A Jadwin Flashback

So New Year's Day is January 1. Everyone knows that.

There aren't too many days on the calendar that feel like a new beginning, though, like the Tuesday after Labor Day, which of course was yesterday. The summer is essentially over, at least the summer vacation part, and a new school year is either starting or ramping up for pretty much every kid in the country, with corresponding effect on their parents.

TigerBlog always began school after Labor Day, as he recalls. His kids always started school the week before it.

As he rode his bike yesterday morning, he saw kids at bus stops, all in shorts, all with that "why does summer have to be over and school starting again" look on their faces.

They looked like they were middle school kids. 

TB received a text message the other day from his colleague Warren Croxton with a YouTube link to a Princeton men's basketball game from 1999. Or at least that's how it was labeled. He also mentioned that he was in sixth grade when that game was played.

TB replied that he'd been in sixth grade in the early 1970s. He has no memory of it.

Perhaps one day he was at the bus stop and he saw some guy ride his bike past as he thought "why does summer have to be over and school starting again?"

Meanwhile, back at the video, the game was labeled as 1999 but was actually played in 2000, between Princeton and Xavier at Jadwin Gym. It was part of John Thompson III's first season as Tiger head coach, a season that ended with an Ivy title and NCAA appearance.

Princeton and Xavier have played four times. The first one was in the 1989-90 season, a year in which Princeton played 27 games (going 20-7 and winning the second of what would be four-straight Ivy titles). TigerBlog was at, by his memory, 21 of those 27 games. The game against Xavier (part of a tournament in San Francisco) was one that he missed.

It was also the first game at Princeton for Sean Jackson, who would go on to become the 1992 Ivy League Player of the Year. Jackson missed the first six games of that season with what TB remembers was a broken finger (TB also thought it was more than six games, but hey, it was nearly 30 years ago).

TB was at the other three meetings, which were all played within a 37-game stretch that spanned the 1999 NIT quarterfinals, a regular-season meeting in the 1999-2000 season in Cincinnati and the game in 2000 at Jadwin.

Xavier had won the first two of those games, 65-58 in the NIT (after Princeton had a double-figure lead and TB thought they were headed to Madison Square Garden) and then 58-54 at the old, old, old Cincinnati Gardens.

The third game in the series saw Xavier come into Jadwin with a 5-1 record, not to mention three future NBA draft choices, including future two-time all-star and 15-year vet David West.

Princeton, still sorting out the pieces after massive turnover between players and coaches from the year before, was 2-3 heading into that game. Xavier was a huge favorite.

Instead, it turned into a 58-52 Princeton win, almost reversing the score of a year ago. West finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds, by the way.

Princeton had three players in double figures, led by Mike Bechtold with 16. Nate Walton and Ahmed El-Nokali had 10 each.

TB would watch pretty much the entire game. It certainly brought back memories, with some nostalgia for a game from just about 20 years ago from a really magical season that was a lot of fun to be a part of, in his way at least.

Also, he was struck by some of the familiar faces who are still part of game nights at Jadwin, including PA announcer Bill Bromberg and photographer Beverly Schaefer, both of whom could be seen and/or heard during the telecast. At the same time, Jadwin looks like a completely different place these days, with so many changes that have made it a much better place to see a game.

The game was played on Dec. 9, or just about three weeks away from New Year's Day. What a silly time for the calendar to flip over, and, as you know it was done randomly then anyway.

No, the Tuesday after Labor Day is a way better day to have New Year's Day than January 1.

This could be TB's new cause - to get the New Year's holiday officially changed to the Tuesday after Labor Day.

Who's in charge of the calendar anyway?