There have been few major sporting events through the years that TigerBlog has cared about less than the Mayweather-McGregor fight the other night.
Mayweather won, apparently. And he made $100 million. McGregor, for his part, got $30 million.
Boxing, of course, used to be one of the two biggest sports in the American culture, and was so for a long time. The other, by the way, was baseball.
Many of the biggest political and racial storylines of the 20th century also played out in a boxing ring, whether it was German Max Schmeling and black American Joe Louis in the late 1930s or Muhammad Ali in the 1960s, with his brashness, anti-Vietnam War stance and conversion to Islam.
Even non-political boxers stood for more than themselves in their corners. Billy Conn represented the entire city of Pittsburgh, not to mention every Irish-Catholic in America, every time he fought.
Major championship fights were enormous events, way beyond the scale of Mayweather-McGregor, though obviously not in actual dollars.
When the Associated Press ranked its top 100 athletes of the 20th century, five of the top 44 were boxers, including two of the top seven. Can you name the five?
Then along came a lot of problems for boxing. First, every big fight used to be on television, with Howard Cosell as its voice. Then along came pay per view, which hurt the mass appeal for the sport, even as it made richer paydays possible.
The main issue, at least to TigerBlog, is that for decades, everyone knew who the heavyweight champion of the world was. Patterson. Liston. Clay/Ali. Frazier. Foreman. Creed. Balboa. Lang. Balboa again. Everyone knew those names.
Then along came an alphabet soup of boxing organizations, all with their own champions, with no sense of who actually was the one, true champ. That really hurt everything involved with boxing.
Through in the supersonic rise of football on TV, and there you go. Boxing is now something that fewer and fewer people like, or are willing to invest in to watch.
Boxing in the Olympics when TigerBlog was a kid was huge. It was also a springboard to instant name recognition for the best, like Sugar Ray Leonard, for instance.
There were some unbelievable fights back then. TigerBlog watched Leon Spinks, another Olympic gold medalist, beat Ali, on regular TV, back in 1978. Maybe the last really classic fight was Hagler-Hearns, and that was more than 30 years ago. Even the fight the other night was gimmicky. Isn't McGregor an MMA guy?
There's a lesson in there for other sports, by the way. Just because you're huge now, it doesn't mean you'll always be that way.
TigerBlog was much more interested in the start of a new Princeton athletic year than the big fight.
The women's soccer team kicked things off with a pair of unanimous decisions, knocking off Monmouth 3-0 Friday night and Villanova 2-0 yesterday.
When TigerBlog watched the highlights on goprincetontigers.com from the two games, his first thought was that Princeton's new uniforms are pretty nice. Beyond that, a weekend sweep over two teams who had already played two games each prior to taking on the Tigers.
In the earliest part of the season, it's not easy to be the team that hasn't played yet, let alone the team that has only practiced for less than two weeks. It's not easy to simply waltz into game shape.
Abby Givens had three goals for Princeton this weekend after having only three a year ago, when she was honorable mention All-Ivy League as a freshman. Mimi Asom had her first of the year in the game against Villanova, and Natalie Larkin had the first of the year, in the win over Monmouth.
That's another good sign. Five goals in two games, from three different players, with another emerging scoring leader. And, of course, no goals allowed.
Next up is a relatively challenging weekend, as Princeton heads to the Givens' home state of North Carolina (she's a Charlotte native). The Tigers will be at North Carolina State and Wake Forest Friday and Sunday, and those two are already a combined 7-0-0.
After that trip, Princeton is back for four games on Myslik Field at Roberts Stadium in 10 days, beginning Sept. 7 against Rider and then followed by New Hampshire (Sept. 10), West Virginia (Sept. 15) and Delaware (Sept. 17). After that, there will be six days until Yale comes to Princeton for the Ivy opener (Sept. 23).
For the first weekend, things looked really good for Princeton.
And it wasn't just the uniforms.
Monday, August 28, 2017
Friday, August 25, 2017
Opening Whistle
So one person in Massachusetts won the Powerball, huh?
TigerBlog knew he wasn't going to win. He didn't even buy a ticket.
Instead, he asked a few of the people he knows who did buy tickets whether or not they would pay all of TigerBlog Jr.'s and Miss TigerBlog's remaining educational expenses. TB's Office of Athletic Communications colleague Warren Croxton flat out said no, he would not.
What the heck, Warren?
TigerBlog figures that he's talking about a few hundred thousand dollars. What's that compared to $700 million?
Brian Fitzwater, the IT guy here, was demanding his $20 back after Warren convinced him to go play.
Fitz, of course, made a pretty good point. Why do so many more people play for $700 million than $40 million, or whatever it reverts to now that someone won? The odds are the same.
"Greedy people," he said.
The obvious question is "what would you do if you had $700 million?"
TigerBlog's friend Todd said that had he won, he would have just done a few simple things:
* pay his kid's college expenses
* maybe buy a beach house
* drive around the town in his brand-new Lamborghini throwing $100 bills out the window
You know. The usual.
Would you quit your job?
Andrew Borders, another TB colleague, said he would not quit his job at all if he won all the money. He likes his job. Plus, he needs something to do.
That's the big key. You could have all the money in the world, but what would you do all day? Eventually, you'd run out of stuff to buy and get tired of traveling. Then what? How long could you sit outside on your deck and look out at the ocean?
TigerBlog said yesterday that if you get to this time of year and aren't excited, then you're working in the wrong place. Tonight is the first athletic event of the year, a women's soccer game between the Tigers and Monmouth, on Myslik Field at Roberts Stadium at 7. Admission is free, as it is to all regular-season soccer games for men and women.
It's Game 1 of more than 600 for the academic year 2017-18, and that doesn't included other events that are more than just two opponents in one game, things like golf tournaments and Heps track and field and such.
Andrew, for his part, is always among the most fired up for opening night. You will be too after you watch the video HERE.
There's always a certain interesting feel to the first game of the year. It's almost like the game is trying to convince everyone there that hey, this really counts, summer is over, it's time to get back to work.
It was another day, another team for head shots yesterday. This time, it was the field hockey team's turn.
Princeton opens the season next weekend by hosting No. 1 North Carolina. As TB said the other day, head coach Carla Tagliente and assistants Dina Rizzo, Mike Pallister and Dave Williamson are being quite ambitious this year, as the eighth-ranked Tigers take on all seven teams currently ranked ahead of them.
Such intensity is for the coming weeks. Yesterday it was about getting pictures taken, mostly by the incoming freshmen. They all seemed relaxed and happy, their own opening whistle a week away.
They were all very polite, with a lot of "thank yous" as they left.
TigerBlog will see plenty of Princeton Athletic events this coming year, like he does every year. One game he won't be at is the soccer game tonight.
He has a good excuse.
Tonight is the wedding of another of his OAC colleagues, Cody Chrusciel, one of the two video and multimedia studs here at Princeton Athletics. Cody will be marrying longtime girlfriend Justine Nothstein.
Had TigerBlog played the Powerball and won, he would have given them enough money to cover the wedding and the honeymoon.
On their response cards, Justine and Cody asked guests to write down a song that they promised to dance to were it played. TigerBlog put down "Hava Nagila." He doubts it will actually be played, which is good, because he's not a dancer anyway.
Best of luck to Cody and Justine of course. TigerBlog wishes them nothing but the best.
And good luck to the 1,000 or so athletes who will compete for Princeton this academic year.
And it all starts tonight.
Princeton women's soccer against Monmouth at 7. It'll be a nice night for a game.
TigerBlog knew he wasn't going to win. He didn't even buy a ticket.
Instead, he asked a few of the people he knows who did buy tickets whether or not they would pay all of TigerBlog Jr.'s and Miss TigerBlog's remaining educational expenses. TB's Office of Athletic Communications colleague Warren Croxton flat out said no, he would not.
What the heck, Warren?
TigerBlog figures that he's talking about a few hundred thousand dollars. What's that compared to $700 million?
Brian Fitzwater, the IT guy here, was demanding his $20 back after Warren convinced him to go play.
Fitz, of course, made a pretty good point. Why do so many more people play for $700 million than $40 million, or whatever it reverts to now that someone won? The odds are the same.
"Greedy people," he said.
The obvious question is "what would you do if you had $700 million?"
TigerBlog's friend Todd said that had he won, he would have just done a few simple things:
* pay his kid's college expenses
* maybe buy a beach house
* drive around the town in his brand-new Lamborghini throwing $100 bills out the window
You know. The usual.
Would you quit your job?
Andrew Borders, another TB colleague, said he would not quit his job at all if he won all the money. He likes his job. Plus, he needs something to do.
That's the big key. You could have all the money in the world, but what would you do all day? Eventually, you'd run out of stuff to buy and get tired of traveling. Then what? How long could you sit outside on your deck and look out at the ocean?
TigerBlog said yesterday that if you get to this time of year and aren't excited, then you're working in the wrong place. Tonight is the first athletic event of the year, a women's soccer game between the Tigers and Monmouth, on Myslik Field at Roberts Stadium at 7. Admission is free, as it is to all regular-season soccer games for men and women.
It's Game 1 of more than 600 for the academic year 2017-18, and that doesn't included other events that are more than just two opponents in one game, things like golf tournaments and Heps track and field and such.
Andrew, for his part, is always among the most fired up for opening night. You will be too after you watch the video HERE.
There's always a certain interesting feel to the first game of the year. It's almost like the game is trying to convince everyone there that hey, this really counts, summer is over, it's time to get back to work.
It was another day, another team for head shots yesterday. This time, it was the field hockey team's turn.
Princeton opens the season next weekend by hosting No. 1 North Carolina. As TB said the other day, head coach Carla Tagliente and assistants Dina Rizzo, Mike Pallister and Dave Williamson are being quite ambitious this year, as the eighth-ranked Tigers take on all seven teams currently ranked ahead of them.
Such intensity is for the coming weeks. Yesterday it was about getting pictures taken, mostly by the incoming freshmen. They all seemed relaxed and happy, their own opening whistle a week away.
They were all very polite, with a lot of "thank yous" as they left.
TigerBlog will see plenty of Princeton Athletic events this coming year, like he does every year. One game he won't be at is the soccer game tonight.
He has a good excuse.
Tonight is the wedding of another of his OAC colleagues, Cody Chrusciel, one of the two video and multimedia studs here at Princeton Athletics. Cody will be marrying longtime girlfriend Justine Nothstein.
Had TigerBlog played the Powerball and won, he would have given them enough money to cover the wedding and the honeymoon.
On their response cards, Justine and Cody asked guests to write down a song that they promised to dance to were it played. TigerBlog put down "Hava Nagila." He doubts it will actually be played, which is good, because he's not a dancer anyway.
Best of luck to Cody and Justine of course. TigerBlog wishes them nothing but the best.
And good luck to the 1,000 or so athletes who will compete for Princeton this academic year.
And it all starts tonight.
Princeton women's soccer against Monmouth at 7. It'll be a nice night for a game.
Thursday, August 24, 2017
Repeat, Repeat, Repeat
TigerBlog walked into Jadwin Gym yesterday morning and could see the football team out on Finney/Campbell Fields as he came by.
By lunchtime yesterday, the freshmen for the men's soccer team had invaded his office for headshots.
Actually, he never even had to get out of his car to know that things are coming back to life around here. All of Lot 21A, that's the small piece of the big Jadwin lot where athletic staff parks, was filled.
The first game of the new academic year is tomorrow. Does that make today sort of like New Year's Eve?
Princeton will host Monmouth in women's soccer tomorrow night at 7. The men's soccer team, women's volleyball team, field hockey team and men's water polo team all get started next weekend.
Then it'll be cross country the following weekend. And football the one after that.
Pretty soon it'll be basketball, hockey, lacrosse and summer.
Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.
TigerBlog also heard the song "Runnin' With The Devil" on the radio yesterday.
You know it? The song is from 1978, and it's the best song Van Halen ever did, which is saying something if you were into what is now called classic rock as it came of age. You know, like TigerBlog is.
That song was the favorite song of a friend of TB's from Penn, a guy named Pat, who grew up in Longmeadow, Mass. TB has no idea whatever become of Pat. He hasn't heard from him in decades. He does remember that he was a really good guy.
But he does remember how much he loved "Runnin' With The Devil." It's interesting the little things that stick with you all these decades later.
Pat lived on TigerBlog's floor his freshman year at Penn. Back then, TigerBlog was thinking about law school. How'd that work out?
TigerBlog Jr. leaves today for his junior year of college. He's double majoring in English and Politics, with an idea that he might want to go to law school.
TigerBlog wrote about 1,400 words, very emotional words, about the day two years ago when he first took his son to college. You can read it HERE.
This time, as TBJ leaves, it's more like "you can fit everything in your car, right?" and "text when you get there." It's not quite as emotional perhaps.
It does take TigerBlog back to when he was a college junior. As he said, he, too, was thinking about law school, something that, as you might have guessed, never materialized.
Instead, it was at the start of his junior year of college that he got sidetracked, away from law school. Perhaps if MotherBlog had been more like Mrs. Miller in "Almost Famous," that might not have happened.
Anyway, it was back when TB was a college junior that he first got a part time job covering high school football at "The Trenton Times." He figured it would be a fun way to earn a little money and then got on with life.
Now, it's four decades later, and, well, he's still basically doing the same thing.
TigerBlog has told you this story before, but on his first day in the newspaper business, he was warned by Jack McCaffrey, then in Trenton and now for a long time with the Delaware County Times, that one story and TB would have "the ink in his blood."
He was sort of right about that. Jack's brother, by the way, is Fran McCaffrey, the head men's basketball coach at the University of Iowa. A long time ago, Fran played at Penn and worked with TB in the basement of the psychology department, which is where they became friends, and how TB first met Jack, and how Jack came to get TB a job in Trenton.
Who knows where TB would be right now had he not met Fran, and then Jack. He hasn't spoken to Jack or Fran in a long, long time, but the major directions in his life all started with those two guys.
Life can be random, no?
Anyway the point is that TigerBlog has gone on this carousel his entire professional life. and for the last nearly 30 years, the carousel that is Princeton Athletics. The end of August is always when the momentum for a new academic year begins. Then there's the overlap of fall and winter. Then the winter, which is pretty slow in December and especially January, with first semester exams.
Then it gets going in a big way again. Then it's the busiest time of all, the winter/spring overlap. Then there's the rest of the spring. The banquet. Reunions. Graduation. And then another summer.
Like he said, repeat, repeat repeat.
If you get to this time on the calendar and you're not exciting about the start of the new year, then you shouldn't be working here.
By lunchtime yesterday, the freshmen for the men's soccer team had invaded his office for headshots.
Actually, he never even had to get out of his car to know that things are coming back to life around here. All of Lot 21A, that's the small piece of the big Jadwin lot where athletic staff parks, was filled.
The first game of the new academic year is tomorrow. Does that make today sort of like New Year's Eve?
Princeton will host Monmouth in women's soccer tomorrow night at 7. The men's soccer team, women's volleyball team, field hockey team and men's water polo team all get started next weekend.
Then it'll be cross country the following weekend. And football the one after that.
Pretty soon it'll be basketball, hockey, lacrosse and summer.
Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.
TigerBlog also heard the song "Runnin' With The Devil" on the radio yesterday.
You know it? The song is from 1978, and it's the best song Van Halen ever did, which is saying something if you were into what is now called classic rock as it came of age. You know, like TigerBlog is.
That song was the favorite song of a friend of TB's from Penn, a guy named Pat, who grew up in Longmeadow, Mass. TB has no idea whatever become of Pat. He hasn't heard from him in decades. He does remember that he was a really good guy.
But he does remember how much he loved "Runnin' With The Devil." It's interesting the little things that stick with you all these decades later.
Pat lived on TigerBlog's floor his freshman year at Penn. Back then, TigerBlog was thinking about law school. How'd that work out?
TigerBlog Jr. leaves today for his junior year of college. He's double majoring in English and Politics, with an idea that he might want to go to law school.
TigerBlog wrote about 1,400 words, very emotional words, about the day two years ago when he first took his son to college. You can read it HERE.
This time, as TBJ leaves, it's more like "you can fit everything in your car, right?" and "text when you get there." It's not quite as emotional perhaps.
It does take TigerBlog back to when he was a college junior. As he said, he, too, was thinking about law school, something that, as you might have guessed, never materialized.
Instead, it was at the start of his junior year of college that he got sidetracked, away from law school. Perhaps if MotherBlog had been more like Mrs. Miller in "Almost Famous," that might not have happened.
Anyway, it was back when TB was a college junior that he first got a part time job covering high school football at "The Trenton Times." He figured it would be a fun way to earn a little money and then got on with life.
Now, it's four decades later, and, well, he's still basically doing the same thing.
TigerBlog has told you this story before, but on his first day in the newspaper business, he was warned by Jack McCaffrey, then in Trenton and now for a long time with the Delaware County Times, that one story and TB would have "the ink in his blood."
He was sort of right about that. Jack's brother, by the way, is Fran McCaffrey, the head men's basketball coach at the University of Iowa. A long time ago, Fran played at Penn and worked with TB in the basement of the psychology department, which is where they became friends, and how TB first met Jack, and how Jack came to get TB a job in Trenton.
Who knows where TB would be right now had he not met Fran, and then Jack. He hasn't spoken to Jack or Fran in a long, long time, but the major directions in his life all started with those two guys.
Life can be random, no?
Anyway the point is that TigerBlog has gone on this carousel his entire professional life. and for the last nearly 30 years, the carousel that is Princeton Athletics. The end of August is always when the momentum for a new academic year begins. Then there's the overlap of fall and winter. Then the winter, which is pretty slow in December and especially January, with first semester exams.
Then it gets going in a big way again. Then it's the busiest time of all, the winter/spring overlap. Then there's the rest of the spring. The banquet. Reunions. Graduation. And then another summer.
Like he said, repeat, repeat repeat.
If you get to this time on the calendar and you're not exciting about the start of the new year, then you shouldn't be working here.
Wednesday, August 23, 2017
Almost Time
TigerBlog figured there'd be a day this summer when he desperately needed a topic and that's when he'd tell you about the thing that's really been messing with his head lately.
The paper towel dispenser in the D level bathroom in Jadwin Gym.
And yet he never got the chance. Something else always came up to discuss, and the paper towels had to wait their turn.
Now, as the athletic year for 2017-18 is two days away, the Princeton Athletics summer is basically over. TigerBlog has something he wants to talk about today anyway, but hey, might as well get that whole paper towel thing out there first.
So there's a paper towel dispenser in a lot of bathrooms. You pull the towel down and tear it where it's perforated. You've done this a million times.
What's the common denominator? Each paper towel is the exact same size.
In D level, the paper towels come out at different sizes. Some are huge. Some are small. It's like the random paper towel machine.
The part that's confusing is that they're all perforated. Aren't they perforated in advance? Or do they go through a piece of the dispenser that perforates them there? And if they do, why wouldn't they all be the same size anyway?
It's been a very confusing summer for TB. The paper towels, you know. They're messing with TB. They're probably laughing at him every time he goes in there. Hey, let's make one towel huge and the next one tiny. That'll show the humans.
Anyway, that's the paper towels.
With the start of a new athletic year, what else would TB want to share but paper towels and Princeton men's basketball?
There was a video posted yesterday that counts down the top 10 plays for the Tigers from the 2016-17 season.
Want to see it? Click HERE.
The video isn't really about which play was No. 4 versus No. 7 or so. It's more about another look back at the extraordinary season that was 2016-17 for Princeton.
The Tigers went 16-0 in the league a year ago, something no other team had ever been asked to do, what with the Ivy tournament. The video recounts just how close Princeton came to not making it past the semifinal at fourth-place Penn, but then you can see all the major steps to the final and then the NCAA tournament.
Yes, but now it's time for 2017-18.
There was a story on goprincetontigers.com posted Monday that previewed the first game of the year, the women's soccer game at home Friday night between Princeton and Monmouth. In a blink, it appears, another summer has zoomed past.
Monmouth leads the all-time series with Princeton 9-4, but most of those games were played long ago. The teams have only played twice in the last 15 years, and Monmouth has never played on Myslik Field at Roberts Stadium.
The Tigers feature junior Mimi Asom, who already ranks 13th all-time in goals scored at Princeton with 21. Only five Princeton players have ever reached 30 for a career, so it won't take that many more for Asom to reach some really rare company.
Princeton is also at Villanova Sunday.
Playing games again. Wow. It's hard to believe.
There was another story on the website yesterday about the field hockey team, about how the Tigers are ranked eighth in the preseason. Princeton went to the NCAA Final Four a year ago in the first year with head coach Carla Tagliente and assistant coach Dina Rizzo.
Want to talk about tough scheduling? Princeton is ranked eighth in the preseason. How many teams ranked ahead of Princeton do the Tigers play this season?
How about all seven. And it begins with No. 1 North Carolina, coming up on Sept. 1 (which is a week from Friday) on Bedford Field. Wait, a week from Friday is September already?
What the heck?
For the record the other top seven teams Princeton will play are: No. 2 Duke (Sept. 17), No. 3 - the defending NCAA champ - Delaware (Sept. 3), No. 4 UConn (Oct. 8), No. 5 Syracuse (Oct. 1), No. 6 Maryland (Sept. 19) and No. 7 Penn State (Sept. 10).
The Penn State and UConn games are at home. The Delaware game is in Newark on Sept. 3, which means that Princeton opens its season with the two teams who played in the NCAA final a year ago.
Ambitious. But it's also good to challenge a team with high expectations that way. It's part of what has always made Princeton field hockey so special.
Anyway, if you have summer plans that you haven't gotten to yet, you better get on them. You're running out of time.
How is that even possible?
The paper towel dispenser in the D level bathroom in Jadwin Gym.
And yet he never got the chance. Something else always came up to discuss, and the paper towels had to wait their turn.
Now, as the athletic year for 2017-18 is two days away, the Princeton Athletics summer is basically over. TigerBlog has something he wants to talk about today anyway, but hey, might as well get that whole paper towel thing out there first.
So there's a paper towel dispenser in a lot of bathrooms. You pull the towel down and tear it where it's perforated. You've done this a million times.
What's the common denominator? Each paper towel is the exact same size.
In D level, the paper towels come out at different sizes. Some are huge. Some are small. It's like the random paper towel machine.
The part that's confusing is that they're all perforated. Aren't they perforated in advance? Or do they go through a piece of the dispenser that perforates them there? And if they do, why wouldn't they all be the same size anyway?
It's been a very confusing summer for TB. The paper towels, you know. They're messing with TB. They're probably laughing at him every time he goes in there. Hey, let's make one towel huge and the next one tiny. That'll show the humans.
Anyway, that's the paper towels.
With the start of a new athletic year, what else would TB want to share but paper towels and Princeton men's basketball?
There was a video posted yesterday that counts down the top 10 plays for the Tigers from the 2016-17 season.
Want to see it? Click HERE.
The video isn't really about which play was No. 4 versus No. 7 or so. It's more about another look back at the extraordinary season that was 2016-17 for Princeton.
The Tigers went 16-0 in the league a year ago, something no other team had ever been asked to do, what with the Ivy tournament. The video recounts just how close Princeton came to not making it past the semifinal at fourth-place Penn, but then you can see all the major steps to the final and then the NCAA tournament.
Yes, but now it's time for 2017-18.
There was a story on goprincetontigers.com posted Monday that previewed the first game of the year, the women's soccer game at home Friday night between Princeton and Monmouth. In a blink, it appears, another summer has zoomed past.
Monmouth leads the all-time series with Princeton 9-4, but most of those games were played long ago. The teams have only played twice in the last 15 years, and Monmouth has never played on Myslik Field at Roberts Stadium.
The Tigers feature junior Mimi Asom, who already ranks 13th all-time in goals scored at Princeton with 21. Only five Princeton players have ever reached 30 for a career, so it won't take that many more for Asom to reach some really rare company.
Princeton is also at Villanova Sunday.
Playing games again. Wow. It's hard to believe.
There was another story on the website yesterday about the field hockey team, about how the Tigers are ranked eighth in the preseason. Princeton went to the NCAA Final Four a year ago in the first year with head coach Carla Tagliente and assistant coach Dina Rizzo.
Want to talk about tough scheduling? Princeton is ranked eighth in the preseason. How many teams ranked ahead of Princeton do the Tigers play this season?
How about all seven. And it begins with No. 1 North Carolina, coming up on Sept. 1 (which is a week from Friday) on Bedford Field. Wait, a week from Friday is September already?
What the heck?
For the record the other top seven teams Princeton will play are: No. 2 Duke (Sept. 17), No. 3 - the defending NCAA champ - Delaware (Sept. 3), No. 4 UConn (Oct. 8), No. 5 Syracuse (Oct. 1), No. 6 Maryland (Sept. 19) and No. 7 Penn State (Sept. 10).
The Penn State and UConn games are at home. The Delaware game is in Newark on Sept. 3, which means that Princeton opens its season with the two teams who played in the NCAA final a year ago.
Ambitious. But it's also good to challenge a team with high expectations that way. It's part of what has always made Princeton field hockey so special.
Anyway, if you have summer plans that you haven't gotten to yet, you better get on them. You're running out of time.
How is that even possible?
Tuesday, August 22, 2017
One Day, Two Rarities
If you were in Princeton yesterday afternoon, then you had one of the perfect spots in the country for the eclipse.
Princeton, Kentucky, that is.
Princeton, the one in New Jersey, had only a 71 percent eclipse, with the peak of it at 2:44 in the afternoon. TigerBlog read beforehand that it wouldn't be completely dark out but would instead mirror the conditions of early evening.
TB would be more impressed, of course, if there wasn't one of those "early evenings" every night. Now if it would simulate the conditions at noon at 2:44 a.m., now that would be pretty cool.
The fact that the eclipse is something that happens very rarely is somewhat intriguing. The actual eclipse didn't really do much for TB.
Maybe it comes from being in the basement of Jadwin all day. Or maybe it takes more than just some rare celestial event to get him fired up.
TigerBlog remembers the last one, back in 1978. He was in high school. The thing he remembers most is being told not to look directly at the sun or he'd summer permanent eye damage. Then, yesterday, there were stories online about people who had in fact suffered eye damage in the last eclipse, or the one in 1962.
The next one will be in 2024. TigerBlog assumes he'll be just as unimpressed.
He hopes you enjoyed it though. And that your eyes are fine.
Oh, and it turns out that there are 11 states in this country that have a town called "Princeton."
Anyway, only slightly less rare than an eclipse is a Barron family sighting in Jadwin Gym these days. Interestingly, that happened yesterday too.
Richard and Maureen Barron and their three kids Lane and Rae (twins entering eighth grade) and Billy (heading into fifth) made a stop here yesterday on their way from Maine to South Carolina.
Who are Richard and Maureen Barron?
They are, TB believes, the only husband and wife coaching tandem in Princeton history who have both won Ivy League championships. Is that right? Is he forgetting anyone?
Richard Barron was the women's basketball coach at Princeton before Courtney Banghart. He coached the Tigers for six seasons, including an Ivy title in 2006.
He's also a Jadwin Gym lunchtime basketball legend.
In fact, one of TigerBlog's favorite Richard Barron stories occurred after a game one night in Jadwin. Richard was upset with one of the decisions that a player had made on a fast break and had this actual conversation with TigerBlog:
RB: "Can you believe she did that?"
TB: "Can you believe that you criticized someone's decision making after you threw a behind-the-back pass off one of the green screens on a 3-on-1 fast break today?"
Ah, Richard. He's a good man. A likeable one. Now the head coach at Maine, he's battled through a really tough road health-wise, with a rare condition that affected his hearing, balance and other things.
"I literally had a hole in my head," he told TigerBlog yesterday.
That hole was between his ear and his brain, and it caused every sound to become amplified. It took surgery at UCLA to correct it and start Richard back down the road to being healthy and being able to resume coaching, something he couldn't do this past season.
He looked good as he sat in TB's office yesterday. Relaxed.
As for Maureen, she was the softball coach for those same six seasons, during which time she won four Ivy titles. Does that make her four times the coach of her husband?
Before she became the coach here, she was a player (as Maureen Davies) on three Ivy championship teams here. She also was a four-time All-Ivy League selection, and she also won the Ivy Rookie of the Year and Ivy Pitcher of the Year awards during her career.
Among the school records she holds are most wins in a career (83, or 26 more than the next-best total) and shutouts in a career (32, or five more than second place). She's also third all time with 596 strikeouts.
Remind TigerBlog to research how many people have ever been part of three Ivy League championship teams here as a player and then won at least four as a head coach. He can think of one off the top of his head - the late, great Bob Callahan with the men's squash team.
Maureen, like Richard, doesn't appear to have changed much. She's still the same easy-going, funny, laid-back Mo.
They're happy in Maine, they said. The winters are, you know, Maine winters, but so what. They're used to them.
It's been 10 years since they worked here. TigerBlog isn't sure the last time he saw them. Their kids are certainly growing up. They wanted to see pictures of TigerBlog Jr. and Miss TigerBlog. They asked about all the people they knew who used to work here, asking which ones TB was still in touch with these days.
They're just really nice people. Richard and Mo.
It was really good to see them.
Oh, and the eclipse? It was actually really cool. Seriously. It looked like it was clouding up, but it wasn't. It felt like it was cooling off, but it wasn't. And then it got a little dark, like it was early evening. And then it got light again.
By 4 or so in the afternoon, the world was back on track.
And the pictures that TB saw on TV from the total eclipse were even more amazing. Total darkness, in the middle of the afternoon.
Yeah, it was cool.
He can't wait to share his thoughts on the next one with you in seven years.
Princeton, Kentucky, that is.
Princeton, the one in New Jersey, had only a 71 percent eclipse, with the peak of it at 2:44 in the afternoon. TigerBlog read beforehand that it wouldn't be completely dark out but would instead mirror the conditions of early evening.
TB would be more impressed, of course, if there wasn't one of those "early evenings" every night. Now if it would simulate the conditions at noon at 2:44 a.m., now that would be pretty cool.
The fact that the eclipse is something that happens very rarely is somewhat intriguing. The actual eclipse didn't really do much for TB.
Maybe it comes from being in the basement of Jadwin all day. Or maybe it takes more than just some rare celestial event to get him fired up.
TigerBlog remembers the last one, back in 1978. He was in high school. The thing he remembers most is being told not to look directly at the sun or he'd summer permanent eye damage. Then, yesterday, there were stories online about people who had in fact suffered eye damage in the last eclipse, or the one in 1962.
The next one will be in 2024. TigerBlog assumes he'll be just as unimpressed.
He hopes you enjoyed it though. And that your eyes are fine.
Oh, and it turns out that there are 11 states in this country that have a town called "Princeton."
Anyway, only slightly less rare than an eclipse is a Barron family sighting in Jadwin Gym these days. Interestingly, that happened yesterday too.
Richard and Maureen Barron and their three kids Lane and Rae (twins entering eighth grade) and Billy (heading into fifth) made a stop here yesterday on their way from Maine to South Carolina.
Who are Richard and Maureen Barron?
They are, TB believes, the only husband and wife coaching tandem in Princeton history who have both won Ivy League championships. Is that right? Is he forgetting anyone?
Richard Barron was the women's basketball coach at Princeton before Courtney Banghart. He coached the Tigers for six seasons, including an Ivy title in 2006.
He's also a Jadwin Gym lunchtime basketball legend.
In fact, one of TigerBlog's favorite Richard Barron stories occurred after a game one night in Jadwin. Richard was upset with one of the decisions that a player had made on a fast break and had this actual conversation with TigerBlog:
RB: "Can you believe she did that?"
TB: "Can you believe that you criticized someone's decision making after you threw a behind-the-back pass off one of the green screens on a 3-on-1 fast break today?"
Ah, Richard. He's a good man. A likeable one. Now the head coach at Maine, he's battled through a really tough road health-wise, with a rare condition that affected his hearing, balance and other things.
"I literally had a hole in my head," he told TigerBlog yesterday.
That hole was between his ear and his brain, and it caused every sound to become amplified. It took surgery at UCLA to correct it and start Richard back down the road to being healthy and being able to resume coaching, something he couldn't do this past season.
He looked good as he sat in TB's office yesterday. Relaxed.
As for Maureen, she was the softball coach for those same six seasons, during which time she won four Ivy titles. Does that make her four times the coach of her husband?
Before she became the coach here, she was a player (as Maureen Davies) on three Ivy championship teams here. She also was a four-time All-Ivy League selection, and she also won the Ivy Rookie of the Year and Ivy Pitcher of the Year awards during her career.
Among the school records she holds are most wins in a career (83, or 26 more than the next-best total) and shutouts in a career (32, or five more than second place). She's also third all time with 596 strikeouts.
Remind TigerBlog to research how many people have ever been part of three Ivy League championship teams here as a player and then won at least four as a head coach. He can think of one off the top of his head - the late, great Bob Callahan with the men's squash team.
Maureen, like Richard, doesn't appear to have changed much. She's still the same easy-going, funny, laid-back Mo.
They're happy in Maine, they said. The winters are, you know, Maine winters, but so what. They're used to them.
It's been 10 years since they worked here. TigerBlog isn't sure the last time he saw them. Their kids are certainly growing up. They wanted to see pictures of TigerBlog Jr. and Miss TigerBlog. They asked about all the people they knew who used to work here, asking which ones TB was still in touch with these days.
They're just really nice people. Richard and Mo.
It was really good to see them.
Oh, and the eclipse? It was actually really cool. Seriously. It looked like it was clouding up, but it wasn't. It felt like it was cooling off, but it wasn't. And then it got a little dark, like it was early evening. And then it got light again.
By 4 or so in the afternoon, the world was back on track.
And the pictures that TB saw on TV from the total eclipse were even more amazing. Total darkness, in the middle of the afternoon.
Yeah, it was cool.
He can't wait to share his thoughts on the next one with you in seven years.
Monday, August 21, 2017
Schreiber And Currier
If you are like TigerBlog, then you too were much more excited for Saturday night's Major League Lacrosse championship game than you will be for the next Super Bowl.
Also, in another 50 years, the MLL championship game will be bigger than the World Series and Super Bowl combined. Come find TB then and tell him he's wrong if it doesn't quite work out that way.
The game this past Saturday night featured the Ohio Machine and the Denver Outlaws, a rematch of last year's title game. If TigerBlog is correct, then only once in NFL history has there been a Super Bowl rematch, with the same two teams two straight years. Can you name it?
The MLL game Saturday night was a tough one for TigerBlog, since it matched Princeton alum Tom Schreiber (Ohio) against Princeton alum Zach Currier (Denver). Ryan Ambler and Gavin McBride, two other Princeton alums, are on the Denver roster and have contributed in big moments for the Outlaws this season but were not on the active roster for the championship game.
TigerBlog never did figure out which team he was rooting for in the game. He actually wasn't rooting for either.
He was just rooting for Schreiber and Currier.
Both played well.
Schreiber had a goal and three assists, as the Machine scored the final seven goals of the game to win 17-12. Denver had led 10-6 in the third quarter.
Schreiber is on quite a run in the sport. He won his second straight Major League Lacrosse Most Valuable Player Award Friday night, before the championship game. In between, he was the Rookie of the Year in the National Lacrosse League with the Toronto Rock, despite having next to no experience playing indoor box lacrosse before.
There are those who have been saying lately that Schreiber is the best player in the world right now. And not just TigerBlog. Inside Lacrosse, for instance, is another:
"Reign as the greatest player in the world continues." That's pretty good.
Schreiber is completely ambidextrous as a lacrosse player. He's equally adept as a shooter, dodger and feeder, with either hand. He makes everyone around him better. His vision is extraordinary. And he's a middie.
At Princeton he was a three-time first-team All-America. He's the only middie in program history with at least 200 points, which he accomplished with 106 goals and 94 assists.
And now he has a professional championship.
As great as Schreiber is, there is no other player anywhere he plays quite like Currier does. You saw it all spring at Princeton, when Currier did things that no other player in program history ever dreamed of doing - 24 goals, 34 assists, 130 ground balls, team-leader in caused turnovers, 56 percent face-off winning percentage.
And yes, it still bothers TigerBlog that Currier was not first-team All-America. That was a joke back in May when it happened, and it's an even bigger joke now that you've seen how Currier has impacted the Outlaws and Major League Lacrosse.
Actually, scratch that. It's was such a big joke when it happened that it's hard for it to be any bigger now. Of all of the snubs that TigerBlog has ever seen, that one is the worst.
Currier might not be the best player in the world right now. What he might be, probably is, is the player who can do the most different things well.
Currier had a monster game Saturday night. He finished with a goal - off a ground ball win off a face-off - and added three assists, including a ridiculous 20-yard pass to Michael Bocklett on the far pipe for a goal to put the Outlaws ahead as time expired in the first half.
It's what he did beyond that that separates him from other players. He had three caused turnovers, including two that came after Denver lost face-offs but before Ohio could get settled offensively.
In addition, he also drew at least three penalties from Ohio - one after his goal for a late hit, one in the middle of the field for unnecessary roughness and one on a slash when he was carrying the ball. That's how he is. He is the most relentless player TigerBlog has ever seen, and it eventually just messes with the other team.
He also goes non-stop. He bounced right back from every hit, including some massive ones. Had Denver held on to its lead, he would have had a real case for game MVP honors.
And so it was Schreiber against Currier. Not an easy one for a Princeton fan, or very easy, since both are exceptional to watch. The rematch may come in Israel next year at the World Championships, with Schreiber the American and Currier the Canadian,. Though neither team's roster is yet set, TB has a sense they both have a great chance to be there.
That will be fun also.
Oh, and the trivia question? The only Super Bowl rematch was the Cowboys and Bills, in the early 1990s.
Oh, and enjoy the eclipse.
Also, in another 50 years, the MLL championship game will be bigger than the World Series and Super Bowl combined. Come find TB then and tell him he's wrong if it doesn't quite work out that way.
The game this past Saturday night featured the Ohio Machine and the Denver Outlaws, a rematch of last year's title game. If TigerBlog is correct, then only once in NFL history has there been a Super Bowl rematch, with the same two teams two straight years. Can you name it?
The MLL game Saturday night was a tough one for TigerBlog, since it matched Princeton alum Tom Schreiber (Ohio) against Princeton alum Zach Currier (Denver). Ryan Ambler and Gavin McBride, two other Princeton alums, are on the Denver roster and have contributed in big moments for the Outlaws this season but were not on the active roster for the championship game.
TigerBlog never did figure out which team he was rooting for in the game. He actually wasn't rooting for either.
He was just rooting for Schreiber and Currier.
Both played well.
Schreiber had a goal and three assists, as the Machine scored the final seven goals of the game to win 17-12. Denver had led 10-6 in the third quarter.
Schreiber is on quite a run in the sport. He won his second straight Major League Lacrosse Most Valuable Player Award Friday night, before the championship game. In between, he was the Rookie of the Year in the National Lacrosse League with the Toronto Rock, despite having next to no experience playing indoor box lacrosse before.
There are those who have been saying lately that Schreiber is the best player in the world right now. And not just TigerBlog. Inside Lacrosse, for instance, is another:
Tom Schreiber's @MachineMLL reign as the greatest player in the world continues. He was named MLL MVP https://t.co/ujMO4UGWUF pic.twitter.com/DlWL5qmRqI— Inside Lacrosse (@Inside_Lacrosse) August 19, 2017
"Reign as the greatest player in the world continues." That's pretty good.
Schreiber is completely ambidextrous as a lacrosse player. He's equally adept as a shooter, dodger and feeder, with either hand. He makes everyone around him better. His vision is extraordinary. And he's a middie.
At Princeton he was a three-time first-team All-America. He's the only middie in program history with at least 200 points, which he accomplished with 106 goals and 94 assists.
And now he has a professional championship.
As great as Schreiber is, there is no other player anywhere he plays quite like Currier does. You saw it all spring at Princeton, when Currier did things that no other player in program history ever dreamed of doing - 24 goals, 34 assists, 130 ground balls, team-leader in caused turnovers, 56 percent face-off winning percentage.
And yes, it still bothers TigerBlog that Currier was not first-team All-America. That was a joke back in May when it happened, and it's an even bigger joke now that you've seen how Currier has impacted the Outlaws and Major League Lacrosse.
Actually, scratch that. It's was such a big joke when it happened that it's hard for it to be any bigger now. Of all of the snubs that TigerBlog has ever seen, that one is the worst.
Currier might not be the best player in the world right now. What he might be, probably is, is the player who can do the most different things well.
Currier had a monster game Saturday night. He finished with a goal - off a ground ball win off a face-off - and added three assists, including a ridiculous 20-yard pass to Michael Bocklett on the far pipe for a goal to put the Outlaws ahead as time expired in the first half.
It's what he did beyond that that separates him from other players. He had three caused turnovers, including two that came after Denver lost face-offs but before Ohio could get settled offensively.
In addition, he also drew at least three penalties from Ohio - one after his goal for a late hit, one in the middle of the field for unnecessary roughness and one on a slash when he was carrying the ball. That's how he is. He is the most relentless player TigerBlog has ever seen, and it eventually just messes with the other team.
He also goes non-stop. He bounced right back from every hit, including some massive ones. Had Denver held on to its lead, he would have had a real case for game MVP honors.
And so it was Schreiber against Currier. Not an easy one for a Princeton fan, or very easy, since both are exceptional to watch. The rematch may come in Israel next year at the World Championships, with Schreiber the American and Currier the Canadian,. Though neither team's roster is yet set, TB has a sense they both have a great chance to be there.
That will be fun also.
Oh, and the trivia question? The only Super Bowl rematch was the Cowboys and Bills, in the early 1990s.
Oh, and enjoy the eclipse.
Friday, August 18, 2017
Party At The Surace's, But When?
TigerBlog Jr.'s best buddies from when he was little are named Matthew and Jared.
Spoiler alert - they're not little anymore.
Matthew has a little brother named William, who also isn't little anymore. Where does the time go?
None of this is the point. William was on the beach the other day when he began playing catch with a football with some random guy who also happened to be there. Here is a picture of them:
Today's question - who is the guy with whom he was playing catch?
While you're pondering that, TigerBlog will point out yet another example of how he is literally ahead of his time.
Last night was Bob Surace's annual preseason barbecue at his house. Beyond the fact that it's a fun night with a lot of food at a time just before things really get going around here, it's really a testament to Surace.
TigerBlog isn't sure how many college football head coaches are as easy-going and genuine as Surace is. TB is 100 percent sure his attitude is "hey, I'd really like to do something nice and have a big picnic here before practice starts for a bunch of people I care about" and not "hey, if i have a picnic, then it'll make me look like I care about a bunch of people that I really don't care about but need to do things for me."
Oh, you know who doesn't come across as really genuine and likeable as a football coach? The guy from "Last Chance U," especially in Season 2, which TB just finished.
What was TigerBlog talking about? Oh yeah, being ahead of his time.
TigerBlog thought the Surace picnic was Tuesday. In fact, it was about 5:15 Tuesday afternoon when he left his office to head to the party. He stopped in Room 1 before he left, where he saw Ford Family Director of Athletics Mollie Marcoux Samaan and Executive Associate Director of Athletics Anthony Archbald and asked if they were going to the party.
That's when they pointed out that yes, they were going, but no, they weren't going until Thursday. Which was yesterday.
TigerBlog then texted Surace to let him know that he'd almost come by on the wrong day, and Surace responded that it would have been no problem and that they would have fed TB even on Tuesday.
And, when TB arrived last night, Surace's wife Lisa said that yes, she would have made him dinner had he showed up Tuesday. And TB is pretty sure she meant it. That's just how they are.
Opening kickoff for Princeton football is four weeks from tomorrow, when San Diego will be on Powers Field at Princeton Stadium for a noon kickoff.
The first athletic event of the academic year is one week from today. You should have listened to TigerBlog about what he said about August when it started. It flies by.
Ah, but the summer isn't over yet. There's still one more major event to go.
The Major League Lacrosse championship game is tomorrow night in Frisco, Texas. If you want to watch, it's on CBS Sports Network at 7 Eastern.
The game is a rematch of last year, as the Ohio Machine take on the Denver Outlaws. Denver rallied last year to win 19-18.
Princeton has four alums involved in the game.
Ohio features Tom Schreiber, who led Major League Lacrosse in assists this past year with 26, playing in just 10 of the 14 regular season games. He missed the first four because he was playing with the Toronto Rock in the National Lacrosse League, in which he was the Rookie of the Year. This came after being the MVP of Major League Lacrosse last year, and he is now one of three finalists for the MVP award again this year.
There are some great players out there. It'll take a lot for you to convince TigerBlog that Schreiber, had three goals and three assists as the Machine beat Florida 18-13 in the semifinals last week, isn't the best player in the world right now.
Denver a year ago did not have any Princetonians on the team. This year there are three.
Zach Currier, a finalist for MLL Rookie of the Year, has had a huge impact on the league in his first season, or the nine games of it he was able to play after the MLL draft. Currier is joined by former Princeton teammates Ryan Ambler and Gavin McBride on the Outlaws.
So this is a tough one. Which team should TigerBlog be rooting for in this one?
Well, at the very least, Princeton will have someone on the winning side.
Oh, and back to the picture of William? The stranger on the beach?
Hints - he's a former National Football League MVP and a two-time AFC Offensive Player of the Year, as well as a starter in a Super Bowl game.
Give up?
Rich Gannon. He just happened to wander by William, and there they were, playing catch.
William's thoughts?
He said that Gannon was a really good guy and that he's pretty good at throwing a football.
Spoiler alert - they're not little anymore.
Matthew has a little brother named William, who also isn't little anymore. Where does the time go?
None of this is the point. William was on the beach the other day when he began playing catch with a football with some random guy who also happened to be there. Here is a picture of them:
Today's question - who is the guy with whom he was playing catch?
While you're pondering that, TigerBlog will point out yet another example of how he is literally ahead of his time.
Last night was Bob Surace's annual preseason barbecue at his house. Beyond the fact that it's a fun night with a lot of food at a time just before things really get going around here, it's really a testament to Surace.
TigerBlog isn't sure how many college football head coaches are as easy-going and genuine as Surace is. TB is 100 percent sure his attitude is "hey, I'd really like to do something nice and have a big picnic here before practice starts for a bunch of people I care about" and not "hey, if i have a picnic, then it'll make me look like I care about a bunch of people that I really don't care about but need to do things for me."
Oh, you know who doesn't come across as really genuine and likeable as a football coach? The guy from "Last Chance U," especially in Season 2, which TB just finished.
What was TigerBlog talking about? Oh yeah, being ahead of his time.
TigerBlog thought the Surace picnic was Tuesday. In fact, it was about 5:15 Tuesday afternoon when he left his office to head to the party. He stopped in Room 1 before he left, where he saw Ford Family Director of Athletics Mollie Marcoux Samaan and Executive Associate Director of Athletics Anthony Archbald and asked if they were going to the party.
That's when they pointed out that yes, they were going, but no, they weren't going until Thursday. Which was yesterday.
TigerBlog then texted Surace to let him know that he'd almost come by on the wrong day, and Surace responded that it would have been no problem and that they would have fed TB even on Tuesday.
And, when TB arrived last night, Surace's wife Lisa said that yes, she would have made him dinner had he showed up Tuesday. And TB is pretty sure she meant it. That's just how they are.
Opening kickoff for Princeton football is four weeks from tomorrow, when San Diego will be on Powers Field at Princeton Stadium for a noon kickoff.
The first athletic event of the academic year is one week from today. You should have listened to TigerBlog about what he said about August when it started. It flies by.
Ah, but the summer isn't over yet. There's still one more major event to go.
The Major League Lacrosse championship game is tomorrow night in Frisco, Texas. If you want to watch, it's on CBS Sports Network at 7 Eastern.
The game is a rematch of last year, as the Ohio Machine take on the Denver Outlaws. Denver rallied last year to win 19-18.
Princeton has four alums involved in the game.
Ohio features Tom Schreiber, who led Major League Lacrosse in assists this past year with 26, playing in just 10 of the 14 regular season games. He missed the first four because he was playing with the Toronto Rock in the National Lacrosse League, in which he was the Rookie of the Year. This came after being the MVP of Major League Lacrosse last year, and he is now one of three finalists for the MVP award again this year.
There are some great players out there. It'll take a lot for you to convince TigerBlog that Schreiber, had three goals and three assists as the Machine beat Florida 18-13 in the semifinals last week, isn't the best player in the world right now.
Denver a year ago did not have any Princetonians on the team. This year there are three.
Zach Currier, a finalist for MLL Rookie of the Year, has had a huge impact on the league in his first season, or the nine games of it he was able to play after the MLL draft. Currier is joined by former Princeton teammates Ryan Ambler and Gavin McBride on the Outlaws.
So this is a tough one. Which team should TigerBlog be rooting for in this one?
Well, at the very least, Princeton will have someone on the winning side.
Oh, and back to the picture of William? The stranger on the beach?
Hints - he's a former National Football League MVP and a two-time AFC Offensive Player of the Year, as well as a starter in a Super Bowl game.
Give up?
Rich Gannon. He just happened to wander by William, and there they were, playing catch.
William's thoughts?
He said that Gannon was a really good guy and that he's pretty good at throwing a football.
Thursday, August 17, 2017
Seeing The World - And Pennsylvania
The summer athletic travels of those representing Princeton may finally have ended.
TigerBlog isn't sure of any remaining international competitions for the summer of 2017 for Princeton and its coaches and alums. It's been quite a successful few months, with medals earned in major international competitions in places like Israel, Bulgaria, Italy, England and New Zealand. Is TB missing other places?
To that list, you can add some other exotic locations. Like Tokyo. And Lancaster.
You know. Lancaster. The one in Pennsylvania.
TigerBlog will start there.
Kat Sharkey made the long trip all the way to a few exits out on the Pennsylvania Turnpike to Lancaster, to a rather fascinating little venue called Spooky Nook. Though it sounds like the name of a town in a Washington Irving story and from the inside reminds you of a really big airport terminal, Spooky Nook is an athletic venue and one of the hubs for indoor and outdoor field hockey in this country.
It was also the site for the Pan American Cup field hockey tournament last week. Sharkey, a 2013 Princeton alum, would be the tournament's leading scorer as the U.S. won bronze, defeating Canada in the third-place game.
For all of the great players Princeton field hockey has had through the years, none of them has ever scored more than Sharkey. In fact, Sharkey is the program's all-time leader in points (245) and goals (107), has the two highest individual point totals for a season (85 in 2012, 74 in 2010) and the single-game records with six goals and 12 points (at Richmond, Sept. 10, 2010).
That's a lot of goals.
Sharkey already has experience at the highest levels of international field hockey, having played in the 2016 Olympics for the United States. The Americans had a great start to that tournament and got into the medal round, only to fall short against Great Britain in the quarterfinals.
Sharkey was one of three Princeton alums in Rio a year ago, along with the Reinprecht sisters, both of whom have retired after playing in the last two Olympic Games. Sharkey also teamed with the in 2012, when Princeton won the NCAA championship.
TigerBlog figures Sharkey will still very much be in the mix three years from now, when the Olympics will be in Tokyo. If she does go there, she can ask Courtney Banghart what it's like,
Banghart, the head coach of women's basketball at Princeton, spent the last few weeks as an assistant coach with the United States U23 team, ahead of the Four Nations tournament in Japan. What is the Four Nation's tournament? TigerBlog wasn't sure, so he looked it up:
The 2017 U24 Four Nations Tournament provided meaningful competition and development opportunities. The USA's participation in the tournament was intended to help further develop the USA Basketball athlete pipeline and to help prepare athletes for possible future participation in the USA Basketball Women's National Team pool.
The United States team featured top college players from around the country. Not surprisingly, the Americans swept the other three teams there - Australia, Japan and Canada.
The event for the U.S. was about, as it said, player development and international exposure. And, for that matter, coaching development.
Banghart was an assistant for the U.S. team. The head coach was Louiville's Jeff Walz.
The fact that Princeton's coach was chosen for her spot with USA Basketball shows just how much national respect Banghart has piled up in her first 10 years with the Tigers. The record that she and top assistant Milena Flores, the only one who has been with her for all 10 years here, has put together is astonishing.
Princeton, before Banghart became head coach, had been to zero NCAA tournaments and one WNIT. In her first two years, as she began to build her program, she went 7-23 and 14-14.
Since then, it's been eight years, eight postseasons, with six NCAA tournaments, an NCAA tournament win (the first in program history) and an NCAA at-large bid (the only one in Ivy basketball history).
Her record for the last eight years is 187-50. In the league during that time? It's 100-12. That's insane.
A hundred wins against 12 losses. That's basically winning your league games nine out of 10 times.
Success that like gets noticed, and it's helped Banghart get involved in coaching on the national team level. The experience that she had this summer can't help but give her even greater perspective as she comes back to Princeton, where her team will be lead by sophomore Bella Alarie, who won a silver medal with the U.S. team at the World U19 Championships in Italy.
It's been that kind of summer for Princeton's athletes and coaches.
Compete. And see the world. Even the part of it that's called Pennsylvania.
TigerBlog isn't sure of any remaining international competitions for the summer of 2017 for Princeton and its coaches and alums. It's been quite a successful few months, with medals earned in major international competitions in places like Israel, Bulgaria, Italy, England and New Zealand. Is TB missing other places?
To that list, you can add some other exotic locations. Like Tokyo. And Lancaster.
You know. Lancaster. The one in Pennsylvania.
TigerBlog will start there.
Kat Sharkey made the long trip all the way to a few exits out on the Pennsylvania Turnpike to Lancaster, to a rather fascinating little venue called Spooky Nook. Though it sounds like the name of a town in a Washington Irving story and from the inside reminds you of a really big airport terminal, Spooky Nook is an athletic venue and one of the hubs for indoor and outdoor field hockey in this country.
It was also the site for the Pan American Cup field hockey tournament last week. Sharkey, a 2013 Princeton alum, would be the tournament's leading scorer as the U.S. won bronze, defeating Canada in the third-place game.
For all of the great players Princeton field hockey has had through the years, none of them has ever scored more than Sharkey. In fact, Sharkey is the program's all-time leader in points (245) and goals (107), has the two highest individual point totals for a season (85 in 2012, 74 in 2010) and the single-game records with six goals and 12 points (at Richmond, Sept. 10, 2010).
That's a lot of goals.
Sharkey already has experience at the highest levels of international field hockey, having played in the 2016 Olympics for the United States. The Americans had a great start to that tournament and got into the medal round, only to fall short against Great Britain in the quarterfinals.
Sharkey was one of three Princeton alums in Rio a year ago, along with the Reinprecht sisters, both of whom have retired after playing in the last two Olympic Games. Sharkey also teamed with the in 2012, when Princeton won the NCAA championship.
TigerBlog figures Sharkey will still very much be in the mix three years from now, when the Olympics will be in Tokyo. If she does go there, she can ask Courtney Banghart what it's like,
Banghart, the head coach of women's basketball at Princeton, spent the last few weeks as an assistant coach with the United States U23 team, ahead of the Four Nations tournament in Japan. What is the Four Nation's tournament? TigerBlog wasn't sure, so he looked it up:
The 2017 U24 Four Nations Tournament provided meaningful competition and development opportunities. The USA's participation in the tournament was intended to help further develop the USA Basketball athlete pipeline and to help prepare athletes for possible future participation in the USA Basketball Women's National Team pool.
The United States team featured top college players from around the country. Not surprisingly, the Americans swept the other three teams there - Australia, Japan and Canada.
The event for the U.S. was about, as it said, player development and international exposure. And, for that matter, coaching development.
Banghart was an assistant for the U.S. team. The head coach was Louiville's Jeff Walz.
The fact that Princeton's coach was chosen for her spot with USA Basketball shows just how much national respect Banghart has piled up in her first 10 years with the Tigers. The record that she and top assistant Milena Flores, the only one who has been with her for all 10 years here, has put together is astonishing.
Princeton, before Banghart became head coach, had been to zero NCAA tournaments and one WNIT. In her first two years, as she began to build her program, she went 7-23 and 14-14.
Since then, it's been eight years, eight postseasons, with six NCAA tournaments, an NCAA tournament win (the first in program history) and an NCAA at-large bid (the only one in Ivy basketball history).
Her record for the last eight years is 187-50. In the league during that time? It's 100-12. That's insane.
A hundred wins against 12 losses. That's basically winning your league games nine out of 10 times.
Success that like gets noticed, and it's helped Banghart get involved in coaching on the national team level. The experience that she had this summer can't help but give her even greater perspective as she comes back to Princeton, where her team will be lead by sophomore Bella Alarie, who won a silver medal with the U.S. team at the World U19 Championships in Italy.
It's been that kind of summer for Princeton's athletes and coaches.
Compete. And see the world. Even the part of it that's called Pennsylvania.
Wednesday, August 16, 2017
Somewhere Around 470
Bill Bradley scored 2,503 points as a Princeton men's basketball player, in three years, without a three-point shot.
How does TigerBlog know that? Because that's what the record book says.
It's been that way since TigerBlog first started to cover Princeton sports. Bill Bradley - 2,503.
TigerBlog has never bothered to confirm that. How would he, for that matter? He's seen a game-by-game listing of Bradley's point totals for his career, one that, by the way, showed TB the single most fascinating stat about Bradley's unreal career here.
It's not the points. It's not the fact that has the 11 best single-game performances in program history. It's not that it's more than 50 years later (30 of them with the three-point shot) and nobody is within 858 points of him and only three players - Ian Hummer, Douglas Davis and Kit Mueller - are within 1,000 of him.
Nope. It's that in his three varsity seasons at Princeton, Bill Bradley never failed to score fewer than 16 points in a game.
Or at least that's what the game-by-game says.
Now, let's keep in mind that that game-by-game list was hand-written. What if, as it was being chronicled, there was a "26" written in instead of a "25" or "27.?" Who would ever know? TigerBlog would have to go back and find every box score from every game Bradley played here and cross check against that hand-written game-by-game list.
Then again, maybe the hand-kept box scores back then were wrong. Or the computerized ones now? Maybe someone was given a basket that Bradley scored, or the opposite.
What's the point of this?
Well, it's that there's a certain leap of faith involved in some things. Like historical records.
Bradley has 2,503 career points because a list in the record book says he does. That's all.
Now, what do you do if you have two lists that contradict each other and no idea where either list originated. That's the case for TigerBlog when it came to answering a simple question: How many Ivy League championships has Princeton won.
TigerBlog can answer that fairly accurately in one way. It is true that Princeton has won more, a lot more, than any other school.
On the other hand, he's not sure yet what the absolute exact number is. He can say it's around 470. Is that good enough?
Well, no, it isn't. So where's the problem coming from?
TigerBlog has two spreadsheets that list all-time Ivy League championships, one for Princeton, and one for all eight league schools. The problem is that they differ slightly.
The other problem is that TigerBlog has no idea where the original spreadsheet originated. He just knows that it's been on his desktop for years, decades.
Did he put it together a long time ago when he started? That's as possible as anything else, including that he found the file and has just kept adding to it each year.
Anyway, when he compared the two (he has no idea where the other one came from), he found that they differ by one here, one there. His spreadsheet says Princeton has 463 Ivy titles. The other one says 472.
So now what to do?
TigerBlog's colleague Warren Croxton started on the website and then tried to go through each year individually, to crosscheck titles listed on the two different sheets. The Ivy League website is helpful, in that it lists year-by-year champions, but there are inconsistencies there too (not throwing the Ivy office folks under the bus; this all started because of Princeton's inconsistencies).
The only way to do this accurately is to go back to the beginning, which would be 1956-57, and create a new spreadsheet, one that lists each year and then has each team that won the championship that year in a column. Then TB will add up all the columns.
He's thinking it'll be closer to the 472 number than the 463 number, but he'll be honest about what he finds.
He can give you some numbers of which he's positive. Princeton has won 222 Ivy titles in the last 20 years, an average of exactly 11.0 per year. Only one other school (starts with an H) has ever reached double figures in an academic year. Princeton has averaged 11 for the last 20 years.
Also, Princeton's 222 in the last 20 years is 65 more than second-place Harvard. Cornell is third, with 100 exactly.
TigerBlog is positive of those numbers. Well, pretty positive.
Just kidding.
As for 2,503, he'll go with that without questioning it.
And 1492 and 1776 too.
How does TigerBlog know that? Because that's what the record book says.
It's been that way since TigerBlog first started to cover Princeton sports. Bill Bradley - 2,503.
TigerBlog has never bothered to confirm that. How would he, for that matter? He's seen a game-by-game listing of Bradley's point totals for his career, one that, by the way, showed TB the single most fascinating stat about Bradley's unreal career here.
It's not the points. It's not the fact that has the 11 best single-game performances in program history. It's not that it's more than 50 years later (30 of them with the three-point shot) and nobody is within 858 points of him and only three players - Ian Hummer, Douglas Davis and Kit Mueller - are within 1,000 of him.
Nope. It's that in his three varsity seasons at Princeton, Bill Bradley never failed to score fewer than 16 points in a game.
Or at least that's what the game-by-game says.
Now, let's keep in mind that that game-by-game list was hand-written. What if, as it was being chronicled, there was a "26" written in instead of a "25" or "27.?" Who would ever know? TigerBlog would have to go back and find every box score from every game Bradley played here and cross check against that hand-written game-by-game list.
Then again, maybe the hand-kept box scores back then were wrong. Or the computerized ones now? Maybe someone was given a basket that Bradley scored, or the opposite.
What's the point of this?
Well, it's that there's a certain leap of faith involved in some things. Like historical records.
Bradley has 2,503 career points because a list in the record book says he does. That's all.
Now, what do you do if you have two lists that contradict each other and no idea where either list originated. That's the case for TigerBlog when it came to answering a simple question: How many Ivy League championships has Princeton won.
TigerBlog can answer that fairly accurately in one way. It is true that Princeton has won more, a lot more, than any other school.
On the other hand, he's not sure yet what the absolute exact number is. He can say it's around 470. Is that good enough?
Well, no, it isn't. So where's the problem coming from?
TigerBlog has two spreadsheets that list all-time Ivy League championships, one for Princeton, and one for all eight league schools. The problem is that they differ slightly.
The other problem is that TigerBlog has no idea where the original spreadsheet originated. He just knows that it's been on his desktop for years, decades.
Did he put it together a long time ago when he started? That's as possible as anything else, including that he found the file and has just kept adding to it each year.
Anyway, when he compared the two (he has no idea where the other one came from), he found that they differ by one here, one there. His spreadsheet says Princeton has 463 Ivy titles. The other one says 472.
So now what to do?
TigerBlog's colleague Warren Croxton started on the website and then tried to go through each year individually, to crosscheck titles listed on the two different sheets. The Ivy League website is helpful, in that it lists year-by-year champions, but there are inconsistencies there too (not throwing the Ivy office folks under the bus; this all started because of Princeton's inconsistencies).
The only way to do this accurately is to go back to the beginning, which would be 1956-57, and create a new spreadsheet, one that lists each year and then has each team that won the championship that year in a column. Then TB will add up all the columns.
He's thinking it'll be closer to the 472 number than the 463 number, but he'll be honest about what he finds.
He can give you some numbers of which he's positive. Princeton has won 222 Ivy titles in the last 20 years, an average of exactly 11.0 per year. Only one other school (starts with an H) has ever reached double figures in an academic year. Princeton has averaged 11 for the last 20 years.
Also, Princeton's 222 in the last 20 years is 65 more than second-place Harvard. Cornell is third, with 100 exactly.
TigerBlog is positive of those numbers. Well, pretty positive.
Just kidding.
As for 2,503, he'll go with that without questioning it.
And 1492 and 1776 too.
Tuesday, August 15, 2017
Back To Work
Imagine waking up one day in a place that you've been for the last 36 years and finding out that your address and zip code are now different.
Twilight Zone stuff, no?
That's what happened to FatherBlog. For the last 36 years, his address has been 570 Seventh Ave. Then, about a year ago, he got a notice that said the new address would be something on 200 West 41st Street, and with a different zip code and everything.
This was despite the fact that his office never changed. It was still on the sixth floor of the same exact building.
FatherBlog was on Fifth Avenue before he moved to Seventh. The address back then was 521 Fifth Ave. Don't ask why TB remembers that.
Anyway, FB was on Fifth Avenue for 17 years, meaning he's spent 53 years between the two locations. That's sort of a long time. TB's memories of 521 Fifth are of a huge lobby, with a bunch of stores in it. There's just a newsstand in the lobby of 570 Seventh, er, 200 West 41st.
TigerBlog's other memory of 521 Fifth was of walking from the Port Authority bus terminal across to Fifth Avenue. The other office, whatever the address, is much closer to the bus terminal and even closer to a parking garage, where TB would park when he went into the city. Parking in New York, by the way, is expensive.
As it turns out, FatherBlog doesn't want to stay in his office, regardless of the address. And 53 years apparently aren't enough time spent working in New York City every day, so he decided to try yet another address. This one will be on West 36th Street, which is good, because it puts him in good proximity to his two favorite lunch places, an Italian restaurant and a kosher deli.
So like TB said, that's 53 years worth of working in New York. That's 53 years worth of fighting traffic at the Lincoln Tunnel every morning. TB couldn't do that. He's annoyed when he misses the light on Route 1 and Washington Road.
TigerBlog had the same office for 21 years here in Jadwin. That's the one that was on the balcony.
He's coming up on two years down in the basement of Jadwin, next to the wrestling room. As they say in the wrestling room, in Jadwin "moving down is moving up."
The Jadwin lobby project is continuing, and it's getting into serious construction mode. There's a large tarp that stretches the length of the mezzanine now to keep the dust, and presumably some of the sound, out of the offices upstairs.
TigerBlog was talking to Brendan Van Ackeren of the Princeton Varsity Club yesterday afternoon, and Brendan said he had to close his office door because of the jackhammer. If the name Van Ackeren is familiar to you as a Princeton fan, it's probably because Brendan is married to Lisa Van Ackeren, the coach of the two-time defending Ivy League champion softball team. The two are expecting their first child next month, though Lisa hardly looks that far along.
There was plenty of noise in TigerBlog's office yesterday afternoon as well.
The women's soccer team was down here for preseason headshots. The arrival of the first team to get its pictures taken is one of the sure signs that summer is winding down.
The women's soccer team starts practicing today in advance of opening day of the 2017-18 Princeton athletic year, which comes up a week from Friday - egads - when the Tigers host Monmouth. Has the summer really zoomed by so quickly?
TigerBlog saw field hockey head coach Carla Tagliente and assistant coach Dina Rizzo as they walked out of the building yesterday morning. They'll start practicing Thursday.
A year ago, in their first season with the Tigers, the two led the team to the NCAA Final Four.
They'll all be back at it soon. Men's soccer. Water polo. Women's volleyball. Football. Cross country.
At the end of the year, TigerBlog will be able to tell you how many games Princeton teams have played. That's easy. It'll be between 600 and 700, like every other year.
The question of how many practices is a little more difficult.
Most teams have four or five practices for each game. Others have fewer. If you take an average of four, say, then that's around 2,500 or so practices for the academic year.
That's when the teaching is done. That's when the competition for playing time occurs. That's when so much of the experience that is playing a sport in college occurs, with everything that goes along with it.
The first one of those for this year is today.
Twilight Zone stuff, no?
That's what happened to FatherBlog. For the last 36 years, his address has been 570 Seventh Ave. Then, about a year ago, he got a notice that said the new address would be something on 200 West 41st Street, and with a different zip code and everything.
This was despite the fact that his office never changed. It was still on the sixth floor of the same exact building.
FatherBlog was on Fifth Avenue before he moved to Seventh. The address back then was 521 Fifth Ave. Don't ask why TB remembers that.
Anyway, FB was on Fifth Avenue for 17 years, meaning he's spent 53 years between the two locations. That's sort of a long time. TB's memories of 521 Fifth are of a huge lobby, with a bunch of stores in it. There's just a newsstand in the lobby of 570 Seventh, er, 200 West 41st.
TigerBlog's other memory of 521 Fifth was of walking from the Port Authority bus terminal across to Fifth Avenue. The other office, whatever the address, is much closer to the bus terminal and even closer to a parking garage, where TB would park when he went into the city. Parking in New York, by the way, is expensive.
As it turns out, FatherBlog doesn't want to stay in his office, regardless of the address. And 53 years apparently aren't enough time spent working in New York City every day, so he decided to try yet another address. This one will be on West 36th Street, which is good, because it puts him in good proximity to his two favorite lunch places, an Italian restaurant and a kosher deli.
So like TB said, that's 53 years worth of working in New York. That's 53 years worth of fighting traffic at the Lincoln Tunnel every morning. TB couldn't do that. He's annoyed when he misses the light on Route 1 and Washington Road.
TigerBlog had the same office for 21 years here in Jadwin. That's the one that was on the balcony.
He's coming up on two years down in the basement of Jadwin, next to the wrestling room. As they say in the wrestling room, in Jadwin "moving down is moving up."
The Jadwin lobby project is continuing, and it's getting into serious construction mode. There's a large tarp that stretches the length of the mezzanine now to keep the dust, and presumably some of the sound, out of the offices upstairs.
TigerBlog was talking to Brendan Van Ackeren of the Princeton Varsity Club yesterday afternoon, and Brendan said he had to close his office door because of the jackhammer. If the name Van Ackeren is familiar to you as a Princeton fan, it's probably because Brendan is married to Lisa Van Ackeren, the coach of the two-time defending Ivy League champion softball team. The two are expecting their first child next month, though Lisa hardly looks that far along.
There was plenty of noise in TigerBlog's office yesterday afternoon as well.
The women's soccer team was down here for preseason headshots. The arrival of the first team to get its pictures taken is one of the sure signs that summer is winding down.
The women's soccer team starts practicing today in advance of opening day of the 2017-18 Princeton athletic year, which comes up a week from Friday - egads - when the Tigers host Monmouth. Has the summer really zoomed by so quickly?
TigerBlog saw field hockey head coach Carla Tagliente and assistant coach Dina Rizzo as they walked out of the building yesterday morning. They'll start practicing Thursday.
A year ago, in their first season with the Tigers, the two led the team to the NCAA Final Four.
They'll all be back at it soon. Men's soccer. Water polo. Women's volleyball. Football. Cross country.
At the end of the year, TigerBlog will be able to tell you how many games Princeton teams have played. That's easy. It'll be between 600 and 700, like every other year.
The question of how many practices is a little more difficult.
Most teams have four or five practices for each game. Others have fewer. If you take an average of four, say, then that's around 2,500 or so practices for the academic year.
That's when the teaching is done. That's when the competition for playing time occurs. That's when so much of the experience that is playing a sport in college occurs, with everything that goes along with it.
The first one of those for this year is today.
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