Okay, TigerBlog knows that he's written a great deal of late about the Henley Royal Regatta.
And yes, the event is over. For that matter, the Princeton contingent is already back in the United States.
Of course, included in that contingent on the way home was the Ladies' Challenge Plate, which the Princeton first varsity won while in England.
And really, TB wasn't going to write about Henley again today until two things happened.
First, he got an email that offered this about Pimms and Yoo-Hoo: "They both taste like oodles of s---"
If you read Tuesday, you know the title was "Oodles of Power," a reference to the way the English announcer on the Henley broadcasts described the way the Princeton heavyweights were rowing at the time.
Oodles of s---? C'mon. That's a little harsh.
In fairness, the rest of the email was very nice. It included this as well:
"Having been to Henley, I would have to say that it is as much fun as I've ever had at a sporting event, and that includes having attended multiple Super Bowls and Olympic Games."
It's a pretty apt description. Henley is, as much as anything, fun. Greg Hughes, the Princeton head coach, called it a "party with a race in the middle." TB a year ago called it "Reunions-on-Thames."
TigerBlog has never been to a Super Bowl or the Olympics, and he's not sure he'd ever want to attend either, since they've become so corporate. Maybe the Olympics. Definitely not the Super Bowl.
You know what he would like to go to one of these days? A Power 4 football game. TB loves Ivy League football. It's always appealed to him for the great balance it has between the quality of the play and players, the competitive balance top to bottom in the league and the integration of the players within the overall framework of the University.
Heck, that's part of the overall appeal of Ivy League sports in general.
Still, he's never been to a Power 4 game, other than at Rutgers, back when Rutgers Stadium still had wooden stands and was in the Big East. He'd also want to go to a game between two teams that aren't perennial Top 10 teams, so maybe a game at a place like 'Ole Miss or Purdue (the basketball game he went to there was awesome, so why not football?) or South Carolina or someone like that.
He's been to a World Cup qualifier, back when the men's lacrosse team was in Costa Rica. As part of the trip, the team went to see Costa Rica host El Salvador, and it was pretty wild.
He's also been to a Barcelona game and a Tottenham Hotspur game. He's been to the World Series (in 1983, Orioles-Phillies), the U.S. Open for tennis and a handful of other major events. Henley had to be the most fun of all of those, in terms of just pure fun.
The second reason he wanted to follow up on Henley was a really charming video that was posted on Instagram:
Pretty cool, right?
Back in the day, it would have taken TigerBlog and Princeton Senior Associate AD Greg Busch days and days on a tiny, old, slow Mac to do something like that before a Princeton Varsity Club banquet. These days?
There's an app that does it. Ah, technology.
Lastly, TB did want to say that he received a really nice note from Hughes once the coach was back in the U.S. thanking TB for writing the stories and blogs and saying that it takes a complete team effort to be successful. Hughes is spot on about that.
When you're in TB's position, or in the position of pretty much anyone in a supporting role for Princeton Athletics, pretty much everything you do goes unseen — unless there's an issue with it. You don't usually get too much credit, if any, for what you do.
That's why it stands out so much when someone like Hughes takes the time to write a note like he did. It seems so obvious, but it stands out so much. Any time any coach has taken the time to show appreciation like that, it's always meant a great deal to TigerBlog.
It shows class.
Oodles of class, you might say.
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