"My Brother Has Some Wings On Me"

TigerBlog was talking to someone the other day about the nature of sports when he heard this perfect description:

"Sports is life condensed into a few hours."

TB was really taken aback by that. He really likes that. 

Specifically, it's a reference to the emotional swings that can found in athletic competition and how they can run the gamut across all points of the compass. It's about more than just winning and losing. 

It's about how much of oneself an athlete has to invest to reach the fullest potential and then to put yourself on display to be judged publicly, with nowhere to hide. How many setbacks can there be, how many moments of joy — and they can lead one into another in rapid succession. 

Where else are you going to find that? 

If you followed anything to do with the Senior Bowl this past Saturday, you definitely got to see it all. And it certainly hit close to home for Princeton.

The game-winning touchdown was scored by TCU wide receiver Jack Bech on the final play of the game. Bech wore No. 7 in the game. The play started with seven seconds to play. The pass came from quarterback Seth Henigan, from the University of Memphis.

That would be the Memphis TIGERS.

Bech wore No. 18 for the Horned Frogs this year, when he put up one of the best seasons in program history for a wide receiver. His 1,034 receiving yards were the fourth-most in a single season at TCU, and he had nine touchdown receptions on his 62 receptions. 

He had 200 yards on nine receptions in a 35-34 loss to the University of South Florida, making him one of only five players from a Power Four Conference school to reach 200 receiving yards in a game this past season. He was a second-team All-Big 12 selection and an honorable mention All-American, among many other awards.

Bech is projected as a third or fourth round pick in this coming NFL Draft. He certainly helped his cause with his performance at the Senior Bowl, where he caught six passes for 68 yards in addition to the game-winning catch.

There was so much more to it than just the numbers and the winning play.

Jack Bech is the younger brother of Tiger Bech, the Princeton football alum who was killed in the terrorist attack in New Orleans in the early hours of New Year's Day. The Bech family has been remarkable in how it has so publicly grieved and done so much to keep Tigers' memory alive. 

They have focused on who Tiger was, what a bright light he was able to shine on the world in his 27 years. They've done so in a way that is so genuine and so inspirational that you can't help but manage a bit of a smile when you think of them, after everything that they've been through.

"It's simple, my brother has some wings on me," Bech said after the game to NFL.com's Tom Pelissero. "He gave them to me and let all of that all take place.

Maybe you saw the long embrace between Jack and his parents after the game. It was so emotional, so powerful. 

"My brother had some wings on me."

One month after tragically losing his brother, @TCUFootball's Jack Bech scored the game-winning TD and won @seniorbowl MVP 💜 @tompelissero pic.twitter.com/8Rlw1vlK3O

— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) February 1, 2025

TigerBlog had a chance to spend some time with Michelle Bech, Tiger's mother, and Ryan Quigley, his teammate and best friend, shortly after the tragedy. The more he's come to know about the Bech family and those close to them, the more impressive they all become. 

To see what happened at the Senior Bowl was just extraordinary. It was another moment where there were memories of Tiger everywhere.

And that's just how the Bech family wants it. And needs it. 

"Sports is life condensed into a few hours."

That was rarely truer than it was Saturday at the Senior Bowl.