Catching On

TigerBlog was scrolling through Twitter yesterday when he stumbled on this gem, which he remembers from when it first happened:

Phillies broadcaster Tom McCarthy once caught a home run from Freddie Freeman live on air, and threw it back! 👏😂 pic.twitter.com/5dE6WLS1MR

— Baseball Quotes (@BaseballQuotes1) August 10, 2020

That's incredible, right? 

Imagine you're broadcasting a game from the outfield, and you need to maintain your focus on the call as you start to realize that the baseball is heading directly towards you. At no point does he get frantic, even as everyone in his vicinity does.

And he catches the ball one-handed. That has to be one of the greatest moments in broadcasting history, no? 

As you probably remember, Tom spent a lot of years broadcasting Princeton football and men's basketball. His son Patrick is also a broadcaster, and his work includes Triple-A baseball in addition to the work he does with Princeton.

Could Patrick have made that catch? 

On the flip side, imagine the shame Tom would have endured had he dropped it? This was, presumably, a once-in-a-lifetime moment, and he came through. 

Very, very impressive.

Tom is back on the air these days with the Phillies, broadcasting from an empty Citizens' Bank Park, whether the team is home or not. That has to be a bit odd too, broadcasting from that large of a venue when it's empty.

There will be no Ivy League athletics this fall. There will be no Division II or Division III sports either. Most of Division I has already said that those leagues won't be playing either this fall.

The Power 5 conferences are making their own decisions now, and rumors seem to change almost hourly as to what the future of their seasons will be. The announcement came yesterday at 3 in the afternoon that the Big Ten will not be playing football this fall, and almost immediately came the question of whether or not Big Ten schools could play in other leagues if they play on. The Pac 12 followed shortly after with its own announcement.

It's a crushing situation for everyone. TigerBlog knows people who play college athletics at all levels (or who have kids who do), and they're all dealing with the disruption of their experiences.

In the meantime, there are professional sports that are underway. And the NFL is determined to play as well.

Princeton has five players in NFL training camps, and there is a sixth who figures to join a team once his off-season injury heals. It's a remarkable part of the Bob Surace record at Princeton, the way he has been able to recruit players who can help him win championships here (three in the last seven years) and then have them able to make the jump to the NFL.

Of the five currently in training camps, two are looking to establish themselves as they enter their second year with their teams. Both of them - Jesper Horsted and Stephen Carlson - went from wide receivers on Princeton's 10-0 team in 2018 to NFL tight ends who started the season on the practice squad a year ago.

Carlson was activated one week earlier than Horsted, and they would both finish their rookie season with eight receptions and one touchdown. 

TigerBlog emailed their respective teams, the Bears (Horsted) and Browns (Carlson), looking for an action shot of each, and they both sent him pictures of their touchdown receptions. 

Scratch that. Great pictures. 

See for yourself:

These are guys who know how to get the ball in the end zone. At Princeton they combined for 44 touchdown receptions. Their NFL TDs were obviously not easy.

As is with the case of undrafted free agents, it's hard to establish yourself in the league. Both are competing with multiple tight ends for the few spots available, but then again, both are the kinds of guys who make a really good impression. In fact, they already have.

Carlson is in the same training camp (Cleveland's) with rookie UFA Kevin Davidson, who was Princeton's quarterback a year ago, when he set an Ivy League record for touchdown passes in a game with seven. One thing you can't help but notice about Davidson is that he has a major league arm and can make every throw.

The quarterback before Davidson was John Lovett, who was a two-time Bushnell Cup winner and who led Princeton to wins in the final 13 games in which he played. Lovett spent last year on the injured reserve list with the Kansas City Chiefs, with whom he got an up-close view of life as an NFL player and then ultimately a Super Bowl championship. This year, Lovett is in training camp with the Green Bay Packers, where he will try to make the team as a do-everything back who can run, catch and throw.

Caraun Reid is the veteran of the group. Reid, who was an All-American and a member of the 2013 Ivy title team, is with the Jaguars, his fifth team. 

Interestingly, he's a defensive lineman with as many career touchdowns as Horsted and Carlson combined.

Seth DeValve is the injured Tiger alum. Another wide receiver turned tight end, he has as many TDs in the NFL as Reid, Carlson and Horsted combined.