One More Week

TigerBlog got the most unlikely text message from his brother the other day.

It said "Is the UW-Auburn game on the radio?"

Now, presumably BrotherBlog was driving along somewhere in the greater Seattle area and wanted to hear the game. Then again, he couldn't have actually been driving, because then he wouldn't have been texting.

BrotherBlog is two years older than TB, and this was probably the first time - or at least the first time TB can remember - that his brother asked him how he can listen to a sporting event on the radio. Progress, right?

BrotherBlog, by the way, leaves today for China. This will be his fifth trip to Shanghai, which is 12 hours from his home base in Seattle.

That's a long flight, one longer than TB has ever taken.

TigerBlog would love to go to Australia or the Far East. He's just not sure he could sit for that long. Maybe one day he'll find out.

So bon voyage, BB. Your Huskies, by the way, lost to Auburn 21-16, in case you never got to hear the rest of it. Next up for Washington is North Dakota at home and then the Pac 12 opener at Utah.

TigerBlog roots for Washington because of his brother, who works in the law school there and who graduated from the law school. Of course, that doesn't correspond to rooting for BB's undergraduate school, which also happens to be the same as TB.

There were more than 100 college football games last weekend, none of which involved the Ivy League, whose teams don't play until a week from Saturday. TigerBlog didn't watch that much, though he did see the fourth quarter of the Appalachian State-Penn State game, which Penn State got very lucky to win.

He watched a little online of the Sacred Heart-Lafayette game, as the Pioneers won 35-7. He also watched a bit of Notre Dame-Michigan; sadly, only one team lost.

He didn't watch any of the Butler-Youngstown State game, won by Butler 23-21. Butler is Princeton's opening day opponent, in Indianapolis, by the way.

Youngstown State, also by the way, reached the FCS championship game two years ago (it's won four of them) and last year lost to Pitt in overtime in its opener. This year the Penguins came in ranked 24th, only to have Butler pull off the win.

Pace Temple, a Butler wide receiver, caught 14 passes for 167 yards and a TD and recovered an onsides kick to earn National Offensive Player of the Week honors.

Next up is Taylor, a school in Indiana whom Butler beat 27-21 last year en route to a 6-5 season. Butler will have those two games under its belt before it plays Princeton.

TigerBlog has always thought that this is the toughest week for Ivy League football, since the rest of the college football world is off and running, not to mention high schools. It's also the opening weekend of the NFL season.

Former Princeton wide receiver Marc Ross stopped by yesterday. TigerBlog assured him that he was no longer rooting for his former employer, the New York Giants and also assured him that he would root for whatever team next hired him.

For now, TB is going to root for the Redskins (MotherBlog's team) and the Jets (because of New York Daily News beat writer Manish Mehta, a former Princeton Office of Athletic Communications employee).

Back at Princeton, this is a tough week because the rest of the football world is in game week mode.

If you want to see Princeton play in the Eastern time zone, then you'll have to wait an additional week. The home opener is against Monmouth on Sept 22, with kickoff at 4:30. The other five home games are all at 1.

TigerBlog has been to the football stadium at the University of Washington. It's a stunningly beautiful setting. In fact, this is from the UW website:
The view from Husky Stadium is unmatched - it overlooks Lake Washington and offers sweeping skylines of Downtown Seattle, Mt. Rainier and the Cascade Mountains to the east and the Olympic Mountain Range to the west.

And you can see the photo gallery HERE.

TigerBlog has never been to a game there though. He's never been to a Power Five Conference game. The closest he came was Rutgers when it was still in the Big East.

It would be fun to go to one of those games. He'd love to go to a game at a school that has great traditions and a great fan base but not necessarily a Top 10 school. Purdue leaps to mind. Or Ole' Miss. Something like that.

Still, he prefers the Ivy League. The games are fun. The history is great. The level of play continues to improve.

He's looking forward to the season.

Even if he has to wait one more week.