Wheels Up Wednesday

TigerBlog has a plane to catch today, which he'll explain later. In the meantime, here are a few topics for your Wednesday:

* Today is Dec. 7, which, as President Franklin Delano Roosevelt correctly predicted 81 years ago, is in fact a day that lives in infamy.

Dec. 7 would be joined a little less than 60 years later by another such day, Sept. 11.

As you know, today is the anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that drew the United States into World War II. Roosevelt, as well as Winston Churchill, had intelligence suggesting the attack would be launched on Thailand, but neither wanted to take any offensive action, for fear of provoking the Japanese. That all became moot on the morning of Dec. 7 in Hawaii.

TigerBlog has been to Pearl Harbor. He was there in late December of 1998 with the Princeton men's basketball team, who defeated Florida State, Texas and Charlotte to win the Rainbow Classic. While there, Gabe Lewullis scored his 1,000th career point. 

That tournament remains one of TB's favorite weeks in all of his time at Princeton.

During one of the afternoons, TB and Tom McCarthy rode out to Pearl Harbor to see it for themselves. It's always eerie to be at a place of such historical significance, especially one with such a loss of life. Looking up at the sky and looking out at the harbor, it's easy to imagine the U.S. battleships as sitting ducks that morning. 

If you have never seen it, today would be a good day to watch "From Here To Eternity."

* Speaking of men's basketball, TigerBlog meant to link to THIS PIECE on Princeton's Tosan Evbuomwan yesterday.

TB loves these kinds of stories. They're a great way to get to know someone in ways that aren't visible when they play.

WHAT A STRIKE BY RAMOS 🚀🎯🇵🇹 pic.twitter.com/P7NLzsiU7s

— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) December 6, 2022

* TigerBlog gets more done when he has something on in the background, as opposed to just a quiet room. To that end it would be nice if there were major sporting events on TV during the day every working day. The World Cup, for instance, is perfect for this. The commentators' voices blend into the background, and then when something big happens, their voice crescendos, so you know there's something to see at that moment.

There were all kinds of crescendos in the Portugal-Switzerland game yesterday, and most of them involved 21-year-old Goncarlo Ramos, who scored three times in the 6-1 Portuguese win while playing in place of Cristiano Ronaldo. If the Brazilian goal that TB mentioned yesterday was a thing of beauty, then the first from Ramos yesterday was just sheer power.

TB was rooting for Portugal, mostly because of Francisco, the tour guide from the men's lacrosse team's trip there in 2016. TB even texted him after the game to say congrats. 

As for the first game yesterday, TigerBlog and Mrs. TB were in Morocco over the summer. Perhaps there are better times to visit than July, since it was 114 degrees.

Perhaps yesterday would have been a better time, in fact, after the Moroccans advanced to the World Cup quarterfinal by shocking Spain on penalty kicks after a 0-0 tie through regulation and 30 minutes of overtime. The streets, and especially the Souks, were buzzing despite the summer heat; TB can't imagine what it must have been like there after the win.

And yes, the drama of the PKs was immense, but TB still thinks that it's a terrible way to decide a World Cup knockout round game. Morocco's defending was astounding throughout the entire game, and there were a few opportunities on counters. Still, it's obvious that the game would be played differently, with a different mentality, if you knew you had to score to win.

There was a wonderful moment before the shootout, when the two goalkeepers walked towards the goal together, arm in arm. It really captured what sports are supposed to be about. 

Also, here's a question: Why do the goalkeepers guess, instead of react, to the shot on a PK? It doesn't make sense to TB. Just do what the Moroccan shooters did: Aim right down the middle.

* TigerBlog is on his way to Florida today for his first NCAA men's lacrosse Rules Committee meeting (does TB's committee have the authority to make the official time be kept on the scoreboard in professional and international soccer?). 

This is a huge deal for TB. It's rare, and possibly unprecedented, for someone whose background is completely in communications to have the opportunity to be a part of a committee like this and have such an opportunity to make an impact on how the game is played.

To be honest, he has no idea what to expect as he dives in, but he's very much looking forward to it.

* Yesterday was Ford Family Director of Athletcs John Mack's birthday. TigerBlog texted him early in the morning to wish him the best. 

During the day, TB went back into the blog archives and happened upon this, from 2012:

Realizing that today was Mack's birthday, TB immediately texted his friend in Illinois and mentioned that he assumed that by now Mack must be older than TB is.

There was a pretty good Abbott an Costello bit in which Bud confuses Lou about how much older he is than a little girl:
ABBOTT: You’re 40 she’s 10. You’re four times as old as that girl. Now you couldn’t marry her, so you wait 5 years. Now the little girl is 15, you’re 45. You’re only three times as old as that little girl, so you wait 15 years more. Now the little girl is 30, you’re 60. You’re only twice as old as that little girl.
COSTELLO: She’s catching up.
ABBOTT: Well, yes, yes. Now here’s the question. How long do you have to wait until you and that little girl are the same age? Well?
COSTELLO: What kind of question is that?
ABBOTT: Answer the question.
COSTELLO: That’s ridiculous. What’s ridiculous?
ABBOTT: If I keep waiting for her she’ll pass me up.
COSTELLO: What are you talking about?
ABBOTT: She’ll wind up older that me. 

TB and Mack have gone through the same type of argument many times, and still do, to this day, Mack has actually not caught up.

So anyway, happy birthday to John Mack. Jadwin Gym isn't the same place without him.

Who knew that Mack would again be a huge part of Jadwin a decade later? 

* Tomorrow's topic? It should be obvious.