Princeton Pets

If you have a very young child in the three or so age range and you want to give yourself hours of laughs, teach the child to say the word "octopus."

There are few things in the world funnier than hearing how they say that. 

Also, there's the name of the city where the NFL's Colts play. That one is pronounced "Indian Apples" by your average toddler.  

Ah, but even that isn't as good as "octopus." 

Perhaps TigerBlog should be writing a book on child-raising, complete with a chapter on how to maximize laughs with your young ones? Tip - get them hooked on cartoons you liked as a kid. There's no excuse for raising a child who doesn't understand that Bugs Bunny is the cartoon GOAT.

Speaking of your average octopus, TigerBlog watched the movie "My Octopus Teacher" on Netflix the other day. 

If you've never heard of this, it's a documentary set in South Africa - or in the Atlantic Ocean off South Africa more precisely. It's the story of a documentary filmmaker and environmentalist named Chris Foster who meets an octopus while diving in waters that appear to be much colder than TB would be able to tolerate.

Foster decides to visit the same spot every day in an effort to see what sort of relationship can be built between the human and the octopus. He originally leaves an underwater camera nearby to see how the octopus interacts with it, and eventually it appears the octopus realizes that he is no threat to it and sort of befriends him.

Foster mentions that an octopus has an intelligence level slightly above that of a dog or a cat, which is somewhat hard to imagine. Still, it does appear from the movie that he and the octopus become friends.

The movie itself bounces back and forth between the underwater footage and commentary from Foster. The interviewer is never seen or heard, and the only other human involved is Foster's son, who comes to dive with him.

The best part of the movie is the extraordinary quality of the underwater video. It does get you to think about just how amazing nature can be. The pace is a bit slow, and Foster isn't exactly next in line for a stand-up comedy special on Netflix. In fact, the octopus was much funnier.

Still, it is well worth your time to check this one out. It's worth it for the footage alone. It's not quite as good as "March Of The Penguins," but it's a fascinating 83 minutes. Like TB said, the idea of what goes in on nature is fascinating, and it's depicted so forcefully in this movie.

Speaking of dogs, cats and the occasional octopus, you may have noticed on Princeton Athletics social media that a new feature entitled "Princeton Pets" has sprung up.  

It's a cute series. It's basically taking current Princeton athletes and featuring their pets.

Another edition of #PrincetonPets features @Pwaterpolo's Nicole Kresich's Bruno!

Bruno loves the beach 🏖, but thinks the ocean 🌊 can take a hike!

Bruno also has a very boopable nose.

Boop.

🧡🖤🐶 pic.twitter.com/e3jwbgD9Hb

— Princeton Tigers (@PUTIGERS) October 20, 2020

The latest one features Bruno and his "boopable" nose. 

So far the series has featured dogs, with names like "Georgie" and "Prince" and "Tank." The dog named "Prince" by the way is named for Princeton.

Bruno seems like an amiable dog. TigerBlog learned some things about his owner yesterday.

For one, Nicole Kresich, from Mater Dei High School in California, had a 16-goal, 26-assist freshman year, and last spring she was off to a six-goal, 10-assist start through nine games when the season was postponed.

More than that, TB also found out that Kresich is an English major who wrote for her high school newspaper. And one of the stories she wrote for that high school newspaper, which is called "The Scarlett Scroll," was the story about her Mater Dei classmate, Wyatt Benson, and his commitment to Princeton.

Benson has played two seasons of water polo for the Tigers. He has 60 goals and 12 assist in his career to date. 

There are so many great stories involving Princeton's athletes. The Princeton Pets series is a way to introduce you to some of these amazing young people.