The Memory Of A Goldfish

If you haven't watched it yet, "Ted Lasso" is a great show. 

It's actually one of the best shows TigerBlog has ever seen. He'd call it "sweet" more than anything else. If you've watched it, you know what TB means. 

The show centers on an American college football coach who is hired away to coach an English Premier League team, despite having no soccer background and no credibility in England. He's met as you would think someone in that situation would be met, but his sincerity, humility and charm win over even his harshest critics.

When TB saw the trailer, his first thought was "this show has no chance of being good." He's never been more wrong about a show. There's also a Ted Lasso Twitter feed that 1) is really good, 2) has 673,400 followers and 3) is run by someone very clever.

It's fun, and it has great characters. One of them is the team owner, played by Hannah Waddingham, who, if you did not know this, is one of the most accomplished actresses in musical theater on the West End, which is London's equivalent of Broadway. The moments where she has sung on the show have been among the best.

Of course, she also played a nun who met an unfortunate end in "Game Of Thrones," during which she did no singing.

TB mentions Ted Lasso now for two reasons.

First, after men's soccer coach Jim Barlow reached 200 career wins (which came in Princeton's win over Yale to cap a perfect 7-0-0 Ivy season), a few alums and friends sent congratulatory videos. This one came from Tom McCabe, a teammate of Barlow's at Princeton and fellow member of the Class of 1991, not to mention something of a soccer historian (fast forward to the 59-second mark).

2⃣0⃣0⃣ Wins... Countless Lives Impacted.

A few of Jim Barlow's biggest fans sent in 🧡🖤 to commemorate his 200th win as head coach late this season. pic.twitter.com/iPQdj6I7Ko

— Princeton Men’s Soccer (@TigerMensSoccer) December 1, 2021

TB has no idea how he made it onto the Ted Lasso set, but hey, it's great stuff.

The other Ted Lasso reference today comes from a feature story that TigerBlog's colleague Warren Croxton wrote about women's basketball player Abby Meyers for goprincetontigers.com the other day.

You can read the story HERE.

As you saw if you read it, Meyers mentioned the show: "I'm watching Ted Lasso and in the second episode he refers to players having the memory of a goldfish because it only last 10 seconds," said Meyers. "In shooting slumps, you must have a short-term memory especially when the coach gives you the green light and trusts you enough."

Pete Carril always said the same thing. To paraphrase one of his best quotes: "Give me the guy who is 0 for 10 from the field who shoots the 11th shot with confidence."

Meyers, as TB mentioned earlier, willed Princeton to its win over Florida-Gulf Coast with two great moves in the final 70 seconds. Warren's story mentions that Meyers is in the 96th percentile in Division I in two-point makes and is in the 73rd percentile in two-point percentage. She can also shoot mid-range shots as well as anyone who has come through Princeton basketball of late, and these days, that's something of a lost art.

You can see Meyers and her mid-range game, as well as the rest of her teammates, at home for each of their next five games, spread out over three weeks, beginning tomorrow with a noon game against Seton Hall and ending Jan. 2 with Harvard in the Ivy opener. 

In between, there are also Jadwin dates against Buffalo (Tuesday at 7), Texas (Dec. 22 at noon) and Central Florida (Dec. 29 at 5). That's a great stretch of games. 

The only other home events this weekend are the men's and women's track meets Sunday at Jadwin. The two hockey teams are on the road, with the men at Providence and the women at Syracuse, both for games tonight and tomorrow.

The men's basketball team is at Lafayette tomorrow at 2. The Leopards are 2-7 on the season, but their two wins should catch your attention: Rutgers and Columbia. 

 The men are also home Monday at 6 against UMBC.