What Did They Have Against February?

Did you ever wonder why February has only 28 days in most years when every other month has 30 or 31?

Why not give February 30 and take a day away from two of the 31-day months?

TigerBlog did some research on this yesterday, and he learned some interesting stuff. Back about six centuries BC or so, the Roman calendar consisted of 10 months and 304 days, with a period in winter that was unnamed. Eventually, the Roman king Numa Pompilius added January and February to the mix.

There's a legend that said February originally had 29 days and August had 30 but that Augustus Caesar moved a day from February to August because it was named for him.

Can you imagine if you had been born during the time that had no months or days? "When is your birthday?" "Well, it's between December and March, but I'm not exactly sure when, and even if I knew exactly when, it has no date assigned to it anyway." "Okay, well, we'll just get you a cake at some random time when it's cold out."

Tomorrow, of course, is Feb. 29, which comes along once every four years (except in years divisible by 100, 200 or 300 but not 400, which explains why there was a Feb. 29, 2000, but won't be a Feb., 29, 2100).

TigerBlog already knew that part. He wrote about it four years ago on Feb. 29, when he said this:

As everyone knows, there's only one of these every four years. The reason? It takes the Earth 365 days, 5 hours, 49 minutes, and 16 seconds to make one complete revolution around the sun.
Did you know that there is no Feb. 29 in years that are divisible by 100, unless they're also divisible by 400? That's why there was a Feb. 29 in 2000, though there won't be one in 2100. 
Do you know anyone who was born on Feb. 29? TigerBlog doesn't.
He assumes that everyone who was born on Feb. 29 makes the same "today is my 10th birthday" if they're 40 joke. That's okay. If you only get to have one of every four birthdays on your actual birthday, you get to make that joke.
To Frederic, from the "Pirates of Penzance," it was no joke. He was to be an apprentice until his 21st birthday, and when he thinks he's reached it and is free, he finds out he was actually born on Feb. 29, which meant that he had 63 more years to go. Don't worry, it worked out just fine for Frederic and Mabel. That's how it works in Gilbert and Sullivan operettas.
TigerBlog has always wondered why they decided to make February have a 29th. Now that he thinks about it, why does February have only 28 days in the first place.
Who decided that? What did they have against February. 
Anyway, there's something mildly interesting about Feb. 29. It's something different. 

Today usually marks the end of the poorly treated month of February, and tomorrow is a day unlike any other day. Whatever month it is, it features some huge events, with championships and postseason on the line.

As TB said yesterday (and if you didn't see the video about the Alaries, then you need to stop reading and go check it out), the women's basketball team can clinch an eighth Ivy League title in 11 years with a win either tonight against Brown or tomorrow against Yale (or next week against either Columbia or Cornell). Nothing is ever to be taken for granted until it actually happens, but use the preferred words of former Ford Family Director of Athletics Gary Walters, TigerBlog is "cautiously optimistic" about Princeton's chances.

The Tigers are 10-0, with a three-game lead on Penn with four games to play.

As for the men's basketball team, the Tigers are at Brown tonight and Yale tomorrow night. Princeton, with the same four games to play, could do anything from win an outright Ivy League title to not make the Ivy League tournament.

Princeton is 7-3, tied with Harvard and a game back of 8-2 Yale. Brown is 6-4, followed by 5-5 Penn.

Elsewhere, this weekend is Heps indoor track and field championship weekend, as the men's and women's events will be held at Cornell. Princeton's men are going for a sixth-straight indoor title, and it will not be easy, as Penn and Harvard appear ready to make a serious challenge.

Speaking of the men's track and field team, Sam Ellis recently broke the school record for the indoor mile, running 3:57.66 at a meet at Boston University. Ellis broke the record of 3:58.70, set 29 years ago by Bill Burke; TigerBlog interviewed Burke at halftime of the men's basketball game the next night on WHWH radio.

The men's swimming and diving team is at Harvard for the Ivy League championships. The men's squash team is also at Harvard for the team national championships. 

The women's hockey team is home in the quarterfinals of the ECAC playoffs against Quinnipiac in a best-of-three series. Gametime today, tomorrow and if necessary Sunday is at 3.

Princeton is the No. 2 seed in the ECAC playoffs, behind top-seeded Cornell. Of the top 12 teams in the Pairwise rankings, six of them are in the ECAC, so this event is fairly loaded. And Princeton, like the others, is playing for a chance to get back to the NCAA tournament for the second straight year. 

Also, it's been 28 years since Feb. 29 fell on a Saturday, and that makes tomorrow the first time that the men's lacrosse team will play a game on a Feb. 29, since the season didn't start until March 1 until about 10 years ago. Princeton hosts Johns Hopkins at 1, after the Tigers moved from unranked to the top 10 by virtue of a 16-12 win over defending NCAA champ Virginia last weekend.

The women played a game on Feb. 29, 2012, which was a Wednesday. Princeton, who lost that one 11-10 to Rutgers, is at Columbia tomorrow at noon in its Ivy League opener.

There are also a million other events, including baseball's opener, more softball, the men's hockey regular season finales (at home, so there could be as many as five hockey games at Baker Rink this weekend), home men's volleyball, women's water polo and early season tennis.

The complete composite schedule is HERE.

And enjoy Feb. 29. It's not something you get to do very often.