Good News

It dawns on TigerBlog that last night was his 11th night in a hotel in the last 32 nights. 

This has all been men's lacrosse related. Oh, and it covers four states: New York (Ivy League tournament), Delaware (NCAA quarterfinals), Virginia (Final Four) and Indiana (NCAA Division I rules committee meetings). 

It's not as interesting as the time he slept in four countries in four nights. If you forgot, that was the United States, England, France and Poland. 

Still, it does have him in a state of reflection. How many hotel nights has he had in his Princeton career? How many different places? Why didn't he think of keeping track back when he first started doing this? 

He'll be home tonight, back in his own bed. Is that good news? Sure. 

In fact, even better is the fact that he was able to change his flight, moving it up a few hours because the meetings went so smoothly and the agenda moved along. That's more good news.  

And for the rest of your Wednesday, here's some more good news: 

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Today is the birthday of Princeton superfan Pattie Friend. 

TigerBlog stumbled upon her a few years back in the diner on Nassau Street. Since then, they have become great friends. 

You've probably met her too. She's hard to miss. She is everywhere. 

TB wonders how many Princeton Athletic events she attended this year. The answer is more than he did. In fact, maybe more than anyone — with the possible exception of photographer Shelley Szwast. 

Mrs. Friend's husband Lloyd was in the Princeton Class of 1965. She is an honorary member of the class (as is TB). She moved back to Princeton three years ago, and since then she has probably seen every team play at least once. 

More than that, she will always say "I have no one to go to the game with" and will come back with "oh, I met so many interesting people." One moment you're a stranger. The next moment she is taking you on a campus tour. 

Oh, and you never know who is going to show up in a picture with her, like this one: 

Or this one: 

Or this one:

 

If you're wondering, that's Mrs. Friend with Pia Beaulieu, with field hockey goalie Olivia Caponiti and with the people who work at one of the campus bake shops.  

Whether it's a game or the refurbished art museum, Mrs. Friend brings an unmistakable love and happiness to everything Princetonian. It's why people are so naturally drawn to her. 

And it doesn't matter who you are, how old you are, what your connection to Princeton is. She is friends with the athletes in Cannon Club, where she swipes students in for dinner on Sundays, and with parents of players from all different sports. And fans. And administrators. And broadcasters. Everyone knows her.  

As is often the case with people in his own family, TB has not gotten his friend Mrs. Friend a card for her birthday. She can consider this her card. 

Happy birthday, Pattie Friend. Everyone should be more like she is. Her super power? She brings the sunshine wherever she goes. 

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Zack DiGregorio's birthday is coming up, but that's not why TB is recognizing him today. Nope. Zack recently got engaged. 

If you know the history of the DiGregorio family, you know that this is a group of people who are much deserving of life's happy moments. TB won't go too deeply into the tragedies that this family has faced, since he's written about them so many times in the past. 

Still, the family lost its patriarch, Steve DiGregorio, a longtime assistant football coach at Princeton, to pancreatic cancer almost five years ago. Digger, as he was known, is about the best person TigerBlog has ever met. Then, a year ago, Derek DiGregorio passed away just short of his 28th birthday after a lifetime spent battling Ataxia-Telangiectasia, a crippling disease that attacks the nervous system and the immune system. 

No two people have ever been as strong in life and death as those two. And no one should have to do what Zack did, which is to deliver the two most amazing obituaries TB has ever heard, after the deaths of his father and brother. 

Now Zack will be getting married. He, along with his mother Nadia and brother Aaron, deserve nothing but the best.

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Zack is a Penn alum but a Princeton guy. Sounds sort of like TB. 

Speaking of TigerBlog, there is THIS.

TB offers this up not to call attention to himself but instead to remind everyone of former Princeton football player Tiger Bech, who was killed at the age of 27 in New Orleans two New Year's Eves ago. TigerBlog is proud to have been able to tell his story and to document the incredible strength and dignity that Michelle Bech, Tiger's mother, and Ryan Quigley, Tiger's teammate and best friend. 

TB is not sure this falls under the heading of good news. It's more like bittersweet news.  

More bitter than sweet.