A Busy Thursday

TigerBlog was still in the newspaper business when then-Trenton State College went to play at Hofstra in the 1990 Division III football playoffs.

Hofstra was moving up to Division I-AA and, as TB remembers, pretty much dominated a really, really good TSC (now The College of New Jersey) team. It was a shame that TSC didn't get to play a more traditional Division III team, because the Lions, who had already beaten favored Ithaca in the first round, could have made something of a run that year.

Oh well. It was 29 years ago. TB is over it.

That game, though, was TB's introduction to Jim Sheehan, the Hofstra sports information director at the time. And now? Sheehan is finally retiring.

TigerBlog stumbled upon a Hofstra Chronicle story about Sheehan, who has been a longtime friend, ever since that 1990 football game. TB has seen Sheehan dozens of times through the year, mostly at lacrosse games.

The athletic communications field is not for everyone. TB has seen a lot of really good people leave the profession through the years, because of the hours and the grind.

In the story about Sheehan, there's this quote:
“I only expected to be at Hofstra for a short time,” said Jim, who started his time at Hofstra back in 1988. “The late Bill Esposito, former SID at St. John’s, who was one of my many mentors, said the optimal tenure in sports information should be 5-7 years. But the exciting growth at Hofstra in the late 80s and early 90s kept me here. Hofstra is a special place and it has been fantastic to see the great changes and additions, both athletic and non-athletic, over the years.” 

If you change "Hofstra" to "Princeton" in that sentence, you have TB's feelings about where he's worked all these decades, as opposed to the "optimal" five to seven years.

If you'd like, you can read all about Jim Sheehan HERE. Or TB will sum it up for you this way: an extraordinarily good guy who worked really hard for a long time and was a first-class representative of a fine institution is retiring. That's not a bad career epitaph, no?

Sheehan's employer will be sending its men's basketball team to Jadwin Gym tonight. Tip-off between Princeton and Hofstra will be at 7.

At the same time across campus, Princeton will be wrestling against Rider in a huge local matchup.

Those two events are the last home events before Christmas. The only other event on the calendar this week is a women's basketball game at St. Louis, followed by an eight-day break for the holidays.

The wrestling team is ranked 12th in Division I after its wild time last weekend, with its trip to Oklahoma State and then home match against No. 1 Iowa. Rider has spent time this year in the national top 25.

Princeton has half of its lineup ranked in the individual top 20s, including No. 3 Patrick Glory at 125 and No. 3 Patrick Glory at 197. The match against Rider features a big-time matchup at 157 between the Broncs Jesse Dellavecchia (ranked sixth) and Princeton's Quincy Monday (ranked seventh).

The men's basketball team swept the Ivy League awards this week, as Richmond Aririguzoh was named Player of the Week and Ryan Langborg was the Rookie of the Week.

Hofstra comes into this game having not played in nine games. Princeton, on the other hand, played Iona Tuesday night in Brooklyn.

Hofstra is 7-4 on the year. The teams have two common opponents, and those results are just confusing.

On the one hand, Princeton lost 67-66 to Monmouth on a buzzer-beating three-pointer, while Hofstra beat Monmouth by 20, 94-74.

On the other hand, Princeton defeated Bucknell 87-77, while Hofstra lost to Bucknell 86-71. There's really no way to reconcile those results.

Princeton will be off after this game until a game a week from Sunday against Lehigh at Jadwin Gym as the second game of a doublheader, after the women's team takes on New Hampshire.

In the meantime, it's a busy Tuesday at Princeton, with home men's basketball and home wrestling.

And, before those events, a congratulations to Jim Sheehan for his great career at Hofstra. And good luck in retirement.