Blog 3K

TigerBlog had several Zoom meetings yesterday, including an all-staff one in which there were thumbnails of all of his colleagues whom he hasn't seen in, what's it been?, months, years?

Actually, if you can believe it, TigerBlog was thinking about how four weeks ago this evening was the night he sat on his couch and watched Princeton women's basketball (Bella Alarie broke the school career points record), men's basketball (Princeton big over Columbia) and men's hockey (first-round ECAC win at Dartmouth).

Does it seem like only four weeks? No. It seems like another time from another world.

Another of TB's calls yesterday, by the way, involved head football coach Bob Surace, and a few others. TB asked them all the same trivia question:
"Only two switch-hitters in Major League history reached 3,000 hits. Can you name them?"

Only Coach Surace got them both: Pete Rose and Eddie Murray. Impressive.

Murray, by the way, is the only player ever to have at least 3,000 hits and 500 home runs. That's even more impressive for a switch-hitter.

In case you're wondering, Murray hit 504 career home runs, with 362 lefthanded and 142 righthanded.

Stats are fascinating things. In Princeton Athletic history, there are just some that leap out of the record books - Bill Bradley had 2,503 career points, Keith Elias ran for 4,208 yards, Leslie Robinson had the first triple-double in Princeton basketball history. TB could go on for awhile.

As you probably figured out a long time ago, TigerBlog loves statistics, something that stems from an even greater passion for numbers, patterns and algorithms.

Where this came from he's not sure, but it likely has something to do with the fact that numbers are finite for the most part. They offer clarity and certainty and in an ever spinning world they can offer comfort.

With that as a backdrop, you might be interested to know that this is the 3,000th entry in TigerBlog history.

He doesn't tell you this for recognition, but rather to demonstrate how important this is to him and how appreciative he is of all of you out there who read it every day. Without your feedback and readership TB isn't sure he'd be so dogged in his consistency, but aside from his own personal sense of accomplishment, he loves your comments and support.

The blog was born on Aug. 28, 2008, with no actual purpose other than to say Princeton Athletics had a blog. At the time, who knew what it might become?

At first, it was used for in-game blogging and some small messages. As TB has said before, nobody was reading it then, and it almost simply went by the wayside until TB hit on the idea of using it as a story-telling venture.

From that point, things started to take off a bit. It was a few months until it became a daily venture, and that's where it stays now, without having missed a business day in more than 11 years.

The 1,000th entry was on May 17, 2012. The 2,000th was on May 2, 2016. Now it's 3,000.

If he had to guess, TB would say that he's written 2,800 of them. There were the early ones, that were most the short blurbs and in-game ones. There have been some guest spots through the years, for which he thanks everyone who has ever submitted one, especially Jim Barlow, Tad La Fountain, David Rosenfeld, Craig Sachson and Howard Levy. He also would like to thank the two Princeton Ford Family Directors of Athletics who have allowed it and seen its value, Gary Walters and Mollie Marcoux Samaan.

Every blog is archived here. They're not all worth going back and reading, but some are.

The best have always been the personal ones, the emotional ones, whoever the subjects have been. They have been the ones that have been the best-received, and they've been the ones that have really helped TB explain why Princeton Athletics - and what it has always represented - has been so special to him for more than 30 years now.

When TB first saw what day the 3,000th blog would fall on, he thought he'd be writing it in advance of a really busy spring athletic weekend. Now he's writing it in the middle of a pandemic that has brought athletics to a halt.

And while that may be true, what is even more obvious is that the connections that athletics foster are strong than ever. In these times, there have been all kinds of stories and all kinds of social media that prove that is the case.

As TB has been saying, staying connected now is more important than ever.

So again, he thanks everyone for staying connected with him all these years and through to the present. He's ready to start on the next 1,000 come Monday.

In the meantime, stay safe. And thanks for reading.