Prom Night

Depending on whom you ask, tonight is either a huge night for TigerBlog Jr. - or a hugely overrated night.

It's senior prom night for TBJ, another milestone on the way to graduation, college, career and then, hopefully, financially supporting his father.

So what about you? What are your memories of your senior prom? Big deal, or no big deal?

TigerBlog's senior prom date was a young lady named Nancy. He's pretty sure that he saw her only once after graduation, and he has no idea whatever happened to her.

On the other side of the spectrum is his friend Mark. His senior prom date was a young lady named Martha.

Today? They have three kids and a really big dog.

TigerBlog will go out on a limb and suggest that TBJ's prom experience will be something in between.
 If nothing else, this won't be the only prom for the two of them, as TBJ will be taking her to her own prom in a few weeks.

Of course, TBJ is not without prom experience, having attended two a year ago as well, though with two different young ladies, one to his own prom and the other to hers.

TBJ goes to an all-boys high school, and the prom there is a combined junior/senior prom. The athletic communications professional inside TigerBlog wonders how many different high schools will be represented by the girls at the prom for TBJ's school, which has approximately 120 boys in each class.

What's the breakdown of public school versus private school? And, how many reciprocal prom dates will there be?

Proms don't seem to have changed much since TigerBlog went to his. There will be dates, tuxes, formal dresses, pictures, other pictures with the bigger group at a friend's house, a limo to the prom, a post-prom party.

By the way, TigerBlog knows he has his senior prom picture someplace. Maybe he'll dig it out. He can't remember what he was wearing back then, but it was probably pretty stylish.

TigerBlog wishes TBJ - and all high school prom goers this season - a good, and safe, time.

This goes for the more than 200 high school seniors who recently were accepted to Princeton University as recruited athletes.

The first of the stories announcing these classes was posted yesterday, with the announcement of the newcomers of the men's basketball team. The rest will be coming shortly.

It's an interesting time in the lives of these athletes. As recruiting has gotten earlier and earlier, these young men and women have been focused on being part of Princeton Athletics for awhile.

Now that all of their acceptances have been received and the official offers of admission have been accepted, it's much more real to all of them.

They are a few months away from coming to campus as Princeton Tigers. When they get here, they will have the luxury of being part of a a team, giving them a great starting foundation to make the adjustment to college.

TigerBlog knows the names of very few of those who will make up the Princeton Athletics Class of 2019. Within a few months of their arrival, many will already have started to make a name for themselves.

Now? They're still high school seniors. They're looking forward to their own proms, to finishing their high school careers, to graduations, to choosing their classes for college, to enjoying their last summers before they become Princetonians.

Once they do? It'll stay with them forever.

TigerBlog has heard generation after generation of Princeton athletes talk about their earliest days on this campus and how they met friends within the first few hours who became among the best friends they've ever had. The same will happen for the 2019s.

As for the announcement of recruiting classes, they are among the most read pieces that are on goprincetontigers.com. TigerBlog likes to see where the new athletes are coming from, if any of them are local, if any of them went to his own high school. TB assumes other people do the same.

Of course, there's no guarantee as to what kind of experience any of those names will have once they get here. They will each have to make their own way once September rolls around, and then moving forward for the four years that follow.

TB hopes they all realize what a great gift they've been given, to compete in the sports that they love beyond their high school days, and to do so at the No. 1 college in the country. When they start college, they'll be doing so in a department that is committed to maximizing their experience, from Day 1 through graduation.

There's no way for them to know that now though. They'll have to wait and experience it for themselves.

All in good time, of course.

In the meantime, have fun being high school seniors, with everything that goes along with it.

Like proms.

They will very shortly become the Class of 2019.

For now, they're still the Class of 2015, wherever they are.