Swoosh Day

TigerBlog heard from Scott Jurgens yesterday.

He thanked TB for the mention yesterday, about he and another former Princeton Athletics staffer, Mary Gleason, have been dealing with Hurricane Harvey.

TigerBlog asked Scott if the rain had finally stopped, and he said yes. Then he gave one of the best lines TB has ever heard. Here was the actual text from Scott:

"It's funny that last week we were not supposed to look at the sun and now we have never been so happy to see it."

Doesn't that sum everything up pretty much perfectly? TB really hopes Scott came up with that himself. Regardless, it's nice to see that the sun has come out down there.

That's not really what TigerBlog wanted to talk about today. In fact, anything that TB would talk about pales in comparison to what's going on in Houston, so he feels a little guilty talking about something that doesn't measure up, like what happened around here yesterday.

It was Nike day, the day when athletic department staff is issued its annual gear for the coming academic year.

Yes, it's a nice perk of working here. To TigerBlog, it represents a lot more than just that, though.

He's written about this before. Actually, he's written these exact words before:
The effect off the Nike deal on all of Princeton Athletics has been nothing short of extraordinary. What started out as a bit of a perk has turned into the single best element of what has come to be know around here as "overt pride," something that stretches across every coach, athlete and staff member of the department - and even outside the department.

It's still true.

When TigerBlog first started working here, there were different color oranges, there were different brands, there were different everything. And it led to something that he used to see all the time and almost never sees anymore - the sight of Princeton athletes on this campus wearing gear from other colleges.

TB absolutely hated that.

Now, Princeton's teams look like teams. They look uniform. They wear the same colors, with the same designs. They have the same fonts.

It sounds so simple, but it's a huge thing. It leads to feeling like you're part of something larger than just your spot on your team. It leads to being part of the larger Princeton Athletics family.

It leads to feeling proud.

And that's a great thing.

TigerBlog firmly believes that the uniform look that Princeton teams have, on their teams and across the department, has a positive impact on the field. Maybe it doesn't make the difference in the final moments of a close game, but in general, TB thinks that an athletic department works better when everyone feels that they are fully invested in it.

For TigerBlog, that understanding means more than the new gear itself, though he certainly appreciates what he gets.

With yesterday's allotment, TB was given the choice between a hat or a visor. He went with the hat. He never understood the whole visor thing.

It doesn't cover your whole head, for one thing. This becomes an even bigger deal if, like TigerBlog, it's possible that your hair has thinned just the slightest on top.

Also, it's like one of those winter jackets that has no sleeves. Why do people get those?

The new sneakers are also great. They're gray, with black laces. TigerBlog has a pair like that from two years ago that are pretty beaten up, but the gray does stay cleaner than white.

TigerBlog, by the way, has not bought a pair of sneakers in 25 years or so.

The men's water polo team opens its season this weekend in a tournament at Navy, which is, by the way, the alma mater of Princeton head coach Luis Nicolao. The members of the team came in yesterday for their head shots, following the parade of the other fall teams who have already been here.

Each member of the team came in wearing a black Nike longsleeve dri-fit with a white Swoosh, a white P and white lettering of "water polo." They looked exactly how a team is supposed to look.

You know that carries over on the field, or in their case, the pool.