What Did You Say?

As you may know, TigerBlog is a big fan of puzzles. 

His daily routine includes all of the following: Wordle, Connections, Sports Connections, Strands, Letter Boxed, Spelling Bee and all three New York Times crosswords (mini, midi and daily). In fact, he heard from Mark Bernstein of the Princeton Alumni Weekly about a story he's doing on people who do puzzles every day. 

The daily crossword yesterday included this clue: "Said ______ Ever." Five letters. 

"Said No One Ever." 

Inspired by that, TigerBlog decided to go back in the archives to see what some people actually did say after some big Princeton moments through the years. Here are a few he stumbled upon (and by the way, this took him way longer than simply writing 700 or so words would have): 

"Right now Kaz gets a great deal more publicity than Milton Berle." — Bob Lovell's commentary about Dick Kazmaier after his huge 1951 game against Cornell, shortly before Kazmaier won the Heisman Trophy.

"You can't dwell on the past. In two or three years, we're going to be a winning team. I know the tradition has been great here, even though the last few years have been bad," he said. "I hope to bring us back to that level." — Bill Tierney after being hired as Princeton head men's lacrosse coach in 1987. How'd that work out? He was right. In three years he had a winning record. Oh, and then he won six of Princeton's seven NCAA championships. 

"Two Princeton coeds, Marjorie Gengler and Helena Novakova, made a stunning debut in the Eastern College Women's Tennis Tournament this weekend by capturing first and third places from a field of 99 of the East's finest women tennis players." — Daily Princetonian blurb of Oct. 20, 1970, after Princeton's first varsity intercollegiate athletic event for women three days prior. 

"I think my teammates just have all the confidence in the world in me and I knew that if I missed that shot, they were getting good offensive rebounds. So it’s really hard not to shoot with confidence when you have teammates like mine.” — Grace Stone after she drained the game-winning three-pointer to beat North Carolina State 64-63 in the 2023 NCAA tournament opening round. Stone is now back at Princeton as Director of Women's Basketball Operations. 

"While countless Americans spent the Friday after Thanksgiving doling out exorbitant sums of paper, metal and plastic money in preparation for the holiday season, the women’s soccer team used a less tangible sort of currency namely, cohesiveness on both sides of the ball to buy themselves a trip to the Final Four." — Karl Micka Foos in the Daily Princetonian after Princeton's 3-1 win over Washington in the 2004 NCAA quarterfinals. 

"I was there for three years. I started at $500 and more than tripled my salary by the end. I made $1,700 my last year." — Cindy Cohen about her first college softball coaching job. She'd go on to put together a record of 560-277-3 at Princeton, with 12 Ivy League championships and back-to-back Women's College World Series appearances.

"When I heard that final buzzer, I threw off my helmet and my arm pads, and I just started sprinting toward my team. It was like a dream; it was the most incredible feeling I’ve ever felt. It was awesome.” — Goalie Christina Maida after Princeton's 3-2 win over North Carolina in the 2012 NCAA field hockey championship game. 

"When I was 15 I was hanging out in Exeter, New Hampshire, with the townies, smoking cigarettes." — Anne Marden, Princeton's only four-time Olympian, who won two medals in rowing.

"Picture Shaquille O'Neal (or Chris Young on his tip-toes). Now add four inches. That's how high Princeton senior Tora Harris soared Friday night to win his first NCAA indoor championship. Competing in Fayetteville, Ark., seven-time Heptagonal champion Harris entered the meet with a No. 1 seed, along with Adam Shunk of the University of North Carolina, both having cleared 2.25 meters (seven feet, 4.5 inches). In championship action, Harris improved his Princeton record to 2.26 m (7-5"), while Shunk faltered slightly in clearing 2.23 m to place second." — Daily Princetonian story of March 11, 2002. Two bonus facts: 1) the story was written by Emily Kroshus, herself an All-American track and field athlete at Princeton, and 2) Harris' 7-7 to win the outdoor NCAA title that spring is still the Ivy League record.