Welcome To The Family

TigerBlog began yesterday with a picture of something that appears to be a dangerous predator but in reality is just a cute relative of a dog.

Today? 

TB starts with a different picture, one that really is in no need of such interpretation.

See? Does it get better than that? 

This is a picture of TigerBlog's Office of Athletics Communications colleague Elliott Carr and his 10-week-old son Leon, who made a visit Monday. Elliott's wife Colleen, by the way, works for the Ivy League office.

Elliott has been a parent for only 10 weeks, but he clearly is a natural. There's something really special about seeing the way he has bonded with Leon and the way the Carr family has grown. 

Unfortunately for Leon, he didn't get to Princeton two hours earlier Monday, or else he could have had his first experience at Conte's Pizza. Wouldn't that be the perfect thing for a baby who's not even three months old to eat? 

The occasion at Conte's was a preseason OAC get-together. There was business to discuss, with the approach of the 2024-25 athletic year. In fact, the main topic was how a few hundred fall athletes were going to come through in the next week or so to get any number of photos and/or videos taken.

As TB has written before, those moments are a logistical nightmare for the OAC and the video team, but they're also a great part of the overall team experience.

Beyond the planning, the meeting at Conte's was also a good way to all be together in the same place at the same time. It had been a while since that had been the case, what with summer travels, general relaxation and not one but two paternity leaves (Elliott and Warren Croxton).

The OAC family has grown not only in terms of children but also with two new faces in the office. 

There was also one departure, as Joey Maruschak left Princeton for Georgetown after one year in the OAC. Joey is now a grad assistant at Georgetown, as he is working in athletic communications and pursuing his Master's. 

Unlike many of his generation, Joey is the kind who would do anything he was asked, would volunteer to pick up the slack wherever he could and had no ego. TB will miss him.

In his place, though, the OAC completed its trade with Georgetown by signing Alex Henn, who was a Hoya senior at this time a year ago. Joining Alex as OAC newcomers is Joanna Dwyer, who is a recent Elon graduate.

Alex apparently was a concert-level clarinet player before turning to her career in sports information. Or at least she played the clarinet. Joanna has some connection to Ed Sheerin. 

TB learned both of those things about his new colleagues at Conte's. From the moment he met them last week, though, he could tell that they were the kind of people who will fit in easily, that they could laugh, that whatever coaches or athletes with whom they work would like them very much. TB isn't just saying that. It's obvious.

Conte's, of course, is a Princeton institution. As the group sat there, TB was transported back to when he first started with Princeton Athletics, back in the 1980s, long before Alex and Joanna were born. 

He could close his eyes at see the late, great sociology professor Marv Bressler at the bar, which became his classroom after every home men's basketball game. You couldn't sit with Marv without quickly becoming a student, with the professor eager to teach you some perspective you had not previously considered.

And he could see and hear Pete Carril and Bill Carmody and the rest of whoever made up the coaching staff that year, recapping that night's performance and lamenting the fact that there was no way that any of them could imagine a scenario in which they would ever win another game. Then they'd win by 20 the next night and repeat the same conversation.

Ah, but that was an era that no longer exists. TB likes the idea that he can be a direct connection between Marv and Pete and so many others who long ago left Princeton and newcomers like Alex and Joanna. 

As for his two young colleagues, TB couldn't help but think that if they stayed around as long as he has, then they'd still be at Princeton in 2060 or so or even beyond. Will they? Unlikely.

But however long they are here, he hopes they have a great experience, a learning experience — and that after they leave, whenever that is, that they'll always remember Princeton as a great part of their lives. 

Welcome to the family.