Welcome To Summer

Well, it's officially summer. 

The Summer Solstice was yesterday, which was the longest day of the year. Do you recognize this?:

“In two weeks it’ll be the longest day in the year. Do you always watch for the longest day of the year and then miss it? I always watch for the longest day of the year and then miss it.”  

TigerBlog will give you a few paragraphs for that one. 

Meanwhile, what are your summer plans? Vacations? The beach? Kids to summer camp? Kids to summer tournaments? 

TigerBlog spent six summers at sleepaway camp, the first five at a camp called Camp Toledo and then the final one at Camp Echo after Toledo closed. They were both in the Catskills. 

At the time, they seemed so far away from home, even if they were only three hours or so. TB's first summer was when he was six — that was eight weeks away when he was only six years old. Despite that, all of TB's memories of his time at camp are really good ones. 

TB also spent a lot of time at summer tournaments, not his own, since they didn't exist back then. Nope. These were his kids' tournaments, with lots of summer weekends spent on very hot sidelines watching lacrosse. Again, TB's memories of those are all really good ones, with the friendships that were made by his kids with their teammates and by TB with the other parents. 

And the passage above? That comes from "The Great Gatsby" and is spoken by Daisy, whom Fitzgerald later describes as, along with her husband Tom, "careless people." What else would you expect from a wife whose depth extends to giving serious thought to missing the solstice and a husband who went to Yale? 

This is the 18th summer for TigerBlog — the actual blog, not the person. He's a bit older than that. In fact, given the choice between being the age he is and being 18 again, he'd choose his current age. 

When he first started doing this, TigerBlog (the person this time) wasn't sure what he'd do when the summer rolled around, what with no Princeton Athletic events to write about. As it turns out, he's learned that there is no shortage ever of topics in Princeton Athletics to chronicle here. That's a testament to the Tigers, both current and historical. 

Back in the summer of 2009, though, he had no idea what to expect. And so he wrote this: 

When TigerBlog first started writing this every day, he wasn't quite sure what he was going to do in the summers. After all, there are no athletic events, obviously. He has learned through the years that there is always something he can come up with, but back then he was uncertain. So what did he figure he'd do? When in doubt, write funny Pete Carril stories. 

TB certainly has no shortage of those to share. 

For the first full day of summer 2026, TigerBlog will honor that original idea with two stories from the late Hall of Fame Princeton men's basketball coach, who passed away nearly four years ago already. 

Story No. 1:

Princeton played in the Coors Light Classic in Fresno in December 1994. The day prior to the tournament, there was a luncheon for the teams involved. TB walked with Carril towards the building where the event would take place, and Carril had a lit cigar with him. As they got close to the entry, the tournament host pointed out that smoking was not permitted in the building. 

Carril then proceeded to take the cigar, snuff it out and put it under the handrail that led up the stairs. Two hours later, after the luncheon, he walked out of the building, picked up his cigar and lit it back up.  

Story No. 2:

Princeton was flying to play in a tournament. TB was seated behind Carril, who was in the middle of three seats. To Carril's left was his longtime assistant and ultimate replacement Bill Carmody. To his right was an older gentleman with no connection to Princeton. 

Carril was doing a crossword puzzle, and the older gentleman was looking over his shoulder. At one point, he said "14 down is such-and-such" and "21 across is so-and-so." When he opened his mouth again, Carril cut him off, saying "Yo, Pops, when I want your help I'll ask for it."

Anyway, welcome to the Summer of 2026. Make it a great one.