Picture It

It was about an hour after Dalen Davis had drained a three-pointer with 1.6 seconds to play against Akron Monday afternoon when TigerBlog first saw the photo.

If you watched the game live or on ESPN+ with the great Derek Jones and Noah Savage, you know that Davis' three wasn't exactly a sure thing. In fact, it was reviewed and re-reviewed as much as any call TB can ever remember for a game on Carril Court.

In the end, the officials agreed that the shot was a three-pointer, turning the game into a 76-75 lead for the Tigers, instead of 75-75 and a likely overtime. When Akron's last chance came up empty, Princeton had itself a win.

Ah, but was it a three? That's where the photo came into play:

Clearly it was. That photo was taken by Shelley Szwast, by the way. 

If your interest is "getting it right," then you can't get it more right than that. 

The photo got TB to think about what the best pictures of 2024 were in Princeton Athletics. Maybe he'll go back and see what he comes up with, though he can tell you what the best one was:

That was a Brian McWalters picture from the Princeton-North Carolina men's lacrosse game. That's Cooper Mueller of Princeton, by the way. 

In the meantime, the first events of the 2025 calendar year take place tonight, when the men's hockey team hosts the first of two against New Hampshire (7) and the women's hockey team plays the first of its weekend ECAC series at RPI (6). 

Those two then play again tomorrow, with the men at 4 against the Wildcats and the women at 3 at Union. 

The other first weekend events are all in Jadwin Gym, which will be hosting a tripleheader. It begins with the men's basketball team at 11:30 am against Kean, followed by the women's Ivy opener at 2:30 against Cornell and then a wrestling match against West Virginia at 7.

The women's hockey team last played 23 days ago and will now play nine games in the month of January alone. The men defeated Army 1-0 last weekend, getting 24 saves from Arthur Smith and a goal from Jake Manfre to push their winning streak to five games. 

The Tigers have outscored those five opponents by a combined 15-5. Smith certainly helped the cause; he was the goalie for all five wins, and he was also named ECAC Goalie of the Month.

New Hampshire is ranked 20th nationally and is 8-4-3 overall. In its last five games UNH has gone 4-0-1 and outscored its opponents 26-12.

Kean is 5-7 in men's basketball, with its most recent games at a holiday tournament at the top-ranked team in Division III. Can you name that team? 

TB wouldn't have guessed it. The answer is: Emory. 

Cornell's women's basketball team has a new head coach, Emily Garner, who is trying to match Princeton head coach Carla Berube's career trajectory. Garner was a very successful head coach in the NESCAC at Trinity, and now she's trying to have that translate to the Ivy League. 

Her first Big Red team is currently 4-9 as it comes to Princeton. The Tigers swept Middle Tennessee and LeMoyne this past week in their final pre-Ivy games, improving their overall record to 9-4. 

The West Virginia wrestling team was in Florida before the New Year, while Princeton was at the Midlands event at Northwestern. This will be WVU's second trip to Mercer County this year, after the Mountaineers thumped Rider 31-9 in Lawrenceville back in November.

So that's four events tomorrow on campus, all with staggered start times. You know what that means, of course. 

You can see four Princeton teams play on one day, if you go to the two basketball games and then walk over to Hobey Baker Rink for the men's hockey game before heading back to the wrestling. 

You'll probably have enough time to grab a nosh between hockey and wrestling, by the way.

A Tiger, Gone Way Too Soon

TigerBlog ended his final post of 2024 with this: "In the meantime, have a safe and happy New Year's Eve — and a great 2025."

His plan was to start his first post of 2025 with this: "Happy New Year. Hopefully everyone had a safe and happy New Year's Eve." That's how he starts off at the beginning of every January.

From there, he was all set to go into the men's basketball team's 76-75 win over Akron, in what was another game of great drama. He was going to share with you the picture taken by Tiger photographer Shelley Szwast, which confirmed that the game-winning three-pointer from Dalen Davis was, in fact, called correctly. 

All of that went out the window, blown away by a bad wind that sent a chill down TB's back and a shiver straight to his heart. It was the same reaction that you had, and every other Princeton fan had, when you first saw the news that, no, not everyone had a safe and happy New Year's Eve.

TigerBlog woke up to the news of the terror attack on Bourbon Street, with the reports of at least 10 people who had been killed. It wasn't until several hours later that he saw the news that hit really close to home for Princeton — football alum Tiger Bech was among those who had been murdered.

Bech was only 27 years old. He graduated in 2021. 

How is it possible that someone so young, someone who was simply out to celebrate New Year's Eve at one of the most iconic fun spots in the country. Bech had been working in New York City, but he was a Louisiana native. For him, New Orleans was a homecoming.

His given name was "Martin," something that nobody ever called him. Maybe ever. He was nicknamed "Tiger" even before he was born, mostly because of the deep family ties to Louisiana State University. 

At Princeton he was a two-time All-Ivy League punt returner, as well as a wide receiver. For his career he caught 53 passes for 823 yards and three touchdowns, and his average of 15.6 yards per catch ranks 10th all-time in program history. 

Those are the numbers. How about the person? Here's what his head coach, Bob Surace, had to say about him:

"There was no more appropriate nickname of a Princeton player I coached. He was a 'Tiger' in every way - a ferocious competitor with endless energy, a beloved teammate and a caring friend. Our last conversation was about how proud I was of the growth he showed during his time at Princeton and the success he was having after graduation. My love goes to the entire Bech family."

Tiger's brother Jack is an All-American wide receiver at Texas Christian and an NFL prospect. Here was his post on X yesterday:

Love you always brother ! You inspired me everyday now you get to be with me in every moment. I got this family T, don’t worry. This is for us ❤️ https://t.co/8sSFf564Mb

— Jack Bech (@jackbech7) January 1, 2025

TB never met Tiger Bech. He did announce his name plenty of the times over the Powers Field at Princeton Stadium public address (it's pronounced "BESH," by the way). 

He certainly remembered his name. How could anyone at Princeton not, right? 

And he saw the picture of him on the bio page:

He sees a young man with long hair and a tie that isn't exactly tied perfectly. It's a picture like so many others TB has seen. 

He was, though, more than just a name on a roster, even if his name was the most distinctive any Princeton athlete has had. He went from Princeton to New York City, working as a trader. He grew up in Lafayette, about two hours from New Orleans. 

It was there that he was killed, on Bourbon Street, on New Year's Eve — struck down just as his life was beginning.

Princeton has been here before. There have been athletes who have been killed, though mercifully that number has been a low one. 

But each of them is its own horrific tragedy. This is again the case.

Can anyone wrap his or her arms around this? Can anyone make sense of it? 

How can you? 

As he said, TB never met Tiger Bech. He wishes he had, so he could tell you more about who the young man was, some interaction that the two of them had that would have stuck with him, but he had none of that.

Still, when he saw the news, he felt like he lost someone close to him, a member of the same extended family. 

Here was a Tiger, gone way too soon.