TAGD Time

If you rang the doorbell on MotherBlog's apartment back when she lived in Chevy Chase, it would play one of her two favorite songs.

That would be "Hail to the Redskins." The other, which didn't play when you rang the bell, was "Do You Hear The People Sing," from Les Mis.

TigerBlog's favorite NFL team has always been the Giants. This used to cause issues at least twice a year between TB and his mother.

TB remembers the Super Bowl when the Redskins beat the Broncos 42-10, the one in which Doug Williams went off in the first half to make it a total rout. The game was played in San Diego, and TB is pretty sure his mother was in California on business at the time. He's positive she called him to make sure he was aware of who was winning the game.

Because of his loyalty to his mother, TB has always had a soft spot for the Redskins. He was rooting for them on Thanksgiving Day against the Cowboys, even though Dallas is coached by a Princeton alum, one TB likes a lot.

TB was also rooting for Detroit. One day, the Lions will win the Super Bowl, and TB will be happy - because it'll make the only legitimate lifelong die-hard Lions fan he knows happy, and that's former Roper Trophy winner John Mack. 

Mostly, though, TigerBlog rooted for the radio announcers in the Thanksgiving games.

Why? Because they were Tom McCarthy for the Lions-Vikings game and John Sadak for the Redskins-Cowboys game.

If you don't remember those names, they're former Princeton radio play-by-play voices. TigerBlog will take the credit for molding them and sending them on their way to the big time.

TigerBlog had his first experience of doing a basketball game with Tom's son Patrick Friday afternoon, when Princeton took on Rowan. Patrick is a senior at The College of New Jersey, where he is a baseball player and a budding broadcaster.

TB has done hundreds of games on the radio, dating back to his own student days at Penn. He's done Princeton football, basketball and lacrosse at various times.

TigerBlog can say with complete confidence that doing the game the other day with Patrick was one of the best broadcasting experiences he's ever had.

As November comes to a close, the Princeton Athletic calendar starts to slow a bit as well. The fall/winter crossover is nearly over, other than women's volleyball in the NCAA tournament.

There is one huge date to circle this month still, however.

And that day is tomorrow. TAGD is coming.

This will be the third TAGD - Tiger Athletics Give Day. In just a short time, TAGD has become a highly successful, highly competitive and highly, well, fun day for Princeton.

Basically, TAGD is a 24-hour fundraising day for Princeton's athletic friends groups and the Princeton Varsity Club. The first two days generated more gifts than any other days in Princeton history.

The first TAGD grew out of the 150th anniversary of the first Princeton athletic event. At the time, nobody really had any idea what to expect.

Now? It's clear that Princeton Athletics is made up of some highly competitive people. Each team began to compete against the others to see who could get the most gifts and the most money, and it was obvious that they loved the competition.

It exploded on social media. The teams came up with their own videos, their own Instagram posts, their own tweets.

It was fun. And it was competitive.

This year's TAGD began with a video narrated by Ashleigh Johnson of the women's water polo team. Ashleigh, as you might recall, won a gold medal at the Olympics this past summer.

As part of Ashleigh's script, she mentioned some of the many, many benefits of TAGD that go directly to the student-athlete experience. The money raised has gone to things like locker room upgrades, out-of-region travel, international trips, advances in technologies, championship rings, new equipment, community service trips, recruit hosting and so much more.

TAGD will begin at exactly midnight and run for exactly 24 hours. You can find out more information, and see Ashleigh's video and a bunch of other social media postings, at the event's official website: tigerathleticsgiveday.com.

TigerBlog is constantly amazed and impressed by the loyalty that Princeton Athletics has generated through the years. Those who have come before feel an obligation to provide for the current generation, who in turn will do the same when it's their turn.

It's most visible at events like the Peter Farrell retirement party earlier this fall, when all of those generations are gathered together in one place at one time.

It's most real on a day like TAGD, when so many people accept the challenge to contribute. And you do this because of what a great experience you had here and how important Princeton Athletics are to you.

So thank you in advance for helping out again. That's tomorrow. Midnight to midnight, Eastern time.

It's almost TAGD 3.0. In a short time, it's become one of the better days around here.