Finding Joe Willie

Back when TigerBlog was a kid, he used to read the New York Post and the old Newark Star-Ledger every day. 

His favorite sportswriter was Jerry Izenberg, the Star-Ledger columnist. TigerBlog remembers reading his pieces every day and thinking "he gets paid to do that?"

At the time, TB had no idea that his own career path was headed in that direction. He also never realized that he'd actually come to get to know Izenberg as part of that career. 

To show you the respect that Izenberg had earned, TB takes you to the 1996 NCAA men's basketball tournament and the day after Princeton's win over UCLA. On that day, everyone from every media outlet everywhere wanted to talk to Pete Carril, who had obliged way more people than TB thought he would have. 

Anyway, once all of that seemed to be done for the day and the team was starting to practice at the RCA Dome when Izenberg asked TB if he could get some time with Carril, someone with whom he went way back. It led to this conversation:

TB: Coach, there's one more request.
Carril: I'm not talking to anyone else. It doesn't matter who it is.
TB: It's Jerry Izenberg
Carril: Gotta talk to that guy.

To be honest, TB was a bit awed when he first met him. 

It wasn't quite like that Sunday afternoon in Ithaca when TB met the man he knows as "Joe Willie," but it was close. 

The days of reading multiple newspapers — made of actual paper — every day has come and gone, at least for TB. These days, he finds his favorite writers in all different venues, including one called "Fan Lax," which is an online message board that is a great source of information and entertainment for the sport, pretty much all of it written by anonymous authors with great synonyms. 

Who are these people? Who knows. It could be anyone. A coach. A parent with a beef. Alums. Anyone. Not all of what you read is factual. Almost none of what you read is objective. 

A few years ago, TB found himself connected with someone who goes by "CU77," a Cornell alum who was as into dissecting Ivy tournament scenarios as TB was. CU77 lives in California, but he and TigerBlog correspond through email regularly. 

Then there was the poster who calls himself "Joe Willie." In a world where the average anonymous poster on an internet message board can be somewhat, um, less than cordial, Joe Willie stands out as a beacon of positivity and friendliness. 

TB has been reading what Joe Willie has written for a long time. No matter how intense a game between Princeton and Cornell in men's lacrosse can be — or Cornell and anyone else — Joe Willie can always be counted on to talk about how great it is to be able to watch a game, how impressed he is with both teams and how much he loves the sport. 

And so it was that before Princeton played Cornell in the Ivy tournament final Sunday, TigerBlog decided he would find the man himself. There was only one problem — he didn't know anything about him other than 1) he calls himself Joe Willie, 2) he often wears a New York Jets hat and 3) he likes to sit around the 50 yard line. 

Oh, and Joe Willie adds "78" to the end of his moniker. Could that be his class year? 

While the Tigers began their warmups, TB walked up to the top of Schoellkopf Field, near the 50 yard line, where not too many fans were already sitting. 

"Do you come to most of the games?" TB started asking. "And if so, do you know a guy who wears Jets' hat?" 

The first three responses he got were identical: "No, and besides, I'm a Giants' fan."

He went up to the concourse and saw the Cornell tailgate outside. Would he be there? Hey, there's a green hat. Is that the Jets? 

Well, no. It was a Dartmouth hat, Class of 1966. Dartmouth? 

Eventually, TB made his way back into the stands, where he ran across someone who looked like he might be a regular. Did he know a guy who comes to all the games and wears a Jets' hat? 

Nope, but he and TB spoke for about 10 minutes. By this point, it was getting too close to the start of the game and TB had to run, but the man said that he'd keep an eye out for the mystery man in the Jets' hat. TB was to look up into the stands at the end of the first quarter to see if he'd found him.

And that's what TB did. And there he saw his friend from before the game. He was pointing to his left, and that's where TB saw him — a man not in a Jets' hat but in a Joe Namath jersey. It had to be Joe Willie, right? 

It was. TB made his way up through the stands and introduced himself. Joe Willie was a bit overwhelmed that someone could possibly have wanted to meet him. 

They took a picture together, and TB thanked Joe Willie for bringing his warmth to the sport and the message board. 

Later on, TB mentioned to CU77 that he'd met Joe Willie and sent him the photo. CU77 asked if he could post it to the site, and TB said of course. 

Once Joe Willie saw it, he followed up with this: 

Even though as usual at the Kopf, the weather was awful, the atmosphere was electric. The Princeton fans were such a great bunch, cheering loud and very respectful. I had many people who read this forum, come up to greet me, many from Princeton, and when I was told that Jerry wanted to meet me, I was a bit embarrassed, as I'm just an ordinary guy who loves lacrosse, and my alma-mater. Jerry was of course, the nicest person, as you could imagine and i was humbled to be able to meet and talk to him. I told him win or lose, we hopefully will see you again, especially Memorial day weekend. The game lived up to the billing of #1 vs #2, and having the Big Red prevail was just a great ending to a great day. Both teams played so hard. Princeton is a great team but the Big Red were just a little better on this day.

Gobigred
Joewillie78

Did you read that? It gives you hope, doesn't it. 

Hey Joe Willie. It was great to meet you. 

Don't ever change.