Guest TigerBlog - Clif Perry And National Equipment Managers Appreciation Week

As TigerBlog has often said, you can't run a successful athletic department without buy-in from the people who work behind the scenes. 

Case in point — the equipment staff. Princeton's on-field performance doesn't happen without the people in the equipment rooms, whose jobs are so much more than you would ever imagine. The Athletic Equipment Managers Association posted this video for their celebration of National Equipment Managers Appreciation Week:

It starts with us.

The preparation. The details. The early mornings. The late nights. The moments nobody sees.

This week, we celebrate the #TeamBehindTheTeam.

Happy Equipment Managers Appreciation Week 2026! #EQWeek2026 pic.twitter.com/jsEx57fOk4

— AEMA (@AEMA_74) September 20, 2026

If you look quickly at the 14-second minute mark, you'll see some Orange and Black. 

Clif Perry, Princeton's longtime head equipment manager, asked TigerBlog if he could put together some words to recognize his staff, and of course TB said yes: 

I have long dreamt about having the opportunity to write an article like this…In fact I used to do it a lot.  When I was in college I wrote over 30 articles that were published by the Sports Information Office at Roanoke College. Yes, that’s the same college that produced All-American Lacrosse Goalie and future National Champion Lacrosse Coach Matt Madalon. But alas, my interview with John Heisler at Notre Dame didn’t land a job after graduation and I went into coaching and teaching in south Florida. Probably for the best since I met my wife and started a family. My oldest daughter grew up writing a lot. You may have seen her work in The Daily Princetonian, the Princeton Alumni Weekly, or the Evanston RoundTable.

All that to give you a bit of background. The real reason I approached Tiger Blog to write this piece was to educate you about my staff.  Why them? Why now? Well, since you asked… This week is Athletic Equipment Managers Appreciation Week. According to the website for the National Association for Athletic Equipment Managers the “many contributions of athletic equipment managers and the vital role they play in ensuring the safety and performance of athletes at the high school, collegiate, and professional levels” are recognized during the week. 

As equipment managers, this week “shines a spotlight on the dedicated professionals who work behind the scenes to maintain, fit, and manage athletic equipment — a cornerstone of athlete safety and team success.”

Think of it this way. Everything that you wear, bounce, swing, hit, catch, or kick was ordered by an equipment manager. Ever seen the movie “Shawshank Redemption”? I am convinced that the character played by Morgan Freeman could have been an equipment manager. “I’ve been known to acquire things from time to time.” This is what we do. As you read this, we are in the process of meeting (with our boss, Jon Kurian) with every coaching staff to order the gear that over 1,000 student athletes will wear NEXT school year. Over 275 coaches and countless other people work behind the scenes to make sure that the student athlete experience at Princeton University Athletics experience is second to none. The gear will be delivered all summer long in tractor trailers on pallets that my staff will count in, inventory, and send out to be logoed.

 

That’s a lot of responsibility. I know that you are asking yourself, who is this cast of characters that manage all the gear? Let me introduce you to my crew!

 

Representing Dillon Gym (Volleyball) and Baker Rink (Hockey) are Mike Thibault and Brendan O’Meara. Mike has been here for 10 years and Brendan is entering his 4^th year at Princeton. These guys spend countless hours going back and forth between the venues in the center of campus.

 

At Meadows Campus (Rugby, Softball, Tennis, Squash) is Nicole DiNero. Nicole has worked here for 5 years. She spent the first 3 years in Caldwell and has been at Meadows since it opened.

 

Based in Caldwell Fieldhouse, top assistant Derek Griesdorn has been here for 10 years and is joined by Brian Ackerman. Brian did an internship working with Derek and Nicole in Caldwell and then was hired after graduation full time and is starting his 3^rd year here.

This is my 23^rd year working in the Equipment Room at Princeton. My first 17 years were spent in Caldwell and six years ago I transitioned out to the Football Stadium and I work primarily with the football team.

 

The staff that we have assembled over the last 10 years has been nothing short of amazing. These 5 individuals do so much behind the scenes to outfit you and keep you safe. They design uniforms, practice gear, and hats on a regular basis. They truly embrace their role being a member of the “Team Around the Team.” They are the glue that keeps the locker room positive. So go out of your way this week and thank one of these people for doing what they do to support your team. A kind word goes a long way!

 

 

      Brendan O’Meara

 

          Mike Thibault

 

                 Nicole DiNero

 

                 Derek Griesdorn

 

                  Brian Ackerman

 

            Clifton Perry

 

                   Jon Kurian

 

Endings And Beginnings

PRINCETON FOOTBALL TICKET INFORMATION 

TigerBlog texted his friend Corey, a Rutgers grad and longtime season ticket holder for Scarlet Knights football, to wish him luck against Southern Cal. 

Like any Rutgers fan, Corey was skeptical that his team could hang in against USC after losses to UMass and Boston College. For some reason, TigerBlog thought the team would, as Pete Carril always said, "give a good account of itself." At the very least, Rutgers would keep Corey and company there until the end of the game. 

And that's what happened. In the end, it was USC 42, Rutgers 35 in a game that was, if nothing else, very entertaining. Hopefully Rutgers can right its ship and build on that performance.  

Elsewhere, on any other Saturday, the end of the Toledo-Temple football game would have been the undisputed "what a comeback" champion for the day. 

This past Saturday? It was second. A very, very, very distant second. 

First, Temple led 42-28 late in the fourth quarter — and stopped Toledo on downs with 4:40 left. In the bag right? Nope. Somehow the Rockets took off, tying it 42-42 and then winning 49-48 in overtime. Kudos to Temple for going for two in the OT to win the game. 

Crazy stuff, right? Ah, but did you happen to notice the end of the North Carolina State-Vanderbilt game? If you didn't, here it is: 

THIS PLAY ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️ pic.twitter.com/WQOzTIBwq9

— Vanderbilt Football (@VandyFootball) September 19, 2026

What the? Are you serious with that? No wonder ABC's halftime highlight show at halftime of the LSU-Ole Miss game led with this: "Stay turned for the craziest ending to a football game ever."

Two thoughts: 1) the Stanford-Cal band ending in 1982 was right there with a different kind of lunacy (TigerBlog watched that on TV as it happened) and 2) whatever the opposite of "America's' Team" is, then that's what Lane Kiffin has made LSU. 

Meanwhile, back at Vandy, the logic there is flawless. The execution wasn't great. What TB really takes away from it is that the message that should have gotten through to the NC State quarterback — "at the first hint of trouble throw the ball out the back of the end zone" — didn't. Why is that? What was the communication from the coaches? That's what TB would want to know. 

While those endings were insane, Saturday was also a beginning, this one for the eight Ivy League football teams. As a reminder, the league will open a week earlier next season, and all eight of the teams will play a league game. 

For Princeton, that means next year opener will be against Harvard. This year, it was at Bryant, where the Tigers dropped a 21-14 decision. 

TigerBlog didn't see any of the game other than a few highlights, and he did follow the Live Stats. Like every other Princeton fan, his primary focus was the quarterback position; namely, who would start and how he'd do. 

As it turns out, the starter was freshman Wyatt Becker. When you start a freshman QB on opening day against a team playing in Week 4, you're testing him right off the bat. 

How did Becker do? His numbers were good: 15 for 29 for 202 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. He also had four carries for 26 yards. 

From that alone it doesn't look like he was in over his head at all. Hey, he's 6-2, 200 pounds. He is certainly someone who is worth watching. Seeing his progress in the next few weeks will be fun. 

Becker found seven different receivers. His TD pass went to Josh Smith, a sophomore who was playing in his first varsity game. In all Smith caught three passes for 86 yards; Aidan Besselman caught six passes. 

The Tigers also ran for 116 yards, led by 69 yards and a touchdown for Ethan Clark. Christopher Chase led the defense with 11 tackles. 

It's Week 1. You can never draw conclusions from what you see there, good or bad. There's such a long way to go.

Next up will be the home opener Saturday against Albany, with kickoff at 3. Albany will bring a 2-2 record to Princeton, with a win over New Hampshire followed by a loss to Buffalo, a win over LIU and most recently a loss to Monmouth. 

Weekend Kickoff

Is "Gameday" one word or two? 

Game Day? Gameday? How about "Lockerroom?" One or two?

Or "Fieldhouse?" Same question. 

*

The opening kickoff for Princeton Football is a day away. 

The Tigers will be in Smithfield, R.I., for their second meeting ever against Bryant. Kickoff is at 1, with the game to be streamed on FloSports, as Bryant competes in the CAA in football. 

This is a fascinating season for Princeton, one with really no idea what to expect even as opening day is only hours away. Whoever the quarterback is, he will be making his first start. 

This is from TigerBlog's longtime friend and longtime Princeton Football devotee Craig Sachson's preview of the offense and special teams. Craig sums it up pretty well here:

Good luck to you if you are making predictions on the 2026 Princeton offense based on what you know about the quarterback. If you aren't related to one of them, or you haven't been in the locker room over the last month, you probably don't know much at all. But if you expand your view a bit, there is plenty to feel optimistic about on that side of the ball. The offensive line draws NFL scouts to practice on a near daily basis. The top running back earned All-Ivy honors last season. The top wide receiver rewrote the Princeton freshman record book en route to winning Ivy League Rookie of the Year. There are plenty of returning starters or key rotation pieces building off last season. 

If you want to read more about Princeton's upcoming season, you can read Craig's previews HERE and HERE.

Trust TigerBlog. Craig's previews are much more informative than anything TB could offer at this point. He's looking forward to seeing how it all unfolds, just like every other Princeton fan.  

*

One thing TB does know is that the football team has an NCAA champion on its roster. That would be wide receiver Jackson Green, an All-American shortstick defensive midfielder for the men's lacrosse team. 

Green's NCAA title got TB to wondering how many times Princeton has had an NCAA champion in one sport compete in another as well, with the caveat that the athlete had to be on another team after winning an NCAA championship. Tora Harris, for instance, was an NCAA high jump champion after he left the football team to concentrate on track and field. 

TB also thought of Gardner LaMotte, who was on three NCAA championship men's lacrosse teams (1996-98) and also a letterwinner in squash. Are there others? TB will look into it. 

*

If you're going to the football game, then you should stick around for the men's soccer match between Princeton and Bryant as well. Kickoff for that one is at 6. 

In fact, both games will be played on the same field — Beirne Stadium. How much more convenient does it get? 

The game matches two nationally ranked teams, with 5-0-2 Bryant at No. 24 and Princeton at No. 11 (prior to its loss to Rutgers Tuesday night). Because Bryant is in the America East for everything other than football, the soccer game will be seen on ESPN+.

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The fall season is still in its early-ish stages, but the Ivy League season begins this afternoon, when the field hockey team is at Penn in the first league game for any Princeton team this season. The game starts at 3, also on ESPN+.

Princeton is currently ranked No. 3 in the country, behind Northwestern and Iowa. The Tigers will be at No. 10 UConn Sunday at noon. 

After that, it's back to New England next weekend for the showdown against Harvard. If you've lost track, Princeton and Harvard are a combined 107-1 against the rest of the league since 2016. The other only in that time was Princeton's 2023 loss to Penn — so there obviously be no looking ahead.  

*

The women's rugby team looks to get to 3-0 when it hosts West Chester tomorrow at noon. Princeton defeated LIU last weekend 91-0; a year ago, LIU defeated Princeton 54-7. 

Has there ever been a bigger turnaround from year to the next against an opponent in any college sport anywhere? That's a 138 point swing in one year. Bravo. 

*

HERE is the complete weekend schedule.  

* 

Cricket update: He's still in the bathroom. TigerBlog has gone from annoyed and trying to drown him in beer to considering him something of a pet. In fact, when he doesn't hear him chirp, TB gets a bit concerned for him. 

 

Jon Hess, Hall Of Famer

TigerBlog texted Jon Hess two weeks ago to say that he wanted to interview him for a story on field vision. 

If anyone could talk about field vision, it's Hess, who, if you don't know, graduated Princeton in 1998 after being a huge part of NCAA championship men's lacrosse teams his final three seasons, something that has not been matched in the 28 years since. He was part of the epic attack line along with Jesse Hubbard and Chris Massey, one that is widely considered the greatest ever. 

Hess was known as the feeder of the trio. He finished his Princeton career with 133 assists, which at the time was second all-time in program history and today is still fourth. His numbers would have been higher had he not sat out quite a few fourth quarters in Tiger blowouts. 

Throw in the fact that he is a veteran public speaker, and he is clearly someone you want to talk to about field vision. And perhaps another time, TB will do just that, though he already has several times. 

This time, the subject was sort of his ability to see the field, though this was more the view from 10,000 feet. Or 100,000 feet, for that matter. 

TB was asked by Brian Logue from USA Lacrosse to help him find a creative way to let Hess know that he'd been selected for the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame Class of 2026. To accomplish this, TB reached out to Hubbard, already a member of the Hall of Fame, and told him that TB would reach out to Hess to set up a Zoom meeting for the fictitious feature story.

Instead, though, Hubbard would send the link out to as many of their teammates as he could. When Hess logged on, there they'd be. 

TB also sent the link to Bill Tierney, David Metzbower and Bryce Chase, who coached him, and to then-athletic trainer George O'Neil. That whole group logged on 15 minutes before TB told Hess to join in. Here's what happened when Hess did so: 

The moment Jon Hess found out he was named to the new National Lacrosse Hall of Fame class. Jon thought he was logging on to a Zoom for a one-on-one talk for a story about field vision. pic.twitter.com/cqZwrxdHbV

— Princeton Men's Lacrosse (@TigerLacrosse) September 10, 2026

Those emotions are so genuine. So is the love from his teammates back to him.

Also on the call was current head coach Matt Madalon, who led the most recent Tigers to the program's seventh NCAA championship this past spring. Hess, who previously served as the president of the Friends of Princeton Men's Lacrosse, has been a very active alum and a huge fan of the program ever since he graduated. Madalon's presence showed the link that exists through Tigers from all generations. 

Congratulations to Jon Hess, who also played professionally in Major League Lacrosse. He'll be a very deserving inductee come Jan. 9, 2027, when the new class is enshrined. Can Massey be next? 

Major League Lacrosse was the professional outdoor league that predated the current one, the Premier Lacrosse League. The PLL has its championship game Sunday at 12:30 at Sports Illustrated Stadium, and the final matches the Denver Outlaws and the Philadelphia Waterdogs. Tierney and Princeton alums Michael Sowers and Zach Currier are all members of the Waterdogs. 

The PLL will also have its awards ceremony Friday night, and Princeton alums are all over the list of finalists. In all there are eight Princetonians with a total of 11 nominations between them. 

Also, the NCAA championship team from this spring will be honored at the game, and there is a special Princeton ticket discount available. Click HERE and enter the code 26TIGERS. 

Oh, and since you asked: the cricket drank all the beer and left a note that said "how about some pretzels next time?" Actually, TB believes that the only way the beer would have taken out the cricket would have been if he had dropped the can on the guy and crushed him. 

Either way, the cricket is still hanging out somewhere in TB's bathroom. 

 

Chirp Chirp Chirp

So TigerBlog has a new roommate — though hopefully only a temporary one. 

TB's issue with his new roommate isn't that he's messy, since he doesn't seem to be. It's not that they fight over the TV remote. It's not that he ate TB's cookies. 

It's more of a noise thing, especially in the middle of the night, when this roommate amps the volume way up. 

If you haven't guessed yet, TB appears to be sharing his home with the world's loudest cricket. TigerBlog did a search for how to get rid of a cricket, and it said the first thing is to point where the sound is coming from.  Unfortunately, this guy appears to be a ventriloquist, since he seems to be able to throw his voice all over the place. 

Just when TB thinks he knows exactly where the chirping is originating, it turns out there's no cricket anywhere to be found. It's like having 100 smoke detectors and trying to figure out which one has the low battery. 

TB did a search for how to get rid of him. Here's something very helpful that he learned: 

The cricket knows exactly what it's doing. It will stop chirping the SECOND you walk toward it and resume approximately 4 seconds after you get back into bed.  

As it turns out, one of the solutions seems to be beer. Yes, beer. Apparently if you leave some beer in a mug, the cricket is attracted to it, falls into the mug and can't get out. TB will let you know how it goes. First he has to go get some beer; the only kind he has is root beer. 

Of course, the surest way for the cricket to stop is for winter to come around. To get you pumped for that, there were two pieces of winter sport news that stand out from yesterday. 

First, the Ivy League announced that the league basketball tournaments will be played at the PPL Center in Allentown, Pa., from 2028-30. The three-year agreement will mark the first time that the league's tournament will be played on a non-Ivy campus. The tournament this coming season will be at the Palestra. 

You can read more HERE. 

TigerBlog loves the idea, in case you were wondering. It's not about home court advantage or anything like that. It's more about the atmosphere and feel that being at an off-campus arena will bring. It will definitely be a better experience for everyone involved. 

In addition, Princeton released its 2026-27 men's basketball schedule yesterday. 

If you're first and foremost a big fan of a team, like TB is with the teams he covers, then there is always something exciting about seeing the new schedule for the first time. Back when he was traveling with the men's basketball team (from 1989 through 2002), getting the new schedule meant as much as anything seeing which in-season tournaments he'd be headed to with the Tigers. 

In those good-old days, the college basketball season featured dozens of December events that no longer exist. They'd be almost always four-team tournaments, with the occasional eight-team one thrown in. They weren't like the current group of tournaments, which are almost all made-for-TV at exotic locations with tiny, often makeshift, arenas with tinier crowds. 

The ones that TB used to attend were at some pretty random locations all around the country. They were Friday/Saturday night doubleheaders throughout December, and Princeton used to play in two per year. Where did TB go? Green Bay. New Orleans. Honolulu. El Paso. Milwaukee. Muncie, Indiana. Charlotte. Fresno. Ames, Iowa (twice). East Lansing, Mich. There were others too. 

It was a great way to see parts of the country where he otherwise would not have gone. And to hear one of his favorite Pete Carril lines, the one where he told a reporter at a tournament at the University of New Orleans that while his team had some big guys just like UNO, he "didn't go down to the docks to get them."

TB laughed as he typed that.

Meanwhile, the 2026-27 Princeton men's schedule can be found HERE. The season opens on Nov. 2, which means it's only 47 days away. There are four home games in November alone. 

Ticket information is available HERE.  

 

A Week Off

The first weekend of the NFL season has come and gone, and don't look now but the Jets and Giants are both 1-0. 

It's looking like they're both headed for the Super Bowl, right? 

On top of the win, Giants' quarterback Jaxson Dart threw three touchdown passes against the Cowboys. That's one for each member of the Princeton field hockey program he took a picture with at Newark Airport two weeks ago. 

In college football "don't look now" news, suddenly Michigan is unbeaten and Ohio State has a loss. That's a pretty shocking turnaround, especially considering that Michigan sort of lost its opener against Western Michigan. 

Elsewhere in college football this past weekend, TigerBlog Jr. attended the Iowa-Iowa State game and sent this picture:

Those seem like pretty good seats. He said it was fun.

And then there's the Ivy League, which tees it up this weekend. Before TB talks about that, there is the matter of the news that was released yesterday that the Ivy League would be moving its season opener up one week for next season and then having a league-wide week off after Week 6. 

Seems like it only took 13 years and one day for the Ivy League to finally listen to TigerBlog.  

Where were you on Sept. 13, 2013? 

If you were reading TigerBlog that day, then you read this: 

TigerBlog's idea is a great one. Start this weekend. Play five weeks in a row. Take Week 6 off. Play five more weeks. That's 10 games, 11 weeks, one week for everyone to rest in mid-season. If it ever came to be that an 11th game was added, then the season could start a week earlier still. The idea of having the whole league off in the middle is perfect for resting and healing. 

Okay, so it's after Week 6. Still, it's a really positive move on a lot of levels. Also, keep in mind that while it seems like the Ivy League schedule has started later and later, it's really the rest of the Division I college football that's been starting earlier and earlier. 

Because of the non-conference scheduling commitments next year, the only way to insert a week off in mid-season was to move the Week 7 games to Week 1. In doing so, this meant that each of the eight teams will start with a league game. 

As such, Week 1 next year will see Penn at Yale, Brown at Cornell, Columbia at Dartmouth and of course Harvard at Princeton. There was a time when Ivy vs. Ivy games did occur annually in Week 1, from 1976-99. 

Which team did Princeton open its season with every year from 1954-75? That would be Rutgers, as you probably already knew.  

This year will see these matchups: Lafayette at Columbia, Dartmouth at Lehigh, Brown at New Haven, Harvard at New Hampshire, Cornell at Colgate, Yale at Holy Cross, Penn at Bucknell. As for Princeton, it'll be the Tigers at Bryant, with kickoff at 1.

Bryant brings a 2-1 record into the game, with wins over Stonehill and Hampton sandwiched around a 59-3 loss at Army. Bryant and Princeton have played once prior, a 16-13 Bulldogs win in 2023. Back then, Bryant was in its final year in the Big South/OVC for football.  

Starting in 2024, Bryant moved to the CAA for football (the school has been in the America East in other sports after moving from the Northeast Conference in 2021). The Bulldogs went 0-8 in the CAA two years ago and then 1-7 last year, with a win over Albany as its first in its new conference. 

Bryant matched that win total last weekend, with a 31-3 over Hampton in Virginia. The game against Princeton will be its first at home this season.

Princeton follows the trip to Bryant with its home opener next weekend against Albany. The Ivy opener will be at Columbia in Week 3, followed by the trip to Wagner. If you've never been to a game at Wagner's stadium, you won't believe the view from the stands. TB will leave it at that. 

Then it's home against Brown, at Harvard, home against Cornell, home against Dartmouth, at Yale and then home against Penn. 

You can trust TigerBlog. It'll be Nov. 21, the date for the Penn game, in no time.  

 

9/11 + Three Days

TigerBlog took this picture from his room in State College prior to yesterday's 2-1 field hockey win over Penn State.

The Tigers stayed at a golf resort, similar to where the men's lacrosse team stayed in Charlottesville during its Final Four weekend this past spring. If you didn't hear, Princeton won.  

Those little white dots are golf balls. There were probably 10-15 or so. TB's view was blocked. 

How did they end up on that roof? They couldn't possibly have come from the tee box next to the pool. They had to come from a different hole. 

And how often does someone go out on the roof to get them? Daily? Weekly? 

Pru Lindsey scored both Princeton goals, a little more than three minutes apart in the second quarter. Princeton's defense was again lockdown, though it did allow a goal for the first time this season. No other Division I team had held its opponents scoreless as long. 

Afterwards, a few of the players sat under a tree at the postgame tailgate, and the discussion turned to whether or not it was a good thing that Princeton gave up a goal. You know, it gets rid of the pressure of being the only team who was perfect. Most of the players said yes, and TB agrees with them. Of course, that's only because the team won the game. 

It's not the game that TB wants to talk about, though. It's not the golf balls on the roof or the bus ride or anything else. It's what the conversation was at the team breakfast in the hotel. 

Usually the coaches and staff sit at one table and the players sit at the other ones. This time, a few of the players mixed in at the "adult" table. The conversation eventually turned to 9/11. 

None of these players had been born at the time. All they know about that day is what they've heard or what they've been taught. There's only so much you can get from what it was like that day, and before it and after it, if you weren't alive for it and old enough to appreciate it. 

Or is there?  

One of the players mentioned that her father was supposed to have been at a meeting in one of the towers that morning, only he was running late. She said he was sprinting towards the building when he saw the first plane hit. 

That was stunning to hear, even 25 years later. Her mother was pregnant with her older brother. Had her father been on time, she wouldn't have been there to tell the story. Has she ever considered that? TB guesses she has, more than once. 

How many others have stories like that? How many missed planes, or changed their flights, or didn't go at the last minute? Who was sick and couldn't go to work that day? 

And then there's the other side. How many were there because of last minute changes, or simple bad luck? How many weren't born because of it? 

The players couldn't believe what they were hearing about how the world was on 9/10/01, how your parents could meet you at the gate in the airport, how you could bring whatever you wanted onto the plane, how security was barely one metal detector. 

TigerBlog told them about all the Princeton athletes who were at or near the Trade Center that morning. He told them about the football media lunch the next day, when then-head coach Roger Hughes talked about how he tracked down all of the players from the program who were there. 

TB thought back to the story he wrote about Dan Swingos, former captain, and how he barely escaped being buried under the rubble. And he told them about John Schroeder, "Stinky," who didn't make it out. 

Mostly, he was lost in his own thoughts, about the world pre-9/11 and the staggering ways in which it has never been the same. And how the number of people who remember those days continues to dwindles. 

Breakfast ended around 10. A little more than two hours later, he was on the field at Penn State for the game, listening to the Star Spangled Banner. It's a song that always inspires pride in TB. 

Yesterday, it was even more special to think about the lyrics. And to be grateful to all of the nameless people who have done so much and given so much — in many cases given everything — to keep it from happening here again.  

Twenty-Five Years Later

Twenty-five years? 

Has it really been 25 years since Sept. 11, 2001? 

Every emotion from that day still sears through the blood of everyone who was old enough to remember how it all happened, where they were as it started to unfold, what they were thinking when reality set in. How old do you have to be to really, truly remember it all? 

Forty? 

It's hard for TigerBlog to comprehend sometimes how much time has moved along, to the point where events that happened when he was old enough to experience them first-hand are known by so many simply as something from a history class, or at least a vague knowledge. For almost every day of the year, at least in TB's world, that usually relates to things like sports or music or TV shows. 

Today, Sept. 11, is clearly one of the exceptions. Those names on the flag above? They're just a small portion of the 3,000 names of the murdered. One of them, John Schroeder, was a Princeton men's lacrosse national champion in the Class of 1992. 

There are no longer any Princeton athletes who were even born before that day. They have no memory of the world before 9/11, a world that vanished forever 25 years ago today. 

TB would like to share with you what he's written before about that day. He wants to repeat what he wrote as an unchanging record of what Sept. 11, 2001, was like for those who weren't old enough to know for themselves. 

Please read it again, even if you have before:  

He was dropping off TigerBlog Jr. at the University League Nursery School, on the far side of the parking lot outside Jadwin. It was the most perfect weather day, crystal clear, sunshine, no humidity, not a cloud to be found.

TB dropped TBJ off at the school, and the woman who was the office manager said that a plane had flown into the World Trade Center.

TigerBlog walked outside, looked up, and thought "how in the world did that happen?" By the time he got to Jadwin, he found out how.

Most of that day was spent huddled around the only television around, the one in the athletic training room in Caldwell Field House. It was a day where people spoke very little, where everyone had dazed looks on their faces.

By mid-afternoon, he went back to get TBJ at the nursery school. He can still see the children, swinging on the swings, playing in a sandbox, oblivious - happily oblivious - to what had happened to the innocence of the world outside that playground.

Later that night, after it was dark, TigerBlog walked outside to the end of his driveway and looked up. There were no planes in the sky. They'd all been grounded. TB remembers it vividly, the sight of the stars, without planes, above a world of confusion, angst, uncertainty, fear.

If he had to pick one word, it would be scary.  

In fact, when TB got to Jadwin that day, the first person he saw was John Mack, now the Ford Family Director of Athletics and then in his first year of working in the department. 

There were 14 Princetonians who were killed on 9/11. There were hundreds more who were near Ground Zero when it all happened.

One of those who died was men's lacrosse player John Schroeder, known to everyone in the program as "Stinky.". TB wrote about him on the 20th anniversary. It's as emotional and heartbreaking a story as TB has ever written.

When TB went to meet with John's father Jack, he was struck by the American flag that hangs in his kitchen. The stripes are composed with the names of every person who was killed that day.

It's an overwhelming thing to see them all there and to imagine all of their stories. And, each time the anniversary roles around, there are people who mark another year without them.

By the way, here is what one of Schroeder's teammates wrote about him shortly after 9/11:

“There are two images that run through my head over and over. One is of Stinky picking off that pass. It was as if he said ‘I’ll do my job when it’s asked of me. I am part of the greatness that is this team.’ The other is an image of Stinky on Tuesday. This is how I picture it – Stinky was badly injured initially but was capable of escaping from the building. He was on his way down the stairs when he ran into some rescue personnel heading the other direction. He did the right thing and turned back to help. I imagine him carrying a worse-injured person down the stairs, making typically Schroederian sarcastic remarks on the way to help the other person out, when the building collapsed. I agree with you, T, that Stinky is in heaven, probably playing lax, with too many members of our family watching in the stands. When we do gather, Stinky will be there too, and the first and last rounds will be on him.”

Sept. 10 is the last day of innocence.

Sept. 11 is the day it all changed. It's a day that always needs remembrance, and reverence.

Photo By Rich Fahsbender

TigerBlog was seated in the middle on the Princeton field hockey team's flight home from North Carolina last Sunday. 

He definitely prefers the window. He can look out the window for the entirety of a flight, whether it's one hour from Raleigh-Durham or all the way to Europe or beyond. On this occasion, though, he settled for the window. 

Rich Fahsbender, the strength and conditioning coach for the field hockey team, was supposed to be across the aisle from TB. Neither one of them had anyone in his row as boarding was winding down, leading Fahsbender to completely jinx both of them by saying "hey, we might get a whole row each." 

About five minutes later, TB had travelers on either side of him. The one on the aisle was friends with the one who was supposed to at the window in Rich's row, so she swapped with him. It's a good thing she did, because Rich more than made up for his jinx by snapping this shot as the plane descended into Newark:

It doesn't get much better than that, right? It gets TB to forgive Rich for what he said on the plane and what he said in the hotel earlier in the trip, when he said something about worry about it when he's "60s and bald." Uh, what? 

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There are 17 events for Princeton teams between tonight and Sunday, including the 2026-27 debut of yet another team. That would be the men's tennis team, which is at Virginia for the Orange and Blue Classic. The UVa courts are located at the resort where the Princeton men's lacrosse team stayed during its NCAA championship weekend this past spring, so it's a place that will always be special to TB. 

The game tonight is a women's soccer matchup between the Tigers and Colgate. Because the school's Director of Athletics is Yariv Amir, whom TB hired long ago to be the men's hockey contact at Princeton, TB will usually root for Colgate teams — unless they're playing Princeton. 

The Tigers are 2-3 after back-to-back losses to Big Ten members Ohio State and Rutgers. Colgate is 1-4-2, including 0-1-2 in the its last three, which were 0-0 ties against Maine and Cornell and a 3-1 loss to George Washington. 

Kickoff on Myslik Field is at 7.

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The men's soccer team defeated UMass 2-0 Monday night in Amherst to improve to 3-0-1. The Tigers, ranked 23rd, have allowed just one goal in those four games and none in the last three. 

Princeton swept the Ivy League weekly honors, with Bardia Hormozi as the Offensive Player of the Week and Andrew Samuels as the Defensive Player of the Week. Hormozi was honored for the first time; Samuels now has six such honors. 

Princeton went 3-0 last week (the UMass game included due to the holiday), and Hormozi either scored or assisted on five of them. Hormozi was a first-team All-Ivy League selection last year after having six goals and four assists for the season; he already has three goals and three assists through four games. He also plays with obvious confidence to go along with incredible field vision. 

Next up for the men is a game Saturday (6) at Albany.   

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The field hockey team has its only home appearance in its first seven games tomorrow at 5 when it hosts Rutgers. The Tigers, after a 4-0 win against Old Dominion and a 1-0 shootout loss to North Carolina last weekend, are currently ranked fourth nationally, while the Scarlet Knights are No. 17.

Sophomore Gabriella Anderson was the Ivy League's Defensive Player of the Week after she played all 135 minutes of the two games as Princeton did not allow a single goal. She also converted her attempt in the shootout when it would have ended the game there had she not.  

It'll be a homecoming on Bedford Field for Princeton alum Talia Schenck, who is a grad student at Rutgers. Speaking of Princeton alums on other teams, congratulations to Grace Anne McCooey, who scored her first career goal, which turned out to be the game-winner, as Syracuse defeated Rutgers 3-2 last Friday. 

One of the great things about college sports is the friendships that are built, and to that end, every Princeton player was thrilled for McCooey — who used to be known as "Gooey" and then became just "GAM" a year ago. 

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The complete schedule can be found HERE. 

 

First Of Many, Coach

TigerBlog nominates the following for the broadcasting Hall of Fame:

Commentator No. 1: "When Michelsen was six, he told his parents that if they made him play lefthanded, he'd quite tennis."
Commentator No. 2: "When my son was six, he said he wanted to be a space invader. We probably shouldn't leave the big life decisions to six year olds."

Genius. Just genius. It was uttered by Andy Roddick during yesterday's match between Alex Michelsen and Francis Tiafoe. For some context, the broadcast had just shown video of Michelsen as he threw tennis balls into the crowd lefthanded and then throwing a football righthanded. 

TigerBlog, by the way, thinks that Roddick is an incredible announcer. He and John McEnroe should broadcast all sports. 

In other news, what was the name of the Central Connecticut State men's basketball coach back in 2007-08? Howie something. It'll come to TB. 

While he thinks of that, TB does remember the CCSU-Princeton game of Nov. 11, 2007. It was a 59-57 Tiger win, and it came in Sydney Johnson's first game was head coach. Dickenman. Howie Dickenman. That's it. 

TigerBlog was escorting Johnson into the postgame interview room, which at that point was in what used to be the D level conference room at Jadwin. As Sydney walked in, Dickenman walked out, paused and said these exact words: "First of many, Coach." TB remembers it as a very thoughtful and genuine gesture. 

These days, by the way, Johnson is the head coach of the WNBA's Washington Mystics, who are 24-16 now with a playoff berth clinched. A year ago? Washington was 16-28. 

Another former Princeton men's basketball player, Will Venable, is orchestrating a similar turnaround, though his is in his other sport, baseball. Venable has taken the Chicago White Sox from 60-102 and 28 games out of first a year ago to currently 75-68 with a three-game lead in the American League Central.  

Of course, no coach ever forgets Win No. 1. This past weekend at Princeton, there were two No. 1 wins. 

One of them wasn't exactly a first win. It was more like win No. 149. 

It belonged to men's water polo interim head coach Derek Ellingson, who has been on the staff since 2004 and has been the head women's coach since 2019. Ellingson led the Princeton men to a 3-0 start at Navy's tournament last weekend, when the Tigers defeated George Washington, Air Force and Salem by a combined score of 62-25. 

Princeton will now have five matches this weekend at home at its own Invitational, including one against last weekend's host. You know who coaches Navy's men, right? That would be the great Luis Nicolao, who was Princeton's head coach for 844 wins between the men's and women's team. Ellingson was his assistant. 

Ellingson's team will play St. Mary's Friday at 3:30, Navy Saturday at 9:30 am, San Jose State Saturday at 5, Pepperdine Sunday at 12:30 and Mount St. Mary's Sunday at 3:30. For the California teams, it's a rare time of playing indoors. 

For an actual Win No. 1, TigerBlog refers you to Karameli Fa'ae'e, who led her team to a 52-17 win over La Salle in her first game as Princeton's women's rugby head coach. Here is what she had to say after the win: 

"I'm proud of the effort and commitment the whole squad showed yesterday. With no preseason match, this was our first real test of the new systems. We saw debut appearances, players returning from injury, and others stepping into new positions for the first time. There's a lot of room to grow, and that's what makes this exciting. I'm grateful to the whole staff, to the community and family who came out, and most of all, to our team captains for the leadership that made this platform possible." 

TB knows next to nothing about rugby, but he does know from meeting Fa'ae'e that she is very impressive, very smart and very confident. He also knows enough about rugby to know that it's a fast-moving sport with a natural appeal to it, which explains why the team has been drawing well since its inception. Up next is a Sunday (noon) home game against Long Island U.  

Congrats to Coach Fa'ae'e. Where is she taking the program? That's TBD. Will she ever forget Princeton 52, La Salle 17.

No chance.