The Vanilla Chai Latte

TigerBlog has never had a cup of coffee in his entire life.

Not once. He's had sips of wine, just never a full glass of wine.

He's never had hot tea either. The closest he's come to drinking tea is Snapple, which isn't quite fancy tea.

Contrast that with BrotherBlog, who has had lots and lots and lots of both. BrotherBlog used to be on of those Seattle coffee freaks, though now he's more into tea, the non-Snapple variety.

And he goes wine tasting and things like that. TigerBlog supposes that's what he has to do in Seattle, where they don't have a college men's lacrosse team for him to go watch.

Ah, but after all of these years, TigerBlog may just have found something that could qualify as something that adults drink. It's the vanilla chai latte.

TigerBlog had his first one recently. He's had three more since.

They're delicious. It's probably because they're loaded with sugar, so maybe he should just have a milkshake instead, but hey, he sounds so grown up when he says "vanilla chai latte please."

It's great. It's like adult Yoo Hoo.

You can get yourself one and head over to Princeton this afternoon, since it's a busier than normal Wednesday in Tiger Athletics.

The first events for the Larry Ellis Invitational will take place on Weaver Track and Field Stadium. Larry Ellis was the longtime track and field coach at Princeton, (1970-92), as well as the head coach of the U.S. Olympic Team in 1984.

TigerBlog knew Larry Ellis, and in fact Ellis said one of the funniest things TB has ever heard. To this day, TB has no idea if Ellis said it to be funny or didn't realize how funny it was when he said it.

TB was walking down the Jadwin mezzanine balcony, and Ellis was standing against the railing talking to one of his athletes, who asked the coach what he had to do to a run a certain time in an event. TB can't remember the time, so he'll make one up:
Athlete: Coach, what do I have to do to run a 10.18?
Ellis: Run faster.

That's either great comedy or great coaching.

TigerBlog wasn't sure when Ellis passed away, so he did a search for him. That's where he found out that he passed away in 1998, at the age of 70. It's also where he found out that Ellis coached Bob Beamon, who for a few decades held what was considered the unbreakable long jump record, when Beamon was at Jamaica High School.

In addition to the track and field events, there is also a baseball game today against Rider on Clarke Field. First pitch is at 3:30.

It was a tough weekend for the Tigers, who dropped all four to Penn in Philadelphia. Princeton is now 5-7 in the Gehrig Division, trailing the first place Quakers, who are 8-4.

Princeton will host Columbia for four this weekend, while Penn is at Cornell for four. Cornell is 6-6, followed by the Lions, who are tied with the Tigers at 5-7. If you want to have Princeton win the division, root for Cornell over Penn and then Princeton over Cornell next weekend.

The softball team, who won all four at Penn last weekend, is now three games ahead of Columbia, who is also at Princeton this weekend. Before that, the Tigers host Lehigh today in a doubleheader, beginning at 3.

Lehigh is the alma mater of Princeton head coach Lisa Van Ackeren, who is chasing her second Ivy straight Ivy title.

So those are the four events on campus today. The biggest game for Princeton is the women's lacrosse game at Penn tonight at 7.

Princeton is unbeaten in the Ivy League and heading into the four biggest days of the regular season. The game tonight is a matchup between two top 10 teams, Princeton at No. 7 and Penn at No. 10.

Then there is Saturday's game, at Cornell. That one is a matchup of two top 11 teams, as Cornell is ranked 11th.

Cornell may be ranked one spot behind Penn, but the Big Red has a 10-4 win over the Quakers on its resume. That leaves Cornell and Princeton as the only two unbeatens in the league.

Should Princeton win the game tonight, then the winner of the game in Ithaca Saturday would be the host of the Ivy League tournament. Should Penn win the game tonight, then Penn could still host the league tournament, or at the very least tie for the league title. In other words, both teams have a lot to play for tonight.

TigerBlog is pretty sure that only Princeton and Penn have ever hosted the Ivy League women's lacrosse tournament. On the men's side, the tournament has been at Princeton, Cornell, Harvard, Brown and now this year Yale.

Anyway, that's the busy Wednesday for Princeton, with five events. It's not quite Saturday, which has 17, but a five-event Wednesday is still a good one.