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TigerBlog was doing laps on his bike yesterday.

With each go-round, he passed by a man who looked to be around his age who was wearing a hat that said "Penn" across the front. On the third lap, TB stopped and asked him if he had attended Penn.

Maybe they were classmates?

Nope. He didn't go to Penn. His wife teaches at Penn. Nobody in the family went to Penn.

TB then explained that he had gone to Penn. The man simply said something like "that's nice" and TB pedaled away. 

Now, if the situation had been reversed, then TB would have, 1,000 times out of 1,000 not responded with "nice." 

Why? Because TB was wearing a "Princeton football" t-shirt, "Princeton lacrosse shorts" and orange and black socks. Had this been the other way around, and TB rode past someone wearing Penn stuff head to toe who said he or she had actually gone to Princeton, then TB would have without missing a beat said something along the lines of "why are you wearing the stuff of one of the biggest rivals then?"

Instead, TB got "very nice." Where's the curiosity?

TB would have been really confused and would have needed to know why. It would be like seeing someone who said they went to Duke who was wearing North Carolina stuff, right? 

It was a nice Penn hat, by the way. As TB has said before, he has absolutely nothing with the name of his alma mater on it other than a diploma. 

No hats. No shirts. No shorts. Nothing. 

Would he ever wear anything that said Penn? Nah. 

He does have stuff from four other colleges: Sacred Heart, Purdue, Navy and Louisiana.

He used to have a great hat from the University of Washington, but TigerBlog Jr. swiped it one day. Worse, he wears it backwards.

Oh well.

Speaking of Princeton football, this was a big weekend for the Princeton alums who had spent the summer in NFL camps. There were five of them, and they found out over this weekend what the first and last round of cuts would be as the league approaches its opening games this week and weekend.

Stephen Carlson made the Cleveland Brown 53-man active roster. Carlson, a second-year player, is one of four Browns' tight ends. Originally the team kept five before releasing one Sunday, and TB saw a great quote from Kevin Stefanski, the Cleveland head coach, who said the point was to keep the 53 best players.

Carlson was never a first-team All-Ivy League selection at Princeton, largely because he played opposite Jesper Horsted as the Tiger wide receivers. Carlson still finished his career third in career TD receptions (and eighth in receiving yards and 10th in receptions), but the fact that Horsted is first, second and first in those categories left Carlson a little underrated.

Still, he's just one of those players you can't help but want on your team. That was clear at Princeton, and so far it's clear with the Cleveland Browns.

A year ago, Carlson spent more than half the season on the practice squad, but he was activated and did make his first career TD reception. Now he looks like he'll have more chances this year.

Horsted, who also had a TD reception a year ago, was originally cut Saturday by the Bears and then immediately brought back to the practice squad. The same was true with two-time Bushnell Cup winner John Lovett, who was cut by Green Bay and then added to the practice squad.

Caraun Reid, who has two career NFL touchdowns as a defensive lineman, was cut by Jacksonville and then added to the practice squad as well. The rules for the practice squad have changed, allowing veterans like Reid to be on them. Also, two practice squad players can be activated each week and then returned to the practice squad without have to be released and opened up to a waiver claim.

The only Princeton player who was in a camp who is not as of now on a practice squad is Kevin Davidson, who was with Carlson in Cleveland this summer. Maybe he'll get another chance. Maybe not.

Either way, Davidson's loyalty to the program and his record-setting senior year give him a special legacy with Princeton football.

Opening day in the NFL is Thursday night with Houston at Kansas City. The rest of the league gets started over the weekend.

Once again, Princeton will be well-represented.