The Leaning Tower Of Pisa

TigerBlog told you yesterday that he had adventure planned. 

The title and the photo certainly give away the destination, which was just amazing. Ah, but the journey? That was simply a whole lot of fun. 

For starters, the Leaning Tower of Pisa has always fascinated TigerBlog. How could a tower lean without toppling over, especially after so many centuries? How could he not do everything he could to see it. 

The Tower itself was supposed to be simply a bell tower, next to the Pisa Cathedral. TB assumes that the flood of gelato places within a quarter of a mile of the cathedral and tower were built much later. 

Construction on the bell tower began in 1173. The first level was placed in a foundation of weak soil and as a result almost immediately began to settle unevenly. The project was put on hold in 1178 as the second level was in the process of being added, something that further made the first level settle unevenly. 

So what did they do? They did what anyone would do — they put the project on hold for 100 years. By the time building was restarted, the bottom level had at least firmly settled in its foundation, enabling the remaining layers to be added. The tower was completed in 1372 — still without a gelato place in sight, presumably.  

Now fast forward to the present. When TigerBlog first heard the men's lacrosse team was heading to Italy, he immediately thought of three places he definitely wanted to see: the Colosseum in Rome, the Leaning Tower of Pisa and Lake Como. When he saw the itinerary, he saw that two of those were covered. 

TB mentioned the trip to the Colosseum the other day. That was extraordinary. The team travels this morning to Lake Como, where there will be a three-hour boat tour — after a five-hour bus ride. 

The Leaning Tower? It was nowhere to be found. That's when TB did some checking. 

He had no idea where Pisa was in relation to any of the tour stops, so he did a search and found that it was relatively close to Montecatini Terme, where the team would be staying for two nights. He then zeroed in on Wednesday morning, when the team would have a morning practice and then spend the afternoon in the city of Lucca. 

TB checked out the train schedule. It was less than an hour to Pisa and only 22 minutes back to Lucca, where he would meet the team before its bike trip around the city. Head to Pisa. Quick selfie in front of the tower. Back on the train. Perfect. 

At least in intentions. That's not quite how it worked out. 

He left the hotel around 9:30 for a 10-minute walk to the train station to catch the 10:01 from Montecatini to Lucca, where he'd have to change trains. He gave himself plenty of time, in case he got lost, and arrived with time to spare. Everything was on schedule. He got a croissant and a Coke Zero (he'll go back to eating properly when he gets home) and then walked out onto the platform to wait. 

Then he got a text from Trenitalia, the people operating the train on which TB was booked. Presumably, the company gave little concern to what its name rhymed with in English. What did the text say? The train would be three minutes late. Okay. 10:04. No problem. Then TB checked the time. It was 10:07. Hmmm.

The next text said the train would be nine minutes late. Okay. Again, not a problem. 

If you're looking for a problem, though, look no further than the Montecatini train station, which has one platform and one track. So picture this. You're on a train platform with one track. Trains go one way to Florence and the other way to Lucca. Clearly, multiple trains cannot go through at the same time. Then an announcement came over the PA system, in Italian of course. TB can speak three words of Italian: Prego. Graci. Arrivederci. Okay, four words. Gelato. 

None of those seemed to be part of the announcement. So now what? 

Well, there are all kinds of different languages spoken on that platform. In fact, TB had been wandering up and down trying to figure out what everyone was speaking. That's when he heard English, coming from two different groups with two different dialects. 

Enter the following six new characters to this story: Fabiana, Lajos, Tricia, Geoff, Sandra and Neil. They were the English speakers. And, as it turned out, Fabiana understood enough Italian to have a general sense of what the announcement was: If you're going to Lucca, you're going to be here for a while. 

Fabiana and Tricia are sisters. Lajos is married to Fabiana. Geoff is married to Tricia. They live 20 minutes away from each other in the Victorian port town of Geelong. They are in the final 10 days of what will have been a 2.5 month extended tour through much of Central Europe. Now that sounds like a great retirement. 

Lajos was born in Hungary, but his family fled to Switzerland in 1956 during the Soviet crackdown. Eventually, his father moved them to the place where he would live for all these years. And what did TB think that place was after hearing his accent? 

Manchester. And where was it really? Australia.

This was doubly embarrassing for TB, since those two accents aren't remotely related and because of how much Australian television he's watched. TB made a big comeback by talking about his favorites — Packed to the Rafters, A Place to Call Home, Underbelly, Wentworth, Offspring, as well as a few others. Australian TV. It's a great icebreaker when you're in a delay.  

Finally, the train to Lucca finally made it through, and on everyone got. By now, it was after 11. 

Where do Sandra and Neil fit in? Well, for starters, TigerBlog got their accent correct: Scotland. Second, the Australians were going to spend the day in Lucca. The Scots, like TigerBlog, were changing trains in Lucca to go to Pisa. 

TB was sitting with the Australians for the short ride to Lucca. Here, you can see what everyone looks like:

That's Tricia and Geoff on the left and Fabiana and Lajos on the right. Geoff and Lajos had great hats. 

As the train pulled into Lucca, Neil came from the lower level of the car to tell TB that their connection to Pisa had long left (TB guessed that) and that the next train was delayed for about 90 minutes (he didn't know that). The solution was to stay on the first train to the next station and connect from there. Then, about a minute later, Neil came back to tell TB to get off the train in Lucca and take the bus to Pisa with them. 

Oh, and as an aside, if you're ever traveling by train in Italy (something that made TB think of "Von Ryan's Express" and Frank Sinatra), it appears they don't check for tickets. They assume you bought them. It's really the honor system, or at least it was yesterday. 

TB said goodbye to the Australians, though he got their contact info to possibly meet up later in the day when TB was back in Lucca. Now he, Sandra and Neil were standing in front of the train station. Neil was trying to figure out where the bus station was, so TB and Sandra went back inside to ask. The young man behind the counter doesn't speak much English, but he did manage to get out "there are a lot of bus stations" while shaking his head no. 

TB then found out it would be 55 euros to get from the Lucca train station to the Leaning Tower of Pisa via taxi, so the two Scots and TB headed off for about a 30-minute drive to get there. TB would find out that they were flying home from Pisa early this morning. Neil was in the oil/gas business. Sandra was a nurse. They're both retired as well. 

As they entered the town of Pisa, the cab turned down a small side street and then turned to the right. There, staring at everyone, was the Leaning Tower. Much like seeing the Colosseum for the first time Monday, the Tower was mesmerizing. It was like looking at the world's largest painting, only it was real. 

What did TB say when he first saw it? "Woah." What did Sandra say? "Woah."And then also this: "Neil, look this way." 

Here they are, by the way:

This is also where they went their own way, heading to their hotel in town to check in before heading to the tower. TB went the other way, straight to the grounds of the Pisa Cathedral and the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Sandra reported in later that their 10-minute walk to their hotel took 45 minutes instead. It was a day of waiting for them. 

TB, for his part, was drawn to the tower as if it were magnetic. He couldn't stop staring at it. Maybe part of it was the white of the building against the sky behind it. Or maybe it's just that, you know, the tower is leaning and has been for more than 600 years. 

He began to take pictures of it from every direction. He got his selfie. He got someone to take his photo from a further distance to get the whole tower in it and to be able to see "Princeton Field Hockey" on his shirt.  

What he didn't do was immediately turn and leave to get back on the train. He admired the tower for longer than he thought he would. He thought about walking up the nearly 300 steps to the top but then thought that this was something you wanted to look up to, not look down from. Also, you know, 300 steps. 

And what is something that is pretty commonplace for visitors to the tower? Taking a picture where they appear to be holding it up. Cute, right? Way played out? Also right. TB refused to do it, so he instead took a few pictures of people who were. He could have taken 100 of them.  

 C'mon. Be original. Take a picture where you appear to be catching it while it tumbles. 

Anyway, he then walked around the small town of Pisa, stopping for pizza and, okay, gelato. Because it had taken him so long to get there, he knew he was going to miss the bike tour, but that was okay. The experience of seeing the tower was overwhelming. 

Eventually, he left to head to Lucca. Now the task was finding the Pisa train station, which is near the University of Pisa. As such, the area was flooded with young people, none of whom are all that good at directing to a train station. TB walked way out of the way before he saw a woman around 35 or so, a non-student he figured, and asked her if she knew where the train station was. Her English wasn't great, but TB heard her say "I'm going to the train station too." Or maybe "get away from me weirdo." 

TB figured it was the first one, so he followed her. She must have been late for her train, because she was nearly sprinting. Either that, or she thought TB was following her and was trying to lose her. Since she didn't turn around and pepper spray him, he thought it was okay. 

Then it was back on the train, which was arriving just as TB arrived. The Pisa station has multiple tracks, by the way. 

TigerBlog doesn't have a bucket list per se, but he always wanted to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa. And now he had. And he was really awed by it.  

In a blink he was back in Lucca. He texted Fabiana to see where they were, and she sent him back a text with their location pinned. It was a 12-minute walk from the train station to where they were sitting. As he walked up, there they were, eating a late lunch or early dinner. They smiled when they saw him approach. 

It was a day to see something spectacular, something that will stay with him forever. And it was a day of adventure, and of new friendships.  

"Look who it is," TB said as he sat down with them. "The good friends from Manchester." 

Keeping An Eye On Princeton From Italy

The pizza that TigerBlog had for lunch yesterday in the town square in Florence was tremendous. 

It's probably all about the bread and the cheese, both of which are A+. And the sauce too. The Italians pride themselves on those three things. 

It was so good that TigerBlog asked the woman behind the counter if they delivered to New Jersey. She must not have understood him, because she said "Si."

For the record, TigerBlog liked Rome but loved Florence. Even the Colosseum wasn't enough to push Rome into the lead. Florence is much smaller than Rome, and even in the jammed city center yesterday, it just felt more welcoming. It also has more than its share of history, in art of course and also in politics, architecture, science and religion. TB went to the Basilica of Santa Croce, where all of those converge, where some of Florence's most famous sons are entombed — including Michelangelo, da Vinci, Enrico Fermi and Galilleo. 

TigerBlog will be splitting off from the group tomorrow for a bit of an adventure on his own. He'll have more to share with you on that tomorrow. 

For today, though, there are things going on in Princeton that aren't related to the men's lacrosse team's Italian trip.  

For instance, there's tennis. The ITA Regionals were held the last five days, and when they were over, two Princeton players had qualified for the NCAA singles tournament next month in Georgia. 

The two finalists on the singles draw at each Regional would earn automatic bids into the NCAA field. Actually, they were the two co-winners, because the final would not be played. 

Princeton's Landon Ardila clinched his Monday with his semifinal win, giving him a 10-0 record in sets in the five rounds of the tournament he played. Ardila has been on a tear, having won the Battle In The Bay in San Francisco last month. 

The second Princeton win came from a wildly different set of circumstances. Princeton's Tsehay Driscoll and Bella Chhiv met in the semifinals yesterday, after Driscoll eliminated another Princetonian, Maddie Jessup, in the quarterfinals. 

That's asking a lot of college teammates, no? Hey, go play your teammate for a really big prize. It's not what being a teammate is about, but that's the reality of these tournaments. 

TigerBlog watched from his hotel room in Italy to see what the reactions at the end would be. Fittingly, it went three sets, with a 6-4 win for Chhiv in the first set and then a pair of tiebreaker wins for Driscoll. In the end, they hugged, and Driscoll moved on to the NCAAs. 

What else is there? 

Well, Princeton had a few Players of the Week from last week, including Ottilie Sykes, who was the Ivy Defensive Player of the Week in field hockey after helping hold Cornell without a shot for the final 50 minutes or so in the Tigers' 2-1 win last Friday. Sykes was honored for the second time this season, though she won Offensive Player of the Week last time. 

That's not easy to do. In fact, TB would love to have an easy way to look up if that's ever happened in any Ivy sport. 

The field hockey team, by the way, hosts Brown Friday at 4 and Saint Joe's Sunday at noon. A win over the Bears would clinch an Ivy tournament spot for the Tigers, who moved to No. 8 in the coaches' poll this week.  

The women's soccer team was in attendance at the field hockey game last weekend in Ithaca, where the Tigers also played Saturday. Between field hockey and women's soccer, Princeton allowed only six total shots, outshot the Big Red 39-6, outscored them 5-1 and came away with two big wins. 

Zoe Markesini, like Sykes, was the Ivy Defensive Player of the Week. In addition to being a part of the defense that wiped out Cornell, Markesini also had a goal of her own in the game. '

Princeton will host Dartmouth Sunday at noon on ESPNU. The Big Green has a record of 3-1 and nine points in the Ivy League, tied with Harvard and Columbia for first. Brown, at 2-1-1, is next with seven points, followed by 2-2 Princeton with six. The top four will reach the Ivy tournament; you can do the math on this one. Princeton still has games against Columbia and Brown after the Dartmouth game. 

Elsewhere, the women's hockey team swept UConn last weekend. This is the same UConn against whom Princeton went 0-3 against last year, including falling in the first round of the NCAA tournament to the Huskies.

Chloe Brinson earned ECAC Rookie of the Week honors after having a goal and three assists in the two games. The goal was a big one; it came in overtime in Saturday's 6-5 win. That's not a bad start to a college career. 

See? You can take TigerBlog away from Princeton physically, but he's always dialed in on what goes on there. 

And now he's off to sleep. After all, he has a big adventure tomorrow.  

When In Rome ...

Princeton built a football stadium in 1914. 

It was called Palmer Stadium and was made entirely of concrete. Of course, this being 1914, there wasn't a great deal known about concrete. The stadium began to show signs of cracking under the stress of freezing and thawing within 10 years of opening. 

By the early 1990s, there were orange and black nets to catch the falling rocks, and it was clear a replacement was needed. Palmer Stadium came down in March of 1997, ending an 83 year lifespan that was pretty good for a stadium from the early 1900s.

And you can keep that in mind as TigerBlog tells you about Day 2 in Rome with the men's lacrosse team. He'll get back to that shortly.

The morning featured a tour of the Vatican, which wasn't exactly what TigerBlog was expecting. First of all, the outside is unadorned stone walls, really high stone walls, but stone walls nonetheless.  

The inside? It's beyond huge. It's the largest church in the world, and it's not even close. The second largest church would fit completely inside the facility, and it would take you a block and half from the entrance of the Vatican until you reached that other church. 

The team did not get to go to the Sistine Chapel, but the tour of St. Peter's Basilica showed the history and the opulence of the building. It also showed just how many people flock there on a daily basis. Here it was a Monday morning, and there was a two-hour wait to get in (unless you were fortunate to be part of a group that had made arrangements). 

TB can't imagine what it looks like when the Pope emerges. Or what it's like as the faithful wait for that announcement of a new Pope, whether that day will bring black smoke or white smoke from this opening (which is not a chimney):

It was the afternoon, though, that was simply incredible for TigerBlog. 

After the Vatican and then lunch (if you like carbs, this is the place for you), the Princeton bus made a left turn, giving a look into what is left of the Circus Maximus, the home of ancient Chariot Races, made legendary by the movie "Ben Hur." That was amazing enough for TB to see through the windows of the bus. 

It was when the bus then wound around to the right that TB got chills from what he saw. There, emerging around the corner, was the Colosseum. 

At first sight, the building is intimidating, awe-inspiring and really just stunning, as in, you're stunned when you first see it, more than you are when you first see any famous, ancient structure. TB has seen it in pictures, tv shows and movies more times than he can remember, and yet to actually see it in person was next level, or really several next levels. 

Remember Palmer Stadium's lifespan? The Colosseum that the men's lacrosse team explored yesterday was built from 70-80. That's not 1970-80. That's just 70-80, as in almost 2,000 years ago. 

It was built to hold up to 60,000 people. It is still the largest amphitheater on earth. 

Can you imagine standing in a building that old? It's such an imposing figure. It's hard to describe the exact feelings there, though TB can say that Tiger head coach Matt Madalon had the same ones. 

You can almost hear back all those centuries, to when Gladiators fought there, when animals from all over the Empire were brought there to fight slaves. Where executions were held. 

How in the world was it built? How in the world is it still standing? 

And thanks to the tour guides who were in Rome with the Tigers. They made it all even better.   

When TB saw the itinerary for the trip, the first thing he looked for was the Colosseum. It's something he has always thought would be fascinating to see in person. What he experienced he wasn't really ready for, as it turned out. 

There was also a walk through the ruins of the Roman Forum, the longtime center of the city and the place where the Roman Empire Senate would meet. In all it turned out to be a 19,000 step day for TB, but he was still going strong after that, all the way through dinner near the Pantheon. 

Today the team is off to Florence. It was two quick days in Rome — though they were fairly unforgettable. The Colosseum alone makes it so. 

Hello From Rome

Hello from Rome. 

If TigerBlog is correct, this is the 11th different country he's blogged from since he started doing this. If you're keeping score, the list would be: the United States, Costa Rica, England, Spain, Andorra, France, Morocco, the Canary Islands, Poland, Israel and now Italy. 

Day 1 of the men's lacrosse international trip saw the team reach Rome around 10 am local time and then spend the next eight hours or so on an extended, informative and beautiful walking tour of the center of the city. TB didn't sleep much on the plane, and neither did the other person in his row — head coach Matt Madalon.

The flight did not have working WiFi or entertainment options, so really all that was left was to keep saying to each other "are you still awake?" For the most part they both were. 

TB, of course, chose to focus on the positives, of which there were several: 1) limited turbulence, 2) Madalon gave TB his chicken (the other option was vegetarian chili), 3) TB had the window and Madalon had the aisle, with nobody in the middle seat.

The most astonishing fact from the flight involved this woman: 

The conversation went like this:

Flight Attendant: "Princeton?"
Madalon: "Yes."
Flight Attendant: "My aunt works at Princeton. Maybe you know her?"
Madalon: "Who is she?"
Flight Attendant: "Rochelle Calhoun."

Uh, yeah. Rochelle Calhoun is, until her coming retirement at the end of the year, the University Vice President for Campus Life. So, yes, Madalon knew her. 

What were the odds of that? Flight attendants, by the way, work really hard. 

The Princeton buses rolled out Caldwell Saturday afternoon to go [the long way] to Kennedy Airport, arriving three hours later for the 8 pm flight. The Princeton football game was pretty much over by then, though the sweaty last few moments of Princeton's 16-10 win over Brown came after the buses left. 

One member of the men's lacrosse team is not on the Italian trip. That would be Jackson Green, who is busy playing football for the Tigers. Against Brown? Green had four catches for 79 yards. 

Princeton went out to a 16-0 lead at the half and then held off Brown's second-half challenge. Esteban Nunez Perez kicked three field goals (34, 25, 38) after a Wyatt Becker to Paul Kuhner 29-yard touchdown pass. Kai Honda did not score a touchdown, but he did carry 28 times for 84 yards.  

Becker and Ty Ciongoli once again split the quarterback position, going 20 for 34 for 255 yards. How were those yards split? Becker 128, Ciangoli 127. Princeton had 38 rushing attempts to go with those 34 passes; there seems to be balance in there. 

The Tigers lost their opener at Bryant but have since won four straight, including two straight in the Ivy League. Each league team has now played three non-league games and two league games, and the season will end with another five Ivy games for all eight teams in the next five weeks. 

This is your weekly reminder that this will change next year, when there will be a week off after the sixth game and all eight teams will open the season against a league opponent. Next year, that will mean opening against Harvard for Princeton.

This year, it'll be Princeton-Harvard on Week 6 in a matchup of the only teams in the league that are 2-0. That automatically makes it interesting. Kickoff will be at 3 in Cambridge. 

Also, another interesting nugget is that the win over Brown was the 88th as head coach at Princeton for Bob Surace. What is the record for career coaching wins at Princeton? That would be 89, which Bill Roper achieved back in 1930.

Do individual honors matter to Bob Surace? Of course they do. He's human. But his own success is directly tied to team success, and he's smart enough to know that. He'll downplay the achievement when he reaches it, but breaking a record that has stood for 96 years is not something that should be taken lightly. 

TigerBlog will have more on the football game Friday. He'll also have more on his time here in Italy as the week goes along. 

For now, given the fact that he's hardly slept and has an early day today as the team heads the Vatican and the Colosseum, he'll leave you with this:

Zzzzzzzzzzzzz. 

 

Tigers vs. Bears

Other than the truck (and the fact that TigerBlog took this picture going 70 miles per hour on I-81 yesterday afternoon), this is a pretty picture, no? 

Maybe the truck and car add some perspective to it. Either way, the drive from Princeton to Ithaca was pretty much one beautiful view after another as the fall colors were in full swing. 

The occasion here is Princeton-Cornell field hockey. This will be followed by the drive home after the game (which starts at 5). And what will TB need to do? Pack again. 

Why? Because he is heading to Italy Saturday with the men's lacrosse team on their international trip. As you might suppose, TB will have much more on that next week.

For today, TB segues directly to Deebo Samuel, the 49ers wide receiver. Did you see his stat line from the Niners win over Seattle last week? 

Here it is: Zero catches. 80 yards. One touchdown. 

And how is that possible? Well, it's something TigerBlog learned a long time ago, back when Princeton had its first ever football game that was statted on a computer. It was probably 1995. 

Early in the game, there was a hand-off, a fumble, a recovery by the offense and then an advancement of the ball. The computer program automatically gave the initial ball carrier one carry for the yardage to the point of the fumble and then awarded the fumble recovery and the remaining yardage to the player who picked the ball up and kept going. It didn't seem logical at the time, but the second player got something like 10 yards but without a carry.

It seems a little strange still, all these decades later, but that's how it works. In Samuel's case, he caught a lateral from the original receiver of the ball and then went 80 yards for the TD. No catch, but he gets the yards and touchdown.

That play was the longest in NFL history by a player who didn't have a reception. The previous record belonged to Eagle Hall of Famer Timmy Brown, who went 65 yards on a lateral and thus did not have a reception in the game. This was in 1961, by the way. 

Oh, and Brown became a singer and actor after leaving pro football. Can you tell TigerBlog what his most famous role was? 

Back in the present, Princeton will host Brown tomorrow at noon in Week 5 of the football season. The Tigers dropped their opener to Bryant but since have won convincingly against Albany, Columbia and Wagner. The one in the middle is Princeton's lone Ivy League game to date. 

Beginning tomorrow, Princeton will play six Ivy games in six weeks. A year from now, as you know, the Ivy League will take a break after Week 6. 

Right now, there are two unbeatens in the league: Harvard at 2-0 and Princeton at 1-0. They meet next week at Harvard, as an aside. 

Brown is 2-2 overall and 0-1 in the league, with its only Ivy game to date a 14-10 loss to Harvard. The Bears are not very far away from being 4-0, with their other loss a 13-10 decision to Rhode Island. Brown has also beaten New Haven and, in something that will get your attention, Bryant last week, in a 28-13 decision. 

The most obvious place to start with this game is on the ground, where Princeton leads the league in rushing yards per game (164.3) and where Brown is second in rushing defense (allowing 118.3 yards per game). Brown's first four opponents have combined for one rushing touchdown; Princeton's Kai Honda has eight of his team's 10. Will the game be decided there? 

Brown is third in the Ivy League in passing offense at 233.3 yards per game, but somewhat stunningly, the Bears have thrown seven interceptions and have yet to throw a touchdown pass. Princeton trails only Harvard in interceptions this year, with five of them already. Will Princeton be able to ring the bell tomorrow? Is this where the game will be decided? 

Will it be decided on special teams? Princeton's Brady Clark is by far the league leader in punting average and nearly 50 yards per punt. Brown's Najih Rachman leads the league in punt return average, at 14.3. 

Or maybe it'll be none of those. Will this be the game where Princeton throws it more than it runs it? 

Kickoff is at noon.  

Oh, and Timmy Brown, who acted under the name "Timothy Brown." He was Dr. Oliver Harmon Jones in both the movie and the first season of M*A*S*H. 

 

Welcoming

There is something fascinating to TigerBlog about borders.

Not Andrew Borders, his longtime friend and colleague, though Andrew has his fascinating moments. Just land borders. 

Take this street for instance: 

That's Vermont on the left side of the road and Quebec on the right. In other words, one side is the United States and the other is Canada – and crossing the street without proper procedures is illegal. There are 14 houses there, seven in each country. 

Fascinating.

*

Welcome to Crossover Season. The women's hockey team opens its season this weekend at home against UConn, with games tomorrow at 6 and Saturday at 3. As a bonus, the men's hockey team has an exhibition game against Maryville at Hobey Baker Rink at 7 Saturday. 

If you recall a year ago, Princeton's women began their season and ended their season against UConn, falling in two games to start the season in Storrs and then again with a loss in the opening round of the NCAA tournament. How many days elapsed between the second game and NCAA game? That would be 145.

The men's and women's swimming and diving teams also begin their seasons tomorrow, when they host Villanova beginning at 5. 

Hockey? Swimming? Already? 

*

While the subject is "welcome," TigerBlog would like to welcome his newest colleague, Gianna Sanzone, who comes to the Office of Athletic Communications from Syracuse. She is recommended highly by SU's John Stark, who in turn comes highly recommended from TigerBlog. 

Gianna will be the OAC sport contact for  women's volleyball, m/w cross country, m/w track and field, wrestling and men's volleyball. In other words, she'll be diving right in. 

As an aside, it's possible that TigerBlog is older than everyone else in the OAC combined, or maybe it just feels that way. 

*

Okay, TB will stay with that theme. 

Welcome to a busy, and important, weekend for the fall teams, who are now in the hunt for Ivy League titles and tournament spots.

The main rival this weekend is Cornell, with two Princeton teams in Ithaca and another in Princeton. Going chronologically, it'll be Princeton at Cornell in field hockey tomorrow at 5; both teams are 3-1 and tied for second in the Ivy League. Because of future matchups and complex scenarios, Cornell could clinch an Ivy tournament spot with a win and some other results, while Princeton cannot mathematically do so this weekend. 

The women's soccer team is also at Cornell, Saturday at 1. Princeton is currently tied with the Big Red with three points after three league games (1-2); the race for the four ILT spots will be, as usual, crowded. 

On the men's side, Princeton is home Saturday at six against the Big Red in a game that matches the two highest-rated Ivy teams in the Division I RPI as of right now. Cornell, 7-3-0 overall, is 17th. Princeton, 6-2-4 overall, is 25th.  

As far as the league race looks now, it too is very bunched. Cornell is the only unbeaten at 3-0-0, while the other seven teams are all within five points of each other as the race reaches the halfway point. Princeton has four points at 1-1-1, tied with Penn and Dartmouth for third.  

There is also a women's volleyball trip to Harvard (6 tomorrow) and Dartmouth (5 Saturday). Right now, the Ivy standings have at least a hint of separation, with Cornell at 5-0, Yale at 4-1, Princeton and Harvard at 3-2, Penn and Brown at 2-3, Columbia at 1-4 and Dartmouth at 0-5. 

* 

Welcome back to Rickerson Field, Princeton women's rugby. The Tigers are 4-1 on the season after a 55-14 loss last weekend to Dartmouth, but perhaps the loss is the best barometer of just how far this team has come in a short time. 

As TB mentioned a week ago, Princeton women's rugby was outscored by Dartmouth 253-17 in the first three meetings between the teams. That's an average margin of defeat of 79 points per game. The Tigers cut that to 41 this time around. Progress isn't always measured just by wins. 

The Tigers host Mount St. Mary's Saturday at noon at Rickerson. 

*

Welcome to the Meadows Complex to those competing in the women's ITA Regionals, which start today at 10 am. You can see two Princeton women play at that time: Anna Nguyen and Maren Urata. Princeton's Alice Ferlito, Bella Chhiv, Berklie Simmerling, Anna Maria Fedatova, Tsehay Driscoll, Lilian Liu, Maddie Jessup and Pearlie Zhang all play singles tomorrow as well. 

Ferlito is the No. 2 seed on the singles side. Ferlito and Jessup are the No. 1 seed in doubles, which also start tomorrow. Other than the two matches at 10 am, none of the other Princeton players have a start time yet. Complete tournament information is HERE.

The men's side of the ITA Regionals will be at Penn, also starting today. That information is HERE. 

The two singles finalists and the doubles winners will advance to the NCAA individual tournament, to be held next month at Athens, Ga. The tournaments run through Tuesday.

*

Welcome to the complete weekend schedule, which can be accessed HERE. 

Great Job, Shell

TigerBlog continues to try to figure out how to use all of the features of his new camera. 

He'd guess he knows about 10 percent of what it's capable of doing. It's like PhotoShop — TB knows how to do the things he needs to know, but there's a whole world in that program that he still doesn't get. 

TB's photos are slowly getting better, though there's a long way to go before he'd say he's good at it. Serviceable, and willing to learn. And speaking of photography ...  

The Ford Electrifying Highlight of the Week for this past week was, not surprisingly, Ella Cashman's overtime goal to defeat then No. 1 Northwestern Sunday. 

By the way, Princeton's and Northwestern's rankings in the coaches' poll weren't all that affected by the outcome. The Tigers went from No. 10 to No. 9. Northwestern went from No. 1 to No. 2 (Maryland is now No. 1). More importantly, Princeton's RPI jumped to No. 5. 

Anyway, this isn't about field hockey, at least not directly. Field hockey is just the vehicle to get to the main point. 

So check out Cashman's goal: 

The Score & The Roar! @TigerFH toppled #1 Northwestern in overtime to earn @Ford Electrifying Highlight of the Week! https://t.co/IuX4GJ9juN

— Princeton Tigers (@PUTIGERS) October 13, 2026

Look at how long Cashman is airborne with her fist raised in that clip. It's a millisecond, right? 

Now check out this photo:

That's perfect timing, right? The best pictures are the ones that tell the entire story at once, and this one clearly accomplishes that. You have the celebration. You have the counter-emotions of the other team. You have the ref who is confirming it all. 

It reminds TigerBlog of what might be the most famous picture in Princeton Athletics history, the one of current Tiger head coach Mitch Henderson after the 1996 NCAA tournament win over UCLA. Like the photo of Mitch with his arms extended over his head in triumph, the photo freezes the moment forever, even if the moment lasted less than a second in reality.  

Here is the woman who took the photo Sunday at Bedford Field. 

If you're a frequent visitor to Princeton games, then she should look familiar, even if you don't know who she is. After all, she is basically everywhere.

Her name is Shelley Szwast, and photography isn't even her full-time gig. She came to the attention of the athletic department when she was just shooting women's hockey for fun. Now she's a staple with the Tigers — a beloved  staple at that. Ask any Princeton coach or athlete about her and they'll all say "WE LOVVVVVVE SHELLEY." 

The game Sunday was played in a driving rainstorm, just like so many others that Shelley has covered. She's in the freezing rink all winter. She's at early-season lacrosse games when the snow lines the sidelines. She's at early season fall sports when the temperature is near 100. 

It doesn't matter to her. She just loves to shoot, because she just loves the Tigers.  

TigerBlog asked Shelley what her schedule had been for the last two weeks. Here is what she said: 

Two team photos, three media days, ten games, three other events/lectures. Team photos were at the same place/time. Softball was a double header. So 16/18 depending on if you count the double header and both team photos.  

How many photos has she taken in that time? It's countless. 

The shot of Cashman's game-winner was perfect, and TigerBlog isn't the only one who noticed. He got this message about the photo from as big a Princeton fan as there is:

"Congratulations to Shelley Szwast. That photograph that she took is fantastic. Look at everybody's face in that photo. Ella celebrating with the two other Princeton players. The Northwestern player. Most of all the ref. That guy is fired up. There's just a lot going on in this photograph. It's fantastic. Tell Shelley great job."

Done. 

Great job, Shelley. As always.  

 

Are You What Your Record Says You Are?

Had a bounce here or there been just a little different, then the Princeton field hockey team wouldn't have brought four losses into its game Sunday against No. 1 Northwestern. 

Unfortunately for the Tigers, those bounces went against them in a series of one shootout after another, resulting in those four losses. It put Princeton into the extraordinary circumstance of being unbeaten in 11v11 play and yet with four defeats in four shootouts — to teams whose RPIs are now No. 1, 3, 4 and 15. 

So are you, indeed, what your record says you are, as that great football coach always said? Or, in the rarest of occasions, can you be more than your record? 

TigerBlog isn't sure. Four losses are four losses, right? Or is it different if you haven't been beaten through regulation or overtime? 

If any team falls into that latter category, it's the current Princeton field hockey team. TigerBlog has never seen a team quite like this one. Even the 1988 Princeton men's basketball team, which lost three straight mid-season Ivy games on buzzer beaters to fallout of contention and then blasted league champ Cornell on the final day of the regular season as a prelude to the next four years, all of which ended with an Ivy title, lost those three games in what TB would call "the run of play."

The shootout, as TB has said multiple times this year, doesn't feel like the right way to decide a game that is even after 60 minutes of regulation and then 15 more minutes of overtime (that's 11v11, not the 7v7 of years past). A tie would be fine with him. The ice hockey system of awarding a point for a shootout loss would be better. Penalty strokes would be better, since those are things that actually happen in field hockey, as opposed to eight-second breakaways with multiple shots permitted.

With all of those four shootouts reversed, Princeton would be flying high. With half of them reversed, Princeton would be nearly a lock for home games in the NCAA tournament. With those four shootout losses, though, nothing is certain. 

If nothing else, it messes with a team's psyche. Is this just not our year? Did we get all of our good luck in last year? 

Ah, last year. You remember that. Princeton ran all the way to the NCAA championship game, falling in double overtime to Sunday's visitor, Northwestern.

Were the gods or the odds or whatever stacked against Princeton this time around? Three of those shootout losses came consecutively, against three of the top four RPI teams. The Tigers could be forgiven for scratching their heads a bit.

From what he's seen from his front row seat, though, TB can say that this isn't a team that has lacked confidence. It's a team that continues to play with great cohesion. It's a team that still believes it can beat anyone. 

At the same time, it was also a team that had its last chance at a Top 5 win in the regular season with the Northwestern game. So what happened? 

Princeton defeated Northwestern 2-1 in overtime (but not the dreaded shootout), in the driving rain that has been as much a part of this season as those shootouts. Pru Lindsey tied the game with just 1:13 to go on a penalty stroke, and she then fed across the cage to Ella Cashman for the winner with 5:42 left in the OT. 

Here are some numbers for you:

* Northwestern is now 36-2 in it last 38 games, with both losses to Princeton
* Northwestern has now lost in the regular season to Princeton each of the last two seasons, ending long winning streaks each time (15 games, 23 games)
* Princeton remained unbeaten in games that haven't gone to shootouts
* Princeton's RPI jumped from No. 9 last week to No. 5 now 

They were obviously happy Tigers when it ended, as well they should have been. The win vaulted them right back into the national conversation, somewhat similarly to a year ago. And it was dramatic, coming the way it did with the late goal to tie it and then winning it in overtime.

But it was also a businesslike celebration. This season could be a long way from over. 

Is this team what it's record says it is? The Tigers are 8-4. They don't feel like an 8-4 team. 

The story of the first part of the season was shootout losses. What will the story the rest of the way be?  

Touchdown Honda

When TigerBlog was a kid, there weren't too many ways to see highlights from Sunday NFL football. 

The best way, of course, was Howard Cosell's highlights at halftime of Monday Night Football — if you could stay up that late. There was also "This Week In Pro Football" on Saturdays, with Pat Summerall, Tom Brookshier and the greatest soundtrack ever. 

Here, check this out, from Week 1 of the 1973 NFL season:

Ah, TigerBlog gets teary from watching (and listening) to them. 

These days, of course, there are highlights everywhere, posted immediately on social media. Who needs to read the postgame story when you've already seen all of the highlights? 

Anyway, TigerBlog just wanted to share that with you before he vaults back into the 2026 football season. 

Before he gets to Princeton's 28-13 win at Wagner Saturday, he does have a few other things.

First, there was the death at the end of last week of Mike Ditka, a legendary tight end and even more legendary coach of Da Bears. He became a cultural phenomenon in a way few other football players ever have. He was also the head coach of the single most dominant team TB has ever seen, the 1985 Bears. Of course, there are those who would say that the real brains behind the team was defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan, and the tension between the two of them was fairly well known.

Then there was the end of the game between Washington and the Giants yesterday, which ended in a 27-27 tie. It should have ended in a 30-27 Washington win, except the Commanders shockingly 1) ran a play when they were within range of a 40-yard field goal, 2) had no timeouts remaining and 3) went down in the middle of the field to allow time to expire. 

TB's favorite part of the game was this:

 

That's the coin toss before the overtime, and it's what it looks like when you send out a (Tremaine Edwards) and they send out their punter. By the way, Washington punter Tress Way is, if you can believe it, 6-1, 220, to give you a sense of how big Edwards is. 

Also, there was the whole "Trojan Horse" thing from Oregon, before its game against UCLA. Did they not realize that they played USC last week? Either way, UCLA won the game to improve to 5-0, making TB's friend and colleague and UCLA alum Andrew Borders quite happy. 

Meanwhile, there are the Tigers. Princeton's win on Staten Island Saturday made the team 3-1 on the season, with a 1-0 Ivy record with six league games to go. 

The win Saturday was the 87th as Princeton head coach for Bob Surace. The school record? It's 89 from Bill Roper, and it's stood since 1930. 

Then there is the touchdown machine that is Kai Honda. A week after rushing for 219 yards and four touchdowns in the win over Columbia, Honda had another big day, going for 103 yards and two more touchdowns. 

Through four games, he's putting up extraordinary numbers. First of all, he has 56 carries and eight touchdowns. That's one TD every seven carries. Not surprisingly, he leads the Ivy League in rushing touchdowns, and he's also leading the league and fifth in the FCS with 7.29 yards per carry. If you're wondering, the single-season record for rushing yards per carry is 6.4, by the great Keith Elias in 1992. 

Also of his 56 carries, only two have gone for loss. That's also a pretty good stat. 

Honda is on a pace for 20 rushing touchdowns, something only two players at Princeton have accomplished. One is John Lovett, who had 20 in 2018. The other is Philip King, who had 29 back in 1889.

Princeton once again ran it more times than it threw it (40-30), with Wyatt Becker and Ty Ciongoli a combined 15 for 30 for 198 yards and a touchdown (Becker to Josh Smith). Brady Clark punted three times for a 41.3 yard average, with all three punts inside the 20. 

The first of those six straight Ivy games comes up Saturday at noon, when Brown will be at Powers Field at Princeton Stadium.  

Kicking It Off At Wagner

Tomorrow is Oct. 10.

It will be Game Day for Princeton Football, who kicks off at Wagner at noon. 

November 10, one month from tomorrow, will be a Game Day for another Princeton team, the women's basketball team. If you can believe it, Nov. 10 will be Game Day No. 4 for those Tigers. 

The season opens Nov. 2 at home against Belmont, with a trip to Richmond to take on the Spiders and then Belmont on Nov. 6 and 8. The game on the 10th will be home against Villanova. 

If four games by No. 10 seems like a lot, there are five more games in the month of November, with a trip to California to play at UCLA and Pepperdine and home games against Rutgers, George Mason and Georgia Tech. 

As you know the team that plays those games will be led by first-year head coach Lauren Gosselin. As you also know, you need to add Northwestern to the list of women's basketball teams you'll be rooting for moving forward. 

The Ivy League had its women's basketball media conference call yesterday, one day after announcing its preseason media poll. There's no surprise about the top three — Princeton, Columbia and Harvard, in that order. Those three have dominated the league of late and figure to do so again. 

Of course, while the women's basketball season begins soon, it also runs for a long time, into March. As such there will be a lot more time ahead to talk about the Tigers, Gosselin and the way the season unfolds. 

As for the football team, the game is the final non-league matchup of the regular season. Princeton has won two straight after an opening loss, including a dominant 35-7 win over Columbia in the Ivy League opener last weekend, also in New York City. 

Wagner, a member of the Northeast Conference, enters the game at 1-4, 0-2 in its league. Of its two losses, one came at the hands of James Madison (you might remember that team from last year's college football playoff) and California (from the Pac 12, um, Atlantic Coast Conference).

If you're looking for a great view, by the way, Wagner's stadium offers that. 

The Seahawks are coached by Tom Masella, who was himself a great player for the team back in the early 1980s. Masella also used to be the head coach at Fordham and Central Connecticut before returning to his alma mater. 

For Princeton, the game tomorrow is a great chance to keep the momentum going heading into the stretch of six Ivy League games in six weeks. That momentum includes the 219-yard, four-TD rushing day that Kai Honda had last week against Columbia. 

Princeton's biggest weapon might not be Honda. It might just be its punter Brady Clark, who would be leading all of college football (FBS, FCS, D2, D3) with a 52.7 yard average, though to be ranked a punter needs to average 3.6 punts per game, which after three games would be 10.8 and Clark has only had seven total punts. 

You can read more about Clark HERE, in a feature story from Craig Sachson. It includes this: 

Clark, whose punting average would break the Ivy League record by more than seven yards, has developed a process for handling his in-game responsibilities. While teammates generate the raw emotion to help them reach their athletic peak, he knows he needs to remain calm and grounded. 

Princeton leads the Ivy League in rushing offense, helped mightily by Honda, whose 101.7 yards per game are one behind Columbia's Griffin Johnson for the league lead. Somewhat interestingly, at least to TigerBlog, is that Princeton leads the league in rushing yards but is only sixth in the league in rushing attempts. 

That's impressive stuff.

Princeton is also last in the league in passing yards per game. Princeton has run it 100 times and thrown it 63 times though its first three games. Woody Hayes would be proud — he's the one who famously said "there are only three things that can happen when you throw the ball and two of them are bad." Then again, he also had his career as the legendary Ohio State coach end when he punched a guy on the other team in a bowl game. 

Next up for Princeton will be a home game against Brown a week from tomorrow, with kickoff at noon.