The Dog Days Of Instagram

Say hi to these two. 

TigerBlog saw them on a sidewalk as he was stopped at a red light. A split second before he could snap their picture, the doggo on the right was staring right at him. 

This actually makes a better picture, though. The Dog Days and all, right? 

They were historically the period following the heliacal rising of the star system Sirius (known colloquially as the "Dog Star"), which Hellenistic astrology connected with heat, drought, sudden thunderstorms, lethargy, fever, mad dogs and bad luck. They are now taken to be the hottest, most uncomfortable part of summer in the Northern Hemisphere.

At least that's what it says on Wikipedia.

Those two? They hardly look like mad dogs. They look more like delightful dogs. 

Now of course, there is the question of what is cuter, a picture of two dogs who are hanging out in the summer or two little kids whose father is a Princeton broadcaster? Judge for yourself:

Those two belong to Dave Giancola, who asked if he could be part of TigerBlog's second "Things Learned On Instagram" entry. 

Since this is the final Friday of the summer before the opener of the 2025-26 athletic year seven days from now — with the women's soccer game at home against Rutgers at 5 — why not take another look around Princeton Athletics and Instagram? 

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The United States U21 field hockey team plays Guyana today (8:30 am) in its final game in Pool B at the Junior Pan Am Games in Asuncion, Paraguay. Princeton's Talia Schenck has scored twice so far for the Americans, who have beaten Mexico 8-0 and Chile 4-0 so far. 

Next up after the game against Guyana will be Sunday's semifinals, against either Canada, Paraguay or Uruguay. 

Yesterday was an off day for the team, and Talia checked in with the view:

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As hard as it this might be to believe, the women's college soccer season actually began last night. Princeton's first opponent, Rutgers, played at home against NJIT.

That's a real game, one that actually counts. There's another one for Rutgers Sunday, at home against Fairfield.

Princeton is, as you know, a week away from its opener. The Tigers have been practicing in advance, and also doing some team bonding.

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The men's soccer team doesn't have its opener until Sept. 5, which is three weeks out. That game is also at home, also against Rutgers, though with a 7 pm start time. 

Still, there are still some things to be gleaned from the team's Insta account. For instance:

That's former Roper Trophy winner Kevin O'Toole, by the way. The big guy next to him? He never won a Roper Trophy.   

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You already know that Kaitlyn Chen is a great shooter and is probably the best mid-range shooter Princeton has had, male or female, in a long time. If you didn't know she could shoot, here's proof.

Perhaps when Chen's playing career ends, she'd want to join on with the Princeton multimedia team. You can read HERE about the four Mid-Atlantic Emmy Award nominations that have come Princeton's way, with winners to be announced Sept. 20. 

Also, that's first-team All-Ivy selection Ashley Chea with another guy who was first-team All-Ivy and who went on to score nearly 6,000 career points in the NBA.  

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And lastly, there is always Clara Roth, the von Kienbusch-winning field hockey player whose recent move started this whole thing. 

This week? She's hanging out with these guys: