Once again, the men's basketball game starts at 6 tomorrow night.
That would be the one against Yale. There was a late time change, made necessary last week, when the game was moved from 7 to 6.
TigerBlog has continued to mention the time change because he doesn't want anyone to show up at 7 and wonder why it's early in the second half. He figures if he mentions it enough here, and it's mentioned enough on social media and the web page, then that won't be the case.
In fact, the first announcement was made Sunday during the Princeton-Rowan game, when the audience consisted largely of people who might be interested in that sort of information. TB, though, wants to be able to say that everything was done to make sure nobody missed the start of the game.
And why was it moved?
The game is being televised by NBC Sports Philadelphia +. The short story is that there is Eagles Super Bowl coverage starting at 8, so the game had to either be moved to 6 or not shown live.
Ah, the Eagles.
The Princeton-Yale game will tip off roughly 48 hours before kickoff for the Super Bowl, between the Philadelphia Eagles and the New England Patriots. The local Princeton area is divided relatively equally between fans of the Eagles, Jets and Giants - with the occasional Redskins, Cowboys and Steelers fans thrown in.
If you're an Eagles fan, then you're simply ecstatic. Your team is in the Super Bowl for the third time, looking for its first win. You're all in.
If you're a Jets or Giants fan? The prevailing logic is that Giants fans will root for New England and Jets fans will root for the Eagles. That's probably right. If you're a Giants fan, you'd probably rather hold onto the notion that your team beat Belichick and Brady twice and nobody else ever has.
If you're a Jets fan, you hate all things New England.
TigerBlog? He'd like to see the Eagles win. It's part of his new anti-Giants thing, stemming from the firing of Princeton alum Marc Ross. And the general unrootable nature of the team right now.
Who will win? TB can see the Eagles do it. In fact, he'll pick Philadelphia, maybe in the 28-21 range?
Keep in mind he's never been right.
The Super Bowl, of course, means that the start of lacrosse season is here. For Princeton's men and women, it means the start of practice today. For Division I, it actually means there are real live regular season games starting today actually, with Vermont at Furman.
Princeton's lacrosse season opens two weeks from Saturday. That's both exciting and nuts at the same time.
In the meantime, there's this weekend, which is one of the busier ones you'll ever see. There are 36 events, featuring 15 different teams.
You can see the whole schedule HERE.
There is something for everyone on that list.
Among the teams playing will be the men's hockey team, who is home this weekend against St. Lawrence tomorrow and Clarkson Saturday. Both of those games face-off at 7.
Princeton returned from its long first semester break Tuesday night with a huge win, beating Quinnipiac 5-3. Max Veronneau had three assists in that game, which isn't a hat trick. That would be goals. Are three assists some sort of slang thing? TB doesn't know.
He does know, even with his limited hockey experience, that Veronneau is a unique player. When you watch Princeton play, one of the things you're drawn to, or at least TB is drawn to, is the way Veronneau sees the play unfold and gets the puck to the right person.
The game against Quinnipiac was the third time in his career that Veronneau has had three assists. For the season he has a team-best 19 assists, to go along with nine goals, for a team-best 28 points. He's tied for second in the ECAC in assists, and his next assist will be the 50th of his career.
Princeton's win over Quinnipiac was huge, in that Princeton hadn't played in 17 days and, more than that, came into the game one point back of the Bobcats and two points back of Brown for eighth place. That's a big number, since the top eight teams get home ice in the ECAC playoffs.
St. Lawrence and Clarkson are right around .500 between them in the league, with St. Lawrence at 2-11-1 and Clarkson at 11-1-2. Princeton will make the long road trip to the two New York schools for the final weekend of the regular season, which means that four of the final eight games are against those two.
If the last two years have shown anything about Princeton men's hockey, it's that the Tigers can beat anyone and can take no one for granted. Last year showed that Princeton was playing its best down the stretch and into the ECAC playoffs, with a first round win over Colgate at Baker Rink.
So there's home men's hockey this weekend, and big games too. And a ton of other events, most of which are on the road.
Men's basketball is home, of course. Against Yale tomorrow and Brown Saurday.
And both games are at 6. But you already knew that.
Thursday, February 1, 2018
Wednesday, January 31, 2018
Some Good News
TigerBlog wants to start today, again, with the reminder that the men's basketball game against Yale Friday has been moved to a 6:00 start.
He also wants to start with another story, a non-Princeton story, one that he hopes has a happy ending to it.
TigerBlog was a big fan of the series "A Season With Navy Football," one that aired this past fall on Showtime. In fact, he's been a big fan of Navy football for a long time, with a great deal of respect for the offense the team runs (he's likened it to the football equivalent of what used to be the Princeton basketball offense) and the people at the Academy itself.
The series followed the Midshipmen through their season, one that included a heartbreaking loss to Army in the snow in Philadelphia, followed by a 49-7 destruction of Virginia in the Military Bowl.
Of course, when you use the terms "heartbreaking" and "destruction" when you talk about the 2017 Navy football team, you have to keep in the mind the story that carried over throughout the entire season. Jarren Jasper, the 14-year-old son of Navy offensive coordinator Ivin Jasper, was waiting for a heart transplant.
Like all of those who are waiting, Jarren's future was very much uncertain throughout the fall. His own heart was failing him, something that escalated after he had a procedure in the summer. Now all he and his family could do was wait.
If you watched the show, you saw how it affected every member of the program, in a very, very emotional way. Jarren Jasper was what you'd think a 14-year-old would be in that situation - annoyed that he was missing out on what he wanted to be doing, like going to Navy's away games and playing his own games.
For his part, Ivin Jasper carried on in his position as OC, all the while waiting for one of two phone calls to come.
The phone finally rang for the Jasper family Monday night, and it was the news they'd waited for - a heart had come available. Jarren had the transplant surgery, and it appears to have gone well, from early indications. His parents tweeted that the heart was beating on its own, a good sign, and they also sent along their condolences to the donor family, keeping in mind exactly what it takes to have a donor heart become available.
The next 24 hours are huge for Jarren. TigerBlog, of course, wishes him and his family the best. As you probably know, TB has two kids. When they were 14, such a situation would have been unimaginable to him. He's never met Ivin Jasper or his family, but he can't help but marvel at how they have handled what they were dealt. They deserve nothing but the best.
Transitioning back to Princeton Athletics from that isn't easy, so TB will just get right to it.
This week's edition of "Hard Cuts" features the Arirguzoh brothers, Franklin of the men's track and field team and Richmond of the men's basketball team. TB thinks it's his favorite episode yet, and not just because he did the voiceover in the beginning and the end.
It's a great family story, about how they ended up in Mercer County in the first place and how both brothers now compete at Princeton. That part alone would be great, and it only gets better when you factor in the back-and-forth ragging on each other that the two brothers do as they're being interviewed.
It's really good. You can see it HERE.
Another video was released yesterday on goprincetontigers.com, this one about women's squash player Oliver Fiechter. You can see that one HERE.
It's been a great squash season so far for Princeton, both the men and women.
Fiechter's team is currently ranked No. 1 in the country, and the next two matches will be absolutely huge, beginning tonight at Penn and then continuing Saturday at Harvard. If you don't follow squash that closely, those are the two teams who played in the national championship match a year ago, one that Harvard won 7-2.
Princeton is ranked No. 1 largely because of its win over No. 2 Trinity, a team that has not yet played Harvard. The Crimson remain the team to beat in the Ivy League and nationally, though, especially when you toss in the team's current 46-match winning streak, which dates to a 2015 mid-season loss to Penn.
The men are also at Penn tonight. That match pits the sixth-ranked Tigers against the fifth-ranked Quakers. Individually, Princeton is led by freshman Youseff Ibrahim, who is unbeaten at the No. 1 spot so far and is a favorite to win the individual national title even as a rookie.
It's been a great resurgence in squash at Princeton, one that hopefully continues as the season goes along.
And as for Jarren Jasper? Hopefully his news continues to get better as well. His resilience is amazing for someone his age.
Every now and then, the news can be good.
He also wants to start with another story, a non-Princeton story, one that he hopes has a happy ending to it.
TigerBlog was a big fan of the series "A Season With Navy Football," one that aired this past fall on Showtime. In fact, he's been a big fan of Navy football for a long time, with a great deal of respect for the offense the team runs (he's likened it to the football equivalent of what used to be the Princeton basketball offense) and the people at the Academy itself.
The series followed the Midshipmen through their season, one that included a heartbreaking loss to Army in the snow in Philadelphia, followed by a 49-7 destruction of Virginia in the Military Bowl.
Of course, when you use the terms "heartbreaking" and "destruction" when you talk about the 2017 Navy football team, you have to keep in the mind the story that carried over throughout the entire season. Jarren Jasper, the 14-year-old son of Navy offensive coordinator Ivin Jasper, was waiting for a heart transplant.
Like all of those who are waiting, Jarren's future was very much uncertain throughout the fall. His own heart was failing him, something that escalated after he had a procedure in the summer. Now all he and his family could do was wait.
If you watched the show, you saw how it affected every member of the program, in a very, very emotional way. Jarren Jasper was what you'd think a 14-year-old would be in that situation - annoyed that he was missing out on what he wanted to be doing, like going to Navy's away games and playing his own games.
For his part, Ivin Jasper carried on in his position as OC, all the while waiting for one of two phone calls to come.
The phone finally rang for the Jasper family Monday night, and it was the news they'd waited for - a heart had come available. Jarren had the transplant surgery, and it appears to have gone well, from early indications. His parents tweeted that the heart was beating on its own, a good sign, and they also sent along their condolences to the donor family, keeping in mind exactly what it takes to have a donor heart become available.
The next 24 hours are huge for Jarren. TigerBlog, of course, wishes him and his family the best. As you probably know, TB has two kids. When they were 14, such a situation would have been unimaginable to him. He's never met Ivin Jasper or his family, but he can't help but marvel at how they have handled what they were dealt. They deserve nothing but the best.
Transitioning back to Princeton Athletics from that isn't easy, so TB will just get right to it.
This week's edition of "Hard Cuts" features the Arirguzoh brothers, Franklin of the men's track and field team and Richmond of the men's basketball team. TB thinks it's his favorite episode yet, and not just because he did the voiceover in the beginning and the end.
It's a great family story, about how they ended up in Mercer County in the first place and how both brothers now compete at Princeton. That part alone would be great, and it only gets better when you factor in the back-and-forth ragging on each other that the two brothers do as they're being interviewed.
It's really good. You can see it HERE.
Another video was released yesterday on goprincetontigers.com, this one about women's squash player Oliver Fiechter. You can see that one HERE.
It's been a great squash season so far for Princeton, both the men and women.
Fiechter's team is currently ranked No. 1 in the country, and the next two matches will be absolutely huge, beginning tonight at Penn and then continuing Saturday at Harvard. If you don't follow squash that closely, those are the two teams who played in the national championship match a year ago, one that Harvard won 7-2.
Princeton is ranked No. 1 largely because of its win over No. 2 Trinity, a team that has not yet played Harvard. The Crimson remain the team to beat in the Ivy League and nationally, though, especially when you toss in the team's current 46-match winning streak, which dates to a 2015 mid-season loss to Penn.
The men are also at Penn tonight. That match pits the sixth-ranked Tigers against the fifth-ranked Quakers. Individually, Princeton is led by freshman Youseff Ibrahim, who is unbeaten at the No. 1 spot so far and is a favorite to win the individual national title even as a rookie.
It's been a great resurgence in squash at Princeton, one that hopefully continues as the season goes along.
And as for Jarren Jasper? Hopefully his news continues to get better as well. His resilience is amazing for someone his age.
Every now and then, the news can be good.
Tuesday, January 30, 2018
A Little Lax, A Little Hockey
TigerBlog starts today in the same place he will all week: The men's basketball game Friday night has been moved from 7 to 6.
Say it with TB: "Princeton vs. Yale is Friday at 6 at Jadwin."
Okay, what next? How about yesterday's comment about Tom Schreiber and his assist to himself in the Toronto Rock game the other day.
Schreiber, who has been called the best player in the world by multiple lacrosse magazines, is the second-leading scorer in the National Lacrosse League, the indoor professional box league. He's also the two-time reigning MVP of Major League Lacrosse.
His most recent performance was a five-goal, seven-assist night as Toronto defeated New England 21-9. It wasn't even his first 12-point game this month, by the way.
One of his goals in that game was on a rebound off the boards behind the goal. Schreiber seemingly passed it off the wall and got it back, and he then scored while falling to the ground. It's an extraordinary goal.
You can see it here:
TigerBlog is a member of the NCAA's official men's lacrosse statistics committee. He's co-written the rules for statkeeping for college lacrosse, and he just finished writing an FAQ for keeping stats that the NCAA will send out to all men's lacrosse contacts. Obviously he knows a thing or two about statkeeping.
That, though, is just for the outdoor game. There's no chance in the outdoor game to do what Schreiber did, because there are no boards to throw it off. Even if he tried to pass it to himself in the outdoor game, or throw it a spot and outrun the defense to get it, that would hardly be an assist.
In the indoor game? TB has no idea what the official rules are. His opinion, though, would be no player could ever get a assist on his own goal.
Not even Schreiber.
As for Schrieber, he is No. 26 as a professional lacrosse player after being No. 22 at Princeton, where his 200 career points make him the highest scoring middie in program history. The current No. 22 at Princeton is sophomore Michael Sowers, who in just one year already has established himself as one of the greatest players in program history.
Sowers put up a program-record 82 points as a freshman while becoming the first Princeton player ever to have at least 40 goals and 40 assists in a season. He is as good as any player in the country right now, and TB can tell you that the list of players that he's ever seen play lacrosse to whom he would compare Sowers is a very, very, very short one.
Even before Princeton has started practice, Sowers is featured in the very well-produced series "reLAXin'withPCarc." These videos feature ESPN's Paul Carcaterra, and he drives around with some of the top players in college lacrosse as a way for the viewer to get to know them a little more informally.
You can see the one with Sowers here:
As you know, TigerBlog is always happy to talk lacrosse, whatever time of year.
There are some other things to get to today though.
The two Princeton hockey teams return from first-semester exam break tonight, and both are on the road. The two games are a bit different, though.
The men's team is at Quinnipiac, jumping right back into the thick of the ECAC race. Princeton currently sits in 10th place, one point back of Quinnipiac for ninth and two back of Brown for eighth. In the ECAC, the top eight teams get home ice in the playoffs.
Princeton follows the trip to Quinnipiac with a home weekend against St. Lawrence and Clarkson. After that are three more weekends of league games, prior to the start of the playoffs.
That means there are nine league games remaining, which means that Princeton could finish basically anywhere from 5-12. Hosting a playoff series is a very real goal.
As for the women, they are at Penn State in their return game, which actually is a return game in more ways than one. For starters, it'll be Princeton's return to playing after the exam break.
Also, it'll be Princeton's return to seeing Jeff Kampersal, the longtime coach at Princeton who is in Year 1 at Penn State. Kampersal needs to rebuild the Nittany Lions, who are 6-12-9.
The women's game, by the way, begins at 5.
And speaking of start times, the men's basketball Friday night against Yale is 6.
That's 6.
Say it with TB: "Princeton vs. Yale is Friday at 6 at Jadwin."
Okay, what next? How about yesterday's comment about Tom Schreiber and his assist to himself in the Toronto Rock game the other day.
Schreiber, who has been called the best player in the world by multiple lacrosse magazines, is the second-leading scorer in the National Lacrosse League, the indoor professional box league. He's also the two-time reigning MVP of Major League Lacrosse.
His most recent performance was a five-goal, seven-assist night as Toronto defeated New England 21-9. It wasn't even his first 12-point game this month, by the way.
One of his goals in that game was on a rebound off the boards behind the goal. Schreiber seemingly passed it off the wall and got it back, and he then scored while falling to the ground. It's an extraordinary goal.
You can see it here:
The comment from yesterday asks if TB thinks Schreiber should get an assist on that play. The answer is, no, he does not.The skill that this takes! Wow! 🔥@TomSchreiber26 assists on his own goal! @SportsCenter @SportsCentre @BarDown #CaptainAmerica #SCTop10 pic.twitter.com/ra1FswnRQs— Toronto Rock (@TorontoRockLax) January 28, 2018
TigerBlog is a member of the NCAA's official men's lacrosse statistics committee. He's co-written the rules for statkeeping for college lacrosse, and he just finished writing an FAQ for keeping stats that the NCAA will send out to all men's lacrosse contacts. Obviously he knows a thing or two about statkeeping.
That, though, is just for the outdoor game. There's no chance in the outdoor game to do what Schreiber did, because there are no boards to throw it off. Even if he tried to pass it to himself in the outdoor game, or throw it a spot and outrun the defense to get it, that would hardly be an assist.
In the indoor game? TB has no idea what the official rules are. His opinion, though, would be no player could ever get a assist on his own goal.
Not even Schreiber.
As for Schrieber, he is No. 26 as a professional lacrosse player after being No. 22 at Princeton, where his 200 career points make him the highest scoring middie in program history. The current No. 22 at Princeton is sophomore Michael Sowers, who in just one year already has established himself as one of the greatest players in program history.
Sowers put up a program-record 82 points as a freshman while becoming the first Princeton player ever to have at least 40 goals and 40 assists in a season. He is as good as any player in the country right now, and TB can tell you that the list of players that he's ever seen play lacrosse to whom he would compare Sowers is a very, very, very short one.
Even before Princeton has started practice, Sowers is featured in the very well-produced series "reLAXin'withPCarc." These videos feature ESPN's Paul Carcaterra, and he drives around with some of the top players in college lacrosse as a way for the viewer to get to know them a little more informally.
You can see the one with Sowers here:
reLAXin’ Season 2 is underway! Excited to go behind the scenes with the games best players and coaches. Episode 1 starts with @TigerLacrosse Michael Sowers! #ESPNULAX #relaxinwithpcarc— Paul Carcaterra (@paulcarcaterra) January 28, 2018
pic.twitter.com/16PMGYTRKp
As you know, TigerBlog is always happy to talk lacrosse, whatever time of year.
There are some other things to get to today though.
The two Princeton hockey teams return from first-semester exam break tonight, and both are on the road. The two games are a bit different, though.
The men's team is at Quinnipiac, jumping right back into the thick of the ECAC race. Princeton currently sits in 10th place, one point back of Quinnipiac for ninth and two back of Brown for eighth. In the ECAC, the top eight teams get home ice in the playoffs.
Princeton follows the trip to Quinnipiac with a home weekend against St. Lawrence and Clarkson. After that are three more weekends of league games, prior to the start of the playoffs.
That means there are nine league games remaining, which means that Princeton could finish basically anywhere from 5-12. Hosting a playoff series is a very real goal.
As for the women, they are at Penn State in their return game, which actually is a return game in more ways than one. For starters, it'll be Princeton's return to playing after the exam break.
Also, it'll be Princeton's return to seeing Jeff Kampersal, the longtime coach at Princeton who is in Year 1 at Penn State. Kampersal needs to rebuild the Nittany Lions, who are 6-12-9.
The women's game, by the way, begins at 5.
And speaking of start times, the men's basketball Friday night against Yale is 6.
That's 6.
Monday, January 29, 2018
Back At It
Okay, TigerBlog will tell you about his most recent television watching in a second.
First, he wants to say that the men's basketball game against Yale will be starting at 6 Friday night, not at 7, as it was originally scheduled. Once again, that's Friday at 6.
Okay. Got that? Good. Where was he? Oh yeah.
TigerBlog knows a lot of people who liked the show "Friends."
He also knows pretty much the same number of people who now say "how did I ever think that was funny?"
TigerBlog falls into that camp. He watched the show when it was on from 1994-2004, and he liked it. Now, if he sees a rerun, he can't imagine why.
Ah, but now he's stumbled onto something that is absolutely perfect for anyone who liked "Friends." It's a Showtime show called "Episodes," which is also on Netflix.
How best to describe it? Well, it's just hilarious.
It stars Matt LeBlanc,who played Joey in "Friends." In "Episodes," he's playing Matt LeBlanc, and he's really good at it.
The plot is that LeBlanc is the lead in a new American TV comedy, one that the head of the studio wants to produce after it has won several awards in Britain. The basic premise is that head of the studio is an awful guy with no scruples who lures this idealistic English husband and wife team who created the show and then bullies them into almost completely overhauling everything about it.
In the meantime, there's LeBlanc. He's a big kid who just does whatever he wants, having fun along the way and constantly reminding others or being reminded that he was Joey.
The whole thing works perfectly. It's hysterical stuff.
It has a great ensemble cast in which each character brings something unique to the show that makes it better. Even his ex-wife, who has a small part, is hilarious each time she's on.
It mostly works, though, because of LeBlanc, who is willing to make fun of himself pretty much non-stop. And the references to "Friends" are great - there aren't too many of them, but there are enough to reinforce why it is that LeBlanc can live the way that he does. He's no special talent, but he'll always be Joey.
It's one of three shows that TB has watched lately. Another was "Marvelous Mrs. Maisel," an Amazon show that would have been unwatchable without the title character, who is a New York City Jewish housewife who turns into a stand-up comedienne in the 1950s.
Rachel Brosnahan plays Mrs. Maisel, and she is extraordinary. She's also the one from "House of Cards" who was the prostitute that Doug falls in love with, something that doesn't seem possible when you compare the two roles.
The third show is "Outlander," a Starz show. This one is a drama, a really, really serious one. It's about a nurse from World War II who ends up in Scotland 200 years earlier. If it seems silly, it isn't. It was actually really good.
"Outlander" has some great performances, and what TB likes about it most is the way it makes the viewer think about the concept of "can you alter the future by changing the past."
All three shows are well worth watching. TB is only on Season 2 of "Episodes," which has already had five of them. His main question is how did he knot know about these shows until recently?
There was plenty of TV time for the last few weeks, what with Princeton Athletics at a standstill for first semester exams. This past weekend marked the return from those exams across several sports, and then, as TB said Friday, with an avalanche of games this coming week and weekend.
The men's basketball team defeated Rowan 86-50 yesterday afternoon in its first games since a sweep over Columbia and Cornell more than two weeks earlier. Usually, when a basketball team hasn't played in that long, it takes a few minutes for the players to get their legs and their shooting touch back.
In the case of Princeton, neither seemed to be a problem.
Princeton had energy from the start. And the shots were falling early. Like seven of the first nine threes.
It was 12-0 and 25-4 in a blink, and the rest of it was just about getting enough minutes for the starters and the rest of the rotation to shake the rust and then as many minutes for everyone else as possible.
And with that, it was time to look ahead.
Princeton hosts Yale Friday night - remember it's at 6 - and that's the start of a stretch that will see the Tigers play their final 11 Ivy League games in a 29-day stretch. The first three of those will be in five days, with Yale Friday, Brown Saturday and Penn Tuesday, all at Jadwin Gym.
After that, it'll be six of the final eight on the road.
Right now, Princeton is 2-1 in the Ivy League. Harvard is 4-0. Penn is 3-0. Brown and Yale are both 2-2.
Each weekend will be huge.
The Ivy champion will be the one that wins the regular season. The top four teams will meet at the Palestra March 10-11 for the league tournament and the automatic NCAA tournament bid.
Princeton won both last year. It won't be long until the Tigers will see if they can repeat.
In the meantime, TB will still try to keep his TV pace going. That means, you know, more episodes of "Episodes."
First, he wants to say that the men's basketball game against Yale will be starting at 6 Friday night, not at 7, as it was originally scheduled. Once again, that's Friday at 6.
Okay. Got that? Good. Where was he? Oh yeah.
TigerBlog knows a lot of people who liked the show "Friends."
He also knows pretty much the same number of people who now say "how did I ever think that was funny?"
TigerBlog falls into that camp. He watched the show when it was on from 1994-2004, and he liked it. Now, if he sees a rerun, he can't imagine why.
Ah, but now he's stumbled onto something that is absolutely perfect for anyone who liked "Friends." It's a Showtime show called "Episodes," which is also on Netflix.
How best to describe it? Well, it's just hilarious.
It stars Matt LeBlanc,who played Joey in "Friends." In "Episodes," he's playing Matt LeBlanc, and he's really good at it.
The plot is that LeBlanc is the lead in a new American TV comedy, one that the head of the studio wants to produce after it has won several awards in Britain. The basic premise is that head of the studio is an awful guy with no scruples who lures this idealistic English husband and wife team who created the show and then bullies them into almost completely overhauling everything about it.
In the meantime, there's LeBlanc. He's a big kid who just does whatever he wants, having fun along the way and constantly reminding others or being reminded that he was Joey.
The whole thing works perfectly. It's hysterical stuff.
It has a great ensemble cast in which each character brings something unique to the show that makes it better. Even his ex-wife, who has a small part, is hilarious each time she's on.
It mostly works, though, because of LeBlanc, who is willing to make fun of himself pretty much non-stop. And the references to "Friends" are great - there aren't too many of them, but there are enough to reinforce why it is that LeBlanc can live the way that he does. He's no special talent, but he'll always be Joey.
It's one of three shows that TB has watched lately. Another was "Marvelous Mrs. Maisel," an Amazon show that would have been unwatchable without the title character, who is a New York City Jewish housewife who turns into a stand-up comedienne in the 1950s.
Rachel Brosnahan plays Mrs. Maisel, and she is extraordinary. She's also the one from "House of Cards" who was the prostitute that Doug falls in love with, something that doesn't seem possible when you compare the two roles.
The third show is "Outlander," a Starz show. This one is a drama, a really, really serious one. It's about a nurse from World War II who ends up in Scotland 200 years earlier. If it seems silly, it isn't. It was actually really good.
"Outlander" has some great performances, and what TB likes about it most is the way it makes the viewer think about the concept of "can you alter the future by changing the past."
All three shows are well worth watching. TB is only on Season 2 of "Episodes," which has already had five of them. His main question is how did he knot know about these shows until recently?
There was plenty of TV time for the last few weeks, what with Princeton Athletics at a standstill for first semester exams. This past weekend marked the return from those exams across several sports, and then, as TB said Friday, with an avalanche of games this coming week and weekend.
The men's basketball team defeated Rowan 86-50 yesterday afternoon in its first games since a sweep over Columbia and Cornell more than two weeks earlier. Usually, when a basketball team hasn't played in that long, it takes a few minutes for the players to get their legs and their shooting touch back.
In the case of Princeton, neither seemed to be a problem.
Princeton had energy from the start. And the shots were falling early. Like seven of the first nine threes.
It was 12-0 and 25-4 in a blink, and the rest of it was just about getting enough minutes for the starters and the rest of the rotation to shake the rust and then as many minutes for everyone else as possible.
And with that, it was time to look ahead.
Princeton hosts Yale Friday night - remember it's at 6 - and that's the start of a stretch that will see the Tigers play their final 11 Ivy League games in a 29-day stretch. The first three of those will be in five days, with Yale Friday, Brown Saturday and Penn Tuesday, all at Jadwin Gym.
After that, it'll be six of the final eight on the road.
Right now, Princeton is 2-1 in the Ivy League. Harvard is 4-0. Penn is 3-0. Brown and Yale are both 2-2.
Each weekend will be huge.
The Ivy champion will be the one that wins the regular season. The top four teams will meet at the Palestra March 10-11 for the league tournament and the automatic NCAA tournament bid.
Princeton won both last year. It won't be long until the Tigers will see if they can repeat.
In the meantime, TB will still try to keep his TV pace going. That means, you know, more episodes of "Episodes."
Friday, January 26, 2018
Heartfelt
Pens down, close your blue books.
Do they still use blue books? Those were a staple of exam-taking backing in TigerBlog's day. Do they still use them? Is everything electronic now?
TB supposes he should know the answer to this.
Ah, the dreaded blue books. They just have been 5.5x8.5, with college ruled lines and blue covers. For TB's exams, they said "University of Pennsylvania" across the front.
The idea was to fill as many of them as possible during the time of the exam. It really didn't matter what you were saying. Just keep filling up space. Multiple blue books were better than one. No argument that could be cogently made in a few sentences was good enough. Keep writing.
In the end, the people who wrote the most got A's. It trickled down from there.
Well, maybe not exactly. TB, though, is reasonably sure that the thought went through his mind that, while he was pretty happy with his answer, it needed to be longer.
Those blue books are the lasting memory of his time taking finals at Penn. Well, that and the time that he had an astronomy professor who invited the class to his "Gala Final Revue" and proceeded to turn astronomy into a song-and-dance routine. It was very clever.
First semester exams are winding down at Princeton. With the end of exam period comes the return of athletic events, something Princeton has had none of for nearly two full weeks.
Things start slowly this weekend, with a little bit of calmness before the big storm. Then they explode next weekend, as the winter teams will begin their sprint to their finish lines while the spring teams start to practice.
In case you're keeping track of these things, the first Princeton lacrosse games of the year will be three weeks from tomorrow, including a men's home game against Monmouth.
In the meantime, let's compare this weekend with the one after it.
This weekend, Princeton has seven athletic events. The teams who are playing are men's and women's tennis (twice, Sunday at home), men's basketball (home against Rowan Sunday at 1), men's and women's track and field and women's swimming.
That's this weekend. Six teams. Seven events.
Next weekend? There are 36 events between Friday and Sunday. Thirty-six. That's a ton.
Those events will be played by, if TB counted correctly, 15 different teams. There are a lot of Division I schools that don't have 15 teams, let alone 15 who play on the same weekend.
So yeah, it's getting exceptionally busy around here very quickly.
Before it does, TigerBlog did want to mention something that happened here during the down time for exams: Luis Nicolao's farewell luncheon in Jadwin Gym this past Tuesday.
Luis is leaving Princeton after a 20-year run with the men's and women's teams, one that saw him win better than 800 games and go to the NCAA tournament seven times. As TB has said, Luis is one of the most well-liked people ever to walk into Jadwin Gym, and he's also one of the funniest.
Both of those dynamics were clearly on display for his farewell luncheon.
Luis started out by apologizing for his red eyes, since he'd just been in the chlorinated pool. But was that why, or was he actually tearing up as he spoke? He seemed to be, until he used that as a setup for some good punchlines.
And everyone who spoke about Luis talked about the same things, all while making fun of his at the same time. His sense of humor. His laid-back demeanor. His likeability.
Like all good roasts, there were elements of truth in the ribbing, while there was also an element of genuine emotion to go with it. Luis wouldn't want any other kind of sendoff, TB supposes.
What's the word that best describes it?
For TigerBlog, he'd use bittersweet. It's the nature of things, to have people move on from here. Very few people stay for 20 years in the first place, let alone another 20 or so after that. And, TigerBlog presumes, the idea of coaching at his alma mater - Navy - has to be very luring.
Still, Luis will miss Princeton. And Princeton will miss him. He's TB's favorite kind of person - no BS, always steady, never really seeming to take things too seriously while he actually is very intense about what matters, a really strong advocate for his program and a genuine fan of the others.
He's been someone who has been great to have around all these years.
As TB started to walk out of the Jadwin lobby Tuesday, he was stopped by another person who fits the same basic description that TB just gave of Luis. This time, it was former women's track and field coach Peter Farrell, who was here for 20 years and then stayed for 19 more after that, reaching 39 before he left two years ago to travel the world, which seems to be what he's spent his time doing since.
Peter grabbed TB's hand and stopped him as he walked by. Then he summed up the event, and Luis, perfectly, using almost no words to do so.
"That was," he said, "heartfelt."
Yup. Peter was 100 percent correct.
Do they still use blue books? Those were a staple of exam-taking backing in TigerBlog's day. Do they still use them? Is everything electronic now?
TB supposes he should know the answer to this.
Ah, the dreaded blue books. They just have been 5.5x8.5, with college ruled lines and blue covers. For TB's exams, they said "University of Pennsylvania" across the front.
The idea was to fill as many of them as possible during the time of the exam. It really didn't matter what you were saying. Just keep filling up space. Multiple blue books were better than one. No argument that could be cogently made in a few sentences was good enough. Keep writing.
In the end, the people who wrote the most got A's. It trickled down from there.
Well, maybe not exactly. TB, though, is reasonably sure that the thought went through his mind that, while he was pretty happy with his answer, it needed to be longer.
Those blue books are the lasting memory of his time taking finals at Penn. Well, that and the time that he had an astronomy professor who invited the class to his "Gala Final Revue" and proceeded to turn astronomy into a song-and-dance routine. It was very clever.
First semester exams are winding down at Princeton. With the end of exam period comes the return of athletic events, something Princeton has had none of for nearly two full weeks.
Things start slowly this weekend, with a little bit of calmness before the big storm. Then they explode next weekend, as the winter teams will begin their sprint to their finish lines while the spring teams start to practice.
In case you're keeping track of these things, the first Princeton lacrosse games of the year will be three weeks from tomorrow, including a men's home game against Monmouth.
In the meantime, let's compare this weekend with the one after it.
This weekend, Princeton has seven athletic events. The teams who are playing are men's and women's tennis (twice, Sunday at home), men's basketball (home against Rowan Sunday at 1), men's and women's track and field and women's swimming.
That's this weekend. Six teams. Seven events.
Next weekend? There are 36 events between Friday and Sunday. Thirty-six. That's a ton.
Those events will be played by, if TB counted correctly, 15 different teams. There are a lot of Division I schools that don't have 15 teams, let alone 15 who play on the same weekend.
So yeah, it's getting exceptionally busy around here very quickly.
Before it does, TigerBlog did want to mention something that happened here during the down time for exams: Luis Nicolao's farewell luncheon in Jadwin Gym this past Tuesday.
Luis is leaving Princeton after a 20-year run with the men's and women's teams, one that saw him win better than 800 games and go to the NCAA tournament seven times. As TB has said, Luis is one of the most well-liked people ever to walk into Jadwin Gym, and he's also one of the funniest.
Both of those dynamics were clearly on display for his farewell luncheon.
Luis started out by apologizing for his red eyes, since he'd just been in the chlorinated pool. But was that why, or was he actually tearing up as he spoke? He seemed to be, until he used that as a setup for some good punchlines.
And everyone who spoke about Luis talked about the same things, all while making fun of his at the same time. His sense of humor. His laid-back demeanor. His likeability.
Like all good roasts, there were elements of truth in the ribbing, while there was also an element of genuine emotion to go with it. Luis wouldn't want any other kind of sendoff, TB supposes.
What's the word that best describes it?
For TigerBlog, he'd use bittersweet. It's the nature of things, to have people move on from here. Very few people stay for 20 years in the first place, let alone another 20 or so after that. And, TigerBlog presumes, the idea of coaching at his alma mater - Navy - has to be very luring.
Still, Luis will miss Princeton. And Princeton will miss him. He's TB's favorite kind of person - no BS, always steady, never really seeming to take things too seriously while he actually is very intense about what matters, a really strong advocate for his program and a genuine fan of the others.
He's been someone who has been great to have around all these years.
As TB started to walk out of the Jadwin lobby Tuesday, he was stopped by another person who fits the same basic description that TB just gave of Luis. This time, it was former women's track and field coach Peter Farrell, who was here for 20 years and then stayed for 19 more after that, reaching 39 before he left two years ago to travel the world, which seems to be what he's spent his time doing since.
Peter grabbed TB's hand and stopped him as he walked by. Then he summed up the event, and Luis, perfectly, using almost no words to do so.
"That was," he said, "heartfelt."
Yup. Peter was 100 percent correct.
Thursday, January 25, 2018
Princeton In South Korea
TigerBlog learned something fairly fascinating yesterday.
As you might have heard, the Winter Olympic Games begin shortly. To be exact, the Games begin two weeks from tomorrow, in Pyeongchang, South Korea. This should not be confused with Pyongyang, North Korea.
TB was looking up some Winter Olympics history, and he found out that Alpine skiing didn't become an event until the fourth Winter Games. How is that possible? TB would have assumed the Winter Olympics would have started with Alpine skiing.
That wasn't the fascinating part.
The first Winter Olympic Games were held in 1924, in Chamonix, France. What TB didn't know until yesterday was that figure skating actually started out before that, dating back to the Summer Games of 1908, in London.
Figure skating started out in the Summer Games? Who knew?
Most people prefer the Summer Games to the Winter ones. TB likes them both.
He also thinks that whoever came up with the idea to stagger them was a genius. Up until 1992, the Winter and Summer Games were in the same year.
His favorite event in the Winter Games is the downhill, followed by ski jumping. He likes the hockey, though he recognizes that repeating what happened in 1980 is an impossibility.
He's not as into most of the events that were borrowed from the X Games, though he does like snowboard cross. Maybe it's because it sounds like lacrosse.
Figure skating isn't his favorite. He's not a huge fan of sports that are judged, as opposed to just having non-subjective points determine the winner. If he has to watch figure skating, he likes the ice dancing the best.
Either way, TB will watch a lot of the coming Games in South Korea.
The best part of the Summer Games is rooting for the Princetonians who are competing. There are usually more than 10 of them. They are in the sports that aren't shoved down your throat by TV. They're easy to root for, and several of them come back with medals.
Now, in South Korea, Princeton will be represented in the Winter Games. Caroline Park, a 2011 grad, will be a member of the unified Korean women's hockey team.
To be honest, TigerBlog doesn't completely understand the whole unified team process. Instead of a roster of 22, there will be 12 North Korean players added, of whom only three can dress each game.
TB also doesn't understand the political significance of having a unified team, but, as always, he'll stay away from politics.
Park will become the 113th Princetonian to compete in the Olympic Games. Of that group, she'll be the 10th to compete in the Winter Olympics.
Princeton's Winter Games participation dates to two hockey medalists from Lake Placid - that would silver medalists from the 1932 Games in Lake Placid. For the record, their names were Gerald Hallock III and Robert C. Livingston.
The combined Korean team is in the same group with Sweden, Switzerland and Japan and is a huge underdog to advance to the medal round. The other group has the U.S., Canada, OAR and Finland.
It took TigerBlog awhile to figure out what OAR meant. Turns out it means "Olympic Athletes from Russia," as opposed to just "Russia," whose doping efforts in 2014 prompted this ban.
Ilya Kovalchuk is the OAR captain. TB saw this quote in a story: “Everyone knows where we’re from. It doesn’t matter. The flag is in our heart.”
Seems like quite the harsh penalty.
As for Park, she will be part of the first Korean Olympic women's hockey team. Park and the Koreans will begin play on Saturday, Feb. 10, against Switzerland.
While she played for Princeton, Park helped the Tigers to four straight ECAC quarterfinal appearances. She played in 102 career games, and she was twice named to the ECAC All-Academic team.
She also is currently in medical school. She grew up near Toronto, with a father who attended the University of Toronto and mother who went to college in South Korea.
She also speaks English, French and Korean. And as a kid she acted, in TV shows and commercials.
To that list, you can add "Olympian."
Once again, it's another one of those Princeton people who leaves you awed.
And another one who makes it so easy to root for her.
As you might have heard, the Winter Olympic Games begin shortly. To be exact, the Games begin two weeks from tomorrow, in Pyeongchang, South Korea. This should not be confused with Pyongyang, North Korea.
TB was looking up some Winter Olympics history, and he found out that Alpine skiing didn't become an event until the fourth Winter Games. How is that possible? TB would have assumed the Winter Olympics would have started with Alpine skiing.
That wasn't the fascinating part.
The first Winter Olympic Games were held in 1924, in Chamonix, France. What TB didn't know until yesterday was that figure skating actually started out before that, dating back to the Summer Games of 1908, in London.
Figure skating started out in the Summer Games? Who knew?
Most people prefer the Summer Games to the Winter ones. TB likes them both.
He also thinks that whoever came up with the idea to stagger them was a genius. Up until 1992, the Winter and Summer Games were in the same year.
His favorite event in the Winter Games is the downhill, followed by ski jumping. He likes the hockey, though he recognizes that repeating what happened in 1980 is an impossibility.
He's not as into most of the events that were borrowed from the X Games, though he does like snowboard cross. Maybe it's because it sounds like lacrosse.
Figure skating isn't his favorite. He's not a huge fan of sports that are judged, as opposed to just having non-subjective points determine the winner. If he has to watch figure skating, he likes the ice dancing the best.
Either way, TB will watch a lot of the coming Games in South Korea.
The best part of the Summer Games is rooting for the Princetonians who are competing. There are usually more than 10 of them. They are in the sports that aren't shoved down your throat by TV. They're easy to root for, and several of them come back with medals.
Now, in South Korea, Princeton will be represented in the Winter Games. Caroline Park, a 2011 grad, will be a member of the unified Korean women's hockey team.
To be honest, TigerBlog doesn't completely understand the whole unified team process. Instead of a roster of 22, there will be 12 North Korean players added, of whom only three can dress each game.
TB also doesn't understand the political significance of having a unified team, but, as always, he'll stay away from politics.
Park will become the 113th Princetonian to compete in the Olympic Games. Of that group, she'll be the 10th to compete in the Winter Olympics.
Princeton's Winter Games participation dates to two hockey medalists from Lake Placid - that would silver medalists from the 1932 Games in Lake Placid. For the record, their names were Gerald Hallock III and Robert C. Livingston.
The combined Korean team is in the same group with Sweden, Switzerland and Japan and is a huge underdog to advance to the medal round. The other group has the U.S., Canada, OAR and Finland.
It took TigerBlog awhile to figure out what OAR meant. Turns out it means "Olympic Athletes from Russia," as opposed to just "Russia," whose doping efforts in 2014 prompted this ban.
Ilya Kovalchuk is the OAR captain. TB saw this quote in a story: “Everyone knows where we’re from. It doesn’t matter. The flag is in our heart.”
Seems like quite the harsh penalty.
As for Park, she will be part of the first Korean Olympic women's hockey team. Park and the Koreans will begin play on Saturday, Feb. 10, against Switzerland.
While she played for Princeton, Park helped the Tigers to four straight ECAC quarterfinal appearances. She played in 102 career games, and she was twice named to the ECAC All-Academic team.
She also is currently in medical school. She grew up near Toronto, with a father who attended the University of Toronto and mother who went to college in South Korea.
She also speaks English, French and Korean. And as a kid she acted, in TV shows and commercials.
To that list, you can add "Olympian."
Once again, it's another one of those Princeton people who leaves you awed.
And another one who makes it so easy to root for her.
Wednesday, January 24, 2018
A Chat With Courtney Banghart
The Court Report With Courtney Banghart - Jan. 24
How in the world is anyone supposed to get excited about watching the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl again?
At least anyone other than a serious Patriots fan, that is. Like Princeton women's basketball coach Courtney Banghart, for instance, who makes the interesting claim that the Patriots are good for the game.
Princeton is in the middle of first semester exams, and Courtney's team doesn't play again for more than a week. Ah, but she and TigerBlog had an episode of "The Court Report" to do yesterday, and they had to talk about something for 15 minutes.
Perhaps that's why the conversation that TB and Courtney had addressed all kinds of subjects.
Yes, they spent some time on the Princeton women's basketball team. Just not all that much.
Beyond talking about the video that TB's colleague Cody Chrusciel did on freshman guard Carlie Littlefield and the fact that Princeton is the only team in the league with a road win, there really wasn't much on-court business to discuss.
Instead, TB just let the conversation flow, and it was actually a lot of fun, sort of like blogging in the summer, right from the start. Question No. 1 - Did Courtney's uncle really give her a ride on a recruiting trip on his plane, as she had tweeted earlier this week?
Really. Seriously. Her uncle is a pilot, and he flew her to where she had to go.
That certainly makes it easier to hit the road, especially when she said which roads. These particular roads, by the way, went through New York City and New Haven and Hartford and lots of other places where bad traffic tends to gather.
Have you ever been on a small plane? TigerBlog was on one of those new smaller regional jets to Indiana, with one seat on one side and two on the other. But that's not what he's talking about. He's talking about a very small plane, the kind that your uncle flies you around in.
Does that sound like something you'd want to do? TigerBlog actually would like to try that on a trip one day.
Actually, he had a next-door neighbor once who was an airline pilot. He made flying seem like the absolutely safest way ever to get from one point to another.
You know, it does sound pretty good, Princeton to another Ivy campus in no time, with Courtney's uncle in the pilot seat, explaining how it all works. Seeing the landscape from the air. Seeing the cars stuck in traffic.
Driving just won't be the same, TB supposes.
Anyway, another part of his conversation with Courtney was about the Patriots, her beloved Patriots. Of course, she gave the disclaimer that she grew up in the area and so she was entitled to root for them and wondered how anyone could root against them. TB suggested it was easy to do so.
New England has won five Super Bowls with Bill Belichick as head coach and Tom Brady as quarterback. Together, those two will be heading to the Super Bowl for an eighth time. Eight Super Bowls for one head coach and quarterback? Insane.
If you think like TB, by the way, then you considered that the Super Bowl will match teams whose home stadiums are in the middle of a six-year run hosting every NCAA men's lacrosse championship weekend. You probably don't think like TB of course.
Each time New England has been in the Super Bowl, TigerBlog has hoped they'd lose. They actually did twice, both times to the Giants, TB's former favorite team, one that will have to do a lot to win him back now that they fired former Princeton football player Marc Ross.
Let's see. What else did TB and Courtney talk about? Oh yeah, Courtney talked about her earliest influences at Princeton, especially Bill Tierney, Chris Sailer and Guy Gadowsky. There was also, well, there was other stuff; you'll have to listen for yourself.
Like his experience with the lacrosse podcast with Matt Madalon last spring (and coming again this season TB assumes, though he hasn't talked to Madalon about it yet), TigerBlog has really enjoyed doing "The Court Report." Courtney is a natural at it, and the conversations have been really easy and really interesting, with a good mix of the on-court doings of the team along with what goes into the mind of a coach throughout a long season.
And, in this case, what keeps her busy when there's nothing on-court going on. Flying with her uncle? Very good. Rooting for New England? Eh. Not as good.
How in the world is anyone supposed to get excited about watching the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl again?
At least anyone other than a serious Patriots fan, that is. Like Princeton women's basketball coach Courtney Banghart, for instance, who makes the interesting claim that the Patriots are good for the game.
Princeton is in the middle of first semester exams, and Courtney's team doesn't play again for more than a week. Ah, but she and TigerBlog had an episode of "The Court Report" to do yesterday, and they had to talk about something for 15 minutes.
Perhaps that's why the conversation that TB and Courtney had addressed all kinds of subjects.
Yes, they spent some time on the Princeton women's basketball team. Just not all that much.
Beyond talking about the video that TB's colleague Cody Chrusciel did on freshman guard Carlie Littlefield and the fact that Princeton is the only team in the league with a road win, there really wasn't much on-court business to discuss.
Instead, TB just let the conversation flow, and it was actually a lot of fun, sort of like blogging in the summer, right from the start. Question No. 1 - Did Courtney's uncle really give her a ride on a recruiting trip on his plane, as she had tweeted earlier this week?
Really. Seriously. Her uncle is a pilot, and he flew her to where she had to go.
That certainly makes it easier to hit the road, especially when she said which roads. These particular roads, by the way, went through New York City and New Haven and Hartford and lots of other places where bad traffic tends to gather.
Have you ever been on a small plane? TigerBlog was on one of those new smaller regional jets to Indiana, with one seat on one side and two on the other. But that's not what he's talking about. He's talking about a very small plane, the kind that your uncle flies you around in.
Does that sound like something you'd want to do? TigerBlog actually would like to try that on a trip one day.
Actually, he had a next-door neighbor once who was an airline pilot. He made flying seem like the absolutely safest way ever to get from one point to another.
You know, it does sound pretty good, Princeton to another Ivy campus in no time, with Courtney's uncle in the pilot seat, explaining how it all works. Seeing the landscape from the air. Seeing the cars stuck in traffic.
Driving just won't be the same, TB supposes.
Anyway, another part of his conversation with Courtney was about the Patriots, her beloved Patriots. Of course, she gave the disclaimer that she grew up in the area and so she was entitled to root for them and wondered how anyone could root against them. TB suggested it was easy to do so.
New England has won five Super Bowls with Bill Belichick as head coach and Tom Brady as quarterback. Together, those two will be heading to the Super Bowl for an eighth time. Eight Super Bowls for one head coach and quarterback? Insane.
If you think like TB, by the way, then you considered that the Super Bowl will match teams whose home stadiums are in the middle of a six-year run hosting every NCAA men's lacrosse championship weekend. You probably don't think like TB of course.
Each time New England has been in the Super Bowl, TigerBlog has hoped they'd lose. They actually did twice, both times to the Giants, TB's former favorite team, one that will have to do a lot to win him back now that they fired former Princeton football player Marc Ross.
Let's see. What else did TB and Courtney talk about? Oh yeah, Courtney talked about her earliest influences at Princeton, especially Bill Tierney, Chris Sailer and Guy Gadowsky. There was also, well, there was other stuff; you'll have to listen for yourself.
Like his experience with the lacrosse podcast with Matt Madalon last spring (and coming again this season TB assumes, though he hasn't talked to Madalon about it yet), TigerBlog has really enjoyed doing "The Court Report." Courtney is a natural at it, and the conversations have been really easy and really interesting, with a good mix of the on-court doings of the team along with what goes into the mind of a coach throughout a long season.
And, in this case, what keeps her busy when there's nothing on-court going on. Flying with her uncle? Very good. Rooting for New England? Eh. Not as good.
Tuesday, January 23, 2018
Speaking Of Indiana
Did TigerBlog mention that he was in Indiana last week?
It was actually his fourth trip to the state, all four of which have been for Princeton Athletics business. It dawned on TB as he got on the plane to head there nearly a week ago that it was the first time he'd be making the trip without Tom McCarthy - Princeton's former football and basketball radio voice - as his travel partner.
The first of the four trips was in March 1996, for what figured to be a quick stay at the NCAA men's basketball tournament. It was an emotional few days for the Tigers, who had just snapped an eight-game losing streak to Penn with a stunning overtime win over Penn at Lehigh in an Ivy League playoff game, on a night that became even more stunning when Pete Carril announced that he would be retiring after the NCAA tournament.
As for that NCAA tournament, it all seemed like it was going to be so anti-climatic. Princeton drew UCLA, the defending NCAA champion, at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis. Even as he prepared to go, TigerBlog figured that Princeton fans would talk about that night at Lehigh forever, with little thought given to the following tournament game.
As it turned out, TB was wrong. In one of the more amazing things about TB's time here, that playoff game against Penn has been relegated to an afterthought, even though, really, it's one of the top three or so most emotional events TB has been a part of here.
TigerBlog has heard many of the players involved say that the win over Penn meant more to them than what happened a few days later, when Princeton beat UCLA 43-41 in one of the most famous college basketball games ever.
As TB walked from the Westin to the Indiana Convention Center the other day, he couldn't remember which of the several hotels that are all connected by walkways was the one in which he stayed in 1996. He does remember the walkways, which took him to the RCA Dome - which no longer exists - and today would take someone all the way to Lucas Oil Stadium.
He also remembers that, back in 1996, his postseason media guides were shipped to Indianapolis, to the RCA Dome. When he got there, the guides were nowhere to be found, and he had to struggle to quickly get them reprinted, which he was able to do. It wasn't until he got back to Princeton that he wondered whatever happened to the original guides, and when he investigated, he found out that a very nice woman signed for them and put them in a closet. They were probably still there in 2007, when the building was torn down.
Speaking of the RCA Dome, TB will also never be able to think about his time there without remembering the sign that then-intern Vinnie DiCarlo brought back with him, the one that said "This Is Not A Public Entrance To The RCA Dome."
The days TB spent at the RCA Dome were obviously among the best, if not the very best, that he has had in his time at Princeton. After the win over UCLA, everyone in the area immediately became a Princeton fan, especially in the local restaurants, when TB and the travel party went to eat and found out that there was a Princeton connection. It was an incredible trip, from start to just about finish, as the second round loss to Mississippi State was a big letdown.
One last story - TB assumed that Princeton was going to lose to UCLA, so he only packed to stay until the day after the first round. Once Princeton won, he had to go to the local mall to buy clothes for the next two days.
His next two trips to Indiana were also for Princeton basketball, each time with a different head coach.
The first was later in 1996, when Bill Carmody coached his first game as Carril's successor, at Indiana University. TigerBlog, as well as McCarthy and Mark Eckel, then of the Trenton Times, missed their flight from Newark to Indianapolis on the day of the game because of a major accident at Newark Airport. Instead, they ended up driving to Philadelphia, getting on another flight and making it to Bloomington on time, but with not much time to spare.
Then, in 2000, the flight was to Indianapolis and then a two hour drive to Muncie, home of Ball State University. It was there that John Thompson III won his first - and then second - games as a head coach, as Princeton knocked off Weber State and Ball State to win the First Merchants Classic.
JT3 and the rest of the staff celebrated both nights, by the way, at the local Outback Steakhouse.
Anyway, the trip last week included a stop at the Purdue-Wisconsin game. TB watched Purdue blow away the Badgers at Mackey Arena and then watched essentially a repeat on TV Saturday at Iowa. Purdue is for real.
Added all together, and TB has gone to Indiana four times. In those four trips, he's seen 12 college basketball games, only five of which featured the Tigers, with three different Tiger head coaches.
Indiana. Basketball.
There's a movie in there somewhere.
It was actually his fourth trip to the state, all four of which have been for Princeton Athletics business. It dawned on TB as he got on the plane to head there nearly a week ago that it was the first time he'd be making the trip without Tom McCarthy - Princeton's former football and basketball radio voice - as his travel partner.
The first of the four trips was in March 1996, for what figured to be a quick stay at the NCAA men's basketball tournament. It was an emotional few days for the Tigers, who had just snapped an eight-game losing streak to Penn with a stunning overtime win over Penn at Lehigh in an Ivy League playoff game, on a night that became even more stunning when Pete Carril announced that he would be retiring after the NCAA tournament.
As for that NCAA tournament, it all seemed like it was going to be so anti-climatic. Princeton drew UCLA, the defending NCAA champion, at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis. Even as he prepared to go, TigerBlog figured that Princeton fans would talk about that night at Lehigh forever, with little thought given to the following tournament game.
As it turned out, TB was wrong. In one of the more amazing things about TB's time here, that playoff game against Penn has been relegated to an afterthought, even though, really, it's one of the top three or so most emotional events TB has been a part of here.
TigerBlog has heard many of the players involved say that the win over Penn meant more to them than what happened a few days later, when Princeton beat UCLA 43-41 in one of the most famous college basketball games ever.
As TB walked from the Westin to the Indiana Convention Center the other day, he couldn't remember which of the several hotels that are all connected by walkways was the one in which he stayed in 1996. He does remember the walkways, which took him to the RCA Dome - which no longer exists - and today would take someone all the way to Lucas Oil Stadium.
He also remembers that, back in 1996, his postseason media guides were shipped to Indianapolis, to the RCA Dome. When he got there, the guides were nowhere to be found, and he had to struggle to quickly get them reprinted, which he was able to do. It wasn't until he got back to Princeton that he wondered whatever happened to the original guides, and when he investigated, he found out that a very nice woman signed for them and put them in a closet. They were probably still there in 2007, when the building was torn down.
Speaking of the RCA Dome, TB will also never be able to think about his time there without remembering the sign that then-intern Vinnie DiCarlo brought back with him, the one that said "This Is Not A Public Entrance To The RCA Dome."
The days TB spent at the RCA Dome were obviously among the best, if not the very best, that he has had in his time at Princeton. After the win over UCLA, everyone in the area immediately became a Princeton fan, especially in the local restaurants, when TB and the travel party went to eat and found out that there was a Princeton connection. It was an incredible trip, from start to just about finish, as the second round loss to Mississippi State was a big letdown.
One last story - TB assumed that Princeton was going to lose to UCLA, so he only packed to stay until the day after the first round. Once Princeton won, he had to go to the local mall to buy clothes for the next two days.
His next two trips to Indiana were also for Princeton basketball, each time with a different head coach.
The first was later in 1996, when Bill Carmody coached his first game as Carril's successor, at Indiana University. TigerBlog, as well as McCarthy and Mark Eckel, then of the Trenton Times, missed their flight from Newark to Indianapolis on the day of the game because of a major accident at Newark Airport. Instead, they ended up driving to Philadelphia, getting on another flight and making it to Bloomington on time, but with not much time to spare.
Then, in 2000, the flight was to Indianapolis and then a two hour drive to Muncie, home of Ball State University. It was there that John Thompson III won his first - and then second - games as a head coach, as Princeton knocked off Weber State and Ball State to win the First Merchants Classic.
JT3 and the rest of the staff celebrated both nights, by the way, at the local Outback Steakhouse.
Anyway, the trip last week included a stop at the Purdue-Wisconsin game. TB watched Purdue blow away the Badgers at Mackey Arena and then watched essentially a repeat on TV Saturday at Iowa. Purdue is for real.
Added all together, and TB has gone to Indiana four times. In those four trips, he's seen 12 college basketball games, only five of which featured the Tigers, with three different Tiger head coaches.
Indiana. Basketball.
There's a movie in there somewhere.
Monday, January 22, 2018
Remembering Rob Myslik, 15 Years Later
TigerBlog was copied on an email from Jim Barlow yesterday that mentioned that it was the 15th anniversary of the tragic death of Rob Myslik.
If you don't know who Rob was, he was the son of former Director of Athletics Bob Myslik and a 1990 Princeton grad. He and Barlow, the men's soccer coach at Princeton, were teammates together, and Rob then was an assistant coach under Barlow at one point.
Rob was killed in a car accident on Jan. 21, 2003. He was in Utah, on his way to the Sundance Film Festival. TigerBlog knew Rob, but not very well. He did know that he was a really nice, really friendly, really thoughtful, really impressive person.
Barlow and Rob were best friends. It was five years ago, on the 10th anniversary, when Barlow wrote a guest TigerBlog in memory of his friend. He included the link in his email yesterday, and TigerBlog wants to rerun it here today.
People turn over in a college athletic department. The athletes, certainly, as they only get four years to be there. And the staff of the department, while not quite that transitional, still has very few people here who would know who Rob Myslik is.
That's why what Jim wrote is so important. Rob was a huge part of the soccer program at Princeton, and his memory lives on, with the name of the game field (Myslik Field) at Roberts Stadium and especially with those who knew him best. Like Jim Barlow.
And so here is what Jim wrote five years ago, without a word changed:
I can remember that day so vividly - being awoken in my hotel room in Guadlajara, Mexico with an urgent message to call home. I had assumed that my wife PK was checking on me as there had been a big earthquake in Mexico that night. When I phoned her, however, she delivered the life-changing news – Rob was killed in a car accident.
In the eulogy I gave at his memorial service days later, I started off by saying, “These days, everything reminds me of Rob.”
Ten years later not much has changed.
So many things continue to remind me of Rob. Big things remind me, like our game field (named in Rob’s memory), our prestigious Robert Hauter Myslik Award (awarded to the member of the team who most demonstrates the passion for life, the fiery competitiveness, the unwavering honesty and the selfless generosity of Rob), the Reach the Beach 200-mile relay that is run in his memory each year, and, the biggest of all, his daughter Maggie (who will turn 10 in the fall).
But so many little things also remind me, like a passionate debate, a competitive practice, a frank discussion, a playful dog, a bad referee, a pizza at De Lorenzo’s, a beat-up, smelly car, Princeton soccer, Princeton basketball, a good book. I can’t help but imagine Rob’s insights into everyday life.
What would he think of the Lance Armstrong interview, of the imaginary girlfriend at Notre Dame? Would he have liked Les Mis as much as TigerBlog? What would he think of our team? What suggestions would he have for the line-up? Our practices? What would his player ratings have been after each game? How much would he have heckled Penn fans at last week’s basketball game?
As I write this guest TigerBlog, I have the Liverpool/Norwich game on in the background. After Liverpool scored, the announced called it a “scrappy” goal. My first thought? You guessed it – one of Rob’s many nicknames was Scrappy.
Yes, ten years later and Rob is still everywhere. But not everyone knows him. We keep a picture of
Rob on the bench at our games. On one of our road trips this season, I asked a freshman to carry the picture on the bus and be responsible for making sure the picture made it to the bench and back on the bus. “By the way, “ I asked him, “do you know who that is in the picture?”
The bus roared in laughter, but the incident served as a reminder that many of our current players don’t know anything about Rob Myslik, about a person who was such a huge part of what Princeton Soccer is and of the values that make our program special. Rob’s story needs to be told every season, every time a group of freshmen arrive on campus. There can be no better role model for them. On the tenth anniversary of his tragic death, Rob continues to teach us, in Melora’s words, how to live our lives to the fullest.
Gradually, you will learn acquaintance
If you don't know who Rob was, he was the son of former Director of Athletics Bob Myslik and a 1990 Princeton grad. He and Barlow, the men's soccer coach at Princeton, were teammates together, and Rob then was an assistant coach under Barlow at one point.
Rob was killed in a car accident on Jan. 21, 2003. He was in Utah, on his way to the Sundance Film Festival. TigerBlog knew Rob, but not very well. He did know that he was a really nice, really friendly, really thoughtful, really impressive person.
Barlow and Rob were best friends. It was five years ago, on the 10th anniversary, when Barlow wrote a guest TigerBlog in memory of his friend. He included the link in his email yesterday, and TigerBlog wants to rerun it here today.
People turn over in a college athletic department. The athletes, certainly, as they only get four years to be there. And the staff of the department, while not quite that transitional, still has very few people here who would know who Rob Myslik is.
That's why what Jim wrote is so important. Rob was a huge part of the soccer program at Princeton, and his memory lives on, with the name of the game field (Myslik Field) at Roberts Stadium and especially with those who knew him best. Like Jim Barlow.
And so here is what Jim wrote five years ago, without a word changed:
When I started to think of what I might say today, and
began to get nervous about trying to “say the right things,” I was reminded of
the words that Toni Morrison spoke after the tragedy of September 11th. I keep these words taped to the wall
behind my desk. She said to the
Princeton University community -- “I must be steady and I must be clear,
knowing all the time that I have nothing to say….” (at first, this line seemed
really appropriate for me – if you knew Rob no words are necessary – he
revealed himself to you in ways beyond mere words and we all know that -- if
you did not know him, well, then words do not suffice) – The more I thought
about it, though, the more I could hear Rob’s voice saying “what a cop
out.” A talker like no one else,
he would want us to talk, to share, to live this moment here today like we live
every other one.
So I kept reading over Morrison’s words about
addressing the broken and the dead without any anger, self-promotion, cliché –
without any agendas. She said that speaking to the broken and the dead is “too
holy an act for impure thoughts” because “the dead are free, absolute, they
cannot be seduced by blitz.” The more I thought about it the more I realized
that this is how people spoke to Rob when he was alive. Of all the people I have ever met, he
was already the most free, absolute.
He remained immune to societal measures of success – the same “blitz” of
which Morrison speaks. He refused
to be seduced by money or status…What seduced him was life – being awake in
each moment and squeezing as much as possible out of every day. I think his battles with insomnia were
a reflection of this need to always be AWAKE
(taken from my eulogy on Rob
Myslik written in January, 2003)
As I finished reading this year’s New Year/holiday update
letter from Rob Myslik’s sister Melora and her husband Andrew Balson, I could
not get past the following sentence:
“As we approach the 10 year anniversary of the loss of our
beloved Robby, we continue to try to live our lives to the fullest, as he knew
how better than most.”
Ten years.
Wow.
I can remember that day so vividly - being awoken in my hotel room in Guadlajara, Mexico with an urgent message to call home. I had assumed that my wife PK was checking on me as there had been a big earthquake in Mexico that night. When I phoned her, however, she delivered the life-changing news – Rob was killed in a car accident.
In the eulogy I gave at his memorial service days later, I started off by saying, “These days, everything reminds me of Rob.”
Ten years later not much has changed.
So many things continue to remind me of Rob. Big things remind me, like our game field (named in Rob’s memory), our prestigious Robert Hauter Myslik Award (awarded to the member of the team who most demonstrates the passion for life, the fiery competitiveness, the unwavering honesty and the selfless generosity of Rob), the Reach the Beach 200-mile relay that is run in his memory each year, and, the biggest of all, his daughter Maggie (who will turn 10 in the fall).
But so many little things also remind me, like a passionate debate, a competitive practice, a frank discussion, a playful dog, a bad referee, a pizza at De Lorenzo’s, a beat-up, smelly car, Princeton soccer, Princeton basketball, a good book. I can’t help but imagine Rob’s insights into everyday life.
What would he think of the Lance Armstrong interview, of the imaginary girlfriend at Notre Dame? Would he have liked Les Mis as much as TigerBlog? What would he think of our team? What suggestions would he have for the line-up? Our practices? What would his player ratings have been after each game? How much would he have heckled Penn fans at last week’s basketball game?
As I write this guest TigerBlog, I have the Liverpool/Norwich game on in the background. After Liverpool scored, the announced called it a “scrappy” goal. My first thought? You guessed it – one of Rob’s many nicknames was Scrappy.
Yes, ten years later and Rob is still everywhere. But not everyone knows him. We keep a picture of
Rob on the bench at our games. On one of our road trips this season, I asked a freshman to carry the picture on the bus and be responsible for making sure the picture made it to the bench and back on the bus. “By the way, “ I asked him, “do you know who that is in the picture?”
The bus roared in laughter, but the incident served as a reminder that many of our current players don’t know anything about Rob Myslik, about a person who was such a huge part of what Princeton Soccer is and of the values that make our program special. Rob’s story needs to be told every season, every time a group of freshmen arrive on campus. There can be no better role model for them. On the tenth anniversary of his tragic death, Rob continues to teach us, in Melora’s words, how to live our lives to the fullest.
Gradually, you will learn acquaintance
With the invisible
form of your departed;
And when the work of
grief is done,
The wound of loss will
heal
And you will have
learned
To wean your eyes
From that gap in the
air
And be able to enter
the part
In your soul where
your loved one
Has awaited your return
All the time.
(from John O’Donohue’s
On Grief)
Friday, January 19, 2018
A Trip To Indiana, Part 2
The honorees stood together on the stage in the Sagamore Ballroom at the Indiana Convention Center, some with very familiar names and very well-known accomplishments and others whose names TigerBlog was hearing for the first time.
Together, this group of fewer than 20 people was making the other 1,000 people in the ballroom think the same thought: "Where in the world do people like this come from?"
As it turned out, the main man of the evening came from out of this world, but TigerBlog will get back to him.
TB actually wanted to start today with the person who impressed him the most at Wednesday night's banquet. He soon realized that would be impossible, since they all impressed him, and everyone else there, to an extraordinary degree.
Where would he start anyway? With the All-American volleyball player who organized an effort to bring free dental care to those who didn't have access to any? Or maybe the six-time NCAA track and cross country champion who figured she might as well earn a master's as well as a bachelor's from one of the best engineering schools in the country?
How about the Air Force Brigadier General, the former baseball player, whose current position has him overseeing the defense of South Korean and American lives in South Korea?
Or the former four-time Super Bowl quarterback who lost his son to a rare disease but who keeps his memory alive through a foundation that is relentlessly looking for cures, all, by the way, while he himself has had to battle cancer not once but twice? Or the former women's soccer star and current commentator whose mission has been to empower little girls to see the positive effects athletic participation can have? Or the former women's basketball player who prevented a massacre at a Republican congressional baseball practice, getting shot herself as she did so?
It went on like this for the better part of three hours, with just one incredible story after another, one incredible person after another. It left TB with no idea where to begin.
So he'll start with David Morrow. And why not? Morrow was the reason TigerBlog was in Indianapolis in the first place.
David Morrow was one of the recipients of the 2018 Silver Anniversary Award, which honors six former college athletes on the 25th anniversary of their graduation. The winners are selected for their performances as athletes as undergrads and then for what they have accomplished in their careers since.
Morrow was the 1993 NCAA men's lacrosse Player of the Year, and, 25 years later, he remains the last defensive player to earn that honor - and one of two all-time to do so. He was a two-time first-team All-America, and he helped lead Princeton to the first of its six NCAA championships as a junior in 1992.
TigerBlog has said this before, and he'll repeat it now. In all of his time at Princeton, he has never seen a more intense athlete than David Morrow.
Also while at Princeton, Morrow, along with his father, invented the titanium lacrosse stick, something that completely revolutionized the sport. Rather than going through 20 or 30 plastic sticks in a season, now only one was necessary. As much as anything, that alone helped fuel the dramatic growth in the sport the last 25 years.
Morrow's stick design led to the birth of a company, Warrior Lacrosse, which is now a global enterprise. Now, 25 years later, Morrow has literally traveled the world bringing his passion - and intensity - to his business, as well as to the more than 70 charitable organizations to which he has given his money and time.
Morrow, by the way, became the first Princeton alum and fourth former men's lacrosse player from any school to win the award.
TB was the presenter for Morrow's award. His job was to walk out on the stage holding the trophy and then hold it up with Morrow. Then, while the evening host Jack Ford talked to the winner, TB would walk back off-stage with the trophy, which, he learned, would be shipped to Morrow's house.
Before the event began, TB said he hoped the night wasn't remembered for the time the Princeton presenter dropped the award. You know. You don't want to make the wrong kind of history.
TB didn't use those words. He didn't drop the trophy either.
Barry Wilmore did though, a little later on in the evening.
Wilmore - that's actually Captain Wilmore, a retired Naval officer - was the headliner for the evening. He won the Theodore Roosevelt Award, the NCAA's lifetime achievement award, and he would speak last - after the six Silver Anniversary Awards, the 10 Today's Top Ten winners (recognizing 10 recently graduated athletes for their all-around successes as undergraduates) and the winners of the Award of Valor (Crystal Griner, the U.S. Capitol police officer who stopped the shooter at the Congressional baseball practcie) and Inspiration Award (Jim Kelly, the former Buffalo Bills quarterback).
When Captain Wilmore spoke, he mentioned not wanting to make history for the wrong reason. His reference was to not accidentally letting go of the International Space Station and drifting off into space.
Wilmore played football at Tennessee Tech, going from being a walk-on to the team's MVP. He went on to fly combat missions in Desert Storm and then later pilot the space shuttle, not to mention his six months on the space station.
As he began his talk, Wilmore told the story about how on one of his space stations, he came around the back of a ventilation unit, one that was essentially a mirror on the backside. He looked in the mirror and saw himself. He looked out at the vastness of space in one direction and then at the incredible colors that came off the station itself. He had the thought that he was moving at five miles per second, orbiting the Earth once every 90 minutes. He could look down and see Hawaii.
And what was his thought? "How did I get here," he said.
The answer, from him and from all of the other honorees, was deeply connected to their college athletic experiences. Wilmore, whose message was both powerful and simple at the same time, concluded by saying that while he doesn't dream of being in space or dream of landing on an aircraft career again, he does dream that he could play college football just one more time.
The lessons that he learned - that they all learned - as college athletes continue to drive them. That was the common theme. How much being a college athlete meant to them, how much they learned from it, how they've taken from that experience lessons that they've drawn on as they've moved along in their lives.
After the ceremony, the award winners went outside the ballroom to a long hallway, where those in attendance could come and greet them. The line to meet Captain Wilmore was long, but TB stood it in anyway, to shake his hand and thank him. Captain Wilmore apologized for speaking for so long, but TB said not to worry, that he could have gone on for twice as long and the room would still have been mesmerized. It was one of the very best speeches TigerBlog has ever heard, given by one of the most impressive people you will ever meet. And TB is pretty sure he did the whole thing without any notes.
TB also said hello to Crystal Griner. She did something extraordinary, something that could have been life-ending, and yet she downplayed any talk that she might be a hero. She seemed uncomfortable in the spotlight, which only made what she did even more incredible.
After that, it was back to the hotel, for a post-banquet celebration. Bill Tierney, Morrow's coach at Princeton, came in from Denver to be there. Jake Steinfeld, who helped found Major League Lacrosse with Morrow, brought his huge personality to be there as well. So did Morrow's large family. Mollie Marcoux Samaan, the Ford Family Director of Athletics who was two years ahead of Morrow at Princeton, came to Indianapolis too.
And TigerBlog was there as well.
He first started to cover Princeton lacrosse when Morrow was a freshman, one who thought that he didn't belong and didn't want to play and even tried to leave the team. TigerBlog had a front-row seat for Morrow's evolution into one of the greatest college lacrosse players ever, and even now, all these years later, TB has never forgotten the way Morrow played the game, with his unmatched blend of grace, athleticism and ferocity.
It was TB's great honor to be the presenter as Morrow was honored Wednesday night.
Maybe TB couldn't tell you who was the most impressive award-winner in Indianapolis, but he can definitely tell you which one was his favorite.
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