Welcome To 2026

Happy 2026.

How was your New Years Eve? Did you have fun? You probably had more fun than TigerBlog. 

Well, unless your car slid on the ice and ended up with the front left wheel suspended over a small ravine you did. And unless you also fell on said ice in an effort to extricate your car from said predicament. 

TB called his 24-hour roadside assistance, and a tow truck arrived rather quickly. And what was TB told? Nah, can't help you. The truck would just slide on the ice as well, the driver told TigerBlog. 

Eventually, TB was able to slowly back his car up and have the left front tire somehow make its way back to join the other three on flat ground. Was everything smooth sailing from there? Well, sort of, only TigerBlog fell on the ice yet again. 

Ah, but both he and his car seemed to be fine yesterday. Mr. Tow Truck Driver had said to wait 12 hours to make sure he hadn't caused slow leak in the tire, and that doesn't appear to be the case.   

 

Enough of that. The holidays are officially over, which means that it's time for all the lights, decorations and trees to come down if they haven't already. 

It's Jan. 2, obviously. You know what that means, right? It means that the opening days for Princeton men's and women's lacrosse, baseball and softball are all, officially, next month. 

Before any of that, though, you have the first weekend of the new year, which figures some pretty good events on the Princeton Athletics calendar. In fact, there are only nine events between today and Monday, but the schedule makes up in quality what it lacks in quantity. 

It starts today (it's Friday, right? — who can tell what day of the week it is right about now?) with the first of two hockey doubleheaders at Baker Rink. The women will host Stonehill at 3 today and tomorrow, while the men will take on Dartmouth tonight at 7 and Harvard tomorrow at 7. 

The women will return to their ECAC schedule next weekend at Union and RPI. The Tigers are currently where in the league standings? 

If you guessed "first place," you are correct. Princeton has 22 points, followed by Clarkson with 19.5. Every team in the league has played 10 league games except Clarkson and St. Lawrence, who have played nine each. 

The two opponents for the men this weekend are both ranked, with Dartmouth at No. 8 and Harvard at No. 18. Dartmouth is the only unbeaten team in the ECAC at 6-0-0 for 18 points, followed by Cornell with 16, Harvard with 15 and Princeton with 13. 

So yes, these appear to be pretty good games on tap. 

Elsewhere, the women's basketball team will be at Penn tomorrow, with tip-off at 2. It's the Ivy League opener for both, and they've both had really good non-league success to this point. 

In fact they come into this game with a combined record of 24-4, with the Tigers at 12-1 and the Quakers at 10-3. Princeton has won 10 straight, with its only loss to Maryland, who is 14-0 and ranked eighth in the Division I NET ratings (and sixth in the AP poll). 

Penn has won five straight games, including a sweep of Maryland-Eastern Shore and Binghamton at the FDU tournament this past Monday and Tuesday. 

Princeton's NET ranking is now 38 in Division I (and 25 in the AP poll). Penn is 110 in the NET, behind the Tigers, Columbia (58) and Harvard (81) among Ivy schools. 

As a point of interest heading into the game, Princeton leads the Ivy League in scoring with 75.9 points per game. Penn is third in the league in scoring offense at 54.5 points per game.  

The wrestling team (split squad matches against Lock Haven and Hofstra Sunday morning) and men's volleyball team (exhibition match in Toronto tomorrow night) are on the road this weekend, which brings TB to the ninth game on the schedule: Monday's men's basketball home game against Penn. 

It's the Ivy opener for both of them as well. Jadwin tip-off is at 7.  

TB will have more on that one here Monday.  

 

Goodbye 2025. Hello 2026.

 

We can't return; we can only look. Behind from where we came. And go round and round and round in the Circle Game. — Joni Mitchell 

Ah, "The Circle Game." It's one of TigerBlog's 10 favorite songs of all time, for sure. 

It's a song about time, and how there's no stopping it. And, yes, the seasons have once again gone round and round and the painted ponies have gone up and down, and the end of another year has arrived. 

Goodbye 2025. Hello 2026.

As has become a TigerBog tradition, the last day of the year brings with it a Princeton Athletics review of the top Tiger moments of the previous 12 months. In case you have forgotten, here is the list of TB's top stories from each year since he started doing this in 2012 (and remember, he and he alone chose these):  

2012 - the NCAA field hockey championship
2013 - the Ivy League football championship
2014 - Julia Ratcliffe's NCAA hammer title
2015 - the women's basketball team goes 31-1
2016 - Ashleigh Johnson wins gold as an undergraduate
2017 - the women's soccer team defeats UNC to reach the NCAA quarterfinals
2018 - the men's hockey team wins the ECAC championship/the football team goes 10-0
2019 - the field hockey team reaches the NCAA final
2020 - the Covid pandemic
2021 - the women's lightweight rowing national championship
2022 - the death of Pete Carril
2023 - the men's basketball team reaches the Sweet 16 
2024 - 19 Princeton teams have won their most recent league title

And for 2025? Once again, there is no shortage of possibilities. 

Here is a list of teams that won league championships in 2025: 

Winter: men's fencing, men's indoor track and field, women's indoor track and field, men's volleyball, men's swimming and diving, women's swimming and diving

Spring: softball, women's lacrosse, women's golf, men's golf, women's outdoor track and field, men's outdoor track and field, women's lightweight rowing, women's open rowing

Fall: women's soccer, men's soccer, women's volleyball, men's cross country, women's cross country, men's water polo

If TB has his facts right, then that's 20 Princeton teams who have won their most recent league championship. That's more than half of Princeton's teams. 

Also, not on that list is Zeina Zein of the women's squash team, who won the individual national championship. 

Yup, as TB said, there are a lot of choices for the top story of the year.  

Why even bother ranking them? He doesn't want to slight any of these championship teams. 

Still, something has to be the No. 1 story of the year. And to TigerBlog, it's actually one of the teams that was not a conference champ, at least not in the regular season. 

The Princeton field hockey team lost to Harvard 3-1 on Sept. 26, effectively handing the Ivy League title to the Crimson. After all, Princeton and Harvard combined have lost only one league game between them to another league team since 2016. 

With that loss, Princeton slipped to 4-3 overall. Would the year get away from the Tigers? 

Instead, Princeton won 14 straight games from that point, making it all the way to double overtime of the NCAA championship game before falling to Northwestern 2-1. Along the way of its 14-game winning streak, Princeton twice defeated Harvard, first in the Ivy tournament final and then again in the NCAA semifinals. Princeton also avenged another of its losses, defeating Syracuse in the NCAA quarterfinals. 

It was heartbreaking to come so close, but it was also such an amazing run by a team that started four freshmen and four sophomores in the final and grew together in every way a team can. The run also showcased the amazing talent and athleticism of its one senior starter — four-time first-team All-American Beth Yeager. 

To TigerBlog, yes, that was the No. 1 story of the year. To others? Who knows. It's the great part of being part of Princeton Athletics. You can have 20 league champions and still have something else be the top story (though nothing is ever guaranteed one year to the next, so never take it for granted; remember the end of the movie "Patton").  

And with that? Have fun on New Year's Eve, if that's your thing — but make good decisions.  

Who knows what the next 12 months of Princeton Athletics will bring. Who knows what the No. 1 story of 2026 will be? 

Stay tuned.  

In the meantime, TigerBlog wishes everyone a very happy and healthy 2026.  

The Year In Photos

There is a men's basketball game at 1 today at Jadwin Gym between Princeton and Vermont .

The teams last played back on Nov. 26, when the Catamounts won 79-74. That makes this a 35-day gap between games. 

What was the gap between the first game this year and the previous game between them? How about almost 102 years. The only other time the teams met was on Jan. 9, 1924, in a game Princeton won 28-19.

When the game today ends, so will all Princeton Athletic events in the calendar year of 2025. There will be games this weekend to start 2026, after the ball drops in Times Square to turn the page to a new year. 

Princeton's teams combined for nearly 700 athletic events in 2025. There were championships — lots of them — and great moments pretty much every month. 

You know what there was more of than anything else? 

Photos. 

TigerBlog can't begin to guess how many photos were taken of Tiger athletes as they competed in 2025. The answer is in the millions though. 

Yes, millions. 

These photographers will typically take many thousands of photos for every game. They'll actually end up deleting most of them but will still send anywhere from several hundred to a few thousand on to the Office of Athletic Communications. 

Add in how many events are shot and the math takes you well into the seven figures. 

Which ones of all these photos are the best? TigerBlog figured he'd try to sort through the pile, but to be honest, there's just way too many of them. 

Heck, he could flood this space with league championship photos alone. That's a good problem to have though.  

Still, why not showcase some of the best ones? So here you go, with some of the pictures that really stood out for the last 12 months. 

So here you go, with some of the pictures that really stood out for 2025. They don't really need captions. They tell stories all by themselves. 

Which one is your favorite?:

 

The Patriot All-American

So Baylor's men's basketball team is going to have a new addition?

His name is James Nnaji, a 2023 second-round draft pick. That's NBA draft pick. 

To this, TigerBlog says: Good — with one condition. 

Nnaji needs to be an enrolled student who is on track to earn a degree in four years, subject to classroom attendance checks and academic progress updates. Should he fail to meet that standard, then he'd immediately (and permanently) be ineligible. The same is true with anyone else who 1) has been a pro athlete and 2) never played in college. For the latter, the five years to play four years rule still applies. 

Why not? At least that would bring a bit of "college" into the equation for these college athletes, no? Otherwise, what's the point of pretending that Power 4 football and basketball players are students too. In that case, just let them play. 

Either way, the case of Nnaji will probably be a tipping point. Either the football players who fill those massive stadiums need to also be college students or they don't. 

And, as this year has clearly shown, the fans will continue to watch and root for those teams either way.  

In the meantime, if you're tired of stories that are all about money for college athletes, then you need to read up on an event that is beginning today in Arizona. It's the The Patriot All-American golf tournament, where Princeton will be represented by four athletes. 

This isn't just another tournament. It's one that is all about honoring fallen service members and first responders. Each golfer was given a bag at the opening ceremonies yesterday with the name of someone in whose honor he or she will play. 

The tournament begins today and runs through Wednesday, with 54 holes of stroke play. 

Princeton's four golfers are Olivia Duan, Thanana Kotchasanmanee and Sarah Lim of the women's team and Eric Yun of the men's team. 

Beyond the golf, though, there's the matter of Air Force Captain Thomas Gramith, Police Officer Robert Zane, U.S. Marine Corps Major Megan McClung and Sergeant First Class Jason Lee Bishop.

These are the people whose memories the Princeton golfers are playing to keep alive. Here, you can read about them yourself: 

Air Force Captain Thomas Gramith, 27, of Eagan, Minnesota, was assigned to the 336th Fighter Squadron out of Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, NC. He died on July 18, 2009 in an F-15E crash near the Ghazni province, Afghanistan. A team of U.S. and coalition forces immediately responded to the crash site, secured it and recovered the Airmen. He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star. Capt. Gramith was born in St. Paul, MN and attended St. Thomas Academy in Mendota Heights. He attended North Dakota State University where he earned a degree in aeronautical engineering. He was also a member of the ROTC program and entered the Air Force in 2005 as a 2nd Lieutenant. Colonel Clark Wigley, Capt Gramith's first Professor of Aerospace Studies reflected, "Tom, like so many before him, was an uncommon young man who will certainly be missed. He died doing something he loved and probably would have done it for free knowing how much he looked forward to being an aviator."
Capt. Gramith is survived by his wife Angie and twin daughters Stella and Eva.

 
Police Officer Robert Zane, 45, of New York, NY died on May 12, 2009, from illnesses he contracted while inhaling toxic materials as he participated in the rescue and recovery efforts at the World Trade Center site following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Officer Zane died of metastatic renal cell carcinoma (kidney, lungs, brain and vertebrae). Officer Zane had served with the New York City Police Department for 16 years and was assigned to the Transit Bureau.
Islip Town and the Sayville community honored Zane with a street renaming and dedication ceremony in September 2020. The intersection of Versa Place and Lowell Road was renamed Robert A. Zane Jr. Way. Officer Zane posthumously received the NYPD Distinguished Service Medal in 2011 and his name has been added to memorials across the country including the 9/11 Responders Remembered Park, the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C., and the New York City Police Officers memorial wall. He is survived by his wife Tracy and their two children, Robert "Bobby" Zane III, and Abigail.
 

U.S. Marine Corps Major Megan McClung, 34, of Coupeville, WA, was assigned to the I Marine Expeditionary Force Headquarters Group, I MEF, Camp Pendleton, Cali. She died December 6, 2006, while escorting Newsweek journalists into downtown Ramadi when a massive improvised explosive device destroyed her Humvee, instantly killing McClung and two others. While in high school and college, Maj McClung competed as a gymnast. She was also a triathlete (having competed in six Ironman competitions) and a marathoner. Maj McClung graduated from the Naval Academy and was commissioned in 1995. She served on active duty until 2004, when she entered the Reserves. She joined Kellogg, Brown, and Root, an American engineering and construction company and worked in Iraq as a private contractor. In 2006, she returned to active duty with the Marines and was deployed to Iraq as a public affairs officer with the I Marine Expeditionary Force. Major Megan McClung was buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery on December 19, 2006. Her headstone bears a phrase she coined while training military personnel on how to conduct interviews with the press: "Be Bold. Be Brief. Be Gone." 

Sergeant First Class Jason Lee Bishop was assigned to the 1st Squadron, 33rd Cavalry, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, of Fort Campbell, Kentucky. He was killed January 1, 2006, when his patrol came under fire. They were called in to investigate a report of a suspicious vehicle in a ravine. He got within 150 meters; the engine revved up and then blew up. SFC Bishop was killed because he stepped in front of a suicide bomber and saved his fellow soldiers. SFC Bishop graduated in 1993 from Holmes High School in Covington, then went to Fort Knox for training, eventually becoming a drill sergeant. For over 12 years, SFC Bishop served his country. He was awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star posthumously following his death. A proud father, SFC Bishop loved his daughter and son fiercely. He was known for his strong sense of humor, and often had jokes to tell his loved ones. He was a loyal friend, who made sure to tell his friends before he deployed to remind his children what he was like if he didn't return. He is survived by his wife Katrina, his daughter Morgan, and his son Matthew. 

This is what college athletics is supposed to be — actual students who are competing athletically at a high level and trying to be the best they can be at both. 

It's why TB has always been happy at Princeton and couldn't imagine being anywhere else. 

Twas The Day After Christmas

How was your Christmas? 

Did you get any good presents? TigerBlog did — an air fryer from his children. He's already used it, with great results. It will get a lot of use going forward. 

Hopefully everyone else was as excited when they opened their presents. 

Among the other highlights of TB's Christmas Day was the halftime show of the Lions-Vikings game. Snoop Dog, Lainey Wilson and Andrea Bocelli? Something for everyone.

Can you look much cooler than Bocelli did in a white suit with sun glasses in a domed stadium while he sang "White Christmas?" Maybe Steve McQueen on a motorcycle at the end of "The Great Escape." Maybe Telly Savalas in any episode of "Kojak." That's about it. 

By the way, unless you count some leftover snow in parking lots, it was not a white Christmas in Princeton. It figures to be a white "day after Christmas," with 3-5 inches forecast, with an unhelpful layer of ice on top of that.  

Back at the football game, Minnesota won 23-10 to knock Detroit out of playoff contention. It made TB think back to September, when he made these not-so-accurate preseason NFL predictions:  

AFC Championship Game: Buffalo over Cincinnati
NFC Championship Game: Detroit over Washington
Super Bowl: Buffalo over Detroit

He can still be right about the Super Bowl champ. The other three teams won't even be in the playoffs. In fairness, Cincinnati and Washington did loose their quarterbacks for most of the year, and they were the main reason why TB had them where he did. 

He also wrote this:  

If he's right, he'll remind you in February. If he's wrong, you'll have long since forgotten.  

And yet he's bringing it up again.  

Also, TB thought Drew Brees was pretty good as an announcer. TB didn't like the extended in-game interviews Netflix had with former greats. 

The first game yesterday was Dallas at Washington, two teams who were already mathematically out of the playoffs. The last game was Denver at Kansas City. That makes six teams who played yesterday, five of whom will not be in the playoffs. 

Chris Oladokun was the starting quarterback for Kansas City. Can you name the three colleges at which he had played? Hint - they all start with an "S." 

Meanwhile, back at Princeton Athletics, you're down to two more athletic events for the calendar year of 2025. 

The first of those two is Sunday, when the men's hockey team hosts Brown at 2 pm. Keep in mind that this game is not an official ECAC or Ivy game. Princeton last played on Dec. 6, has a 7-4 record to date and fell to Brown 2-1 in Providence on Nov. 7 and will play the Bears again on Hobey Baker ice on Feb. 7. 

The other will be Tuesday at 1, when the men's basketball team hosts Vermont. Princeton played a wild game earlier this year with Vermont in Florida that ended with a 79-74 win for the Catamounts. Princeton went from down 23 in the second half all the way back to take the lead before Vermont pulled it out.  

After those games, the next games will be in 2026, though that's not that far in the future. There will only be two days with no events until January's schedule kicks off with a women's/men's hockey doubleheader at home a week from today. 

As is now a TigerBlog tradition, he will be offering up some year in review stuff next week. What was the top story of this year? There are way too many to choose from, and TB would probably get any number of different answers if he asked 10 or 20 others their thoughts. 

It's been a year of incredible success for Princeton teams. It'll be a lot to go through it all — and that of course is a great problem to have. 

Also, since it's the end of 2025, TB is contemplating another review for next week, one that goes over the top moments in Princeton Athletics in the first quarter of this century. If you think there are a lot of contenders for 2025, how about for a quarter of a century? 

Stay tuned.  

Oh, and as for where Oladokun played in college? The answer is South Florida, Samford and South Dakota State.  

 

Twas The Night Before Christmas

TigerBlog was recently in Florida, which is an interesting place to be this time of year.

You know those inflatable snowmen and Santas? They look somewhat uncomfortable in the 75 degree sunshine.  

Also, walking on the beach with your feet in the ocean at this time of year? That's different.  

Anyway, back in the Northeast with the snow and the wintry feelings, things seem a bit more normal for this holiday. Twas the night before Christmas, right?

TigerBlog hopes that Princeton's athletes, coaches, staff and fans are doing their best Christmas traditions right about now, whether those are religious, cultural or whatever. Do you know which U.S. President signed the bill making Christmas a federal holiday? It was the same bill that also recognized The Fourth of July and Thanksgiving as federal holidays.

The answer is: Ulysses S. Grant in 1870. 

It was actually the morning before Christmas when TigerBlog went down the rabbit hole of trying to figure out who actually wrote that poem, officially entitled "A Visit From St. Nicholas." To this day, it appears, there are scholars and historians who are split on the subject, between a man named Clement Clarke Moore and another named Henry Livingston Jr. 

There is no dispute that the poem was first published on Dec. 23, 1823, in a newspaper called The Troy Sentinel. There is also no dispute that TB can recite the entire thing from memory, along with "The Cat In The Hat."

As he looked deeper and deeper into the theories about the two possible authors, TB was amazed to see that as recently as early this century there were two competing books published on the subject, one by a professor from Vassar and one by a professor from UMass. 

TB did learn that Henry Livingston Jr. was a major in the Continental Army and that Clement Clarke Moore's father Benjamin Moore 1) was the president of Columbia University from 1801-1811 and 2) had nothing to do with the paint business. Clement himself spent 44 years as a Columbia trustee.  

As tomorrow is Christmas, TigerBlog would like to share with you a Santa Claus joke: 

"Did you hear that Santa Claus did the DNA ancestry testing? Turns out he's 1.5 percent Polish and 98.5 percent North-Polish."

Not bad, right?  

In the meantime, here is what TB offered up last year on Christmas Eve: 

TigerBlog has a large collection of Christmas songs on his iTunes.

He's always been a big fan of Christmas music. He was a trumpet player in high school, and he loved when the concert band, or the jazz band, played holiday music. He was in fact part of a great jazzy version of "Winter Wonderland" that he still whistles every now and then. 

What's his favorite Christmas song? 

It's probably not a shock to anyone who has read this for awhile to learn that it's "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town," the Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band version, of course. That's a big sticking point with TB.

It's the song, but it's also the artist. He's not interested in hearing anyone sing "Silver Bells" except for Dean Martin. The same goes for "Silent Night" and Emmylou Harris. 

If not his old high school jazz band, then it has to be Darlene Love's version of "Winter Wonderland."

"The Christmas Song?" If it's not Nat King Cole's voice that starts out with "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire," it's likely TB won't even make it to "Jack Frost nipping at your nose." 

And does he even have to mention "White Christmas" and Bing?

He has his favorites. 

Having said all that, he does have to give honorable mention to the Beach Boys jazzed up version of "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town."

Oh, and you know what he cannot stand, not even a little bit? TV commercials that substitute its own lyrics for classic Christmas songs. TB would rather listen to fingernails on blackboards.

What else? 

The surest way to get TigerBlog to tear up is invite him over, click HERE and fast-forward to the 7:00 mark.

Never fails.

If you don't want to go through all that, then the link takes you to the last scene of the Christmas classic "It's A Wonderful Life."

The line that always, 100 percent of the time, brings a tear to TB's eyes is Harry Bailey's toast to his brother. TB could watch it in early July on a day far removed from Christmas and still it'll have the same effect.

Want to see some more of TB's favorite Christmas clips? Then watch one of these:

* the end scene from "A Christmas Story"

* bonus scene from the same movie

* Charlie Brown makes a bold purchase

* the Grinch's heart grows

* now this is a duet

* and this is a ballet

* this one is the greatest ever version of any Christmas song ever performed 

* this one is second

* this is really cute

* and you can't watch the last one without this one

* this is long, but cute

* oh, and here's one more. Is this a Christmas song, or a show tune? It's both.

* you can thank Princeton's own Jeff Ingold for this one.

* and this one too 

* and this one is 4:38 well spent. 

* a new one for this year 

Merry Christmas Tigers. Hopefully it's safe and happy. 

And he'll leave you today with this, which, unfortunately, is not available on iTunes, at least not by these guys. And this one especially has to be these guys: 

Education From WBB And The Emmy Winner Strikes Again

Well, apparently TigerBlog isn't the only one who was amazed by the women's basketball team's comeback win Saturday at George Mason. 

At least judging by the number of responses he got,. There were quite a few people who reached out with a graphic of the win percentages for the two teams with less than 30 seconds left. 

It was, if TB read it right, 99.9 percent for Mason and 0.1 percent for Princeton. And why not? How many times does a team come back from seven down in 23 seconds? 

Which was the more impressive comeback win, the women's basketball team from down seven with 23 seconds left or the epic 1999 men's basketball comeback from 27 down at Penn with 15 minutes to go? Maybe the same people who emailed TB can answer that question.

*

The women didn't need nearly as much drama in yesterday's 87-77 win over Temple in front a huge Jadwin crowd on Education Day. 

Given the theme of the game, Princeton provided a great math lesson for the kids. If you shoot 50 percent from the field and take 60 shots, you're going to probably win that game. 

And that's exactly how it went for the Tigers. 

Princeton was a monstrous 30 for 60 from the field and another 18 for 20 at the foul line. Once again, the team that has five players who average at least 11 points per game used balance, including a career-high 15 from Toby Nweke, who isn't even one of the ones averaging at least 11. 

Nweke, as you recall, did make a huge play in the comeback Saturday, with an offensive rebound, put back with an and-one mixed in to tie it with seven seconds left in regulation. 

Madison St. Rose led the Tigers with 22, and Skye Belker had 19. 

Next up for Princeton? The Ivy opener at Penn on Jan. 3. Princeton will bring a 12-1 record into that one.  

*

What's next for today? How about golf? 

TigerBlog's colleague Drew Miller released his 25 minute documentary on the recent trip that the men's and women's golf teams made to the historic St. Andrews course in Scotland. It's definitely worth the investment of your time. 

 

Miller was working on the piece while he traveled with the field hockey team, first to the Ivy League tournament and then to the NCAA Final Four. What you can't see from watching the video is the meticulous way that Miller pieced together what had to be hours and hours of footage that he had taken on the trip.

Perhaps that would make a good documentary. 

Miller, you might remember, won a Mid-Atlantic Emmy Award in the "Editor-Content" category for his featured look at Olympic gold medalist Maia Weintraub from Princeton's "Beyond The Stripes" series. That award, by the way, completed a trifecta: Drew won his Emmy, TigerBlog's feature on Weintraub was the national athlete feature story of the year in the College Sports Communicators Fred Stabley Writing Contest and Weintraub won ... what was it she won? 

Oh yeah, an Olympic gold medal. 

* 

Miller's golf documentary is probably the longest piece Princeton Athletics has produced since John Bullis did his movie on Chuck Dibilio, the Princeton running back who went over 1,000 rushing yards as a freshman and never played again after suffering a stroke. 

This one is 35 minutes and again, if you've never seen it, you definitely should watch. 

 

*

Speaking of Emmy Awards, TigerBlog's cousin Jill showed him her own Emmy, which she won as a producer at Dateline. When TB picked it up he almost dropped it, which led him to say "Noooo. That would have been terrible."

And what did Jill respond? 

"It's okay. I have three others."

*

 

How'd They Do That?

Okay. Okay.

TigerBlog will admit it. He turned off the Princeton women's basketball game at George Mason Saturday afternoon. Twice, actually. 

The first time was in the final minute of regulation, when he was convinced the game was over and Princeton had lost. The second time was in overtime, when he had the same thought. 

Happily, he was wrong both times. Final score: Princeton 71, George Mason 69.

What the heck? How in the world did Princeton do it? 

The Tigers trailed by seven with 25 seconds left in regulation. Can you blame TB for thinking that might be too much? 

At that point, TB switched over to the Miami-Texas A&M football playoff game, which was late in the fourth quarter. Then he got a text saying "do you believe this game?" He took that to mean the football game, a close, if not exactly well played, game. 

Ah, but no. It was the women's basketball game. Princeton had tied it, forcing overtime.

How? Down 63-56 when TB turned it off, George Mason was called for a flagrant foul, and Skye Belker made 1 of 2. Princeton, keeping the ball, got it to Madison St. Rose, who was fouled and made three foul shots. 

Just like that, it was 63-60, but only 17 seconds were left. Princeton then forced a held ball and got possession, with a chance to tie it. Enter Toby Nweke, who rebounded a missed three, scored and was fouled. Her tying free throw was with eight seconds to go. 

That made it a 7-0 Princeton run in 15 seconds. 

When George Mason didn't score on the final possession, off to OT the game went. 

Meanwhile, over at the football game, Miami was driving in a 3-3 game late in the fourth quarter. TB decided to check to see what the final score of the women's basketball game was. Instead, he saw it was going to OT. 

Okay, back to that game. And now George Mason pulled ahead 68-63 by making five of six foul shots. St. Rose missed a three with 2:23 to go, with the rebound to the Patriots — and then it was back to the football game. 

By then, Miami had scored to go up 10-3, and now A&M was coming back. In fact, the Aggies made it all the way to the 5 yard line or so in the final seconds before an interception ended it. 

Oh well. It was entertaining. 

And then, again, TB checked on the women's game. It had to be over, right? 

Nope. Princeton was up 69-68 with 10 seconds left. How? First it was baskets from Belker and Ashley Chea to make it a one-point game, and then it was Nweke again, to put Princeton ahead. 

Now GMU inbounded and got fouled but only made one of two. Tie game, 69-69. Eight seconds to go. 

Would there be a second overtime? 

Uh, no. Not when Chea is on the court. Once again she buried a clutch game-winner, this time with 3.1 seconds to go. George Mason couldn't get a good look after that, and the Tigers had an incredible win.  

TIGERS WIN!!!!!! @ashleyycheaa | #GetStops 🐯🏀 pic.twitter.com/PHt82oMwuH

— Princeton WBB (@PrincetonWBB) December 20, 2025

Once again the Princeton attack was balanced, with four players in double figures, led by St. Rose with 19 and Olivia Hutcherson with 17 points and seven rebounds. Fadima Tall wasn't one of those in double figures in scoring, but she did have 10 rebounds. Again, everything Princeton does is as a team. 

The game was Princeton's first since moving into the Top 25 of the national rankings. It was also the team's first in 10 days after first semester exams. 

There won't be as much rest before the next game, which comes up this morning at 11:30 at Jadwin Gym against Temple as part of Education Day. The Owls are 6-5 (with an opening day win over George Mason) and are the defending American Conference regular season champ.

The Princeton men, by the way, are at Temple tonight at 7 against those Owls, who are 7-5. 

Have the men and women ever played the same opponent at opposing sites before? Just kidding. Just kidding.  

Unprecedented Ivy

Remember back in elementary school when you had the dreaded "Show and Tell?"

What was supposed to be an exercise in public speaking and creativity instead was a general nightmare. The bus was going to be there in five minutes, and that's when you remembered: "Oh, no, Show and Tell today."

As such, you'd grab the first thing you could find and try to fake your way through some sort of meaningful presentation that would make it seem like you gave this a lot of thought. Then you'd have to sit through everyone else's attempt to do the same. 

TigerBlog's memories of Show and Tell are all nightmarish. 

All these decades later, it apparently still exists. Now, though, it appears that a letter has been added, as in it's "Show and Tell Letter Day." 

Now you can't just grab something and run after the bus. Now you have to grab something that matches up with that week's chosen letter. 

At least that's how it works at the preschool where little Anja Schermick goes. Her mother Rachel works in the communications office at the Ivy League, and she sent TB an update on Anja's Show and Tell when the letter of the week was "I."

He'll get to that in a moment. Rachel also sent TB a picture of a dry erase board that listed what the kids brought in that day. 

There were 13 children in the class, and there were four who brought in ice cream. Okay. Did it melt? The same holds true for the kids who brought in "ice" and "ice pack." Ice pack? Yeah. That's really grabbing something at the last second. 

There were three "insects." There were two instruments. There was also one "Ishika," which TB supposes was an Indian doll (Ishika is a feminine given name of Indian origin. It may refer to various people and fictional characters, such as a badminton player, a beauty pageant contestant, or a love interest in a film). 

And that left Anja. Rachel's husband Casey is a golf pro. Did Anja bring in an iron? Nope.

Here's what she brought:

Ivy. Now that's perfect. 

This week's letter is "U," which to TB suggests that the order of the alphabet has changed a bit since he was in school. Either that, or they're going out of order. 

If Anja wanted to combine last week and this week, she could have brought in the four Princeton men's soccer players who went in the MLS Super Draft. No Ivy team has ever had that many drafted before. 

What does that make it? 

Unprecedented Ivy. 

Happy @MLS SuperDraft Day, Tigs! 🐅

Congratulations to our record 4️⃣ draftees!#PrincetonSoccer #WhosNext #PrincetonPros pic.twitter.com/RVZbsC3E2n

— Princeton Men’s Soccer (@PrincetonMSoc) December 18, 2025

And that list of four doesn't count Ivy Offensive Player of the Year Daniel Ittycheria, who signed with the Vancouver Whitecaps this week as well. 

His four teammates who were drafted were Jack Jasinksi by the San Jose Earthquakes, Giuliano Fravolini Whitchurch by the Los Angeles Football Club, Bardia Hormozi by the Minnesota United FC and Andrew Samuels by the St. Louis CITY FC. 

Samuels and Hormozi are juniors, so they could opt to return to Princeton next year as seniors. 

The season did not end the way Princeton would have hoped, but it was still obviously a great year for the Tigers, who spent much of it ranked No. 1 nationally in RPI and who ended up with the No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament. Along the way Princeton ran the table in the Ivy League, and by "ran the table," TB means went 7-0-0 and did not allow a single goal to be scored. 

The Tigers followed that with a second straight Ivy League tournament championship. Beyond all of that, this team was just a lot of fun to watch play. They were clearly a team built on chemistry and talent who loved to play together, something that was evident after watching 10 minutes of any game. 

The fact that there were four MLS draftees plus Ittycheria speak to just how strong the talent on this team was. Getting four selections in one Super Draft? 

Yup. 

Unprecedented Ivy.  

Procrastinating

 

So TigerBlog is currently procrastinating right now. 

He's great at it. Procrastination is one of his best things. 

He ostensibly is trying to figure out what to write about here for today. Instead, though, he's been watching some YouTube videos of his favorite comedians. 

For instance, he watched Richard Pryor talk about being in Arizona to film the movie "Stir Crazy" with Gene Wilder. Then it was George Carlin, who went on about things that annoy him. The list was extensive.

He heard Rodney Dangerfield offer this: "I come from a dumb family. In the Civil War, my great-grandfather fought for the West." He also mentioned how he gets no respect and as proof said "in my aunt's will, I owed her $20."

Then he went and got a cookie. Still he'd written zero words for today. Still nothing, so he got another cookie. 

Then it was Brian Regan, the one where he talks about going to the ER, having to mail something through UPS and his eye doctor appointment, among other things. Never saw him? HERE you go.  

Should he get another cookie? Figure out what to write? Nah. He folded the laundry instead.  

Okay. He's back. 

Wait. He might as well listen to Nicole Scherzinger's rendition of "Phantom of the Opera," along with four different Phantoms. Wow, she is good. And then after that, before he could think about a subject for today, the Corr's version of "Ruby Tuesday" came up. Have to listen to that, right? 

He was going to tell the story about the time he went to a restaurant with a few people on "Wing Day." The menu said you could order wings with various different sauces and sides and all, and it was $1.09 per wing. TB has no idea where they came up with $1.09.

Anyway, one of the guys he was with ordered 10. The other guy ordered seven. For some reason, that made TB laugh. And he ate all seven and said he was full. The 10 guy only ate nine. 

It was funny, but you had to be there to fully appreciate it. He decided not to tell the story, sort of. 

And just like that, it was two hours later. And he was still looking at a blank screen. 

Okay. What should he write about? 

In situations like this, he'll sometimes go back in time to see what he wrote five years ago or 10 years ago. He decided this time to look back to this date in 2015. 

Interestingly, he wrote about how it was in the 50s and 60s in Princeton and about to be 70 for Christmas. And he wrote about the women's basketball team's game at Ohio State that night. 

As it turned out, Ohio State was ranked No. 3 in the country at the time. Princeton was on its way to getting the Ivy League's first at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, after going 12-2 in the league and finishing second to a Penn team that beat Princeton twice by two points before there was an Ivy tournament. 

When Princeton played at Ohio State, the Buckeyes were ranked third in the country and played like it: The final was OSU 90, Princeton 70. 

There were three players in the game who had at least 20 points. Princeton's Michelle Miller had 21 to lead the Tigers, who had two others in double figures with 14 each: Alex Wheatley and Annie Tarakchian (who also had a game-high nine rebounds). 

Those three and the rest of the Tigers were a year removed from their 31-1 season and the program's first NCAA tournament win. If you're a Princeton fan, those three have to among your favorite Tigers. They were so much fun to watch and such great players. 

As for the other two players in the game who had more than 20 points, that would be two from Ohio State. Ameryst Alston had 27 to lead everyone; she'd go on to play for the New York Liberty in the WNBA and still plays in Europe. 

The other was Kelsey Mitchell, who had 25 points on 10 for 15 shooting, including 4 for 6 from three-point range. That's the same Kelsey Mitchell who currently is on the Indiana Fever and who has scored nearly 5,000 points in her WNBA career, including a career-best 20.2 this past season.

Hey, you never know what you're going to find when you look back in the archives, right? 

Anyway, it might be time for another cookie.