Devin And Kira

Yesterday was Groundhog Day, which has ever since the movie came out become associated with repeating the same thing day after day after day. 

To that end, here is what TigerBlog has written a bunch of times before about the "holiday":

TigerBlog understands that not every movie made is trying to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards. In that vein, he's never understood the complete disdain so many people have for the movie "Groundhog Day."

TB saw it in the movies when it came out in 1993, and he's seen it about a thousand times since. It's a perfectly harmless, funny, at times charming, certainly inoffensive movie, and yet there are so many people who flat out hate it.

As an aside, TigerBlog was always confused as a kid by Groundhog Day, as six weeks after Feb. 2 takes you to March 16 (or March 15 in a leap year), which is still winter. He never quite understood the whole "six more weeks of winter" thing. Shouldn't it be more like 10 more weeks of winter if the point is that figuratively speaking spring will be late to arrive?

And there you have it. Six more weeks of winter? But that is an early spring.

Oh well.

Seguing away from that, you know who TigerBlog is extraordinarily happy for? That would be Devin Cannady.

The former Princeton men's basketball great returned from what looked like a gruesome possibly career-ending injury Tuesday night and returned to the Lakeland Magic, Orlando's G-League team. If you recall, Cannady had reached the NBA with Orlando before his injury.

In fact, he'd scored 17 points in the game before he was hurt. He certainly looked every bit the part of an NBA player then, as he became more and more comfortable and got more and more minutes. 

Cannady, as TB has said before, has a game suited to the modern NBA. He can score in transition, and he has limitless three-point range. There is a place for him in the league for a long time if he can show that he's the player he was before he was hurt.

That was certainly the case in his first game back, when he scored 16 points, with three rebounds, in 15 minutes. 

16 points in 15 minutes for @devin_cannady3 in his return 👏 pic.twitter.com/MtfjgmPhfs

— Lakeland Magic (@LakelandMagic) February 2, 2022

On Cannady's Twitter page, he refers to himself as a "perpetual optimist." That he certainly is. He plays with a joy that is obvious, and with a similar level of determination. He's been through a lot, physically and emotionally, and he's very publicly shared his struggles with the rest of the world. He is an inspiring figure.

When you talk about perpetual optimism with joy and determination, you might also be mentioning women's basketball player Kira Emsbo. 

TigerBlog had Emsbo join him on this week's "Conversations With Carla" podcast to talk about her own Princeton experience, one that unfortunately has been dominated by injuries, and also about what it's like to have your team (Princeton) play against your identical twin sister (Camilla), who is Yale's best player. You can listen to her, and Tiger head coach Carla Berube, HERE.

It's an interesting situation, no? The sisters are very close, as Kira said, and yet they were also opponents. It has to be excruciating to root against her, especially when it's during a big league game like that, and one that was close for three quarters until Princeton won 61-49.

Emsbo had a healthy freshman year, when the 6-5 post player got to learn from Bella Alarie and Taylor Baur. Before she could make an impact of her own, though, she has had to deal with knee injuries of her own.

This year the junior has spent the season doing whatever she can at practice and during games to help her teammates along. As much as you notice the players on the court during Princeton games, you also can't help but notice Emsbo on the bench.

Her own joy and her own determination are clear and obvious, just like they are with Cannady. 

Hopefully she too can work past her injuries and get back the way he has. They both deserve it.