Almost Laxing

TigerBlog recently stood on Cocoa Beach just before sunset and looked straight up. 

There he saw a rocket as it lifted off from Cape Canaveral, which was about seven or miles away. The rocket, which was launching 84 satellites into orbit, flew right overhead on its way into outer space. After about two minutes, there was a separation of the rocket boosters, and the rocket itself went out of view, even against a crystal clear sky.

The boosters, though, weren't finished. They came back to Earth, not crashing into the ocean but instead landing perfectly on the same launchpad from where they had left a few minutes earlier. After that, there was a brief explosion of light, followed by a very loud sonic boom.

Can you imagine the satisfaction you must get being an aerospace engineer who designed a reusable rocket booster and then saw it work to perfection? 

On the amazingly cool scale of 1-10, the experience was about a 37. 

At first, by the way, TB was a bit surprised to find out that Cocoa Beach was a real place, and not the fictional town of Major Anthony Nelson and his genie. You have to be around TB's age to get that reference.

TB was in Florida for his first meeting as a member of the NCAA men's lacrosse Rules Committee. It might not be universally a 37 on the amazingly cool scale, but it is to TigerBlog. Talking about lacrosse rules all day and ways to improve the game? 

It's probably a 3 or 4 for you, but for TB, that's at least a 37. Plus, he's in Year 1 of a four-year term, so that's even better.

Speaking of lacrosse, the 2023 men's and women's Princeton lacrosse schedules were recently released. It might not be Christmas yet, but the first games for the 2023 season are less than two months away, with a Sherrerd Field doubleheader featuring the women against Virginia at noon and the men against Monmouth at 3. 

In fact, tickets for men's lacrosse go on sale today. For ticket information, click HERE. The men's schedule is HERE; the women's is HERE.

For the women, this is Year No. 1 under head coach Jenn Cook. For the men, this is the year after the Tigers returned to the Final Four.

If you want to see Princeton lacrosse at home, you'll have a lot of chances. Between them, the men and women play 15 home games, and eight of the men's 12 games are at home (including non-league games against Maryland and Georgetown on back-to-back weekends to end February and begin March).

The women will be replacing five four-year starters — the all-time leading scorer in program history, three defenders and a goalie. The Tigers obviously will have new faces throughout the lineup, and even familiar faces in different roles, but the team looked fast and focused in the fall.

As for the men, there are also several four-year starters to replace, on attack and defense, as well as a three-year starter in goal. Princeton returned to Championship Weekend a year ago, and the Tigers will begin the 2023 season ranked in the top seven or so of every poll.

Just as was the case the last few years, when Princeton was unranked in the preseason, the rankings before the games begin mean nothing. Princeton will have every chance to show what kind of team it is on the field, and each week will be a challenge.

Princeton has 12 regular season games. Of those 12, nine are against teams who were in the NCAA tournament a year ago, including the other three teams from last year's Final Four. Of the three who were not in the NCAA tournament last year, two of them played in the 2021 tournament – and the 12th team had a fourth-quarter lead on the Tigers a year ago.

Every team Princeton will play between Feb. 21 and April 1 was in the NCAA tournament last year. And which team will be the team that breaks that run? How about Syracuse, a team who seems ready for a major bounceback year. 

Syracuse, by the way, combined with Princeton to win every NCAA championship but two between 1992 and 2004. The teams also played four times in the NCAA final, splitting them.