Almost Time For Tip-Off

Remember when the Philadelphia Flyers used Kate Smith's recording of "God Bless America" instead of the national anthem and then went on win the Stanley Cup? 

The Flyers' record when Smith's voice filled the old Spectrum pregame was amazing. It became a rallying cry. 

The team even brought Smith out for an in-person performance during the 1974 Stanley Cup finals, in which Philadelphia defeated the Boston Bruins. 

By the way, the late, great Marvin Bressler was a longtime sociology professor at Princeton who was the model for the Princeton Athletic Fellows program for his unofficial work with the men's basketball team in the 1960s. He and TigerBlog had many conversations through the years, and one that stands out now is the time that Marv, a Philadelphian, talked about those Stanley Cup winning teams and said "why should I care if our Canadians can beat their Canadians?"

The Los Angeles Dodgers don't exactly have the same relationship with singer Brad Paisley, who reportedly is a huge fan of the team and who has sung the national anthem at Dodger Stadium many times. Still, there is something amazing about Paisley and the Major League Baseball postseason. 

There have been exactly two 18-inning games in World Series history, both of which were won by the Dodgers (the other was in 2018 against the Red Sox). And who sang the national anthem both times? Paisley. 

In fact, Paisley has sung the anthem four times before a World Series game, and all four of those games have gone to extra innings. 

Also in that 18-inning game Monday night, Shohei Ohtani reached base a record nine times, with two home runs, two doubles and then five walks, four intentional. The run he's been on of late is insane. 

There was a time when the World Series would have been long over by now. Up until 1969, the World Series matched the champion of the American League and the champion of the National League. Then there were four divisions, so a league championship series was added to precede the World Series. 

There was also a time when college basketball didn't start until Dec. 1. That's another thing that's come and gone. 

Now the World Series routinely extends into November. And college basketball has started earlier and earlier, also moving to early November. 

For Princeton, that means the opening tip-offs a little more than a week away, as wild as that might seem. 

The Tiger women will play eight games in November. The men will play 10 in the month. That's around 18 or so games between them.  

Opening day for the men is Nov. 8 at Akron. The women start a day later, at Georgia Tech. Between then and the end of the month, the men will play in an event in Kissimmee, Fla., and the women will head to the Bahamas. 

Yesterday was Ivy League basketball media day, which featured comments by and questions for all 16 league coaches. The preseason polls have also been announced, with the Princeton women picked to finish first and the Princeton men picked to finish fourth. 

You can watch the media day on youtube:

The Princeton women welcome back Madison St. Rose after she missed almost all of last year due to an injury. In her absence, the Tigers earned an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, one of three bids for Ivy League women's basketball a year ago.

Princeton also returns unanimous first-team All-Ivy League selection Ashley Chea and second-teamers Skye Belker and Fadima Tall. 

On the men's side, Princeton enters the season with any number of its players who could possibly emerge as the leading scorer, or starters for that matter. It has 2001 vibes, when Princeton went from preseason question mark to Ivy champion. 

Of course, the Ivy League season is a two months away still. For now, it's almost the start of college basketball season. 

There are plenty of quality opponents on the November schedule for both teams. This is the time of year to see what combinations will work best, which players will have vastly different roles and what the teams might look like come the 2026 part of the schedule. 

Enjoy it. 

November has become a fun month of basketball.