#ThankYourSID

You know what was trending on Twitter Monday afternoon?

It was this: #ThankYourSID.

If you don't know what an SID is, it starts for "sports information director." Even though TigerBlog has always preferred the term "athletic communications" to "sports information," they are pretty much the same thing.

So, seeing SID trending on Twitter, TB naturally went to check on it. And what did he learn? It's CoSIDA Membership Recognition Week.

There's even a graphic on the CoSIDA website (CoSIDA stands for "College Sports Information Directors of America) that says this: "we're your storytellers, communications strategists, social media managers, graphic designers, event managers, live stream coordinators, statisticians/record keepers and so much more ..."

That covers a lot, though not quite everything.

So much of college athletics involves being able to connect with different groups. Recruits. Alums. Current athletes and the families/friends. The public.

That's what's at the heart of this department and so many others. You want to recruit athletes. You want to give them the best experience you can when they're here. You want them to stay loyal after they graduate. You want the community to be engaged.

Simple, right? And how do you tell those stories? You get people like TigerBlog and the rest of his colleagues in the Princeton Office of Athletic Communications, as well as around the country.

If you want to #ThankYourSID at Princeton, then here's whom you should be thanking:

Craig Sachson - football, wrestling, m/w swimming and diving, m/w volleyball, m/w rowing, m/w squash
Andrew Borders - men's basketball, women's soccer, softball, m/w tennis, m/w golf, m/w fencing
Kristy McNeil - men's soccer, m/w hockey, women's lacrosse, m/w cross country/track and field
Warren Croxton - field hockey, women's basketball, baseball, m/w water polo
TigerBlog - men's lacrosse
Cody Chrusciel/John Bullis - videostreaming, original video production

It's a great group here. They produce a ton of content. They're reliable, and they are committed to all of the great things about Princeton Athletics, and especially about doing what they can to give the athletes the best possible experience while they're here.

While the subject for the day is thanking SIDs, TigerBlog wants to give a special thank you to Jeff Bernstein, the sports information director at NYU.

TigerBlog has known Jeff for a long time, back to when he was at Manhattan College. TB has known Bill Steinman even longer, back to when TB first started covering Princeton sports.

Bill was the longtime SID at Columbia. You haven't met too many nicer people in your life than Bill Steinman. He was always happy to see TigerBlog, Bill and the late Bill Shannon, who covered Columbia football and basketball for the AP.

TigerBlog spent many nights writing stories in the small offices that used to be the home of the Columbia sports information office, laughing with Bill and Bill.

By the way, Bill Steinman is the brother of Jim Steinman. Who is he? Jim Steinman is the one who wrote all of the lyrics for, among other things, Meat Loaf's album "Bat Out Of Hell." And the song "Tonight Is What It Means To Be Young," which is one you've never heard, so you'll have to take TB's word for it that it's great.

TigerBlog met Jim Steinman at a Columbia-Princeton basketball game one night. Bill Steinman introduced him.

Those days were a long time ago. These days, Bill Steinman is in poor health and in need of a wheelchair. When Jeff Bernstein found out that Bill was in a non-motorized wheelchair because he couldn't afford a motorized one, he reached out to a sports information group to pitch in and raise the money necessary.

The original email list took TB down memory lane, by the way. There was one name after another that TB hasn't seen in awhile.

Back when TB first got into Ivy League athletics, the sports information group was a tight one. TB was in constant communication with them, exchanging information before games that has long been a matter of an email or a trip to a web page.

Back then, those relationships led to friendships, or at the very least friendly rivalries. In fact, the first time the sports information group attended the regular Ivy meetings, TB pointed out to the larger administrative gathering that at the dinner the night before, the tables were inhabited school-by-school except for the sports information people, who had all sat together.

TB is happy to report that thanks to Jeff's leadership on this, Bill Steinman is now in the motorized wheelchair that he needs.

Jeff's word was that not having that chair for Bill would be "unacceptable," and so he reached out to a group he had to know would respond.

That's how it works in sports info.

It's a loyal group. It's a hard-working group.

And it often has its collective hearts in the right place.