As much as TigerBlog dislikes the Eagles, he was still hoping they'd win when their game against the Lions went to overtime Sunday.
Why?
Because he couldn't believe that Detroit didn't go for the win at the end of regulation.
If you missed it, the Lions had the ball on the Philadelphia 1 with 13 seconds to go, down three points, with no timeouts. Two incomplete passes later, the Lions kicked a field goal to go to overtime.
Was that the right choice? On the play that the field goal was kicked, the option was to get one yard and win the game or kick the sure field goal and go to OT, where it'd be 50-50.
Had Detroit gone for the win, its chances were probably better than 50%, probably around 75% or so.
It would have taken guts though, because Detroit coach Jim Schwartz would have been second-guessed up one side and down the other. And NFL coaches never want to get the blame, only the credit.
So Detroit kicked, and ultimately it worked out.
Still, having the ball on the goal line needing only to punch it in to win? It's too tempting not to try.
Then there are the Yankees. Sure, the chance is still there to come back and win the series, but it's not exactly looking good, not down 2-0 and having to go on the road to go up against Justin Verlander.
On top of that, New York has now played 21 innings in the ALCS and has come up scoreless in 20 of them. And Derek Jeter is out. And nobody is hitting. It's quite shocking to watch, actually, even for someone who can't stand the Yankees.
Ah, but that's baseball talk. And today is all about football.
The Giants won, defeating the 49ers rather easily. TB is pleased that his favorite team is now 4-2, but he is on record as saying he would have been fine had they gone 0-16 this year, after winning two of the last four Super Bowls.
One team that TB didn't want to see go winless was the Princeton football team.
Now, after Saturday's 19-0 win over Brown, Princeton has needed half of this season to eclipse the combined win total of the last two years.
In fact, prior to Saturday, Princeton was 4-1 against Columbia and Lafayette and 0-19 against everyone else under Bob Surace. The need to get a win over Brown was huge, especially since the Tigers were 0-12 against the final six opponents over the last two years.
It's hard to point to a moment when a program turns the corner, and you never want to look too much into any one result. But Brown played Harvard decently close and has been the second-best team in the league of late, and Princeton hadn't beaten the Bears since 2006.
Princeton has to be the most improved defensive team in the country.
A year ago, Princeton allowed an average of 32.5 points, 270.5 passing yards and 396.5 total yards per game.
This year, those numbers are 11.6 points, 211.6 passing yards and 306.0 total yards.
Princeton allowed 24 passing touchdowns last year. So far this year that number is one.
Even in hidden areas Princeton has improved. A year ago, Princeton averaged 65 yards per game in penalties. This year, that number is 33, essentially half as much.
So where are the Tigers now?
Tied for first in the Ivy League, that's where.
The teams they're tied with are Harvard and Penn. There probably aren't too many objective observers of Ivy League football who think that Harvard isn't going to run the table this year, but that doesn't mean the Crimson definitely will.
Princeton hosts Harvard Saturday at 1 on Powers Field at Princeton Stadium. Hopefully the weather will be the same as it was this past weekend, when it was perfect.
It'd be great to see how big the crowd might be.
In the meantime, when a team defends the way Princeton has this year, it's hard to think in terms of not being in a game.
Regardless of what happens, it's great that Princeton is in this position, of playing a big game in late October.
TigerBlog would suggest that Princeton not sight of its goal for the year, which was to have measurable improvement over the last two. In terms of actual numbers, getting to 5-5 would be a great step in the right direction.
And Princeton could do that, even if it loses Saturday.
But the Tigers shouldn't think like that. No, Princeton should prepare this week like it's another game and then take its best shot at beating the Crimson.
Certainly what happened against Brown should be a huge confidence booster.
It was a great game for the Tigers, and a huge sign of progress.
Halfway through the 2012 season, it's obvious that the 1-9 years are well in the rearview mirror.
Monday, October 15, 2012
Friday, October 12, 2012
Sara And Manny
As one man in a suit extended his hand, he mentioned that this was the first time he'd ever shaken hands with an actual Olympian.
There is something extraordinary about having been an Olympian, something that drives people like Hendershot to recommit to getting back there again and that makes people like those in the audience yesterday marvel at that level of dedication and athletic greatness.
The occasion was the College Athletic Administrators of New Jersey's annual symposium and awards luncheon. In the interest of full disclosure, TigerBlog is now the president of the organization.
Hendershot was joined on the panel by Erin Buzuvis, a lawyer/blogger/professor at Western New England whose specialty is Title IX issues, and Linda Yost, Associate Director of Athletics at Stockton State in South Jersey. Back in the 1980s and 1990s, Yost had been an assistant basketball coach at Brooklyn College and had been involved in a very contentious Title IX suit.
The panel discussion began with Yost's story, about how Brooklyn College basically turned its women's program into a complete underclass in every way possible. The resulting lawsuit was a slamdunk win for the women - except that the school decided to drop all athletics as a response.
Brooklyn College was at that time in the East Coast Conference, a league that then included Rider. TB covered a few Rider-Brooklyn College games and never once suspected anything was up Title IX-wise, or, for that matter, would have thought to consider it.
Maybe it's because he saw some of it first-hand and definitely because it wasn't that long ago, but when TB listened to Yost, he couldn't help but be amazed at what was going on.
As TB has often said here, the idea that Princeton would in this day and age engage in an institutional decision to favor men's teams over women's teams in areas like practice times, scheduling, athletic communications, athletic medicine, strength and conditioning, facilities or any of it is unimaginable. It's just not even conceivable that someone in the administration here would suggest doing so in the first place.
It's easy for an audience like the one at the CAANJ event yesterday - which featured many young men and women who are just starting out in careers in college athletics - to forget that women like Yost as recently as 20 years ago had to put up with situations like the one at Brooklyn College.
Of course, for the ones who think that it's okay to go back to those days, there is Buzuvis, who spoke about current issues still related to Title IX compliance - such as double-counting of women athletes on multiple rosters, sports that don't fit the true definition of an NCAA competition and even sexual assault on campus.
And she does more than just talk about. She is actively involved nationally in the legal issues that continue to arise these days.
As for Hendershot, her story was one of a girl who grew up exposed to any number of athletic opportunities and eventually pursued rowing, in part because of the expanding number of college opportunities for women in the sport.
She spoke about her experiences at Princeton, how she made it up through the national team ladder all the way to two world championships in fours (one with the U23 team, one with the full national team) and ultimately to the London Olympics, where she finished fourth in pairs, 0.2 seconds away from a medal. She also pointed out that American women won more medals than American men and that, for the first time ever, there were 1) women competing in every sport that men competed in, with the addition of women's boxing, and 2) more American women Olympians than men.
She talked about rededicating herself in college when she thought she wasn't giving her best, and she talked about wanting to get back to the Olympics in 2016, how the Olympic experience was beyond her wildest dreams. She spoke about coming back from a broken rib that almost kept her from the Olympics, how she and her teammates struggle to make ends meet while committing full-time to training, how she's lived in the houses of strangers (through a program that U.S. Rowing created) because she had no money to be anywhere else.
It's hard to imagine someone making a better impression on a room full of people than Hendershot did. In fact, when the discussion was opened up to Q&A, the first one for her was if she'd ever considered motivational speaking as a career path.
After that, it was time for the awards luncheon.
Princeton again won the CAANJ Cup as the top Division I/II athletic program in New Jersey.
The ridiculously impressive Manny Sardinha was honored as the Division I/II student-athlete of the year, for his performance with the men's soccer team and his very long list of off-the-field academic and service accomplishments. He spoke about having been given the opportunity to pursue those accomplishments and not just being an athlete during his college career.
In all there are 44 colleges in New Jersey, and five conference offices are also based in the state. Each year, TigerBlog marvels at the different stories the athletes tell about their experiences, the different backgrounds they come from - the men's junior college winner came to this country with his mother from Russia - and the different challenges that each of the schools face.
Ultimately, he leaves again remembering how lucky he is to work at Princeton, at a place that every day challenges those who come here to either work or study and demands excellence from them. It's a University that is very clear about about its values, and it doesn't compromise them for anyone.
At the same time, it's also a school with a huge endowment and with advantages that many of the schools at the CAANJ event could never imagine. As such, there is a responsibility among those like TB to appreciate what they have here and to never take it for granted.
For TB, though, it's always, always about the people here, and the last two days have been a reminder of that and also a reminder to never take that end of it for granted.
How can he, when he works at a place that includes people like Bob Callahan, whose Hall of Fame induction TB was at Wednesday night, and Sara Hendershot and Manny Sardinha, whom TB was left to marvel at yesterday.
Thursday, October 11, 2012
The Man Of The Hour
The man of the hour stood inside the glass-encased squash court that has taken up temporary residence where basketballs usually bounce, right there in the center of the main floor of the Daskalakis Athletic Center at Drexel University.
He wore a dark suit with a yellow tie, one adorned with crossed squash racquets, one that left TigerBlog wondering where someone would get such a tie in the first place.
As he sat and listened to what was being said, TigerBlog couldn't help but think of how different this man looks in a suit and not the attire TB usually sees him in - white tennis shorts, a Princeton shirt of some sort and a jacket.
TB isn't talking about any tennis shorts. He's talking about the kind that they used to wear at Wimbledon and Forest Hills back in the early 1970s.
In fact, now that he thinks about it, TB wonders where someone would get those shorts these days as well.
This was a more formal occasion, though, and for the man of the hour, only a suit and tie would do.
And so that's what Bob Callahan wore to his U.S. Squash Hall of Fame induction ceremony, even though TB had offered him $20 to wear the Princeton women's hockey jersey that was on the office chair when Callahan came into the office earlier in the day.
In fact, Callahan could have worn whatever he wanted, since this really wasn't about any kind of showy dress.
No, this was about what was underneath, what was in the heart - Bob Callahan's and everyone who was there last night.
Some applause is polite. Some applause is mandatory. Some applause is overcompensated.
When they clapped for Bob Callahan, it was for one reason only. Everyone there loves the guy.
Trinity head coach Paul Assaiante introduced Callahan and called him "the classiest person I know." He also spoke about Callahan's legendary sportsmanship, how he treats victory and defeat the same. He called Callahan his friend multiple times and twice called him his "brother from another mother."
Going back to February, Callahan's Princeton team defeated Assaiante's Bantams to win the national championship. This wasn't just any championship, though. This one ended Trinity's 13-year run at the top.
Assaiante joked that he was wearing his 13th championship ring because Bob Callahan had prevented him from earning a 14th.
And then Callahan walked up to the microphone and gave the punchline: "I told my team that nobody beats us 14 years in a row."
After that, Callahan mentioned how supportive his rival had been back in the spring, when, as he said, "I had a few medical issues."
Yes, a few medical issues. As in brain surgery to remove a tumor. As in treatment that is continuing now.
Not that you could ever tell that anything was up by talking to him or watching him.
Callahan's attitude through his "medical issues" has been amazing. It's been ridiculous, really, that a person who faces what he faces has managed to do so with such understated determination and such matter-of-factness.
When TB asked Callahan how his radiation treatments were going back in the spring, he responded with one word: "Nice." Then he elaborated. "Everyone there is so nice." And then he smiled, just like he always does.
As he gave his speech last night, he thanked all of the people who came out to see him, and really the DAC, as they call it, had been transformed into a room of Orange and Black in Callahan's honor, complete with the entire current Princeton men's and women's teams.
His speech was a reflection of his personality - humble, a little uncomfortable in the spotlight, funny, heartfelt, soft-spoken.
When it was over, there was a standing ovation for him, and there wasn't one person in the room who didn't want the moment to last forever.
The ceremony started with a brief video, and the first picture is one that TB loves every time he sees it.
The picture is in black and white, and it goes back to when Callahan and Gail Ramsay, Princeton's women's coach, knew each other when they were young. In his speech, Callahan referenced the picture and how he first played against Gail when she was 10.
Gail was there last night of course. She was sort of the unofficial greeter and coordinator for the Princeton contingent, and she was all over the room, camera at the ready.
As TB watched her, he couldn't help but think that she was sort of, in an odd way, Callahan's mother, dragging her reluctant son into the spotlight that he had so deservedly earned and yet was genuinely wondering what all the fuss was about. Even during his speech, he said that he understood why the others in the Hall of Fame were there and it was only when he realized that he had dirt on everyone else in the squash world that he figured out why they put him in as well.
In fact, he's in because you can't have a squash Hall of Fame that doesn't include Bob Callahan, for all of his accomplishments as a player and coach, for all of his contributions in promoting the sport and helping it evolve, for all the people he touched.
Last night was his night.
As he was watching Gail, Bob's mother for the evening, do what she was doing, TB was struck once again by just how much love exists between the two.
It was like that with basically everyone there who has ever met Callahan.
TB is cynical. TB isn't easily moved. TB doesn't usually get emotional.
Last night, he clapped long and hard for Bob Callahan, and like anyone else there, he too wanted to give him a big hug, to make the moment last.
If you know Bob Callahan, you can't help but love him.
He's just that kind of person.
He wore a dark suit with a yellow tie, one adorned with crossed squash racquets, one that left TigerBlog wondering where someone would get such a tie in the first place.
As he sat and listened to what was being said, TigerBlog couldn't help but think of how different this man looks in a suit and not the attire TB usually sees him in - white tennis shorts, a Princeton shirt of some sort and a jacket.
TB isn't talking about any tennis shorts. He's talking about the kind that they used to wear at Wimbledon and Forest Hills back in the early 1970s.
In fact, now that he thinks about it, TB wonders where someone would get those shorts these days as well.
This was a more formal occasion, though, and for the man of the hour, only a suit and tie would do.
And so that's what Bob Callahan wore to his U.S. Squash Hall of Fame induction ceremony, even though TB had offered him $20 to wear the Princeton women's hockey jersey that was on the office chair when Callahan came into the office earlier in the day.
In fact, Callahan could have worn whatever he wanted, since this really wasn't about any kind of showy dress.
No, this was about what was underneath, what was in the heart - Bob Callahan's and everyone who was there last night.
Some applause is polite. Some applause is mandatory. Some applause is overcompensated.
When they clapped for Bob Callahan, it was for one reason only. Everyone there loves the guy.
Trinity head coach Paul Assaiante introduced Callahan and called him "the classiest person I know." He also spoke about Callahan's legendary sportsmanship, how he treats victory and defeat the same. He called Callahan his friend multiple times and twice called him his "brother from another mother."
Going back to February, Callahan's Princeton team defeated Assaiante's Bantams to win the national championship. This wasn't just any championship, though. This one ended Trinity's 13-year run at the top.
Assaiante joked that he was wearing his 13th championship ring because Bob Callahan had prevented him from earning a 14th.
And then Callahan walked up to the microphone and gave the punchline: "I told my team that nobody beats us 14 years in a row."
After that, Callahan mentioned how supportive his rival had been back in the spring, when, as he said, "I had a few medical issues."
Yes, a few medical issues. As in brain surgery to remove a tumor. As in treatment that is continuing now.
Not that you could ever tell that anything was up by talking to him or watching him.
Callahan's attitude through his "medical issues" has been amazing. It's been ridiculous, really, that a person who faces what he faces has managed to do so with such understated determination and such matter-of-factness.
When TB asked Callahan how his radiation treatments were going back in the spring, he responded with one word: "Nice." Then he elaborated. "Everyone there is so nice." And then he smiled, just like he always does.
As he gave his speech last night, he thanked all of the people who came out to see him, and really the DAC, as they call it, had been transformed into a room of Orange and Black in Callahan's honor, complete with the entire current Princeton men's and women's teams.
His speech was a reflection of his personality - humble, a little uncomfortable in the spotlight, funny, heartfelt, soft-spoken.
When it was over, there was a standing ovation for him, and there wasn't one person in the room who didn't want the moment to last forever.
The ceremony started with a brief video, and the first picture is one that TB loves every time he sees it.
The picture is in black and white, and it goes back to when Callahan and Gail Ramsay, Princeton's women's coach, knew each other when they were young. In his speech, Callahan referenced the picture and how he first played against Gail when she was 10.
Gail was there last night of course. She was sort of the unofficial greeter and coordinator for the Princeton contingent, and she was all over the room, camera at the ready.
As TB watched her, he couldn't help but think that she was sort of, in an odd way, Callahan's mother, dragging her reluctant son into the spotlight that he had so deservedly earned and yet was genuinely wondering what all the fuss was about. Even during his speech, he said that he understood why the others in the Hall of Fame were there and it was only when he realized that he had dirt on everyone else in the squash world that he figured out why they put him in as well.
In fact, he's in because you can't have a squash Hall of Fame that doesn't include Bob Callahan, for all of his accomplishments as a player and coach, for all of his contributions in promoting the sport and helping it evolve, for all the people he touched.
Last night was his night.
As he was watching Gail, Bob's mother for the evening, do what she was doing, TB was struck once again by just how much love exists between the two.
It was like that with basically everyone there who has ever met Callahan.
TB is cynical. TB isn't easily moved. TB doesn't usually get emotional.
Last night, he clapped long and hard for Bob Callahan, and like anyone else there, he too wanted to give him a big hug, to make the moment last.
If you know Bob Callahan, you can't help but love him.
He's just that kind of person.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
The Corner Of Harvard And Yale
Second Street.
At least according to Sheldon on "The Big Bang Theory," though TigerBlog can't remember which episode that was.
Last night, one of the great episodes of TBBT was on, the one where Penny gets mad at Leonard because she can no longer go out with dumb guys, like the one who thought that the laser they were using might blow up the moon, and where Raj and Howard create an on-line dating profile for Sheldon, which spits back Amy Farrah Fowler, who says, among other things, that she is fine with the idea of a deity but "objects to one who takes attendance."
Ah, but TB digresses.
Meanwhile, back at common street names, a quick search indicates that Sheldon was in fact correct. The most common street name is Second Street.
TB would have guessed Main Street, but that doesn't pop up until seventh on the list.
The only street number that matches up with its number on the list is Fourth Street, as it goes Second in first, Third in second and First in third. That has a very Abbott-and-Costelloish ring to it.
Fourth is fourth, followed by Park, Fifth, Main, Sixth, Oak and Seventh in the Top 10.
The next 10 goes Pine, Maple, Cedar, Eighth, Elm, View, Washington, Ninth and Lake.
TB's Aunt Edie once gave him directions to her office in Manhattan where he was going to meet her for lunch and said it was at the intersection of "Walk and Don't Walk." It took him a few minutes to figure out what she meant by that.
Then again, Aunt Edie is now 84 years old and the last time TB spoke to her, she told him a joke that started out with: "a guy opened a bar underneath a whorehouse ..."
Ah, more digression.
TigerBlog is surprised that so many street names near the top of the list are named for trees.
He's even more surprised that none are named for colleges. Well, Washington is a college, but that's not why Washington Street is so popular. The same is true for Elm College.
A cursory attempt to do a search for streets named for colleges came up fairly empty. If he had to guess which college has more streets named after it than any other, though, he'd go with, well, he's not sure.
TB grew up in a neighborhood where the main road was Old Queens Boulevard, named for Rutgers. There were also streets named Georgetown and Cornell and Villanova, as well as Oxford and Cambridge.
TB was in a neighborhood the other day where the streets were all named for colleges, and he felt obliged to stop at the intersection of Harvard Circle and Yale Terrace and take a picture.
Then he wondered if any self-respecting Princeton fan/alum/student/professor/worker could ever live on either one of those streets.
Seriously.
Could you imagine having to give directions to all of your friends who were coming over for a Reunions event? "Yeah, it's the house on the corner of Harvard and Yale."
What if you were a coach? Can any Princeton coach ever say that they live on Harvard or Yale Street?
And would this go into the whole house shopping venture?
Finding the right house is hard enough. What if you found the perfect one, with just the right number of bedrooms, great lighting, a perfect sized yard, affordable taxes, great schools - all of it? And you couldn't find any other house anywhere else that measured up.
Except it was on Harvard Street or Yale Street. Or at the intersection of both.
TB couldn't do it.
It's bad enough that he went to Penn.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
In 69 I Was 21
Happy 64th birthday, Jackson Browne.
TigerBlog didn't realize it was Browne's birthday until Don Imus said that he'd be coming back to a "Bernie Briefing," a few pop culture/political snippets thrown together by Bernard McGuirk in what has become the best part of the Imus In The Morning Show.
As TB has said before, he has been listening to Imus since he was a kid, hearing it on the little transistor radio in the kitchen on WNBC AM 660, which is now WFAN's signal.
Anyway, this morning Imus threw it to a commercial by saying that he was about to play one of his favorite records, which intrigued TB. When the first notes started, it was clear that it was Browne's best song, not to mention one of the 25 best songs TB has ever heard. Imus then topped it off by wishing Browne a happy 64th.
Browne isn't one of TB's favorites. He's on that next level of performers that have put out songs that TB likes, but TB has never been to one of his concerts or really gone too far out of his way to hear his stuff.
In fact, of the 1,232 songs on TB's iTunes, only one is by Browne. By contrast, there are two by ABBA, four by Air Supply, five each by the Fifth Dimension and Barry Manilow and even three by The Bangles.
It's not "Doctor My Eyes" or "Somebody's Baby" or "The Pretender."
It's the song Imus played as he went to commercial. "Running on Empty."
Now that's a great song.
TB remembers that from when it first came out, back in 1978. If you weren't alive in the 1970s, you missed out on some good times.
Interestingly, "Running on Empty" never reached the Billboard Top 10, peaking instead at 11. It hasn't hurt TB's love for the song that Browne has often performed it live with Bruce Springsteen.
TB likes to watch the Palladia channel, which is basically non-stop concert video. The channel showed Bruce and the E Street Band live in New York City from 2000 Sunday, and yesterday the group was back, playing alongside some others - including John Fogerty, for a great version of "Pretty Woman" - at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductions from some random year.
As for Browne, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004.
When Imus said Browne was 64 today, TB did the math and realized that when Browne sang that in "69 I was 21 and I called the road my own," he really was 21 in 1969. The next line of the song if, of course, "I don't know when that road turned onto the road I'm on."
TB isn't sure what road the Princeton football team is on right now, but it's clear that the Tigers are not the team they were the last two years.
When the Tigers hit the road two weeks ago, they were 0-2 this year and 2-20 since the start of the 2010 season, with neither of those two wins on the road.
So what happened?
Princeton won at Columbia and at Lafayette, by a combined score of 68-20 and a point differential of +48. The last time Princeton had at least a +48 point differential in consecutive games?
You have to go back to 1995, when the Tigers defeated Lafayette 41-0 and then Harvard 14-3. The Tigers won the outright Ivy title that year.
Will these Tigers win the outright Ivy title? Probably not.
Still, there are good vibes everywhere in the program these days.
Okay, okay, you can say that in the last three seasons, Princeton is 4-1 against Columbia and Lafayette and 0-19 against everyone else. And that in the last two years, Princeton is 0-12 against its six remaining league opponents.
To that, TB says "so what?"
TB was at Penn when the Quakers went from 1-8 in 1981 to a share of the league title in 1982, so he knows how quickly it can all turn around.
Princeton has a great chance this weekend to demonstrate how far it has come when it hosts Brown (noon, NBC Sports TV). The Bears are 0-1 in the league, but they also have the misfortune of opening the league schedule against the prohibitive favorite, Harvard.
Princeton hasn't beaten Brown since 2006, the year the Tigers last won the Ivy title. The same is true of Harvard and Penn, two other teams that Princeton hasn't defeated since that championship season.
Again, TB says "so what?"
The offense has good balance, and the special teams have contributed some huge moments to the two wins.
But it's Princeton's defense that has improved tremendously, led by the tandem of Mike Catapano and Caraun Reid on the line. A year ago Princeton was last in pass defense in the Ivy League; this year the Tigers are first.
This year Princeton allows 14.5 points per game and 322 yards of total offense per game. A year ago, those numbers were 32.5 points per game and just under 400 yards per game.
And the Tigers have gotten some breaks. Twice bad snaps on field goal attempts have turned into touchdowns, for instance.
Going from back-to-back 1-9 seasons to title contention in not easy. Can Princeton make that leap?
That's not what matters. What would be ideal for Princeton would be to be playing well, to put together some wins, to get into November knowing that .500 is a real possibility, to pull off a win or two that nobody saw coming.
The next two weeks are at home (Brown and Harvard) followed by a game on the road (Cornell), against maybe the three best teams in the league.
It's an exciting time for Princeton football.
TigerBlog didn't realize it was Browne's birthday until Don Imus said that he'd be coming back to a "Bernie Briefing," a few pop culture/political snippets thrown together by Bernard McGuirk in what has become the best part of the Imus In The Morning Show.
As TB has said before, he has been listening to Imus since he was a kid, hearing it on the little transistor radio in the kitchen on WNBC AM 660, which is now WFAN's signal.
Anyway, this morning Imus threw it to a commercial by saying that he was about to play one of his favorite records, which intrigued TB. When the first notes started, it was clear that it was Browne's best song, not to mention one of the 25 best songs TB has ever heard. Imus then topped it off by wishing Browne a happy 64th.
Browne isn't one of TB's favorites. He's on that next level of performers that have put out songs that TB likes, but TB has never been to one of his concerts or really gone too far out of his way to hear his stuff.
In fact, of the 1,232 songs on TB's iTunes, only one is by Browne. By contrast, there are two by ABBA, four by Air Supply, five each by the Fifth Dimension and Barry Manilow and even three by The Bangles.
It's not "Doctor My Eyes" or "Somebody's Baby" or "The Pretender."
It's the song Imus played as he went to commercial. "Running on Empty."
Now that's a great song.
TB remembers that from when it first came out, back in 1978. If you weren't alive in the 1970s, you missed out on some good times.
Interestingly, "Running on Empty" never reached the Billboard Top 10, peaking instead at 11. It hasn't hurt TB's love for the song that Browne has often performed it live with Bruce Springsteen.
TB likes to watch the Palladia channel, which is basically non-stop concert video. The channel showed Bruce and the E Street Band live in New York City from 2000 Sunday, and yesterday the group was back, playing alongside some others - including John Fogerty, for a great version of "Pretty Woman" - at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductions from some random year.
As for Browne, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004.
When Imus said Browne was 64 today, TB did the math and realized that when Browne sang that in "69 I was 21 and I called the road my own," he really was 21 in 1969. The next line of the song if, of course, "I don't know when that road turned onto the road I'm on."
TB isn't sure what road the Princeton football team is on right now, but it's clear that the Tigers are not the team they were the last two years.
When the Tigers hit the road two weeks ago, they were 0-2 this year and 2-20 since the start of the 2010 season, with neither of those two wins on the road.
So what happened?
Princeton won at Columbia and at Lafayette, by a combined score of 68-20 and a point differential of +48. The last time Princeton had at least a +48 point differential in consecutive games?
You have to go back to 1995, when the Tigers defeated Lafayette 41-0 and then Harvard 14-3. The Tigers won the outright Ivy title that year.
Will these Tigers win the outright Ivy title? Probably not.
Still, there are good vibes everywhere in the program these days.
Okay, okay, you can say that in the last three seasons, Princeton is 4-1 against Columbia and Lafayette and 0-19 against everyone else. And that in the last two years, Princeton is 0-12 against its six remaining league opponents.
To that, TB says "so what?"
TB was at Penn when the Quakers went from 1-8 in 1981 to a share of the league title in 1982, so he knows how quickly it can all turn around.
Princeton has a great chance this weekend to demonstrate how far it has come when it hosts Brown (noon, NBC Sports TV). The Bears are 0-1 in the league, but they also have the misfortune of opening the league schedule against the prohibitive favorite, Harvard.
Princeton hasn't beaten Brown since 2006, the year the Tigers last won the Ivy title. The same is true of Harvard and Penn, two other teams that Princeton hasn't defeated since that championship season.
Again, TB says "so what?"
The offense has good balance, and the special teams have contributed some huge moments to the two wins.
But it's Princeton's defense that has improved tremendously, led by the tandem of Mike Catapano and Caraun Reid on the line. A year ago Princeton was last in pass defense in the Ivy League; this year the Tigers are first.
This year Princeton allows 14.5 points per game and 322 yards of total offense per game. A year ago, those numbers were 32.5 points per game and just under 400 yards per game.
And the Tigers have gotten some breaks. Twice bad snaps on field goal attempts have turned into touchdowns, for instance.
Going from back-to-back 1-9 seasons to title contention in not easy. Can Princeton make that leap?
That's not what matters. What would be ideal for Princeton would be to be playing well, to put together some wins, to get into November knowing that .500 is a real possibility, to pull off a win or two that nobody saw coming.
The next two weeks are at home (Brown and Harvard) followed by a game on the road (Cornell), against maybe the three best teams in the league.
It's an exciting time for Princeton football.
Monday, October 8, 2012
All In
The conversation this morning turned to Franklin Pierce, and Gary Walters asked TigerBlog if he knew what year he was elected President of the United States. The answer, of course, is 1852.
TB, who was an American history major, can name all of the Presidents in order, and the easiest way to remember is by the year they were elected.
James K. Polk is one of TB's favorite Presidents. Hey, he did a heckuva job in the Mexican War and all, right?
Polk was elected in 1844, and he chose not to run again in 1848. In fact, he was sort of the Bear Bryant of American Presidents, as Polk died 103 days after leaving office.
Zachary Taylor won in 1848, but he died in 1850 and was succeeded by Millard Fillmore, who in turn was ditched by the Whigs for the election of 1852. This in turn opened the door for the election of Franklin Pierce, who did nothing to prevent the coming Civil War and generally is thought to be one of the least accomplished Presidents of all time.
TigerBlog's opinion of Franklin Pierce could be further affected by what happens this Friday night.
Oh, TB is sure that the people at Franklin Pierce University in New Hampshire are very nice, and they certainly have to be happy with their first season of sprint football.
It's just that this Friday night, the Ravens will be on Powers Field at Princeton Stadium, where one way or another, history of sorts will be made. And TB doesn't want to be on the wrong side of it - especially after last Friday night.
Franklin Pierce is 0-2 in sprint, with a 26-21 loss to Cornell and a 24-20 loss to Penn. The roster has 37 players on it, 28 of whom are freshmen.
Should FPU win, it would be the first in program history.
Princeton has 33 players, 16 of whom are seniors. None of them have ever won a game - in fact, Princeton hasn't won a CSFL game since 1999.
But oh did the Tigers come close Friday night.
Princeton was playing Post, a team that defeated Princeton 33-18 in its first year two years ago and then 48-0 last year.
This time, the game was a classic, and ultimately a classic heartbreaker for the Tigers.
TB was in the press box at Princeton Stadium, and he was texting with Jon Kurian of the business office. When TB texted this:
"Post lining up for a potential game-winning field goal, 11 seconds left," the response he got from Kurian was this:
"I'm on one knee, holding my wife's hand in prayer."
That particular one was answered, as the kick was blocked, sending the game to overtime.
Princeton would get three on its possession, going up 29-26. A stop would mean that the long losing streak would finally be over.
Somewhere along the way (maybe through Twitter?), a big student turnout appeared. Suddenly, there was genuine electricity in the building, far beyond a normal sprint game.
Here's how it went on Post's possession:
Post ball, at the Princeton 25. First and 10. No gain.
Second down, rolling right, throwing back to the left, complete to the two. The crowd now stunned.
First and goal. And then wait. The snap is fumbled. A huge pileup.
And now time stopped and the moment was right there. There was absolutely no way to tell who had the ball, and as the refs began to sort it all out, the realization hung over everyone in the stadium that if they pointed towards Princeton, the game would be over and the Tigers would have won.
And so the seconds went by agonizingly. The Princeton bench was ready to rush the field. So were the students.
And then the ref held up two fingers, signally second down for Post. And then it ended on the next play.
Princeton's players were crushed. The student section was crushed. Post was elated.
This hasn't been a typical Princeton sprint football season.
The Tigers are 0-4, yes, but the losses to Mansfield and Cornell were by seven points each. Even the 62-13 loss to Navy was different than usual, as Navy had only 264 yards of offense and scored four touchdowns on returns.
Princeton scored 29 points against Post Friday night. The Tigers scored 28 all of last year combined.
All of which leads to this Friday night.
Princeton is at Penn, which has a four-point win over FPU and a three-point win over Mansfield, not to mention a six-OT loss to Cornell, so far this season, and then a game at Army.
Clearly, the best chance for a win is against the first-year Ravens.
When the game ended Friday, the Princeton players were able to peel themselves off the Powers Field turf and go through the handshakes, and then they retreated to the far end zone.
They were there for a few minutes, talking no doubt about the disappointment of what had just happened. TB, from his vantage point walking down the stands, saw it not as a gesture of resignation but of refocus and of desire to make this coming game different, when the team that hasn't won since any of these players were in elementary school takes on a team that has never won.
There will be a big celebration Friday in Princeton Stadium. The only question is whether it'll be the Tigers or the Ravens.
Meanwhile, the meeting in the end zone after the Post loss ended with a group huddle and then a chant.
"All In," the Tigers yelled.
TB, who was an American history major, can name all of the Presidents in order, and the easiest way to remember is by the year they were elected.
James K. Polk is one of TB's favorite Presidents. Hey, he did a heckuva job in the Mexican War and all, right?
Polk was elected in 1844, and he chose not to run again in 1848. In fact, he was sort of the Bear Bryant of American Presidents, as Polk died 103 days after leaving office.
Zachary Taylor won in 1848, but he died in 1850 and was succeeded by Millard Fillmore, who in turn was ditched by the Whigs for the election of 1852. This in turn opened the door for the election of Franklin Pierce, who did nothing to prevent the coming Civil War and generally is thought to be one of the least accomplished Presidents of all time.
TigerBlog's opinion of Franklin Pierce could be further affected by what happens this Friday night.
Oh, TB is sure that the people at Franklin Pierce University in New Hampshire are very nice, and they certainly have to be happy with their first season of sprint football.
It's just that this Friday night, the Ravens will be on Powers Field at Princeton Stadium, where one way or another, history of sorts will be made. And TB doesn't want to be on the wrong side of it - especially after last Friday night.
Franklin Pierce is 0-2 in sprint, with a 26-21 loss to Cornell and a 24-20 loss to Penn. The roster has 37 players on it, 28 of whom are freshmen.
Should FPU win, it would be the first in program history.
Princeton has 33 players, 16 of whom are seniors. None of them have ever won a game - in fact, Princeton hasn't won a CSFL game since 1999.
But oh did the Tigers come close Friday night.
Princeton was playing Post, a team that defeated Princeton 33-18 in its first year two years ago and then 48-0 last year.
This time, the game was a classic, and ultimately a classic heartbreaker for the Tigers.
TB was in the press box at Princeton Stadium, and he was texting with Jon Kurian of the business office. When TB texted this:
"Post lining up for a potential game-winning field goal, 11 seconds left," the response he got from Kurian was this:
"I'm on one knee, holding my wife's hand in prayer."
That particular one was answered, as the kick was blocked, sending the game to overtime.
Princeton would get three on its possession, going up 29-26. A stop would mean that the long losing streak would finally be over.
Somewhere along the way (maybe through Twitter?), a big student turnout appeared. Suddenly, there was genuine electricity in the building, far beyond a normal sprint game.
Here's how it went on Post's possession:
Post ball, at the Princeton 25. First and 10. No gain.
Second down, rolling right, throwing back to the left, complete to the two. The crowd now stunned.
First and goal. And then wait. The snap is fumbled. A huge pileup.
And now time stopped and the moment was right there. There was absolutely no way to tell who had the ball, and as the refs began to sort it all out, the realization hung over everyone in the stadium that if they pointed towards Princeton, the game would be over and the Tigers would have won.
And so the seconds went by agonizingly. The Princeton bench was ready to rush the field. So were the students.
And then the ref held up two fingers, signally second down for Post. And then it ended on the next play.
Princeton's players were crushed. The student section was crushed. Post was elated.
This hasn't been a typical Princeton sprint football season.
The Tigers are 0-4, yes, but the losses to Mansfield and Cornell were by seven points each. Even the 62-13 loss to Navy was different than usual, as Navy had only 264 yards of offense and scored four touchdowns on returns.
Princeton scored 29 points against Post Friday night. The Tigers scored 28 all of last year combined.
All of which leads to this Friday night.
Princeton is at Penn, which has a four-point win over FPU and a three-point win over Mansfield, not to mention a six-OT loss to Cornell, so far this season, and then a game at Army.
Clearly, the best chance for a win is against the first-year Ravens.
When the game ended Friday, the Princeton players were able to peel themselves off the Powers Field turf and go through the handshakes, and then they retreated to the far end zone.
They were there for a few minutes, talking no doubt about the disappointment of what had just happened. TB, from his vantage point walking down the stands, saw it not as a gesture of resignation but of refocus and of desire to make this coming game different, when the team that hasn't won since any of these players were in elementary school takes on a team that has never won.
There will be a big celebration Friday in Princeton Stadium. The only question is whether it'll be the Tigers or the Ravens.
Meanwhile, the meeting in the end zone after the Post loss ended with a group huddle and then a chant.
"All In," the Tigers yelled.
Friday, October 5, 2012
Toes On The Tape
There's a corner of TigerBlog's office that is used to take head shots of athletes.
The backdrop that hangs on the wall looks like - and may originally have been - a blanket from a hotel room somewhere. There is a piece of tape on the floor that goes on an angle, and if you're getting your picture taken, you put your toes on the tape and square your shoulders.
As TB understands it, this eliminates the shadow in the background.
The person getting the picture doesn't realize the tape is on the floor and always stands directly against the backdrop, leading to the instruction of "toes on the tape." Once, TB saw a Princeton athlete who he believes had a perfect SAT score respond to "toes on the tape" by putting his toes on the tape - and face the backdrop, with the back of his head to the camera.
The actual picture-taking process is always fairly similar.
Whichever team it is has already designated whether it's going to be jerseys, pullovers, jackets/ties - whatever look brings uniformity. Then they bring one or two of those and constantly change, one after the other.
When TB first started working here, head shots were taken with a little office camera that included an obsolete thing called "film," which then had to be taken to a place called a "dark room" to be "developed."
Now, it's all done digitally, which means that the result of the picture is immediately available.
Not to be sexist or anything, but TB would say that about 70% of the women's athletes and about 5% of the men's athletes ask to see the picture after it's taken and/or ask to delete that one and take another one.
These head shots used to be used mostly for media guides and sometimes game programs. Now they're for the webpage.
TB has spent the last week taking men's lacrosse head shots.
For all of the years that TB has been here, the men's lacrosse shots have been taken with jerseys, and the only issue is the white one or the black one. This required going to the equipment room to get two jerseys, which the players would use regardless of what their actual number was.
Recently, the men's lacrosse upperclassmen didn't always want to get a new picture, since their old one was fine.
This year, TB and men's lacrosse coach Chris Bates thought it'd be a good idea to go with jackets and ties, and this has led to the somewhat hilarious sight of having players come in 5-10 at a time and share the same tie, and sometimes the same shirt.
Or, in the case of one, TB had to give a brief tutorial on the art of tying a tie.
The men's lacrosse team is playing in the Play For Parkinson's event at Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Va., tomorrow. TB would love to go watch that, as the Tigers play Georgetown (noon) and Virginia (2).
Of course, there are other events closer to home this weekend.
There's the soccer doubleheader against Brown here (women at 4, men at 7). There's home sprint football, women's volleyball, field hockey and men's water polo as well this weekend.
The women's volleyball team looks to build on its 3-0 league start when it hosts Columbia and Cornell tonight and tomorrow at Dillon Gym.
The field hockey team hosts American Sunday.
Sprint football is home tonight against Post and then next Friday against first-year team Franklin Pierce. Men's water polo hosts Bucknell tomorrow night.
It's all on the all-sports schedule.
And of course, that doesn't count the football game at Lafayette tomorrow at 6.
There are all kinds of choices.
That's what Ivy League athletic weekends are all about.
The backdrop that hangs on the wall looks like - and may originally have been - a blanket from a hotel room somewhere. There is a piece of tape on the floor that goes on an angle, and if you're getting your picture taken, you put your toes on the tape and square your shoulders.
As TB understands it, this eliminates the shadow in the background.
The person getting the picture doesn't realize the tape is on the floor and always stands directly against the backdrop, leading to the instruction of "toes on the tape." Once, TB saw a Princeton athlete who he believes had a perfect SAT score respond to "toes on the tape" by putting his toes on the tape - and face the backdrop, with the back of his head to the camera.
The actual picture-taking process is always fairly similar.
Whichever team it is has already designated whether it's going to be jerseys, pullovers, jackets/ties - whatever look brings uniformity. Then they bring one or two of those and constantly change, one after the other.
When TB first started working here, head shots were taken with a little office camera that included an obsolete thing called "film," which then had to be taken to a place called a "dark room" to be "developed."
Now, it's all done digitally, which means that the result of the picture is immediately available.
Not to be sexist or anything, but TB would say that about 70% of the women's athletes and about 5% of the men's athletes ask to see the picture after it's taken and/or ask to delete that one and take another one.
These head shots used to be used mostly for media guides and sometimes game programs. Now they're for the webpage.
TB has spent the last week taking men's lacrosse head shots.
For all of the years that TB has been here, the men's lacrosse shots have been taken with jerseys, and the only issue is the white one or the black one. This required going to the equipment room to get two jerseys, which the players would use regardless of what their actual number was.
Recently, the men's lacrosse upperclassmen didn't always want to get a new picture, since their old one was fine.
This year, TB and men's lacrosse coach Chris Bates thought it'd be a good idea to go with jackets and ties, and this has led to the somewhat hilarious sight of having players come in 5-10 at a time and share the same tie, and sometimes the same shirt.
Or, in the case of one, TB had to give a brief tutorial on the art of tying a tie.
The men's lacrosse team is playing in the Play For Parkinson's event at Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Va., tomorrow. TB would love to go watch that, as the Tigers play Georgetown (noon) and Virginia (2).
Of course, there are other events closer to home this weekend.
There's the soccer doubleheader against Brown here (women at 4, men at 7). There's home sprint football, women's volleyball, field hockey and men's water polo as well this weekend.
The women's volleyball team looks to build on its 3-0 league start when it hosts Columbia and Cornell tonight and tomorrow at Dillon Gym.
The field hockey team hosts American Sunday.
Sprint football is home tonight against Post and then next Friday against first-year team Franklin Pierce. Men's water polo hosts Bucknell tomorrow night.
It's all on the all-sports schedule.
And of course, that doesn't count the football game at Lafayette tomorrow at 6.
There are all kinds of choices.
That's what Ivy League athletic weekends are all about.
Thursday, October 4, 2012
The Likeability Factor
TigerBlog estimates that since Monday morning, he's received more than 500 emails.
Of the 500 emails, most, as usual, were deletable without ever opening them, leaving TB to once again wonder how his email address ends up on so many different lists.
There were two emails that really stuck out.
The first was one of those Linked In invitations.
TB doesn't have a Facebook page, and he didn't create his Linked In page. He does, though, like to accept the Linked In invitations because TB can be, you know, polite.
Anyway, this particular Linked In invitation came from Donn Cabral, Princeton's NCAA champion and Olympic steeplechaser.
TB can't remember too many athletes who have been easier to root for than Cabral, both because of the impressive nature of his skill and his general likeability.
It's an interesting subject, that of likeability in athletes.
Terrell Owens, who is widely considered to be unlikeable, has always made the point that while people think he's a jerk, he's never been arrested, doesn't do drugs, doesn't beat up women.
True, TB always though, but is this how low the bar has been set in contemporary society? Not getting arrested makes you a good person?
In a time when the headlines every day seem to be filled with this athlete or that athlete who was charged with something (none of whom every seem to be held fully accountable), it's easy to get numb to it.
With that backdrop, TB got another email, this one from men's soccer coach Jim Barlow. It was a link to an online soccer publication, and it included this quote from Lionel Messi, who might be the best player in the world right now:
"I am more worried about being a good person than being the best soccer player in the world. When all this is over, what are you left with? ... When I retire, I hope I am remembered for being a decent guy. I like to score goals but I also like to have friends among the people I have played with."
That's quite a statement. In fact, that's about the most refreshing statement that TB has heard from a high-profile athlete in a long time.
Think about it. Here's a guy with it all, money, fame, extraordinary athletic ability.
And what's important to him? Being a good person.
Barlow forwarded TB something a few weeks ago that TB can't remember word-for-word, but it did have something to do with how soccer fans were more loyal to their sport than fans of other sports. TB didn't used to buy into that, but his level of appreciation for international soccer and all of its leagues and championships has skyrocketed in the last few years.
And the World Cup has become his favorite athletic event.
Still, for all that, the soccer championship he is most interested in remains the Ivy League version.
There is a big soccer doubleheader against Brown Saturday on Myslik Field at Roberts Stadium, beginning at 4 with the women's game and then concluding at 7 when the men take on the Bears.
The Ivy League women's race is in Week 3, one week ahead of the men.
Right now, there are three undefeated women's teams: Princeton, Penn and Columbia at 2-0, followed by 1-1 Harvard and Dartmouth and 0-2 Brown, Yale and Cornell.
This weekend's game is anything but a given, though, as Princeton (6-3-1) vs. Brown (6-3-0) women is a matchup of the two best overall records in the league. Add to that the fact that of the eight league games played so far, seven have been one-goal games, including Princeton's two wins, both by 2-1 scores (over Yale in OT and Dartmouth).
Princeton follows the Brown game with a midweek home game against Lehigh, followed by a trip to Columbia.
As for the men, Princeton looked good in its opener last weekend with a 2-1 OT win over Dartmouth. The Tigers feature Thomas Sanner, who has won four of the five Ivy Rookie of the Week awards.
The first week of the men's season did the women one better - the four league games were decided by a total of three goals, with three one-goal games and a tie.
Brown comes into the game 8-1-1 overall and 1-0-0 in the league, not to mention ranked 19th in the country, one spot behind undefeated (9-0-0) Cornell.
In other words, Princeton could take a huge step in the direction of regaining the league title it won two years ago or putting itself in position for an at-large bid should it not get an automatic bid. Then again, Brown is not the only ranked team Princeton will play in a short span, as the Tigers turn around to play No. 24 Creighton at home Tuesday.
For everything that Princeton Athletics offers its fans, it's really hard to beat a good soccer doubleheader at Roberts Stadium, which will be in its glory on ESPNU for Tuesday night's game, as an aside.
The facility isn't going to get old anytime soon, and it affords a great spot to watch a game. The quality of the play on the field is tremendous, and of course there is no charge for admission.
What could be better?
Of the 500 emails, most, as usual, were deletable without ever opening them, leaving TB to once again wonder how his email address ends up on so many different lists.
There were two emails that really stuck out.
The first was one of those Linked In invitations.
TB doesn't have a Facebook page, and he didn't create his Linked In page. He does, though, like to accept the Linked In invitations because TB can be, you know, polite.
Anyway, this particular Linked In invitation came from Donn Cabral, Princeton's NCAA champion and Olympic steeplechaser.
TB can't remember too many athletes who have been easier to root for than Cabral, both because of the impressive nature of his skill and his general likeability.
It's an interesting subject, that of likeability in athletes.
Terrell Owens, who is widely considered to be unlikeable, has always made the point that while people think he's a jerk, he's never been arrested, doesn't do drugs, doesn't beat up women.
True, TB always though, but is this how low the bar has been set in contemporary society? Not getting arrested makes you a good person?
In a time when the headlines every day seem to be filled with this athlete or that athlete who was charged with something (none of whom every seem to be held fully accountable), it's easy to get numb to it.
With that backdrop, TB got another email, this one from men's soccer coach Jim Barlow. It was a link to an online soccer publication, and it included this quote from Lionel Messi, who might be the best player in the world right now:
"I am more worried about being a good person than being the best soccer player in the world. When all this is over, what are you left with? ... When I retire, I hope I am remembered for being a decent guy. I like to score goals but I also like to have friends among the people I have played with."
That's quite a statement. In fact, that's about the most refreshing statement that TB has heard from a high-profile athlete in a long time.
Think about it. Here's a guy with it all, money, fame, extraordinary athletic ability.
And what's important to him? Being a good person.
Barlow forwarded TB something a few weeks ago that TB can't remember word-for-word, but it did have something to do with how soccer fans were more loyal to their sport than fans of other sports. TB didn't used to buy into that, but his level of appreciation for international soccer and all of its leagues and championships has skyrocketed in the last few years.
And the World Cup has become his favorite athletic event.
Still, for all that, the soccer championship he is most interested in remains the Ivy League version.
There is a big soccer doubleheader against Brown Saturday on Myslik Field at Roberts Stadium, beginning at 4 with the women's game and then concluding at 7 when the men take on the Bears.
The Ivy League women's race is in Week 3, one week ahead of the men.
Right now, there are three undefeated women's teams: Princeton, Penn and Columbia at 2-0, followed by 1-1 Harvard and Dartmouth and 0-2 Brown, Yale and Cornell.
This weekend's game is anything but a given, though, as Princeton (6-3-1) vs. Brown (6-3-0) women is a matchup of the two best overall records in the league. Add to that the fact that of the eight league games played so far, seven have been one-goal games, including Princeton's two wins, both by 2-1 scores (over Yale in OT and Dartmouth).
Princeton follows the Brown game with a midweek home game against Lehigh, followed by a trip to Columbia.
As for the men, Princeton looked good in its opener last weekend with a 2-1 OT win over Dartmouth. The Tigers feature Thomas Sanner, who has won four of the five Ivy Rookie of the Week awards.
The first week of the men's season did the women one better - the four league games were decided by a total of three goals, with three one-goal games and a tie.
Brown comes into the game 8-1-1 overall and 1-0-0 in the league, not to mention ranked 19th in the country, one spot behind undefeated (9-0-0) Cornell.
In other words, Princeton could take a huge step in the direction of regaining the league title it won two years ago or putting itself in position for an at-large bid should it not get an automatic bid. Then again, Brown is not the only ranked team Princeton will play in a short span, as the Tigers turn around to play No. 24 Creighton at home Tuesday.
For everything that Princeton Athletics offers its fans, it's really hard to beat a good soccer doubleheader at Roberts Stadium, which will be in its glory on ESPNU for Tuesday night's game, as an aside.
The facility isn't going to get old anytime soon, and it affords a great spot to watch a game. The quality of the play on the field is tremendous, and of course there is no charge for admission.
What could be better?
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Tuesday Afternoon At Bedford
The very nice lady crossed paths with TigerBlog for the first time in Caldwell Field House.
About two minutes later, they ran into each other again, this time on the steps down to C level in Jadwin Gym.
TigerBlog was on his way to play squash, and the nice lady was on her way to the Zanfrini Room, where she and her group were going to eat lunch and kill off about two hours. When they crossed paths the third time, TB joked that if she really wanted something exciting to do in the meantime, she should come watch the squash match.
Which she did. For a few points, anyway. Then TB and his partner invited her to go to the next court and watch Princeton's two most recent men's tennis coaches, Billy Pate and Glen Michibata, play in what TB called "the varsity match."
So the nice lady did. And when she came back, she mentioned that it took her about two seconds to realize that Pate and Michibata were much better players.
When TB's match was over, he walked back to the locker room past the Zanfrini Room, and he ducked his head in to thank her for coming to watch. At that point, the very nice lady offered TB lunch, a good-looking chicken/pasta/salad combination that he might have accepted had he not brought his own lunch.
All in all, this woman whom TB had never before couldn't have been nicer to him. Then, about three hours later, TB rooted against her.
The woman was Missy Meharg, the head coach of the two-time defending NCAA field hockey champion Maryland Terrapins. Meharg and her team were in Princeton to take on the Tigers in a late afternoon game, and the Terps made Jadwin their home for the middle of the day after a walkthrough pregame.
Princeton began the day ranked third to Maryland's fourth, and both moved down one spot when the new rankings were posted in midday. Still, this was clearly a matchup of two of the nation's very best programs.
Unfortunately, the rain lingered in the area longer than the forecast said it would, something that kept the crowd smaller than it otherwise might have been, though there was still a nice-sized, and enthusiastic, turnout.
And the game they saw was a great one.
Princeton scored first, and then Maryland scored the next two to go up 2-1 at the half. The Tigers would draw even on Kathleen Sharkey's rocket with eight minutes gone in the second half, the game-winner came from Sydney Kirby with 20 minutes to play.
Tiger goalie Christina Maida made six saves, several of which were spectacular.
TigerBlog has seen far less field hockey than he has soccer, and he has very little feel for the intricacies of the game.
What was obvious, though, was that Princeton-Maryland had a little more intensity and skill than a regular game.
It had something of a playoff feel to it, even if it was just the second day of October.
It was also obvious that Bedford Field is a great place to watch a game, even if the project isn't completed. Once it is, the facility will be even more impressive.
And the turf? It looks spectacular, and it obviously plays really fast.
The combination of the field and the quality of players on it resulted in a game played at a very fast tempo, and it seemed like both teams were constantly attacking and countering.
Princeton is now 9-1 on the year, with its lone loss a 2-0 decision to No. 1 Syracuse. The drama certainly figures to build as the rest of the season plays out.
Princeton is a big draw in field hockey now because of the presence of its Olympians.
It wasn't until after the game that TB put two and two together and realized that Meharg had been the color commentator for NBC on its Olympic field hockey coverage. He remembered that she came across as a nice person during those telecasts, and certainly nothing happened at Jadwin Gym to make TB think any different.
In fact, she seemed like very easy coach to root for in a field hockey game.
Only TB wasn't doing that yesterday.
About two minutes later, they ran into each other again, this time on the steps down to C level in Jadwin Gym.
TigerBlog was on his way to play squash, and the nice lady was on her way to the Zanfrini Room, where she and her group were going to eat lunch and kill off about two hours. When they crossed paths the third time, TB joked that if she really wanted something exciting to do in the meantime, she should come watch the squash match.
Which she did. For a few points, anyway. Then TB and his partner invited her to go to the next court and watch Princeton's two most recent men's tennis coaches, Billy Pate and Glen Michibata, play in what TB called "the varsity match."
So the nice lady did. And when she came back, she mentioned that it took her about two seconds to realize that Pate and Michibata were much better players.
When TB's match was over, he walked back to the locker room past the Zanfrini Room, and he ducked his head in to thank her for coming to watch. At that point, the very nice lady offered TB lunch, a good-looking chicken/pasta/salad combination that he might have accepted had he not brought his own lunch.
All in all, this woman whom TB had never before couldn't have been nicer to him. Then, about three hours later, TB rooted against her.
The woman was Missy Meharg, the head coach of the two-time defending NCAA field hockey champion Maryland Terrapins. Meharg and her team were in Princeton to take on the Tigers in a late afternoon game, and the Terps made Jadwin their home for the middle of the day after a walkthrough pregame.
Princeton began the day ranked third to Maryland's fourth, and both moved down one spot when the new rankings were posted in midday. Still, this was clearly a matchup of two of the nation's very best programs.
Unfortunately, the rain lingered in the area longer than the forecast said it would, something that kept the crowd smaller than it otherwise might have been, though there was still a nice-sized, and enthusiastic, turnout.
And the game they saw was a great one.
Princeton scored first, and then Maryland scored the next two to go up 2-1 at the half. The Tigers would draw even on Kathleen Sharkey's rocket with eight minutes gone in the second half, the game-winner came from Sydney Kirby with 20 minutes to play.
Tiger goalie Christina Maida made six saves, several of which were spectacular.
TigerBlog has seen far less field hockey than he has soccer, and he has very little feel for the intricacies of the game.
What was obvious, though, was that Princeton-Maryland had a little more intensity and skill than a regular game.
It had something of a playoff feel to it, even if it was just the second day of October.
It was also obvious that Bedford Field is a great place to watch a game, even if the project isn't completed. Once it is, the facility will be even more impressive.
And the turf? It looks spectacular, and it obviously plays really fast.
The combination of the field and the quality of players on it resulted in a game played at a very fast tempo, and it seemed like both teams were constantly attacking and countering.
Princeton is now 9-1 on the year, with its lone loss a 2-0 decision to No. 1 Syracuse. The drama certainly figures to build as the rest of the season plays out.
Princeton is a big draw in field hockey now because of the presence of its Olympians.
It wasn't until after the game that TB put two and two together and realized that Meharg had been the color commentator for NBC on its Olympic field hockey coverage. He remembered that she came across as a nice person during those telecasts, and certainly nothing happened at Jadwin Gym to make TB think any different.
In fact, she seemed like very easy coach to root for in a field hockey game.
Only TB wasn't doing that yesterday.
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Well Groomed
Want to hear the funniest thing TigerBlog heard all weekend?
TB's friend's wife was talking about her experience in taking the family dog to the groomer, and it turned into a little more than she expected.
Apparently, she picked up the dog and got back to the car before she realized that she had the wrong one, so she took that one back inside and pointed out the error. When asked which dog was hers, she motioned to one who was still being groomed, and she was told it would be another 20 minutes.
So 20 minutes later, there she was, back in the car with the dog, on her way home. When she got the dog inside the house, her family pointed out that this, again, was the wrong dog, something that she admitted she should have been able to figure out given the huge disparity in tail size between her pet and the one she now had at her house.
It was at this point that TB asked her how long she's had her dog, wondering if perhaps they'd just gotten him, but, no, she said its been two years.
So now she had to load up the second dog and take him back to the shop, which she did, and she finally took the correct dog home with her.
When she got back to the house with the right dog, her oldest son said to her youngest son: "be careful next time she takes you for a haircut."
Now that's funny stuff.
TB can't really figure out how it is that the two original dogs went with her willingly, the first to the car and the second to the house. Even if the human didn't know she had the wrong dog, shouldn't the dogs have known they didn't have the right human?
TB heard that story while at fall lacrosse.
Between TigerBlog Jr. and Miss TigerBlog, there was about 10 hours worth of athletic events this past Saturday and Sunday alone. Or is that "were" about 10 hours worth of athletic events?
TBJ limited his to lacrosse. MTB had field hockey, lacrosse and even basketball.
Overscheduling of kids is a problem, and having too many athletic events is also a problem. Young bodies need time to recover from strenuous activity, and there's also the risk of achieving some level of mental burnout from playing too much at an early age.
TB used to worry about that with TBJ and lacrosse, and yet he'd play 365 days a year if he could. Lacrosse, though, is the only sport he plays now that he's in high school, which makes him part of what TB assumes is a larger piece of the pie - high school athletes who specialize in only one sport and play it year-round. In his case, he essentially bailed on playing anything else competitively long before he got to high school.
MTB is still in middle school, and she is more of a field hockey/lacrosse kid than basketball, but she still likes all three.
And, whenever TB starts to think that it's too much, he thinks that it's better than playing video games, texting and being on Facebook.
MTB plays field hockey for the school team and on a club team, which means she goes from playing during the week on grass fields where the ball bounces all over the place to playing on the weekends on Princeton's Bedford Field, which is pristine, brand-new artificial turf - well-groomed, one might say.
It's like watching two different sports. The ball is constantly bouncing on the grass, and so many scoring opportunities are lost because ball hops over stick.
TB prides himself on knowing the rules of field hockey, which not too many non-field hockey people know. He learned them from Beth Bozman, Princeton's former coach, back when he used to cover field hockey games on Gulick Field.
Back then, Princeton played on a regular grass field, one that was well-groomed and all, but grass nonetheless. Gulick Field, for those who don't remember, was next to Lourie-Love Field, the old soccer field.
Today, Plummer Field, the FieldTurf practice field, sits where Gulick used to.
As for the new home of Tiger field hockey, it hosts a huge game between the third-ranked Tigers and No. 4 Maryland. The game starts at 4 this afternoon, because the lights on Bedford Field won't be installed until the next phase of the Class of 1952 Stadium construction project, which means they won't be ready until next year.
Maryland is 8-2 on the year, with losses to No. 7 Virginia and No. 8 Old Dominion. Princeton is 8-1, with its only loss to No. 1 Syracuse. North Carolina is ranked second.
Princeton is 3-0 in the Ivy League and has outscored its three league opponents by a combined 20-1, including back-to-back 8-0 wins over Yale and Columbia.
Princeton's eye is on the biggest prize in the sport, and that comes next month in the NCAA tournament. Between now and then, the Tigers have the rest of the Ivy schedule and non-league games against, among others, Virginia and No. 5 UConn.
TB is a huge fan of weekday afternoon games.
Today's should be a pretty good one.
TB's friend's wife was talking about her experience in taking the family dog to the groomer, and it turned into a little more than she expected.
Apparently, she picked up the dog and got back to the car before she realized that she had the wrong one, so she took that one back inside and pointed out the error. When asked which dog was hers, she motioned to one who was still being groomed, and she was told it would be another 20 minutes.
So 20 minutes later, there she was, back in the car with the dog, on her way home. When she got the dog inside the house, her family pointed out that this, again, was the wrong dog, something that she admitted she should have been able to figure out given the huge disparity in tail size between her pet and the one she now had at her house.
It was at this point that TB asked her how long she's had her dog, wondering if perhaps they'd just gotten him, but, no, she said its been two years.
So now she had to load up the second dog and take him back to the shop, which she did, and she finally took the correct dog home with her.
When she got back to the house with the right dog, her oldest son said to her youngest son: "be careful next time she takes you for a haircut."
Now that's funny stuff.
TB can't really figure out how it is that the two original dogs went with her willingly, the first to the car and the second to the house. Even if the human didn't know she had the wrong dog, shouldn't the dogs have known they didn't have the right human?
TB heard that story while at fall lacrosse.
Between TigerBlog Jr. and Miss TigerBlog, there was about 10 hours worth of athletic events this past Saturday and Sunday alone. Or is that "were" about 10 hours worth of athletic events?
TBJ limited his to lacrosse. MTB had field hockey, lacrosse and even basketball.
Overscheduling of kids is a problem, and having too many athletic events is also a problem. Young bodies need time to recover from strenuous activity, and there's also the risk of achieving some level of mental burnout from playing too much at an early age.
TB used to worry about that with TBJ and lacrosse, and yet he'd play 365 days a year if he could. Lacrosse, though, is the only sport he plays now that he's in high school, which makes him part of what TB assumes is a larger piece of the pie - high school athletes who specialize in only one sport and play it year-round. In his case, he essentially bailed on playing anything else competitively long before he got to high school.
MTB is still in middle school, and she is more of a field hockey/lacrosse kid than basketball, but she still likes all three.
And, whenever TB starts to think that it's too much, he thinks that it's better than playing video games, texting and being on Facebook.
MTB plays field hockey for the school team and on a club team, which means she goes from playing during the week on grass fields where the ball bounces all over the place to playing on the weekends on Princeton's Bedford Field, which is pristine, brand-new artificial turf - well-groomed, one might say.
It's like watching two different sports. The ball is constantly bouncing on the grass, and so many scoring opportunities are lost because ball hops over stick.
TB prides himself on knowing the rules of field hockey, which not too many non-field hockey people know. He learned them from Beth Bozman, Princeton's former coach, back when he used to cover field hockey games on Gulick Field.
Back then, Princeton played on a regular grass field, one that was well-groomed and all, but grass nonetheless. Gulick Field, for those who don't remember, was next to Lourie-Love Field, the old soccer field.
Today, Plummer Field, the FieldTurf practice field, sits where Gulick used to.
As for the new home of Tiger field hockey, it hosts a huge game between the third-ranked Tigers and No. 4 Maryland. The game starts at 4 this afternoon, because the lights on Bedford Field won't be installed until the next phase of the Class of 1952 Stadium construction project, which means they won't be ready until next year.
Maryland is 8-2 on the year, with losses to No. 7 Virginia and No. 8 Old Dominion. Princeton is 8-1, with its only loss to No. 1 Syracuse. North Carolina is ranked second.
Princeton is 3-0 in the Ivy League and has outscored its three league opponents by a combined 20-1, including back-to-back 8-0 wins over Yale and Columbia.
Princeton's eye is on the biggest prize in the sport, and that comes next month in the NCAA tournament. Between now and then, the Tigers have the rest of the Ivy schedule and non-league games against, among others, Virginia and No. 5 UConn.
TB is a huge fan of weekday afternoon games.
Today's should be a pretty good one.
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