To look at Miss TigerBlog, you'd think it wouldn't take much of a strong breeze at all to knock her flying.
Measuring
her body fat would be problematic, because you'd first have to find
some, somewhere, on a body that is almost all legs, scrawny ones at
that.
And yet she can somehow lift up her backpack to bring it back and forth to school.
TigerBlog
can barely get the thing off the ground, what with the way it is jammed
with book after book - and measuring his body fat is getting easier and
easier these days.
MTB is not the only kid who goes to
school who carries a backpack that seems to weigh more than she does.
In fact, there are studies now about the health issues related to
carrying such heavy objects, especially on young backs.
It's
amazing to TB that these books need to go back-and-forth every day,
especially when he did about 80% of his homework in the class before it
needed to be turned in. Well, maybe not 80% - though he's pretty sure
the statute of limitations of not paying attention in English to get his
statistics homework done long since expired.
It's even more amazing that these books are loaded up every day in the year 2012, when they could all be replaced by one iPad.
The
worst part for TB isn't when MTB asks him to carry her bag from the car
to the house. It's when the books come out and TB is asked to help with
homework questions, especially math ones.
TigerBlog
never got anything less than an A in any math class he ever took, from
elementary school up through calculus. He's a big fan of the logic
involved, and for some reason, it always just clicked for him.
And
of course he long ago forgot most of it (other than the basics, like
how to compute the tip for the check or a save percentage or how many
days until lacrosse season starts or something important like that).
So
when MTB asks him questions about whatever it is they're up to these
days, it either triggers a great challenge in TB to remember how to do
it and figure out or a sense that he'll never be able to, in which case
he summons TigerBlog Jr., whose own willingness to help his younger
sister can be summed up neatly in his usual one-word response of "no."
And then there's the question that no parent can figure out a way to answer: Why can't we divide by zero?
Back when TB was in school, if he told his father that he got a 98 on a test, the response would be "who got the other two?"
TB's
own approach is a little different and involves something that Pete
Carril always said: "can you look your father in the eyes and tell him
that you did the very best you could do and gave your maximum effort?"
As
kids go through the school progression, there is the graph of those
with the intelligence to get into the very best colleges and those with
the athletic ability to play at a high Division I level.
The overlap of those two graphs will be on display all over Princeton's campus this weekend.
TigerBlog
senses that the introduction to strength and conditioning that many of
these athletes who will play here this weekend came as a result of
carrying backpacks like MTB's.
In what is one of the
best things about Ivy League athletics - and something not done enough -
this Saturday will offer four Princeton-Harvard matchups, beginning at
noon and running non-stop until long after it gets dark.
It
begins with field hockey on Bedford Field (noon) and continues with
football at 1, men's soccer at 4 and women's soccer at 7. The only one
of those events that charges admission is football, and even that is extraordinarily affordable.
And the weather forecast? Sunny, high of 66, zero percent chance of rain. In other words, you have no excuse for not being there.
Princeton and Harvard have a great rivalry, one that begins each year with the U.S. World and News Report rankings of the top colleges and universities in the country, where Harvard or Princeton or both is always ranked No. 1.
Naturally, such a rivalry would inspire loyalty and devotion among its alums, and it's only enhanced when the current generation of Orange and Black takes on the current generation of Crimson.
Making it even better on top of that is the fact that there are Ivy League championship implications across all four events as the races start to get really serious.
If your measuring stick is big-time BCS football and men's basketball, you're missing something if you've never walked around an Ivy League school on a fall Saturday like the one coming up. There will be alums everywhere, all wearing their school colors, some going back many, many decades.
For TB's money, there aren't many days on many campuses that more represent what is good about college athletics.
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Alive And Kicking
A little after 6:00 Saturday evening, TigerBlog turned right off 8th Avenue onto 44th Street, looked up and was completely amazed.
Oh, he'd been there before, many times, in fact. For some reason, this time it looked so much different, so much more awesome.
There he was, on a Saturday night, in the heart of the theater district. Everywhere he looked there were people and lights and theaters and restaurants. The area was so, well, alive.
FatherBlog is a city guy. He was born in New York, grew up in Brooklyn. He works in midtown every day. He was there for blackouts, on 9/11, all of it.
To him, the world is divided into two kinds of people - New Yorkers and hicks. He once was shocked to eat at a great restaurant in Trenton, wondering why such a place would be "in the middle of nowhere like this."
TigerBlog is not a city guy. He much prefers to stand on fields next to big parking lots just down the road from strip malls and highways.
And yet even he couldn't help but marvel at being in Manhattan on a Saturday night. It was exciting.
Living an hour away, it's easy to forget how many people never get to see New York City and how many people around the world would love the chance to see it for themselves.
Yes, it's crowded and expensive and has its dirty parts.
At the same time, it's the City That Never Sleeps, the Big Apple, the single most important city in the world. And it's just up the road.
While TB was driving through the Lincoln Tunnel, the Princeton men's soccer team was wrapping up its 0-0 tie with Columbia in Upper Manhattan. Shortly thereafter the women's team defeated Columbia 2-1.
This has been a great bounce back year for Princeton soccer after both struggled a year ago.
Of course, the men's team went to back-to-back NCAA tournaments the two years before that, and women's coach Julie Shackford has won more games than any Princeton soccer coach, male or female, ever has and is the only Ivy women's coach who has ever taken a team to the Final Four.
This year, both teams are in the thick of the races for Ivy League championships and NCAA tournament bids. And coming up Saturday will be another great doubleheader on Myslik Field at Roberts Stadium, which, as TigerBlog has said, makes for as good an athletic experience at Princeton as there is.
The visitor Saturday will be the Harvard Crimson, with the men's game at 4 and the women's game at 7. If you're looking to make a Princeton-Harvard day of it, there is Princeton-Harvard field hockey at noon and football at 1.
The Princeton men are currently in fourth place in the league but with a national RPI of 32, which shows you how strong Ivy men's soccer is. The men do have a great schedule the rest of the way, with games against Penn, Harvard and Yale, who are a combined 0-7-2 in the league, as well as undefeated Cornell (12-0-0 overall, 3-0-0 in the league).
At the same time, the teams above Princeton (Cornell, Dartmouth and Brown) all play each other.
Meanwhile, the women's team can say that it is the only undefeated team in the league and that it has the leading scorer in the nation with the wondrous Jen Hoy. If you haven't seen her play, it's must-see viewing.
Princeton still has considerable work to do this season, of course.
Right now, the Tigers are 4-0-0 (9-3-1 overall), followed by Penn and Dartmouth at 3-1-0. Princeton has already defeated Dartmouth and finishes its league schedule with Harvard, a trip to 0-3-1 Cornell and then a home game against Penn.
The Quakers are at Yale, home with Brown and then at Princeton. Dartmouth is at Columbia, home with Harvard and at Cornell.
Harvard is still thinking championship as well, as the Crimson sit at 2-1-1.
Princeton doesn't need to go 3-0-0 the rest of the way to win, and in fact there are combinations that would have the Tigers lose to Harvard and still win the league. Still, the best way would be to keep winning.
No matter what, this soccer season has already been more fun than last, and as the seasons enter their final few weeks, both of Princeton's teams are playing to get to the postseason.
As we know now, there won't be any NCAA games at Roberts Stadium.
TB is pretty sure either Princeton team would be happy to go on the road come November.
Oh, he'd been there before, many times, in fact. For some reason, this time it looked so much different, so much more awesome.
There he was, on a Saturday night, in the heart of the theater district. Everywhere he looked there were people and lights and theaters and restaurants. The area was so, well, alive.
FatherBlog is a city guy. He was born in New York, grew up in Brooklyn. He works in midtown every day. He was there for blackouts, on 9/11, all of it.
To him, the world is divided into two kinds of people - New Yorkers and hicks. He once was shocked to eat at a great restaurant in Trenton, wondering why such a place would be "in the middle of nowhere like this."
TigerBlog is not a city guy. He much prefers to stand on fields next to big parking lots just down the road from strip malls and highways.
And yet even he couldn't help but marvel at being in Manhattan on a Saturday night. It was exciting.
Living an hour away, it's easy to forget how many people never get to see New York City and how many people around the world would love the chance to see it for themselves.
Yes, it's crowded and expensive and has its dirty parts.
At the same time, it's the City That Never Sleeps, the Big Apple, the single most important city in the world. And it's just up the road.
While TB was driving through the Lincoln Tunnel, the Princeton men's soccer team was wrapping up its 0-0 tie with Columbia in Upper Manhattan. Shortly thereafter the women's team defeated Columbia 2-1.
This has been a great bounce back year for Princeton soccer after both struggled a year ago.
Of course, the men's team went to back-to-back NCAA tournaments the two years before that, and women's coach Julie Shackford has won more games than any Princeton soccer coach, male or female, ever has and is the only Ivy women's coach who has ever taken a team to the Final Four.
This year, both teams are in the thick of the races for Ivy League championships and NCAA tournament bids. And coming up Saturday will be another great doubleheader on Myslik Field at Roberts Stadium, which, as TigerBlog has said, makes for as good an athletic experience at Princeton as there is.
The visitor Saturday will be the Harvard Crimson, with the men's game at 4 and the women's game at 7. If you're looking to make a Princeton-Harvard day of it, there is Princeton-Harvard field hockey at noon and football at 1.
The Princeton men are currently in fourth place in the league but with a national RPI of 32, which shows you how strong Ivy men's soccer is. The men do have a great schedule the rest of the way, with games against Penn, Harvard and Yale, who are a combined 0-7-2 in the league, as well as undefeated Cornell (12-0-0 overall, 3-0-0 in the league).
At the same time, the teams above Princeton (Cornell, Dartmouth and Brown) all play each other.
Meanwhile, the women's team can say that it is the only undefeated team in the league and that it has the leading scorer in the nation with the wondrous Jen Hoy. If you haven't seen her play, it's must-see viewing.
Princeton still has considerable work to do this season, of course.
Right now, the Tigers are 4-0-0 (9-3-1 overall), followed by Penn and Dartmouth at 3-1-0. Princeton has already defeated Dartmouth and finishes its league schedule with Harvard, a trip to 0-3-1 Cornell and then a home game against Penn.
The Quakers are at Yale, home with Brown and then at Princeton. Dartmouth is at Columbia, home with Harvard and at Cornell.
Harvard is still thinking championship as well, as the Crimson sit at 2-1-1.
Princeton doesn't need to go 3-0-0 the rest of the way to win, and in fact there are combinations that would have the Tigers lose to Harvard and still win the league. Still, the best way would be to keep winning.
No matter what, this soccer season has already been more fun than last, and as the seasons enter their final few weeks, both of Princeton's teams are playing to get to the postseason.
As we know now, there won't be any NCAA games at Roberts Stadium.
TB is pretty sure either Princeton team would be happy to go on the road come November.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Wanna Bet?
In case you missed the news last night, the NCAA released a statement saying that because of the new state law in New Jersey that permits single game sports wagering, no NCAA championship competition can be held within the state.
The release mentions that five championship events will immediately be moved out of the state: the Division I Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships, Diving Regionals (Piscataway, March 14-17), Division I Women’s Basketball Championship, Trenton Regional (Trenton, March 30-April 2), Division III Men’s Volleyball Championship (Hoboken, April 26-28) and the Division II and III Women’s Lacrosse Championships (Montclair, May 18-19).
What's unsaid is that any college in New Jersey that earns the right to host an NCAA tournament game no longer can.
This, of course, has a huge impact on Princeton, which usually hosts multiple events per year.
For instance, the Tiger field hockey team would almost surely host NCAA tournament games this year. The men's and women's lacrosse teams have often hosted first-round games - not to mention predetermined quarterfinals and Final Fours.
The men's soccer team hosted NCAA tournament games in consecutive years. The women's soccer team hosted - and won - four straight NCAA games in 2004 on its way to the Final Four.
The NCAA cross country regionals were here two years ago. The men's water polo Final Four was here in 2009. While it hasn't been recently, the NCAA wrestling championships and fencing championships have been held in Jadwin Gym.
The NCAA women's rowing championships have been in New Jersey as well, though Princeton has not been the host.
And now? Not anymore. Not as long as this law remains the law of the state of New Jersey.
Never mind that there probably isn't a lot of action moving on the Princeton field hockey team in the NCAA tournament.
Never mind that the same weekend that the field hockey tournament starts that there are any number of Philadelphia-area schools who will play football and men's basketball, all closer geographically to many of the places where sports gambling would be legal than Princeton University is.
It doesn't matter.
Nor does it matter, perhaps, that the law doesn't go into effect until the new year. The ban is immediate.
Of course, there is legal action from both sides of this debate, so it's possible that the courts will change the outcome. Or not.
Forget for a minute the morality of having the state - any state - in the business of gambling, which has ruined so many people's lives, destroyed so many families and left so many people broke, in prison or worse.
The idea of having sports betting in New Jersey stems obviously from the money-making potential. To have the ability to generate so much income is attractive to the state, especially when times are tough.
The decision that the state of New Jersey had to make, TigerBlog assumes, was based on the idea of generating that revenue and sacrificing revenue for things like NCAA basketball or hockey tournaments at the Prudential Center in Newark or NCAA Final Four lacrosse at MetLife Stadium.
It's unlikely that the fact that Princeton or any other New Jersey college (on any level) would no longer be able to host the first round in field hockey or soccer or lacrosse ever entered the discussion.
As an aside, this doesn't include squash or men's rowing, which are not NCAA sports.
Still, it's schools like Princeton that are left to explain to all of New Jersey's college athletes who earn the right to play at home that they cannot do so because of a law that for all practical purposes has nothing to do with them. It wouldn't be much different to ban schools from hosting NCAA championship events because a state has casino gambling, or, for that matter, the internet.
Is anyone betting on field hockey? Lacrosse? College soccer? Of course not.
But the NCAA can't make a rule that says that those sports are exempt. TigerBlog gets it, he supposes.
This is one of those rare issues where TB understands the point of view of the state of New Jersey and the NCAA, even though they're complete opposites. New Jersey needs the money, so if it means that Princeton or Rutgers or the College of New Jersey can't host an event, so bet it. The state is okay with that.
And TB understands that there is no bigger threat to the integrity of sports - not performance enhancing drugs, not paying players, not anything - than having athletes who are competing not to win but to influence point spreads.
So he gets it all.
And yet, when he thinks about the people this will directly impact on this campus, he can't help but reach the obvious conclusion that it's ridiculously unfair to them.
The release mentions that five championship events will immediately be moved out of the state: the Division I Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships, Diving Regionals (Piscataway, March 14-17), Division I Women’s Basketball Championship, Trenton Regional (Trenton, March 30-April 2), Division III Men’s Volleyball Championship (Hoboken, April 26-28) and the Division II and III Women’s Lacrosse Championships (Montclair, May 18-19).
What's unsaid is that any college in New Jersey that earns the right to host an NCAA tournament game no longer can.
This, of course, has a huge impact on Princeton, which usually hosts multiple events per year.
For instance, the Tiger field hockey team would almost surely host NCAA tournament games this year. The men's and women's lacrosse teams have often hosted first-round games - not to mention predetermined quarterfinals and Final Fours.
The men's soccer team hosted NCAA tournament games in consecutive years. The women's soccer team hosted - and won - four straight NCAA games in 2004 on its way to the Final Four.
The NCAA cross country regionals were here two years ago. The men's water polo Final Four was here in 2009. While it hasn't been recently, the NCAA wrestling championships and fencing championships have been held in Jadwin Gym.
The NCAA women's rowing championships have been in New Jersey as well, though Princeton has not been the host.
And now? Not anymore. Not as long as this law remains the law of the state of New Jersey.
Never mind that there probably isn't a lot of action moving on the Princeton field hockey team in the NCAA tournament.
Never mind that the same weekend that the field hockey tournament starts that there are any number of Philadelphia-area schools who will play football and men's basketball, all closer geographically to many of the places where sports gambling would be legal than Princeton University is.
It doesn't matter.
Nor does it matter, perhaps, that the law doesn't go into effect until the new year. The ban is immediate.
Of course, there is legal action from both sides of this debate, so it's possible that the courts will change the outcome. Or not.
Forget for a minute the morality of having the state - any state - in the business of gambling, which has ruined so many people's lives, destroyed so many families and left so many people broke, in prison or worse.
The idea of having sports betting in New Jersey stems obviously from the money-making potential. To have the ability to generate so much income is attractive to the state, especially when times are tough.
The decision that the state of New Jersey had to make, TigerBlog assumes, was based on the idea of generating that revenue and sacrificing revenue for things like NCAA basketball or hockey tournaments at the Prudential Center in Newark or NCAA Final Four lacrosse at MetLife Stadium.
It's unlikely that the fact that Princeton or any other New Jersey college (on any level) would no longer be able to host the first round in field hockey or soccer or lacrosse ever entered the discussion.
As an aside, this doesn't include squash or men's rowing, which are not NCAA sports.
Still, it's schools like Princeton that are left to explain to all of New Jersey's college athletes who earn the right to play at home that they cannot do so because of a law that for all practical purposes has nothing to do with them. It wouldn't be much different to ban schools from hosting NCAA championship events because a state has casino gambling, or, for that matter, the internet.
Is anyone betting on field hockey? Lacrosse? College soccer? Of course not.
But the NCAA can't make a rule that says that those sports are exempt. TigerBlog gets it, he supposes.
This is one of those rare issues where TB understands the point of view of the state of New Jersey and the NCAA, even though they're complete opposites. New Jersey needs the money, so if it means that Princeton or Rutgers or the College of New Jersey can't host an event, so bet it. The state is okay with that.
And TB understands that there is no bigger threat to the integrity of sports - not performance enhancing drugs, not paying players, not anything - than having athletes who are competing not to win but to influence point spreads.
So he gets it all.
And yet, when he thinks about the people this will directly impact on this campus, he can't help but reach the obvious conclusion that it's ridiculously unfair to them.
Monday, October 15, 2012
Progress Report
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.
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.
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.
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