Happy Halloween

It's Halloween!!

If anything deserves exclamation points, it's a holiday where the central theme is fun, costumes and candy, right? 

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When TigerBlog thinks of Will Venable, he'll always go first to that time he drove the baseline and dunked at Cameron Indoor Stadium. That was on Jan. 5, 2005, a game Duke won 59-46.

Here are two stat lines from that game: 

Player A - 39 minutes, 21 points, 3 for 10 from the field, 1 for 3 from three-point range, 14 for 14 from the foul line, two rebounds, two assists
Player B - 39 minutes, 21 points, 8 for 13 from the field, 0 for 1 from three-point range, five for six from the foul line, four rebounds, three assists

Player B is Venable. Player A is JJ Reddick.

Venable was a great all-around basketball player at Princeton, a defensive stopper who scored 1,010 points and who was at his best in the biggest moments. Those are great qualities in an athlete. If you asked TB to list the players he's seen at Princeton who were at their best in big games, Venable's name would be way up there.

Of course, Venable's future was not in professional basketball but instead Major League Baseball, where he played for nine seasons, for the Padres, Rangers and Dodgers. He then became a coach, winning a World Series a year ago in Texas, along with another former basketball/baseball player Chris Young, the Rangers' GM.

It was only a matter of time before Venable became a Major League manager, and that time appears to be here. Venable will be taking over as the head man for the Chicago White Sox.

His task will be not be an easy one. The White Sox are horrible, having set a Major League record with 121 losses last year. 

Still, being a Major League manager is a rare opportunity. And just think where Venable's stock will be if he can bring the Sox back to respectability. 

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One of TigerBlog's favorite days of the Ivy League calendar comes up Saturday — and TB won't be able to be there. 

The Ivy League Heptagonal cross-country championships will be held on the new Princeton course at the Meadows Campus. The women's race begins at 11, followed by the men at noon.

TB, for his part, will be at the Princeton-Yale field hockey game, which starts at noon on Bedford Field.

The Princeton men have won three straight Heps cross-country titles, as well as five of the last six. The Tiger men are currently ranked 22nd nationally, behind only No. 15 Harvard in the Division I rankings. 

No Ivy League women's team is ranked in the Top 30 nationally. Princeton is fifth in the incredibly loaded Mid-Atlantic Region.

Heps cross country is a great event. As much as anything else in an Ivy League year, Heps cross country combines high-quality athletic competition and a party atmosphere. If you're never been, the weather will be perfect. 

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There will be an Ivy League championship awarded Saturday in at least one other sport — women's soccer.

In fact, this one is pretty straightforward. Princeton is at Columbia Saturday at 2, and here's how it works for the Ivy title: Princeton gets it with a win; Columbia gets it with a win or tie. 

There is no mathematical chance for a co-championship. Whoever comes out ahead after Saturday's game will also be the host for next weekend's Ivy League tournament. 

The Princeton men are at Dartmouth at 7 pm Saturday. Penn is at Yale, with that game at 5.

Should Penn win or tie and Princeton lose, then Penn would win the outright championship and get to host the Ivy tournament. The same is true if Penn wins and Princeton ties. Anything else and the game a week from Saturday at Myslik Field between the Tigers and Quakers would decide the championship and where the tournament will be.

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There will also be home events in tennis, women's hockey, women's rugby, men's water polo and rowing (the Princeton Chase) this weekend. Oh yeah, there's also a football game against Cornell Saturday with a kickoff at 1.

The complete schedule is HERE.

In the meantime, have a happy and safe Halloween. 

Save some mini-Three Musketeers for TigerBlog.