Provincial Squeamishness

TigerBlog would like to share two humorous moments from his Thursday, both of which happened about five minutes apart.

First, he found himself stopped behind a school bus when he saw a woman jogging and pushing a stroller at the same time. As she got closer, it was clear that there was nothing in the stroller — no baby, no dog, no bag, nothing. 

TB put his window down and called out to her to say that her stroller was empty, to which she responded "I know." TB left it at that. He prefers to never find out why a woman was jogging and pushing an empty stroller, largely because he's afraid it might make sense. 

And then she was gone, rid of TB's provincial squeamishness forever. 

TB, by the way, didn't write that last part. Can you tell him what classic book that's from?  

Then, as he started to move again, he saw another woman who was walking her dog, only the dog had stopped in a series of bushes and wouldn't move, no matter how much she pulled the leash. Then the dog appeared, holding a small branch in his mouth. 

This wasn't some English Mastiff or something. This was an average-sized dog. And the branch had to be six or seven feet wide. 

Off the dog went. And the owner looked in TB's direction, saw him laughing and threw her hands up as if to say "oh well. 

And now, the weekend in Princeton sports:

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There are 12 events on the Princeton calendar for the next three days.  

Of those 12, there are 11 that are away from home. That's a rarity. One home event. 

HERE is the full schedule.  

Maybe the highlight is the men's water polo trip to the Navy Invitational in Annapolis. Princeton went 5-0 last weekend in its own invitational, and now it heads to Maryland for three matches, the first of which is tonight at 7:30 against Salem.

Then there are two games tomorrow, the first of which is against the home team. And who is the home team coach? That would be Luis Nicolao, who spent 20 years as the Princeton head coach and won 844 games between the men's and women's teams.

The Tigers, by the way, are ranked 10th nationally. Who is ahead of them? Eight schools from California and Fordham.  

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The lone team to be home this weekend is the field hockey team, who was almost home twice before a late schedule change. 

Princeton opened its season last weekend with a 2-1 win over Old Dominion and then a 3-2 loss to No. 2 North Carolina. The Tiger reward was to drop from 10th to 11th in the poll. Oh well. 

The college field hockey season starts with pretty much every team to play Friday and Sunday games. For this weekend, it's Princeton at home today at 5 against No. 5 Syracuse, who is 4-0 on the young year. 

Then it's off to No. 18 Rutgers Sunday at noon. That game would have been in Princeton, but the teams decided to flip flop home games between this year and next, so that the Tigers wouldn't open their season with seven straight home games. 

Interestingly, the visiting team has won the last five games between Princeton and Rutgers. 

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If you want to watch Princeton soccer this weekend, you need to get in your car, unless you happen to live on the Main Line or West Point. 

The Princeton men, who lost a tough and physical game Wednesday night 1-0 to Hofstra on a penalty kick in the second half, are at Villanova tomorrow at 1. Princeton is 1-1-0 now with that loss and an opening 3-1 win over Rutgers, while Villanova is 2-1-2, including a 0-0 tie against Columbia and most recently a 2-0 loss to Army.

The Princeton women are at Army Sunday at 1. Army is 4-2-1, with a most recent 3-0 loss to West Virginia.   

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Trivia answer: It's from "The Great Gatsby." 

It's probably TB's favorite turn of a phrase in literature — possibly because Nick was giving up forever on a Yale guy. 

24 Years Later

The morning of Sept. 11, 2001, was like so many other mornings in the Northeast at that time of year. 

Until the entire world changed on a dime. 

Now it's 24 years later. How is that possible? It's nearly a quarter-century later. There are no longer Princeton athletes who had been born before that horrific Tuesday all those years ago. 

They only know what they've been told or what they've read. For those, like TigerBlog, who were there, for whom the events and the emotions of that day will never fade, today will always spark feelings of unease.

To that end, TB will again share with you what he has for the last few years about 9/11: 

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.

Nice To Meet You

TigerBlog was busy yesterday rebuilding his catalytic converter. 

And by "rebuilding," he doesn't really mean what you think he means. 

The check engine light had gone on in TB's car two weeks ago. Given that his car has 172,000 miles on it, he did the only logical thing anyone would do in that situation — ignore it and hope it went off by itself. 

When that didn't happen, he finally broke down (well, thankfully not really) and called Ron, the official car guy of TigerBlog. As he headed over there to have it checked out, he tried to figure out the number it would cost to repair such a well-worn car that would make him say "nope" and get a new one. 

He figured it was in the range of $2,500.  

Upon arrival, Ron hooked up the little machine that tells you what the problem is. At most places, they charge you money for that. Those 30 seconds that it took Ron to do this were on the house. 

And the verdict? The catalytic converter needed a cleaning additive. Total cost: $21 — which is less than $2,500, so TB will be keeping his car. He did have to go to AutoZone and get the cleaner himself. And on top of all that, he actually opened the container and poured it into his gas tank.

So yeah. He rebuilt it. 

Oh, and did you have the same experience as TB for two consecutive mornings this week? That is to say, did you turn off an NFL game and wake up the next day to see that the team you were sure would lose rallied to pull it out in the fourth quarter? 

That was the Ravens-Bills game Sunday night and the Vikings-Bears game Monday night. TB can't be the only one who did that. 

The other kind of football, the internationally recognized use of the word, has an intriguing midweek game tonight on Princeton's Myslik Field at Roberts Stadium. The Princeton men will be hosting Hofstra tonight at 7 (admission is free).

Here is something TB would never have guessed: Princeton and Hofstra have never met in men's soccer before.

How is that possible? Hopefully someone affiliated with Hofstra men's soccer knows enough to leave early to get to Princeton on a weeknight. Or weekday. Or weekend. Or really any time you drive from there to here or here to there. 

Princeton and Hofstra have played dozens and dozens of times in other sports. Why not in men's soccer? TB has no idea. 

If you're wondering, Hofstra has played Columbia 24 times, and that's more than it has played the other seven Ivy schools combined.  

Princeton is playing its second game of the young season, after having defeated Rutgers 3-1 Sunday night in a very strong opening performance. The Tigers were first in the "others receiving votes" category in this week's United Soccer Coaches' Top 25. 

Hofstra comes into the game at 2-2, with wins over St. John's and Northeastern and losses to Bucknell and Binghamton.

Hofstra, by the way, has a great tradition in the sport, both over the decades and recently. In fact, the Pride have won four straight CAA championships and won five NCAA tournament games in that time, reaching the third round twice and second round once. Hofstra has also finished nationally ranked three times as well, including 23rd a year ago. 

Princeton got goals from three different players against Rutgers (Kevin Kelley, Jack Jasinski and freshman Jackson Martin). Jaskinski also had an assist, earning honorable mention weekly honors from Top Drawer Soccer. 

It is the head coaching matchup here that TB finds really intriguing. Princeton's Jim Barlow is in Year 30 as the Tiger head coach, which makes him the less experienced head coach in this one. Hofstra's Kevin Nuttall — who played for Leeds and Stoke City in the English Premier League at one point — is in his 33rd season. 

Between them they have won 574  games. And yet their teams have never faced each other? 

Oh, and this does beg a question: How many games are there where the two head coaches have both been in their job for at least 30 years? That goes for any sport.  

TigerBlog will think about that one. If you know one, let him know. 

And in the meantime, it's Princeton-Hofstra tonight at 7 on Myslik Field and on ESPN+. 

Packing Bedford

TigerBlog kept ducking his head out of the press box window at Bedford Field every few minutes Sunday afternoon to admire just how big the crowd was. 

A few hours earlier TB walked from the parking lot to the field with his umbrella, given that it was raining pretty hard. At that point, the forecast for the afternoon was iffy, and the stands were completely empty.  

The occasion was the second day of the Tiger Invitational field hockey event, a rotating early-season event that used to be the Ivy/ACC Crossover Challenge that brings four teams to Bedford Field once every four years. The first game Sunday saw Penn beat Old Dominion 4-2 in a game that started in rain, was played mostly in rain and ended with clouds.

Too bad, TB thought. Even the threat of rain usually is enough to deter a crowd. 

And yet? He couldn't have been more wrong. 

As it turned out, it was the largest crowd he'd ever seen at the facility. The stands were packed. People were outside the facility looking in through the fence. It was great to see.

They came for the second game Sunday and the fourth of the weekend, a Top 10 matchup between Princeton and North Carolina. You couldn't have asked for more from an early September game. 

Well, maybe there was one more thing Princeton could have asked for — a win. Unfortunately for the Tigers, it was UNC who came away on top by a 3-2 count. 

The biggest winner might have been the fans. They saw a great game, something even Princeton had to grudgingly admit afterwards. Are they likely to come back? Why wouldn't they? 

The game of field hockey moves quickly. The ball changes ends on a dime, as teams go from defense to offense in a blink. If you've never seen it, you should have been there Sunday. 

The good news is you have eight more chances to see Princeton play at home this year, starting Friday against Syracuse at 5. 

And what kind of team does Princeton have? There are 24 players on this year's roster, and the breakdown by class is six seniors, five juniors, seven sophomores and six freshmen. That's a great balance.  

Princeton began the weekend with a 2-1 win over ODU Friday, after UNC had beaten Penn 6-2. As TB mentioned last week, the Quakers will be back for the Ivy opener Sept. 19 and after that game will have played three games at Princeton and zero on their home field. 

The same 10 field players started both Princeton games this weekend. The breakdown of those 10 by class? 

There were two seniors, two juniors, three sophomores and three freshmen. That's a young team.

Of the two juniors and three sophomores, four of them have already been All-Ivy League, with three first-team selections.  

Both senior starters are members of the US National Team program, with Beth Yeager on the senior team and Talia Schecnk on the U21 team. Both came back from South America with silver medals this summer, Yeager from the Pan Am Cup in Uruguay and Schenck from the Junior Pan Am Games in Paraguay.

Yeager, for her part, currently ranks fourth in Division I in career goals scored by active players. Her two this weekend brought her up to 46. Actually, three of the top six were in the game Sunday on Bedford, with UNC's Ryleigh Heck (47) and Charley Bruder (42). If you're wondering who the leader is, it's Makenna Webster with 48, so it's a fairly bunched group (New Hampshire's Tasmin Webster also has 47).

Yeager is the only active player in Division I who ranks in the top five in goals per game and assists per game in a career.  

The freshmen who made their debuts this weekend hardly looked like rookies. More than anything else, TB was looking to see whether they were wide-eyed or if they competed right from the opening whistle. The answer is the latter. 

And then there is the team's depth. As TB said, there's a lot to like here this coming fall. 

It's certainly worth coming out to see for yourself. 

If you have any doubts, ask someone who was there Sunday for the packing of Bedford.  

DeNunzio Offense

This weekend's award for honesty goes to Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin.

His Rebels had just held off Kentucky Saturday 30-23, and now Kiffin was being interviewed on ESPN. The question was what he thought of the way his defensive line had stopped Kentucky in the fourth quarter, and this is what he said: 

"That's why we're paying them all that money." 

It looked to TigerBlog as if Kiffin wasn't sure he should say that or not and that he briefly hesitated before he spoke. Either way, it was honest. 

It was a great weekend to watch football and tennis on TV. TigerBlog certainly did Saturday. He saw South Florida come back to beat Florida for the first time ever — helped along considerably to 30 yards in penalties on the final drive, including one for spitting. 

What the heck? Spitting? That happened in the Cowboys-Eagles game Thursday night too. Six seconds in, for that matter.

The New York Giants? Just put Jaxson Dart out there and don't look back.  

The US Open tennis championships ended. This is unfortunate, because 1) it's a great event to watch for two-plus weeks and 2) because John McEnroe will not be broadcasting anything in the near future. McEnroe and his brother Patrick should be the broadcast team on every possible football game that they can fit into their schedules. 

As for the tennis, there was the women's final Saturday, when Aryna Sabalenka defeated Amanda Anisimova 6-3, 7-6. TB was rooting for Sabalenka, because she's his favorite player on the women's side and also because Anisimova's sister played at Penn. 

You do have to give Anisimova a ton of credit though. She lost the Wimbledon final 6-0, 6-0 to Iga Swiatek but then came back to beat her in the semifinal at the US Open, something that is just remarkable. Sabalenka was too much in the final, but Anisomova's day is coming. 

And the men? They should have two tournaments, one for everyone else and then a separate one where Alcaraz and Sinner play a best-of-seven. Alcaraz won yesterday's final in four sets, meaning those two split the four Majors this year. And last year. 

Meanwhile, back at Princeton, the men's water polo team started its season by going 5-0 at its own invitational at DeNunzio Pool.

The men's water polo team is one of three Princeton teams — along with the men's and women's lacrosse teams — that needs to replace its graduated all-time leading goal scorer. In the case of the men's water polo team, that means replacing Roko Pozaric, who finished his career with 281 goals, or 27 more than any other player in program history.

For good measure, Pozaric was also the 2025 Roper Trophy winner as the top senior male athlete. 

The first weekend of the new season had Princeton take on Mount St. Mary's, Cal Baptist, Santa Clara,  Bucknell and Wagner (as well as an exhibition game against European Cup champ Pro Recco). The five games against the U.S. college teams all went for Princeton, who put up big offensive numbers, even without Pozaric.

That's a really good sign, obviously. 

Princeton scored 18, 18, 12, 19 and 14 goals. The only really close game was against Santa Clara, which was a 12-11 Tiger win. Finn LeSeur scored six goals, on six shots, in that one. 

The first game of the weekend was an 18-10 win over the Mount, in which freshman Otto Stothart scored five times in his college debut. The Cal Baptist game? That was another 18-10 win, and this time Princeton had four players with three goals each.

That's how you replace your all-time leading goal scorer. 

Next up for the Tigers will be another invitational, this one at Navy. A trip to Annapolis will always be special, or at least for as long as former Princeton head coach Luis Nicolao coaches the Mids.

Ahead will be not one but two trips to California, as well as the Northeast Water Polo Conference regular season. The league tournament will be held Nov. 21-23, at Brown.

Doesn't that seem so far away right now? 

For the first weekend, it all went well for Princeton at DeNunzio. Even without Pozaric, there were still plenty of goals to go around.  

Off To The Races

The annual event known as the "Welcome Back Athletic Staff Meeting" was held yesterday morning in the Frist Campus Center. 

This was not TigerBlog's first such meeting, so he didn't have to stand up in front of the department to introduce himself, like all of the newbies in the department. Once again, TB tried to think of how it looked through their eyes. 

They came from very different backgrounds and do very different jobs now that they're at Princeton. There were coaches. There were athletic trainers. There were people in Campus Rec. 

And how did TB think it looked through those new eyes? 

He supposes it looked very welcoming, a place with very high standards of excellence and at the same time a place where it's a lot of fun to work. They had to be thinking "yes, I made a good decision to come here."

Ford Family Director of Athletics John Mack certainly values both sides, the competitive excellence and the fun. Need proof? There was a "Rock, Paper, Scissors" tournament that preceded the meeting. 

It may sound a bit corny, but it wasn't. It was an exercise as much about getting all of the people in the room to become a little more acquainted with everyone else, especially those outside their daily orbit. 

To that end, it definitely succeeded. 

And with that, yesterday turns into today, with a very, very busy weekend ahead.  

Prior to today, there have been six Princeton Athletic events involving two teams for 2025-26.

The breakdown is five women's soccer games and one women's rugby game. All of that is about to grow exponentially.  

The women's soccer team, by the way, got a big 2-2 tie at Miami last night, falling behind 2-0 and then rallying with two in the second half.  

Between today and Sunday, there will be 17 more events, with seven teams who will be competing. After that, it's off to the races for the new year. 

This weekend marks the start of the seasons for the women's volleyball team, the field hockey team, the men's soccer team, the men's and women's cross country teams, the men's water polo team and the men's golf team. 

Where to start? 

The men's soccer team was last seen powering through the Ivy League tournament and into the NCAA tournament via the automatic bid. The Tigers open their season tonight at 7 at home against Rutgers, who comes in with a record of 3-0-1 (a tie with Seton Hall and wins over Providence, James Madison and William & Mary).

Princeton definitely has some star power. Consider this: Key returners Daniel Ittycheria, Jack Jasinski and Giuliano Fravolini Whitchurch begin their senior season in the Orange & Black after playing pivotal roles in the Tigers' 2024 success. All three seniors were named United Soccer Coaches Players to Watch in their respective positions.

You can read more about the game HERE. Admission is free. 

The field hockey team is hosting what used to be the ACC/Ivy Crossover Challenge, only Louisville has been replaced with Old Dominion, rendering it "The Tiger Invitational." It starts today at 3:30 with Penn and North Carolina, followed by Princeton and ODU. 

The Ivy teams switch opponents Sunday, with Penn and ODU at 11 and Princeton and UNC at 1:30. 

Here's a fun note: Penn will also be at Princeton for the Ivy opener on Sept. 19, which means the Quakers will play three games at Princeton before playing one on their home field. For more fun notes, you can click HERE.

The men's water polo team will play six games in three days at the Princeton Invitational, beginning this morning at 10 against Mount St. Mary's. Princeton's schedule includes Pro Recco, tomorrow at 5. Who is Pro Recco? That would be the the champion  of the 2025 European Aquatics Euro Cup. 

That should be exciting. 

You can clock HERE for more on the weekend at DeNunzio, including the schedule for all of the teams involved. 

The women's volleyball season opens in Harrisonburg, Va., with the LD&B Insurance Invitational at James Madison. The Tigers will play Lehigh, Bellarmine and the host team.

Princeton won the program's 20th Ivy title a year ago. No other Ivy team has more than 14. 

HERE is more on the tournament in Virginia.  

And speaking of "off to the races," the cross country teams will host the Jersey Jam at the Meadows Course today. The men's race goes off at 6 tonight, with the women to follow at 6:30.

You can learn more HERE and HERE. 

There is also men's golf on the schedule, at a fall tournament at Duke.  

Love Story

TigerBlog is something of a romantic. 

You know, he loves his musical theater and "Notting Hill" and old movies where love conquers all. He was happy when Rachel and Ross got together for good. He can run down a list of love songs that get to him every time. 

What could be better? 

Hey, TB even wrote a romance novel once and is working on a second one. You didn't know that? You can get it HERE with his shameless plug. 

He wrote yesterday about the first day of classes and the lessons that come from the four years that the athletes spend here — the "Education Through Athletics." He's written so many times about the friendships that are born on Princeton's rosters and how they last forever.

What he's left out for the most part would be the most romantic piece. It seems that he can't look on a team's Instagram without seeing a former Tiger athlete marrying another one. 

He mentioned how men's soccer alum Daniel Diaz-Bonilla married field hockey alum Sammy Popper a few weeks ago. There were a slew of volleyball-volleyball marriages this past summer as well, most recently Mary Claire Bartlett and Devin Stearns. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by PrincetonVolley (@princetonvolley)

 

And to this list you can now add the coming union of two more Princeton soccer alums — Emma Davis and Kevin O'Toole, both of the Class of 2022. 

O'Toole as you probably remember won the Roper Trophy that year as the top senior male athlete in the class. Davis was also an All-Ivy selection. 

Again, TB saw the announcement on social media. When he did, he reached out to Kevin's mother Nancy, who went to the same high school as TigerBlog, to offer congratulations. During their conversation, he mentioned a mutual friend of theirs who recently became a grandfather, to which Nancy said something along the lines of not quite being ready for that. 

She did say that her son and Emma are made for each other. They certainly looked very much perfect together in this picture that Nancy sent to TB:

That will make your heart melt, right? 

Congratulations to Emma and Kevin (and the mother of the groom). And to everyone else who has or will meet a future spouse as a Princeton athlete. 

It's another special part of what goes on here. 

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Here is something that speaks to another part of the core mission of Princeton Athletics:

As we close the third summer of the Tigers Together Journey to Athletics, I am certain of why this work matters. It is not merely about bringing students to campus, nor only about exposure to Princeton Athletics. It is about creating a space where young people can explore athletics as a canvas for leadership, painting their own identities and perspectives through the act of self-discovery shaped by persistence, not perfection. 

That caught your attention, right? It was written by Myles Smith, Princeton Associate Athletic Director. For more, you can read his piece from goprincetontigers.com HERE. 

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The honor of playing the first game of the new NFL season belongs to the Super Bowl champs of the previous season, and this time that is the Philadelphia Eagles, who took down the Chiefs last February. 

The opening kickoff  will be tonight at Lincoln Financial Field, where the Eagles will host the Cowboys, who violated one of the biggest rules in sports last week. And what was that? 

Never do anything that makes your biggest opponents glad. In this case, it was the trade of Micah Parsons to the Packers. The corollary to Rule 1 is something like: "the idea is to get guys like Micah Parsons, not trade them away."

Princeton is represented by four players as opening day approaches. 

The @NFL season gets underway next week!

Super proud of our #PrincetonPros!

Let’s go @Steve_OCarlson, @AndreiIosivas, @Henbyrd and @TravisWJalen! #JUICE 🍊🥤 pic.twitter.com/wjRrNH2mXs

— Princeton Football (@PrincetonFTBL) August 29, 2025

Travis and the Indianapolis Colts open Sunday against the Dolphins. Iosivas, who has 10 TD receptions in his first two years and who has established himself as a big part of one of the best offenses in the NFL, opens his season against the Browns Sunday. 

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And while he's talking about the NFL, how about TB's picks for the year:

AFC Championship Game: Buffalo over Cincinnati
NFC Championship Game: Detroit over Washington
Super Bowl: Buffalo over Detroit

If he's right, he'll remind you in February. If he's wrong, you'll have long since forgotten.  

Back To School

TigerBlog remembers walking down Spruce Street towards the University Museum for his first-ever class as a college student. 

It was a perfect, sunny day. The walk took about 10 minutes or so, to a large lecture hall inside the building, which sits opposite Franklin Field. Anytime he's been back on the Penn campus for a game at the ancient stadium for all these decades, he's always glanced over at the museum and remembered that day.  

You know what really stands out? There was a crew paving a driveway at the hospital, and the smell of the tar was very strong and very prevalent. That smell has always taken him back to that walk.

He must have gone to at least a few other classes, since they did eventually give him a diploma. It currently sits proudly in a box inside a plastic bin on the bottom of a closet.

He also remembers walking outside of the David Rittenhouse Lab building, which is next to the Palestra, after the last final exam he ever took. It was also a sunny day, this time in May, not September. There used to be tennis courts in front of the DRL building and the Palestra, and he walked past them as he made his way back to his dorm. 

As he did so, he first threw into the garbage can at the one of the courts the pen he'd just used and the notebook he had. He also vividly remembers thinking that he had to replace "go to Penn" with "went to Penn."   

He has absolutely no memory of his walk to any other classroom, other than the generic "oh yeah, that class was in that building" thing. That first class and that final exam? 

Those he can remember in detail — even more than 40 years later. 

Who knew on that first day of school what direction his life would take? There was no way. 

If you'd joined him on his walk down Spruce Street and asked him what his career path would be, he would have said, probably with confidence, law. How wrong he would have been, right? 

Yesterday was the first day of classes at Princeton. 

For the members of the Class of 2029, it was the first time that they would be attending any college classes. Would they come away with the same memories that TB did all those years ago? 

For the returnees, it's the time to get back into whatever routine they have for classes, studying and all of that. Are they fans of early classes? Night classes? Labs? 

Princeton's approximately 1,000 athletes obviously had their first classes of 2025-26 yesterday. TigerBlog watched a lot of college football this past weekend, and he remarked to his friend Duncan Yin during one of those games that back when they were kids, you couldn't watch a college football game without having numerous mentions of majors, academic achievements and the rest. 

There was none of that on any of the games TB saw this weekend. There were references to where this one transferred from and what league that one played in a year ago. There was also talk of just how many news players were on each roster. 

The academic piece is not completely gone from college sports. One of TB's favorite things about Princeton is that it will never be gone from here. These are athletes who are also students, in an era when the phrase "student-athlete" mostly conjures up cynicism. 

Tiger freshmen have long answered the question "why Princeton?" with "it offers the best combination of athletics and academics." That remains the case today, and TB will never tire of hearing that. 

Congrats to all of the Princeton students who are now back into their classrooms. It's a lot of work, but it's well worth it.

For the athletes, you are challenging yourself in a way that not everyone your age is. This is what you've chosen, and you did so for a lot of reasons. Between now and the day that you are handed your own diploma and the day of your last competition as a Tiger, you will learn lessons about teamwork, time management, integrity and so many of the other values that combine to make up "Education Through Athletics."

In other words, what you learn about yourself will be as important to your future as what you learn from your professors. 

Julie Frymyer, TV Star

Did you see the commercial with Patrick Mahomes, Meghan Trainor and the Kansas City Chiefs' athletic trainer? 

It's cute and clever, with its play on an actual "trainer" and the pop star "Trainor," who tries to put a knee brace on an arm and who appears to have no idea who Mahomes is or what he does. Like TigerBlog said. Cute and clever.  

The one who steals the whole show, of course, is the athletic trainer, even if she has no lines in the commercial. Is it possible that TB is biased in his review? 

The athletic trainer in the commercial is Julie Frymyer. She's the one that Mahomes has credited with allowing him to play in the Super Bowl two years ago, when the Chiefs defeated the 49ers in OT for his third championship.

If you remember, Mahomes had been injured in the AFC Championship Game and appeared like he might be done for that game and a possible Super Bowl. Instead, he played through both. 

Here's what had to say after the AFC win: 

Julie WAS the reason i was the guy i was on the field today! It takes everyone but she lead the charge all week!!! Now let’s get Super Bowl ready!! https://t.co/glPKlL9Qz3

— Patrick Mahomes II (@PatrickMahomes) January 30, 2023

So what's the big deal about Julie Frymyer here?

Well, if you take a look at her resume, then you'll see where she worked before she went to Kansas City. And that would be ... 

... well, Princeton, obviously. 

Frymyer spent three years at Princeton as an athletic trainer. She and TB were fill-ins on the baseball team's trip to the 2016 NCAA regional in Lafayette, Louisiana. 

As TB has written many times before, that trip has been one of the highlights of his 30-plus years at Princeton. Lafayette turned out to be one of the best places you could ever hope to go for a college baseball regional, with huge crowds, the nicest people and great food. 

TB didn't see Frymyer much other than during that time, mostly saying "hello" to each other as they passed by on their way to here or there. He hasn't spoken to her since she left Princeton, even though she's still in his contacts as "Trainer Julie."

Still, he always remembers her as a very warm, friendly person who did her job very professionally. And she was a big part of the Tiger travel party for that great week in Lafayette. 

TB has even forgiven her for not following through on her promise to bake something for him for his birthday, which was a few weeks after the NCAA regional. In fairness, she didn't say which birthday, so maybe next year.  

He was happy for her when she moved on to the NFL and for when Mahomes began to give her so much credit for his success. Still, he was a bit stunned to see her on a TV commercial. And thrilled for her. 

He assumes that Mahomes was the driving force behind her appearance. The fact that Meaghan Trainor had the right last name to make it work might have been the starting point. 

After he saw the commercial, he texted "Trainer Julie." He wasn't sure she had the same number or even remembered him, but she got back to him quickly. 

He asked her what it was like to be in the commercial, and here is what she said: 

"It was a nerve wracking at first as it was out of my comfort zone, haha. But it was definitely a great experience and super fun. I'm very honored that they asked me to be a part of it. I'm privileged  and blessed to get to do what I love with such amazing people!"

As for the commercial, it starts with Frymyer's taping an ankle, while Trainor goes through her routine. It ends with a no-look fist bump between Frymyer and Mahomes. 

The connection between an athletic trainer and an athlete is a deep one, especially if the athlete is one who has to spend an unfortunate amount of time in the training room. That's a place where no athlete wants to be — but having full trust in the person whose job it is to get you back onto the playing field is essential. 

So is appreciating that effort. 

That's the best part of the commercial. Yes, it was great to see an old friend be included. 

It was even better to see who was doing the including — and why.  

 

From The Open

In which of these two pictures does Billie Jean King look happier? 

Is it the one with TigerBlog, or the one with the mystery woman on the left? Can anyone identify her? 

TB gives you a hint — She long ago went on record as saying she preferred Amtrak to airplanes. He'll give you a few paragraphs to figure it out. 

The picture of TB with Billie Jean King was taken when she attended a Princeton field hockey game a few years back. The one on the left was taken the other night at the U.S. Open, which is currently being played at the Billie Jean National Tennis Center in NewYork.

Here's the view that field hockey alums Gracie McGowan, Sam Davidson, Ellie Manriquez and Clare Brennan had Wednesday night at Arthur Ashe Stadium. It appears they were pretty far up there:

According to the TV broadcast, if you had a grounds pass, you could sit all the way up in the main stadium without paying extra. 

TigerBlog's U.S. Open tennis experience was back in 1984, when he covered the tournament for the Trenton Times. It remains one of his favorite experiences he's had in all his years in sportswriting. 

He stayed for two weeks at the apartment of his grandparents (may they rest in peace) in Kew Gardens, which is not very far from the tennis center. His seat in the main pressbox was next to a Detroit Free-Press writer named Mitch Albom. 

Meanwhile, the woman in the picture with Billie Jean King is Gladys Knight, a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Along with her backup singers — known as the Pips — her biggest hit was "Midnight Train To Georgia." She also sang the great song "You're The Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me" and a great rendition of "O Comes All Ye Faithful."

By the way, TB didn't know until yesterday that the three Pips were actually her brother and two of her cousins. 

TigerBlog has watched a lot the U.S. Open, which began a day earlier than ever before, back on Sunday. He continues to think that the best broadcaster of any sport is still John McEnroe. 

Oh, and anytime he hears Cliff Drysdale's Australian tones, it reminds of the time that TB gave Drysdale and Rod Laver a ride in his old VW Rabbit back to their hotel after they played an exhibition match at Jadwin Gym, back in the 1980s. 

This Open has already had a huge Princeton component to it as well. 

One of the bests matches of the tournament so far was the one between Coco Gauff and Ajla Tomljanovic, which Gauff won in three sets 6-4, 6-7, 7-5. It was preceded by a coin toss that featured Princeton Ford Family Director of Athletics John Mack and head men's basketball coach Mitch Henderson. 

This is from the goprincetontigers.com story: 

Princeton was represented by men's tennis head coach Billy Pate, women's tennis head coach Elizabeth Johnson, Ford Family Director of Athletics John Mack '00 and the University's vice president for capital projects Bill Kale at the awards reception. Later that evening, John Mack was joined by Princeton men's basketball head coach Mitch Henderson '98, a regular tennis player at Meadows, to participate in the official coin toss ahead at Arthur Ashe Stadium ahead of the evening's featured match in the U.S. Open between Coco Gauff and Ajla Tomljanovic. 

You can read the entire story HERE.

Henderson, by the way, is an avid tennis player. TigerBlog has played him in squash, tennis and ping pong, for that matter.

You already know he's competitive as anyone. What you forget until you see him on a court is how tall he is, which, along with his athleticism, gives him amazing court coverage.

TB has never played tennis with Bill Pate, but he has played squash against him. That's not a lot of fun either, since Billy's competitive side takes over and he plays somewhat like the Iroquois did when they invented lacrosse. 

The Open continues until a week from Sunday. TB continues to root for Ben Shelton, Frances Tiafoe, Novak Djokovic and Aryna Sabalenka. 

Oh, and remember, there is a women's soccer game Sunday at 11 am on Myslik Field at Roberts Stadium against Syracuse. And the women's rugby team opens its season tomorrow at 1 at LIU.