Thank You

Another TAGD has come and gone, and TigerBlog joins everyone at Princeton Athletics in thanking all of those who once again showed their generous support.

As TB always says, it's always a good idea to invest in the athletes who come through Princeton. They won't let you down.

TB has said this before after TAGD, and it seems appropriate to put it out there again:

Mostly, it's a sign of faith in the direction of the current programs, a message of approval for the athletes - and a reaffirmation of what the Princeton experience meant to so many people who have competed here through the years. Princeton Athletics clearly appreciates it.

The day provided its usual fun, with the social media presence between the different teams and the competition between the different Friends' groups. This year also featured a photo mosaic, where anyone and everyone Princetonian could submit their own pictures of the Tigers through the years.

There were a lot of familiar faces in that mosaic. Basically anywhere TB clicked he saw people he knew, celebrating all of the great things about Princeton Athletics.

The most interesting part is that they weren't just in-game celebration pictures. In fact, TB would guess that there were more non-game pictures.

And of course, all of the pictures added up to a great reflection of the great tradition that is Princeton Athletics and what it has meant, and continues to mean, to everyone in those pictures. There's something really special about being a part of something that has so much history, so much tradition and so much success while also being fully committed in the present day to continuing everything that has made it so great in the first place. 

It's about winning. It's about fun. It's about values. It's about education. It's about learning. It's about loyalty. It's about friendships.

Those are the things that have kept TB here all these years, and those are the reasons why he would never have wanted to be a part of any other athletic department in the country. There's just something so special about Princeton, and it grabbed him from the earliest days that he was exposed to it.

TAGD is a reminder of all of that. And if that's how TB feels, as someone who has worked here for a long time, he can imagine that those who actually competed here feel those same emotions, only more so.

The social media presence yesterday was great, with so many different posts and so many featured people. 

TB actually spent a good deal of his afternoon checking them all out. In some cases he matched faces he'd never met with names he knew. In others, he was taken back to some of the great moments he's seen here.

The original TAGD grew out of the 150th anniversary of the first Princeton Athletic event, which was a baseball game against Williams in 1864. TB had no idea what to expect, and clearly what's happened in the last seven years has far exceeded any reasonable expectations.

On the other hand, maybe he shouldn't really be all that surprised. After all, this is Princeton, a place where loyalty is the defining characteristic and where the experience that decades of athletes have had has been so life-changing and so formative.

And so even in this most different year, Princeton Athletics got incredible support from those who want to share that experience with the current generation. 

And again, maybe nobody should be surprised about that.

The main difference between this TAGD and other TAGDs is that, of course, there are no athletic events currently being played. In every other year, TAGD either fell on a game night, or in between them.

For TB, maybe that was the best part of yesterday's TAGD, and especially the mosaic and the social media presence. They were a reminder of what Princeton Athletics look like at their best.

And, even more importantly, a reminder that those days will return.

So once again, thank you to everyone who participated in TAGD. 

And if you want to see the leaderboards and the mosaic and the social media board, you can get to the TAGD website by clicking HERE.