.
And now, for the easiest segue in TigerBlog history:
While we're on the subject of Australia, it will be Canada vs. Australia in women's soccer as the Summer Olympics begin today, actually two days before the Opening Ceremonies.
Canada features Princeton grad Diana Matheson, who four years ago in London scored the biggest goal in Canadian women's soccer history, when she gave her country the bronze medal with the goal in stoppage time of a 1-0 win over France in a game in which Canada was outshot 28-4.
The biggest goal came from the shortest player, as Matheson barely reaches five feet tall. It also came from the fittest player. TigerBlog has seen very few athletes who have ever come through Princeton who had Matheson's motor.
Or, for that matter, field vision. It's how she's managed to be a huge part of Canada's international women's soccer efforts for more than a decade now. In fact, Matheson, now 32, could be playing in her final major event for the Canadians.
It's been 12 years since she exploded onto the Princeton Athletics scene and helped Princeton to one of the greatest accomplishments in its entire athletic history. Back in 2004, Matheson was the glue of a women's soccer team that went all the way to the NCAA Final Four, and those Tigers remain the only women's soccer team in Ivy League history ever to do so.
Matheson was named a first-team All-America, which is a bit ironic. You know. Because she's Canadian.
Her team has a tough group, with Australia and Germany, though the Canadians could still come in third in the group and reach the quarterfinals. The fourth team in the group is Zimbabwe.
The Olympics begin today with Diana Matheson.
Against Australia. Which produces a great TV show.
Sigh. All segues should be that easy.
TigerBlog is about halfway through Season 4 of "Wentworth" on Netflix.
The show is the Australian version of "Orange Is The New Black." Actually, it's way better than "Orange Is The New Black."
TigerBlog isn't sure that "Orange Is The New Black" knows exactly what it is trying to be. Is it funny? Serious? The mix doesn't always work.
"Wentworth" has no illusions of being a comedy. It is exactly what a prison drama should be, with its sense of the fear, frustration, boredom, loneliness and helplessness that the inmates live with everyday. And with a constant reminder of why these women are in prison in the first place.
It's a tough trick, to make sympathetic characters out of people who are criminals and in prison. If you look at "The Sopranos," for instance, it's easy to forget that Tony, one of the most lovable characters in TV history, is actually a sociopath and mob boss.
In Wentworth's prison, the line blurs between "good" and "bad." Yes, Bea - the leader among the prisoners - tried to kill her husband and did actually kill someone else, but she does have the best interest of the other inmates in mind. And she is painted as a person who never set out to hurt anyone but was forced into circumstances that led her down this path.
Yes, there are some inmates who have absolutely no sense of right and wrong and were destined to end up where they are. Then there are the rest, who, like Bea, made bad choices along the way and now are dealing with the awful consequences while trying to let their "good" side win out over their "bad" side.
The dynamic of the relationship between the prisoners and the guards is also portrayed well. There is a hint of friendship between them, coupled with a constant need on the part of the guards to remind the inmates of the reality of their situation, which is that the guards can go home when their shifts are over but they'll be here for years or, in Bea's case, forever.
The best character on the show is Frankie, who was paroled at the end of Season 3 and who hasn't figured prominently in the first half of Season 4. Frankie is something of a hybrid between the two kinds of inmates - she has a big heart and is a bit of a psycho who thinks nothing of lashing out (in a big way, like a "throwing a pan of hot oil on someone on live TV" sort of way).
TigerBlog senses that there will be more of Frankie in the second half of the season. He hopes it's not because she's sent back to the prison, though.
And then there's Ferguson, the former governor of the prison who is now an inmate. That part is a bit contrived, but it doesn't take away from just how evil a character Ferguson is.
TigerBlog figures that her character is so evil that the other actors on the show must hate her in real life too.
If you have seen "Orange Is The New Black," which is basically everyone with Netflix, but haven't seen "Wentworth," which is also basically everyone with Netflix, then you've been watching the wrong show.
"Wentworth" is a big hit in Australia, and it has won numerous awards there. In fact, the actresses who play Bea, Frankie and Ferguson have all won Best Actress in a drama awards, which has to be unique among any show in any country.
And now, for the easiest segue in TigerBlog history:
While we're on the subject of Australia, it will be Canada vs. Australia in women's soccer as the Summer Olympics begin today, actually two days before the Opening Ceremonies.
Canada features Princeton grad Diana Matheson, who four years ago in London scored the biggest goal in Canadian women's soccer history, when she gave her country the bronze medal with the goal in stoppage time of a 1-0 win over France in a game in which Canada was outshot 28-4.
The biggest goal came from the shortest player, as Matheson barely reaches five feet tall. It also came from the fittest player. TigerBlog has seen very few athletes who have ever come through Princeton who had Matheson's motor.
Or, for that matter, field vision. It's how she's managed to be a huge part of Canada's international women's soccer efforts for more than a decade now. In fact, Matheson, now 32, could be playing in her final major event for the Canadians.
It's been 12 years since she exploded onto the Princeton Athletics scene and helped Princeton to one of the greatest accomplishments in its entire athletic history. Back in 2004, Matheson was the glue of a women's soccer team that went all the way to the NCAA Final Four, and those Tigers remain the only women's soccer team in Ivy League history ever to do so.
Matheson was named a first-team All-America, which is a bit ironic. You know. Because she's Canadian.
Her team has a tough group, with Australia and Germany, though the Canadians could still come in third in the group and reach the quarterfinals. The fourth team in the group is Zimbabwe.
The Olympics begin today with Diana Matheson.
Against Australia. Which produces a great TV show.
Sigh. All segues should be that easy.
Tuesday, August 2, 2016
Ashleigh And Kat
You know the song. It's by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes.
It's probably because TB wrote about "An Officer And A Gentleman," which is featured prominently in the movie. An instrumental version plays at the end, when Richard Gere carries Debra Winger out of the factory in one of the most romantic moments in movie history.
Don't believe TB? You can see it HERE for yourself.
The one HERE is a bit less romantic.
Anyway, this got TigerBlog thinking about what the single most romantic moment in movie history is (note - musicals don't count, because they would have the top 50 or so).
He came up with THIS.
Or maybe THIS.
Definitely not THIS.
On further consideration, TB will put the Richard Gere/Debra Winger scene is in the top three.
By the way, if you didn't recognize the movie clips from above, the romantic ones were from "Notting Hill," which TB saw for the thousandth time Sunday morning and "The Best Years Of Our Lives," which TB has also seen way more than once.
"The Best Years Of Our Lives" is from 1946. It won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor for Harold Russell, who was actually a World War II vet who lost both of his hands and had to use the hooks that are featured in that scene.
Anyway, all day yesterday, there was TigerBlog, with the song in his head. "Love lift us up where we belong, where the eagles cry, on a mountain high."
TigerBlog thought it was "where the eagles fly," not the "eagles cry." But it said "cry" when he double-checked the lyrics online. And when he listened to the song again, it's definitely "cry." Why would the eagles be crying? Wouldn't they be flying?
Anyway, that lasted until late afternoon, when it suddenly was replaced by "Badlands," a Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band song. "Badlands" is off the "Darkness on the Edge of Town" album, though the best versions of it that TB has ever heard have been live versions.
So there was TB, switching to "I believe in the love that you gave me. I believe in the faith that can save me" in no time. And he didn't have to check those lyrics.
Luis Nicolao, the head women's and men's water polo coach at Princeton, is probably a bigger fan of the Boss than TigerBlog.
It was Luis who sent TigerBlog a picture yesterday of his goalie, Ashleigh Johnson, and fencer Kat Holmes. The two were on a shuttle in Houston, about to board a flight to Rio.
Johnson and Holmes are two of Princeton's 13 athletes who will be competing in the Summer Olympics, which begin later this week. They are unique among Princeton's contingent in that they are the only two who are current undergraduates, both of whom took the past year off from school to focus on getting to Rio.
Johnson is the goalie on the U.S. women's water polo team. She is among the best, if not the best, water polo players in the world, and she is one of the main reasons that the Americans are heavy favorites to win gold.
Holmes, whose weapon is the epee, will be competing in the individual and team competition.
And there they were in the picture Luis sent. Beaming.
Why wouldn't they be? They're off to the Olympic Games.
There are so many millions (billions even) of kids around the globe who play sports. So many of them dream of getting to the Olympics. And so few of them actually do.
TB's friends in the University Office of Communications put a story up yesterday about the Princeton athletes in the Olympic Games. You can read it HERE.
The story includes this quote from Ford Family Director of Athletics Mollie Marcoux Samaan:
"The success of our current and former athletes at, in many cases, the highest level of their sports speaks to both the breadth and the quality of our athletic program and the pride the University takes in its athletics programs. These athletes are shining examples of the ability of Princetonians to balance their pursuit of academic excellence with their desire to realize their athletic goals."
That's really it in a nutshell.
It's the ability of Princetonians to balance their pursuit of academic excellence with their desire to realize their athletic goals. And nowhere is that more true than when the Summer Olympics roll around.
The look on their faces shows that they are giddy kids, about to compete on the biggest stage.
It's what's inside that really makes them different. TigerBlog has said this a million times, but he often looks at the athletes with whom he works and wonders where people like this come from.
It makes them the easiest athletes in the world to root for, especially for the next two weeks.
Monday, August 1, 2016
Here Come The Olympics
TigerBlog loves some of Woody Allen's early movies.
"Bananas?" Hilarious. "Sleeper?" The same. You can add "Love and Death" and "Take the Money and Run" to that list.
What else? "Manhattan?" Outstanding. And, of course, the best Woody Allen movie of them all, "Annie Hall."
All of those movies were before 1982. Since then, he's had three movies that TigerBlog thought were great, in different ways - "Broadway Danny Rose," "Hannah and Her Sisters" and "Crimes and Misdemeanors," which TB would put second behind "Annie Hall" on the list.
Nobody has ever made movies that make New York City look prettier than Woody Allen. His love for the city shines though. Yes, he's become a rather polarizing figure and that he's made a lot of movies that have fallen a little flat, but that doesn't change the fact that he's made some of the best movies TB has ever seen.
The movie "A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy" is not on the list of great Woody Allen movies that TB has seen. But he did see it, in the movies, in July of 1982, back when he went to the movies a lot.
Even though that was nearly 35 years ago, TB remembers two things about it. First, the movie wasn't good.
And second, he saw a trailer for a movie that he would be coming out two weeks later, one that looked a lot better than the one he was about to see. The movie? "An Officer And A Gentleman."
So there TB was, two weeks later, visiting MotherBlog when she still lived in Chevy Chase, Md.
MB was at work, and TB had the afternoon to himself. He looked in the newspaper (that's what you used to have to do back then) and saw that "An Officer And A Gentleman" was playing at a theater that he figured was near MB's house.
He didn't have a car to use, so he had to walk. He unfolded a map (that's what you used to have to do back then) and measured the distance like people did back then, by holding his thumb and forefinger against the map and then against the part that showed you how much distance on the map a mile was and so forth.
Of course, that was never accurate. And it wasn't that day, when TB figured a one or two mile walk actually was four miles, each way.
TigerBlog walked up Willard Avenue, where MotherBlog lived, to Wisconsin Avenue and made a right. As soon as he crossed the street, he went from Maryland into the District of Columbia.
If you've ever been in that area, it's where the Mazza Gallerie Mall is.
He walked on Wisconsin to the movie theater, past the mall, past the Cheesecake Factory, past a bunch of other restaurants that he and his mother had been to - all the way to the movie theater. He was a bit sweaty by the time he got there.
As for the movie itself, well, TB never saw "A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy" again, but he's seen "An Officer And A Gentleman" a lot. And why not? It's a great movie. Louis Gossett Jr. won a very deserved Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor as Foley, the drill instructor who started out the trailer by saying "why would a slick little hustler like you want to sign up for this kind of abuse."
MotherBlog would move from Chevy Chase to Georgia, first Augusta for a year and then Atlanta, where she lived until her death in 1994. It was four years after Atlanta had been awarded the big for the 1996 Summer Olympics, and, sadly, two years before the Games actually came to her city.
TigerBlog's mother was all in on the Atlanta Olympics. She would have gone to anything and everything and was already making plans to have her son join her. When the Games were actually going on, TigerBlog wondered what events he would have gone to with his mother.
Princeton had five Olympians in 1996 and won no medals. In the most recent Summer Games in 2012 in London, Princeton had 15 Olympians who won seven medals.
The 2016 Olympic Games begin with the Opening Ceremonies Friday night in Rio. Actually, by the time the Opening Ceremonies roll around, one Princetonian will have already competed.
Diana Matheson, who scored the game-winning goal for Canada in the 2012 bronze medal women's soccer game, will have already played one game - Wednesday, against Australia.
Princeton will be represented by 13 current or former athletes, as well as two current assistant coaches. The Games will kick into high gear for Princeton Saturday, when seven of the 13 Princeton athletes compete.
As these athletes compete, goprincetontigers.com will have full coverage, as will Princeton's athletic social media outlets.
Here, by the way, is the schedule of when Princetonians will be competing in Rio:
Field hockey
Katie Reinprecht, Julia Reinprecht, Kathleen Sharkey
Pool B
USA vs. Argentina • Aug. 6, 4 pm
USA vs. Australia • Aug. 8, 9 am
USA vs. Japan • Aug. 10, 4 pm
USA vs. India • Aug. 11, 6:30 pm
USA vs. Great Britain • Aug. 13, 5 pm
Quarterfinal • Aug. 15, TBA
Semifinal • Aug. 17, TBA
Gold medal/Bronze medal games • Aug. 19, TBA
Women’s soccer
Diana Matheson (Canada)
Group F
Canada vs. Australia • Aug. 3, 2 pm
Canada vs. Zimbabwe, Aug. 6, 2 pm
Canada vs. Germany, Aug. 9, 3 pm
Knockout round begins Aug. 12
Track and field
Donn Cabral
Men’s 3,000 meter steeplechase
First round - Aug. 15
Final – Aug. 17
Robby Andrews
Men’s 1,500 meters
First round – Aug. 16
Semifinals – Aug. 18
Final – Aug. 21
Priscilla Frederick
Women’s high jump
Preliminary – Aug. 18
Final – Aug. 20
Fencing
Kat Holmes
Individual epee
Aug. 6
Team epee
Aug. 11
Water polo
Ashleigh Johnson (USA)
Group B
USA vs. Spain • Aug. 9, 10:40 am
USA vs. China • Aug. 11, 10:40 am
USA vs. Hungary • Aug. 13, 12 pm
Quarterfinals • Aug. 15, TBA
Semifinals • Aug. 17, TBA
Finals • Aug. 19, TBA
Rowing
Gevvie Stone (USA W1x)
Heats • Aug. 6 – 8:30-9:20
Repechage • Aug. 7 – 8:00-8:20
Quarterfinal • Aug. 9 – 8:10-8:40
Semifinal A/B • Aug. 11 – 8:30-8:40
Final • Aug. 12 – 7:40-9:44 (A at 9:44, B at 9:20)
Kate Bertko (USA LW2x)
Heats • Aug. 7 – 9:40-10:10
Repechage • Aug. 8 – 8:20-8:30
Semifinal A/B • Aug. 10 – 7:50-8:00
Final • Aug. 12 –A at 8:52, B at 8:10)
Lauren Wilkinson (Canada W8+)
Heats • Aug. 8 – 9:30-9:40
Repechage • Aug. 10 – 8:50
Final • Aug. 13 – 10:04
Tyler Nase, Robin Prendes (USA LM4-)
Heats • Aug. 6 – 11:00-11:20
Repechage • Aug. 7 – 9:00
Semifinal A/B • Aug. 9 – 9:50-10:00
Final • Aug. 11 –A at 9:44, B at 8:00
Glenn Ochal (USA M8+)
Heats • Aug. 8 – 9:50-10:00
Repechage • Aug. 10 – 9:00
Final • Aug. 13 – 10:24
"Bananas?" Hilarious. "Sleeper?" The same. You can add "Love and Death" and "Take the Money and Run" to that list.
What else? "Manhattan?" Outstanding. And, of course, the best Woody Allen movie of them all, "Annie Hall."
All of those movies were before 1982. Since then, he's had three movies that TigerBlog thought were great, in different ways - "Broadway Danny Rose," "Hannah and Her Sisters" and "Crimes and Misdemeanors," which TB would put second behind "Annie Hall" on the list.
Nobody has ever made movies that make New York City look prettier than Woody Allen. His love for the city shines though. Yes, he's become a rather polarizing figure and that he's made a lot of movies that have fallen a little flat, but that doesn't change the fact that he's made some of the best movies TB has ever seen.
The movie "A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy" is not on the list of great Woody Allen movies that TB has seen. But he did see it, in the movies, in July of 1982, back when he went to the movies a lot.
Even though that was nearly 35 years ago, TB remembers two things about it. First, the movie wasn't good.
And second, he saw a trailer for a movie that he would be coming out two weeks later, one that looked a lot better than the one he was about to see. The movie? "An Officer And A Gentleman."
So there TB was, two weeks later, visiting MotherBlog when she still lived in Chevy Chase, Md.
MB was at work, and TB had the afternoon to himself. He looked in the newspaper (that's what you used to have to do back then) and saw that "An Officer And A Gentleman" was playing at a theater that he figured was near MB's house.
He didn't have a car to use, so he had to walk. He unfolded a map (that's what you used to have to do back then) and measured the distance like people did back then, by holding his thumb and forefinger against the map and then against the part that showed you how much distance on the map a mile was and so forth.
Of course, that was never accurate. And it wasn't that day, when TB figured a one or two mile walk actually was four miles, each way.
TigerBlog walked up Willard Avenue, where MotherBlog lived, to Wisconsin Avenue and made a right. As soon as he crossed the street, he went from Maryland into the District of Columbia.
If you've ever been in that area, it's where the Mazza Gallerie Mall is.
He walked on Wisconsin to the movie theater, past the mall, past the Cheesecake Factory, past a bunch of other restaurants that he and his mother had been to - all the way to the movie theater. He was a bit sweaty by the time he got there.
As for the movie itself, well, TB never saw "A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy" again, but he's seen "An Officer And A Gentleman" a lot. And why not? It's a great movie. Louis Gossett Jr. won a very deserved Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor as Foley, the drill instructor who started out the trailer by saying "why would a slick little hustler like you want to sign up for this kind of abuse."
MotherBlog would move from Chevy Chase to Georgia, first Augusta for a year and then Atlanta, where she lived until her death in 1994. It was four years after Atlanta had been awarded the big for the 1996 Summer Olympics, and, sadly, two years before the Games actually came to her city.
TigerBlog's mother was all in on the Atlanta Olympics. She would have gone to anything and everything and was already making plans to have her son join her. When the Games were actually going on, TigerBlog wondered what events he would have gone to with his mother.
Princeton had five Olympians in 1996 and won no medals. In the most recent Summer Games in 2012 in London, Princeton had 15 Olympians who won seven medals.
The 2016 Olympic Games begin with the Opening Ceremonies Friday night in Rio. Actually, by the time the Opening Ceremonies roll around, one Princetonian will have already competed.
Diana Matheson, who scored the game-winning goal for Canada in the 2012 bronze medal women's soccer game, will have already played one game - Wednesday, against Australia.
Princeton will be represented by 13 current or former athletes, as well as two current assistant coaches. The Games will kick into high gear for Princeton Saturday, when seven of the 13 Princeton athletes compete.
As these athletes compete, goprincetontigers.com will have full coverage, as will Princeton's athletic social media outlets.
Here, by the way, is the schedule of when Princetonians will be competing in Rio:
Field hockey
Katie Reinprecht, Julia Reinprecht, Kathleen Sharkey
Pool B
USA vs. Argentina • Aug. 6, 4 pm
USA vs. Australia • Aug. 8, 9 am
USA vs. Japan • Aug. 10, 4 pm
USA vs. India • Aug. 11, 6:30 pm
USA vs. Great Britain • Aug. 13, 5 pm
Quarterfinal • Aug. 15, TBA
Semifinal • Aug. 17, TBA
Gold medal/Bronze medal games • Aug. 19, TBA
Women’s soccer
Diana Matheson (Canada)
Group F
Canada vs. Australia • Aug. 3, 2 pm
Canada vs. Zimbabwe, Aug. 6, 2 pm
Canada vs. Germany, Aug. 9, 3 pm
Knockout round begins Aug. 12
Track and field
Donn Cabral
Men’s 3,000 meter steeplechase
First round - Aug. 15
Final – Aug. 17
Robby Andrews
Men’s 1,500 meters
First round – Aug. 16
Semifinals – Aug. 18
Final – Aug. 21
Priscilla Frederick
Women’s high jump
Preliminary – Aug. 18
Final – Aug. 20
Fencing
Kat Holmes
Individual epee
Aug. 6
Team epee
Aug. 11
Water polo
Ashleigh Johnson (USA)
Group B
USA vs. Spain • Aug. 9, 10:40 am
USA vs. China • Aug. 11, 10:40 am
USA vs. Hungary • Aug. 13, 12 pm
Quarterfinals • Aug. 15, TBA
Semifinals • Aug. 17, TBA
Finals • Aug. 19, TBA
Rowing
Gevvie Stone (USA W1x)
Heats • Aug. 6 – 8:30-9:20
Repechage • Aug. 7 – 8:00-8:20
Quarterfinal • Aug. 9 – 8:10-8:40
Semifinal A/B • Aug. 11 – 8:30-8:40
Final • Aug. 12 – 7:40-9:44 (A at 9:44, B at 9:20)
Kate Bertko (USA LW2x)
Heats • Aug. 7 – 9:40-10:10
Repechage • Aug. 8 – 8:20-8:30
Semifinal A/B • Aug. 10 – 7:50-8:00
Final • Aug. 12 –A at 8:52, B at 8:10)
Lauren Wilkinson (Canada W8+)
Heats • Aug. 8 – 9:30-9:40
Repechage • Aug. 10 – 8:50
Final • Aug. 13 – 10:04
Tyler Nase, Robin Prendes (USA LM4-)
Heats • Aug. 6 – 11:00-11:20
Repechage • Aug. 7 – 9:00
Semifinal A/B • Aug. 9 – 9:50-10:00
Final • Aug. 11 –A at 9:44, B at 8:00
Glenn Ochal (USA M8+)
Heats • Aug. 8 – 9:50-10:00
Repechage • Aug. 10 – 9:00
Final • Aug. 13 – 10:24
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