Staying Connected

So here is how someone who has spent most of his life in athletic communications tends to think every now and then.

TigerBlog was watching part of the "Rocky" marathon on AMC Saturday. When it got to the point where Rocky was going to fight his rematch with Clubber Lang, TB thought to himself "what is Rocky's record now?'

Well, before his first fight with Apollo Creed, Rocky's record was given by the two commentators as 44-20. Since he loses that fight but then beats Creed again (Rocky II) and then says he won his first 10 title defenses before losing to Lang the first time (Rocky III), that would make him 55-22 prior to the rematch.

It also means there were a lot of guys in the Philadelphia are who watched one of Balboa's fights and said "you know I kicked his butt, right?"

By the way, there have been eight movies in the series, and Sylvester Stallone wrote seven of them. Can you guess the one he didn't write?

For the record, TigerBlog was so disappointed in "Rocky IV" when it first came out that he never saw "Rocky V." Through the years, he's come to be okay with "Rocky IV," even if he'll never love it. He did think the two "Creed" movies were awesome, and he'd rank "Creed" up there with any of the other movies other than the original, which will forever be in a class by itself.

The "Rocky" marathon was a big part of TB's Saturday. It was raining in the greater Princeton metropolitan area, so it was a good day to sit inside and watch movies you've seen a million times before.

Of course, TB is still not past the idea of where he was supposed to be while the marathon was going on. In fact, he even checked the weather in Providence to see if it would be raining there for the Princeton-Brown men's lacrosse game, which of course was not going to be played.

Turns out it wasn't raining at 1, when face-off was supposed to be. It would have been a great day for what figured to be a great game.

Oh, and TB is not a fan of all of these simulations of games or NCAA tournaments or anything. It's okay if you like them, and he's not talking them down. It's just that they are most decidedly not his thing.

If TB is still this tuned in to when and where games were supposed to be, he imagines the coaches and especially players are even more so. In the meantime, as the pandemic continues, this surreal spring moves ahead with no games and remote classes.

In this era, staying in touch and staying connected are hugely important, maybe more so than ever, as people spend very little time with actual contact with the overwhelming majority of people in their lives.

The softball team is another team that should have been playing this past weekend. The Tigers, though, are staying in touch the way so many teams, and all organizations for that matter, are currently doing.

You can see for yourself:

Physical distancing doesn’t mean disconnected. Still a team. And teammates are for life. 🐅#PSB4L pic.twitter.com/90K9bROgcA

— Princeton Softball (@PUSoftball) March 26, 2020

 

That's just one of the many ways that Princetonians are staying connected these days.

There have been highlight videos. Lots of them. And former Tigers who have checked in about their teams, including this from Sandi Bittler, who had been the all-time leading scorer for Princeton women's basketball before Bella Alarie beat her 30-year-old record:

The all-time greats knew how special this @PrincetonWBB team was. #TigersForever #GameRecognizeGame pic.twitter.com/KmTJJSJk5t

— PrincetonVarsityClub (@PVCTIGERS) March 27, 2020

There've been written pieces, including "Dear Princeton" essays such as this one from Evan Quinn of the men's golf team that you can see HERE and which includes this:

I am so appreciative of everyone who has made my last four years so unforgettable. 
Every day really is a great day to be a Tiger.
Sincerely,
Evan Quinn '20

The whole piece is really good.

TB's colleague Cody Chrusciel has set up a home broadcast center, one in which he originally featured an interview, such as it was, of his dog.

The first human interview was with wrestler Patrick Glory. You can see that one too:

Hear From The Hodge Trophy Finalist.@tigerwrestling Superstar Patrick Glory Is The First Guest On #TigTalks Presented By @RWJBarnabas

🗳️ For The Hodge:https://t.co/gGNbdJJKaT pic.twitter.com/UoohsZ2hDk

— Princeton Tigers (@PUTIGERS) March 26, 2020

There have also been coaches who have been turning their homes into family workout areas, some really good:

I give a quick explanation of what I mean by “giving the opponent head position”

We then get into a couple of attacks on the “other side” of the U-hook ...the primary reason we want the opponents head on the same side as U-hook. Opponent doesn’t see the hi-c or single coming. pic.twitter.com/vwPedeZjfc

— Coach Chris Ayres (@tigercoachayres) March 29, 2020

 

And, of course, what did everyone's mother say? It's only fun til someone gets hurt?

“No blood, no foul” was ⁦@tony62bob⁩ (dads) family rule. We had a flagrant today in our home gym while bringing the #OrangeJ21CE. My experience coaching ⁦@aj_surace12⁩ fav John Lovett prepared me well when “CAN I PLAY NOW” day one out of surgery hits level 10 tomorrow pic.twitter.com/Oc4gePlXqh

— Bob Surace '90 (@CoachBobSurace) March 29, 2020

 

TigerBlog can confirm that A.J. is doing fine.

In the meantime, you can continue to check out the webpage and social media for more content. As TB said, staying connected has never been more important.

You can't watch TV all day, not even when there's a "Rocky" marathon. 

Oh, and Sylvester Stallone did not write the first "Creed."