TigerBlog loves the P-Rade.
You know, the one at Reunions each year. It's awesome. The 25th Reunion Class, and the Old Guard, and then everyone else, all decked out in their beer jackets, with the random splashings of orange and black, stripes and checks.
What does that have to do with early September?
TigerBlog will get to that in a second.
Yesterday was Freshman Student-Athlete Orientation. It's an annual gathering of the incoming athletes, along with the current captains, in the McCosh 50 lecture hall.
It's quite a contrast from the event that kicks off Reunions, when the senior athletes gather for the Gary Walters Princeton Varsity Club Awards Banquet. That's the finish line for the athletes.
The event yesterday is something of the starting line. Yes, many of the fall athletes have already competed, so it's not quite like the first day they're all on campus.
What it is, though, is one of the few times the entire athletic class will be together at the same time., and TigerBlog is always struck by a few things about the event.
First, Princeton has 37 teams. There are more than 200 freshman athletes, and they come here from incredibly different backgrounds, different states and countries, with different experiences as they grew up. A football player from Texas, for instance, had a much different high school experience than a women's squash player from Egypt. That's obvious.
And yet they're both here, Princeton freshmen, ready to compete for the same school, hoping to have the best possible experience. Even within their sports, most of them are tossed together here as total strangers. And yet they now have that bond, Princeton Athletic Class of 2021.
As he does every year at freshman athlete orientation, TigerBlog looks around the room and wonders what the next four years holds for each of them. And, as always, he wonders one other thing.
Somewhere in the room yesterday were the 2021 winners of the von Kiensbusch Award and the Roper Trophy, the top senior athlete awards - unless one or both of the winners is like last year, when Ashleigh Johnson won after taking a year off from school to train for the Olympics. But hey, you get the point.
In addition to the winners, there will also be a handful of finalists for the awards. Who will they be?
So those are the things that TB thinks about each year.
Yesterday, he added something new to that, something rather wild to consider. Hint - this is the part that involves the P-Rade.
The event itself is meant to give the newbies a sense of what to expect, what pitfalls there might be, how to avoid those pitfalls. There were introductions of the members of what Ford Family Director of Athletics Mollie Marcoux Samaan refers to as "The Team Around The Team," something she's upfront about having swiped from men's volleyball coach Sam Shweisky.
It's the end of a long run of orientation activities, and it's the lead up to the start of classes. Marcoux Samaan's message is to "control the controllables" and then not to let stress overwhelm you about everything else.
Marcoux Samaan also showed team pictures from her playing days here, with the women's hockey and women's soccer teams. When TB first saw the pictures, he was pretty sure, though not 100 percent sure, he could pick her out. He turned out to be right.
There were a few other pictures displayed as well.
Mostly, those featured alums. Former athletes, like Chris Young, David Hale, Ross Ohlendorf and Will Venable, who were all active Major Leaguers at the time they spoke at a Princeton Varsity Club event. There were several pictures like that. Gary Walters, Marcoux Samaan's predecessor, was in one of them.
There were others too. Steve Mills, the president of the New York Knicks. Bill Powers, the benefactor of Powers Field at Princeton Stadium. Chanel Lattimer, a former track and field athlete and an all-time great Office of Athletic Communications student worker. Ralph DeNunzio, Bill Ford, Janet Morrison Clarke. John Berger. Frank Sowinski. So many who have given so much of their time and resources to make the experience for the athletes better.
And as TB looked at those pictures, he began to think beyond the senior athlete banquet. He began to think about when this group would become alums, and then become the ones who help the generations to come.
He thought of them in the P-Rade, perhaps on their 50th reunion, which would be the P-Rade of 2071, as opposed to the current year of 2017. That's sort of freaky, no?
Anyway, TigerBlog was getting way ahead of things with that one. Well, not really.
The trip that they're all starting to take together now leads directly to things like that. It was Courtney Banghart, the women's basketball coach, who told the group that the next four years will fly by. She's right.
Not that the Class of 2021 will be at its 50th in a blink of an eye. But time does move quickly sometimes.
Best of luck to all of them. Hopefully, they have a winning, satisfying, educational experience as Princeton athletes - like so many who've come before them have.
Tuesday, September 12, 2017
Monday, September 11, 2017
16 Years Later
TigerBlog can remember every detail of that awful day 16 years ago today.
He remembers most of the details of the day after, 16 years ago tomorrow.
He wishes that he could remember the day before, back to Sept. 10, 2001. He wishes he could remember what he was thinking on that day, what his world was like on that day, because that world changed forever on Sept. 11 and has never come back.
Each year since Sept. 11, 2001, TigerBlog has gotten an uneasy feeling in the hours before the next anniversary. This year is no different.
The date is enough to bring it all rushing back.
TigerBlog has gone through this pretty much each year he's been doing this. It's important though. It's important not to let what happened on that day ever fade in importance.
The only day in American history that can compare with Sept. 11, 2001, is Dec. 7, 1941. That's the day that the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, bringing the United States into World War II.
Yes, there have been battles in wars that have featured unimaginable death totals. Nearly 10 times more American soldiers were killed in the Battle of Normandy (the entire battle, not just D-Day) in World War II than died on 9/11.
As for 9/11 or Pearl Harbor, though, those were direct attacks on America, not overseas (yes, Hawaii was not yet a state in 1941).
Now, nearly 76 years after the Pearl Harbor attack, the day Dec. 7 still lives, as FDR said it would, in infamy. It just doesn't haunt the national consciousness the way 9/11 does.
Part of that is because the vast majority of Americans who were alive 76 years ago no longer are. The other, though, is that it would take less than four years for the U.S. and its Allies to defeat the Axis powers.
The aftermath of 9/11 has been anything quite so tidy. There are still military operations as a direct result of 9/11, and even though Al Qaeda never launched another massive attack in this country, the threat is still there.
Like TigerBlog said, the world of Sept. 10 vanished and has never come back. In so many ways.
TigerBlog knows people who saw 9/11 from so many different angles. Everyone has a story to tell from that day.
TB has friends who were on airplanes at the time of the attacks and landed nowhere near New York, as all flights were immediately grounded. They had to try to rent cars to drive home, including one who was on a flight to Newark that landed instead in Nashville, from where he drove home.
He knows another who landed at Newark around the time that the flight that would crash in Pennsylvania after the passengers fought back against the hijackers was leaving and saw the Towers burning as she drove down the New Jersey Turnpike.
He knows another who was unaware of the attacks until, after being told about them, looked out the window at home on Long Island and saw the smoke from the Twin Towers. FatherBlog was in his office in midtown, four or so miles from ground zero.
Princeton had more than its share of graduates, a lot of them athletes, who were in one of the towers at the time.
As for TigerBlog, he was dropping off TigerBlog Jr. at the University League Nursery School, on the far side of the parking lot outside Jadwin. It was the most perfect weather day, crystal clear, sunshine, no humidity, not a cloud to be found.
TB dropped TBJ off at the school, and the woman who was the office manager said that a plane had flown into the World Trade Center.
TigerBlog walked outside, looked up, and thought "how in the world did that happen?" By the time he got to Jadwin, he found out how.
Most of that day was spent huddled around the only television around, the one in the athletic training room in Caldwell Field House. It was a day where people spoke very little, where everyone had dazed looks on their faces.
By mid-afternoon, he went back to get TBJ at the nursery school. He can still see the children, swinging on the swings, playing in a sandbox, oblivious - happily oblivious - to what had happened to the innocence of the world outside that playground.
Later that night, after it was dark, TigerBlog walked outside to the end of his driveway and looked up. There were no planes in the sky. They'd all been grounded. TB remembers it vividly, the sight of the stars, without planes, above a world of confusion, angst, uncertainty, fear.
Those were TB's memories. They come rushing back each year on this day, and they bring with them all of those emotions all over again. It's important that it does. This isn't a day that should ever fade from anyone's memory.
All of those children from the playground have grown up. Miss TigerBlog was 1 at the time. She's a high school senior. That means that basically anyone who is younger than a high school junior wasn't even alive on that day. They need to understand what happened.
The next day, TigerBlog was able to track down former Princeton football captain Dan Swingos, who had been in the second tower but managed to get out. He told TigerBlog a wild story of survival, and luck, one shared by so many others who'd been there at the time.
TigerBlog tells this story each year. He'll continue to do so.
He'll also continue to remember all of the people who were lost that day, the ones who didn't get out, or the ones on the planes.
It's a group that includes John Schroeder, a member of the 1992 men's lacrosse team that won the first of the program's six NCAA championships. He'd been in the World Trade Center and did not get out.
Anytime that TigerBlog has been around the men's lacrosse Class of 1992, no matter what the occasion or celebration, they remember their teammate. They talk about him. They include him in whatever they're doing. They keep his memory alive.
It's been 16 years now.
It seems like yesterday. The memories are vivid, for TigerBlog and everyone else.
And those lost - like John Schroeder - are still missed.
He remembers most of the details of the day after, 16 years ago tomorrow.
He wishes that he could remember the day before, back to Sept. 10, 2001. He wishes he could remember what he was thinking on that day, what his world was like on that day, because that world changed forever on Sept. 11 and has never come back.
Each year since Sept. 11, 2001, TigerBlog has gotten an uneasy feeling in the hours before the next anniversary. This year is no different.
The date is enough to bring it all rushing back.
TigerBlog has gone through this pretty much each year he's been doing this. It's important though. It's important not to let what happened on that day ever fade in importance.
The only day in American history that can compare with Sept. 11, 2001, is Dec. 7, 1941. That's the day that the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, bringing the United States into World War II.
Yes, there have been battles in wars that have featured unimaginable death totals. Nearly 10 times more American soldiers were killed in the Battle of Normandy (the entire battle, not just D-Day) in World War II than died on 9/11.
As for 9/11 or Pearl Harbor, though, those were direct attacks on America, not overseas (yes, Hawaii was not yet a state in 1941).
Now, nearly 76 years after the Pearl Harbor attack, the day Dec. 7 still lives, as FDR said it would, in infamy. It just doesn't haunt the national consciousness the way 9/11 does.
Part of that is because the vast majority of Americans who were alive 76 years ago no longer are. The other, though, is that it would take less than four years for the U.S. and its Allies to defeat the Axis powers.
The aftermath of 9/11 has been anything quite so tidy. There are still military operations as a direct result of 9/11, and even though Al Qaeda never launched another massive attack in this country, the threat is still there.
Like TigerBlog said, the world of Sept. 10 vanished and has never come back. In so many ways.
TigerBlog knows people who saw 9/11 from so many different angles. Everyone has a story to tell from that day.
TB has friends who were on airplanes at the time of the attacks and landed nowhere near New York, as all flights were immediately grounded. They had to try to rent cars to drive home, including one who was on a flight to Newark that landed instead in Nashville, from where he drove home.
He knows another who landed at Newark around the time that the flight that would crash in Pennsylvania after the passengers fought back against the hijackers was leaving and saw the Towers burning as she drove down the New Jersey Turnpike.
He knows another who was unaware of the attacks until, after being told about them, looked out the window at home on Long Island and saw the smoke from the Twin Towers. FatherBlog was in his office in midtown, four or so miles from ground zero.
Princeton had more than its share of graduates, a lot of them athletes, who were in one of the towers at the time.
As for TigerBlog, he was dropping off TigerBlog Jr. at the University League Nursery School, on the far side of the parking lot outside Jadwin. It was the most perfect weather day, crystal clear, sunshine, no humidity, not a cloud to be found.
TB dropped TBJ off at the school, and the woman who was the office manager said that a plane had flown into the World Trade Center.
TigerBlog walked outside, looked up, and thought "how in the world did that happen?" By the time he got to Jadwin, he found out how.
Most of that day was spent huddled around the only television around, the one in the athletic training room in Caldwell Field House. It was a day where people spoke very little, where everyone had dazed looks on their faces.
By mid-afternoon, he went back to get TBJ at the nursery school. He can still see the children, swinging on the swings, playing in a sandbox, oblivious - happily oblivious - to what had happened to the innocence of the world outside that playground.
Later that night, after it was dark, TigerBlog walked outside to the end of his driveway and looked up. There were no planes in the sky. They'd all been grounded. TB remembers it vividly, the sight of the stars, without planes, above a world of confusion, angst, uncertainty, fear.
Those were TB's memories. They come rushing back each year on this day, and they bring with them all of those emotions all over again. It's important that it does. This isn't a day that should ever fade from anyone's memory.
All of those children from the playground have grown up. Miss TigerBlog was 1 at the time. She's a high school senior. That means that basically anyone who is younger than a high school junior wasn't even alive on that day. They need to understand what happened.
The next day, TigerBlog was able to track down former Princeton football captain Dan Swingos, who had been in the second tower but managed to get out. He told TigerBlog a wild story of survival, and luck, one shared by so many others who'd been there at the time.
TigerBlog tells this story each year. He'll continue to do so.
He'll also continue to remember all of the people who were lost that day, the ones who didn't get out, or the ones on the planes.
It's a group that includes John Schroeder, a member of the 1992 men's lacrosse team that won the first of the program's six NCAA championships. He'd been in the World Trade Center and did not get out.
Anytime that TigerBlog has been around the men's lacrosse Class of 1992, no matter what the occasion or celebration, they remember their teammate. They talk about him. They include him in whatever they're doing. They keep his memory alive.
It's been 16 years now.
It seems like yesterday. The memories are vivid, for TigerBlog and everyone else.
And those lost - like John Schroeder - are still missed.
Friday, September 8, 2017
Reinforcing The Message
TigerBlog has been meaning to tell you this story all week.
So Miss TigerBlog went to the "Made in America" concert in Philadelphia last weekend. She came back like a "drowned rat" after the first night. On the second night, TigerBlog got a text message from a number he didn't know, saying it was MTB and she'd lost her phone.
What do you do in that situation? TigerBlog called MTB's number.
It rang. And then a male voice answered. It turned out to be Steve.
Who's Steve? No idea. Just the kid who answered the phone that he found.
Ah, but Steve did better than just say he had the phone. He told TB that MTB's phone had only five percent of its battery left, so he gave TB his number to call him back on. Sure enough, TigerBlog called and Steve answered.
TigerBlog then texted MTB on her friend's phone. She then coordinated with Steve, who returned her phone to her. How did TigerBlog find this out? Steve texted him. MTB? She replied about an hour later to TB's text.
Steve, on the other hand, said "no problem. I'd want someone to do the same for me if I lost my phone."
So how about a nice round of applause for Steve, the MVP of the "Made in America" concert.
Nice little story, right?
TigerBlog spent yesterday morning at the Department of Athletics "Welcome Back" staff meeting. It's an annual event, the first time post-Labor Day when the entire department assembles, even though games have already been played.
One of the best parts of the meeting is when the new staff members are introduced. Head coaches will introduce new assistants. Administrators will introduce junior members.
Matt Madalon, the men's lacrosse coach, introduced Jeremy Hirsch, the new defensive coordinator. Jeremy is a former Princeton defenseman, Class of 2010. Madalon mentioned that Jeremy is one of two Princeton alums who are currently full-time Division I men's lacrosse coaches.
At first, TigerBlog couldn't think of the other one. He's embarrassed to say that it took him probably two minutes until it came to him - Brian Kavanagh, a former Tiger goalie, who is at the University of Vermont.
In all, there were 20 new staff members. TigerBlog actually thinks that number was a bit low compared to most years.
That's a pretty good turnover from year to year. It's visible mostly in the photo collages that Phyllis Chase, the former travel coordinator, used to make of the holiday party each December, and now in the staff photo that is taken each year after the kickoff meeting. There was a 2017-18 version taken yesterday.
TigerBlog has been here for a long time. So have many others.
At the same time, there's always the new group. They're young. They're just starting out. For the most part, they won't be here for the long haul. Some will, but most will be here a few years and move on in their careers. It's the nature of college athletics.
As a result, it's important that Princeton do a good job of explaining to the new people what the values of the department are, and, at the same time reinforce them for everyone else. That's the main purpose of the meeting, other than it's also one of those rare times that the entire group gets together.
So what does Princeton stand for? The department operates on under the ideals of "Education Through Athletics" and "Achieve, Serve, Lead."
As these suggest, Princeton Athletics is about providing for its athletes the opportunity to compete at a high level, a championship level, while also understanding that there is more to college athletics than just winning. It's about the entire overall experience.
Princeton wants its athletes to be an extension of the student body as a whole. It wants its athletes to understand the incredible opportunity they have been given to attend a school like Princeton and therefore understand their responsibility as students, as well as athletes.
It wants its athletes to buy into the University's commitment to service. It wants its athletes to be invested in proper nutrition and sleep and other areas that aid in high performance.
Princeton is about learning lessons through athletics that extend well beyond playing a sport here. Teamwork. Leadership. Time management. Sacrificing individual desires for the betterment of the entire team, and organization.
When Princeton athletes leave here, the hope is that they had such a great experience that they'll stay invested in the programs for whom they competed for the rest of their lives. Not all will, but an incredibly high number do. That's something that should never be taken for granted.
These are words that are easy to say. They're harder to live by. It's important, though, to set really high standards.
As Pete Carril once said, "when you lower your standards, they turn around and attack you." He's right about that.
That's why it's important to constantly talk about them. And to have a room full of people, like yesterday, who buy into them.
It's what makes Princeton special.
So Miss TigerBlog went to the "Made in America" concert in Philadelphia last weekend. She came back like a "drowned rat" after the first night. On the second night, TigerBlog got a text message from a number he didn't know, saying it was MTB and she'd lost her phone.
What do you do in that situation? TigerBlog called MTB's number.
It rang. And then a male voice answered. It turned out to be Steve.
Who's Steve? No idea. Just the kid who answered the phone that he found.
Ah, but Steve did better than just say he had the phone. He told TB that MTB's phone had only five percent of its battery left, so he gave TB his number to call him back on. Sure enough, TigerBlog called and Steve answered.
TigerBlog then texted MTB on her friend's phone. She then coordinated with Steve, who returned her phone to her. How did TigerBlog find this out? Steve texted him. MTB? She replied about an hour later to TB's text.
Steve, on the other hand, said "no problem. I'd want someone to do the same for me if I lost my phone."
So how about a nice round of applause for Steve, the MVP of the "Made in America" concert.
Nice little story, right?
TigerBlog spent yesterday morning at the Department of Athletics "Welcome Back" staff meeting. It's an annual event, the first time post-Labor Day when the entire department assembles, even though games have already been played.
One of the best parts of the meeting is when the new staff members are introduced. Head coaches will introduce new assistants. Administrators will introduce junior members.
Matt Madalon, the men's lacrosse coach, introduced Jeremy Hirsch, the new defensive coordinator. Jeremy is a former Princeton defenseman, Class of 2010. Madalon mentioned that Jeremy is one of two Princeton alums who are currently full-time Division I men's lacrosse coaches.
At first, TigerBlog couldn't think of the other one. He's embarrassed to say that it took him probably two minutes until it came to him - Brian Kavanagh, a former Tiger goalie, who is at the University of Vermont.
In all, there were 20 new staff members. TigerBlog actually thinks that number was a bit low compared to most years.
That's a pretty good turnover from year to year. It's visible mostly in the photo collages that Phyllis Chase, the former travel coordinator, used to make of the holiday party each December, and now in the staff photo that is taken each year after the kickoff meeting. There was a 2017-18 version taken yesterday.
TigerBlog has been here for a long time. So have many others.
At the same time, there's always the new group. They're young. They're just starting out. For the most part, they won't be here for the long haul. Some will, but most will be here a few years and move on in their careers. It's the nature of college athletics.
As a result, it's important that Princeton do a good job of explaining to the new people what the values of the department are, and, at the same time reinforce them for everyone else. That's the main purpose of the meeting, other than it's also one of those rare times that the entire group gets together.
So what does Princeton stand for? The department operates on under the ideals of "Education Through Athletics" and "Achieve, Serve, Lead."
As these suggest, Princeton Athletics is about providing for its athletes the opportunity to compete at a high level, a championship level, while also understanding that there is more to college athletics than just winning. It's about the entire overall experience.
Princeton wants its athletes to be an extension of the student body as a whole. It wants its athletes to understand the incredible opportunity they have been given to attend a school like Princeton and therefore understand their responsibility as students, as well as athletes.
It wants its athletes to buy into the University's commitment to service. It wants its athletes to be invested in proper nutrition and sleep and other areas that aid in high performance.
Princeton is about learning lessons through athletics that extend well beyond playing a sport here. Teamwork. Leadership. Time management. Sacrificing individual desires for the betterment of the entire team, and organization.
When Princeton athletes leave here, the hope is that they had such a great experience that they'll stay invested in the programs for whom they competed for the rest of their lives. Not all will, but an incredibly high number do. That's something that should never be taken for granted.
These are words that are easy to say. They're harder to live by. It's important, though, to set really high standards.
As Pete Carril once said, "when you lower your standards, they turn around and attack you." He's right about that.
That's why it's important to constantly talk about them. And to have a room full of people, like yesterday, who buy into them.
It's what makes Princeton special.
Thursday, September 7, 2017
Soccer Time
If you take a quick look at the current Division I women's soccer rankings, you'll notice a few things that look a bit off.
First, Wake Forest moved up a spot from last week, going from 18 to 17. Second, Wake is listed as 5-0-0.
And then there's Princeton, in the others receiving votes category, tied with Texas in the 28th spot.
Actually, before TigerBlog gets to that, he'll mention that this is the United Soccer Coaches poll. If you do a search for "National Soccer Coaches Association of America," which had been the organization behind national and regional rankings since TigerBlog first started following such things, you'll find that it's now called the United Soccer Coaches.
The website even says this: "New Look. New Name. Same Mission."
Anyway, Wake Forest is 5-1-0, not 5-0-0, after having lost to Princeton 2-0. Ah, but that game was played Monday, not Sunday, and as such it isn't reflected in the current week's rankings.
Back in 2004, Princeton went 19-3-0, beating Central Connecticut, Villanova, Boston College and Washington in the NCAA tournament before falling to UCLA in the national semifinals, making that team the only Ivy League women's soccer team ever to reach the Final Four and the only Ivy League team in any sport ever to reach the Final Four in a 64-team tournament.
Even those Tigers didn't beat Wake Forest. That was one of the Tigers' two regular season losses that season - the other was to Colgate.
It's been quite a start for the current women's soccer team. The resume after four games is like this:
* a 4-0-0 record
* zero goals allowed
* outscored its opponents 9-0
* a sweep of North Carolina State (ranked 20th last week) and Wake Forest on the road
* three of four games away from home
Yeah, that's quite a start.
Had the game against Wake counted towards this week's rankings, Princeton might have found itself in the Top 25. On the other hand, in what is still somewhat early September, that doesn't really matter much.
As TB said, Princeton has played three of its four games to date on the road. The men's team has played both of its games on the road.
All that changes rapidly, beginning today.
At 4 on Mylsik Field at Roberts Stadium, it'll be the Princeton men against Seton Hall, followed by the women against West Virginia at 7.This will be the start of a massive September of soccer at Princeton's beautiful facility.
The women will be play five home games between today and Sept. 23 - Rider tonight, New Hampshire Sunday, West Virginia next Friday (the 15th), Delaware two days after that and then Yale on Saturday the 23rd.
The men are home tonight and then next Friday as well, in the second game of another doubleheader, when SIU-Edwardsville is here. The Cougars won an NCAA tournament game last year, by the way.
And then, after all those women's games, the men host Rutgers on the 26th.
If you add it all together, that's five women's games and three men's games at Princeton, in a 19-day stretch that begins tonight. Admission to every one of those games, by the way, is free.
The women play a Rider team that is 0-4-0 tonight and then a 4-2-0 New Hampshire team Sunday.
Looming beyond is West Virginia, a team whose goal this year is to at least equal what the Princeton women did in 2004 and possibly go a step or even two steps beyond that.
West Virginia is ranked third this week. The Mountaineers have already defeated Georgetown when the Hoyas were ranked fifth and Penn State when the Nittany Lions were ranked No. 1.
The game between West Virginia and Princeton women - and later Princeton-Rutgers men - will be televised on ESPNU. Hopefully they'll be on perfect weather nights with huge crowds.
One way to get to the NCAA tournament is to have a really, really high RPI. As of now, no RPI rankings have been released. If you're a Princeton fan, root for NC State and Wake the rest of the way.
And, if Princeton could beat West Virginia, that would really help that cause.
The other way to get to the NCAA tournament is with an automatic bid. There's a long way to go to see who gets that prize from the Ivy League.
There are currently two unbeaten women's soccer teams in the league. Princeton is one. Yale is the other. Yale, you might recall, is Princeton's Ivy opener, on the 23rd, which as of now clearly looks like a big one.
Of course, there is a ton of soccer to be seen here between now and then. Beginning tonight.
Remember, it's the men at 4 against Seton Hall and the women at 7 against Rider. And it's free.
First, Wake Forest moved up a spot from last week, going from 18 to 17. Second, Wake is listed as 5-0-0.
And then there's Princeton, in the others receiving votes category, tied with Texas in the 28th spot.
Actually, before TigerBlog gets to that, he'll mention that this is the United Soccer Coaches poll. If you do a search for "National Soccer Coaches Association of America," which had been the organization behind national and regional rankings since TigerBlog first started following such things, you'll find that it's now called the United Soccer Coaches.
The website even says this: "New Look. New Name. Same Mission."
Anyway, Wake Forest is 5-1-0, not 5-0-0, after having lost to Princeton 2-0. Ah, but that game was played Monday, not Sunday, and as such it isn't reflected in the current week's rankings.
Back in 2004, Princeton went 19-3-0, beating Central Connecticut, Villanova, Boston College and Washington in the NCAA tournament before falling to UCLA in the national semifinals, making that team the only Ivy League women's soccer team ever to reach the Final Four and the only Ivy League team in any sport ever to reach the Final Four in a 64-team tournament.
Even those Tigers didn't beat Wake Forest. That was one of the Tigers' two regular season losses that season - the other was to Colgate.
It's been quite a start for the current women's soccer team. The resume after four games is like this:
* a 4-0-0 record
* zero goals allowed
* outscored its opponents 9-0
* a sweep of North Carolina State (ranked 20th last week) and Wake Forest on the road
* three of four games away from home
Yeah, that's quite a start.
Had the game against Wake counted towards this week's rankings, Princeton might have found itself in the Top 25. On the other hand, in what is still somewhat early September, that doesn't really matter much.
As TB said, Princeton has played three of its four games to date on the road. The men's team has played both of its games on the road.
All that changes rapidly, beginning today.
At 4 on Mylsik Field at Roberts Stadium, it'll be the Princeton men against Seton Hall, followed by the women against West Virginia at 7.This will be the start of a massive September of soccer at Princeton's beautiful facility.
The women will be play five home games between today and Sept. 23 - Rider tonight, New Hampshire Sunday, West Virginia next Friday (the 15th), Delaware two days after that and then Yale on Saturday the 23rd.
The men are home tonight and then next Friday as well, in the second game of another doubleheader, when SIU-Edwardsville is here. The Cougars won an NCAA tournament game last year, by the way.
And then, after all those women's games, the men host Rutgers on the 26th.
If you add it all together, that's five women's games and three men's games at Princeton, in a 19-day stretch that begins tonight. Admission to every one of those games, by the way, is free.
The women play a Rider team that is 0-4-0 tonight and then a 4-2-0 New Hampshire team Sunday.
Looming beyond is West Virginia, a team whose goal this year is to at least equal what the Princeton women did in 2004 and possibly go a step or even two steps beyond that.
West Virginia is ranked third this week. The Mountaineers have already defeated Georgetown when the Hoyas were ranked fifth and Penn State when the Nittany Lions were ranked No. 1.
The game between West Virginia and Princeton women - and later Princeton-Rutgers men - will be televised on ESPNU. Hopefully they'll be on perfect weather nights with huge crowds.
One way to get to the NCAA tournament is to have a really, really high RPI. As of now, no RPI rankings have been released. If you're a Princeton fan, root for NC State and Wake the rest of the way.
And, if Princeton could beat West Virginia, that would really help that cause.
The other way to get to the NCAA tournament is with an automatic bid. There's a long way to go to see who gets that prize from the Ivy League.
There are currently two unbeaten women's soccer teams in the league. Princeton is one. Yale is the other. Yale, you might recall, is Princeton's Ivy opener, on the 23rd, which as of now clearly looks like a big one.
Of course, there is a ton of soccer to be seen here between now and then. Beginning tonight.
Remember, it's the men at 4 against Seton Hall and the women at 7 against Rider. And it's free.
Wednesday, September 6, 2017
The Amazing Comeback And Princeton
TigerBlog felt badly about not starting out yesterday with the women's soccer team.
After all, the Tigers are off to an amazing start.
Still, TB wanted to talk college football yesterday, so he figured he'd start out today with women's soccer. And while technically he has, he'll get back to that in a second.
First, there's the little matter of someone named "Nassau83." Well, that's not exactly the person's actual name. It's the name that TigerBlog has seen on message boards before. The assumption, of course, is that it's a Princeton grad, Class of 1983. Or possibly someone who wore the No. 83 at Princeton, but that's more of a longshot.
Actually, TigerBlog wonders if he's ever met "Nassau83." Ah, but that's not the point.
"Nassau83" is the author of a comment yesterday that mentions something that TigerBlog never knew to be true. UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen, who engineered one of the greatest comebacks football has ever seen the other night with his four-TD fourth-quarter against Texas A&M, is the son of Princeton women's lacrosse player?
Who knew this?
Rosen's bio on the UCLA website says that his mother, Elizabeth Lippincott, was an all-league lacrosse player at Princeton.
It's true. Lippincott, known as "Wiz," was a 1981 and 1982 first-team All-Ivy League selection. She also won the, as "Nassau83" said, the Emily Goodfellow and Women's Lacrosse Awards, two major Princeton team awards, her senior year of 1982. She was also the captain of the 1982 Tigers, the only captain that year.
The first year that there was a women's lacrosse team at Princeton was 1973. The first year of an All-Ivy League team for women's lacrosse was 1980.
Think of all the great early women's lacrosse players in the league who never had a chance to be recognized with something so simple as "all-league." TigerBlog wonders what it was like administratively back then, when it was simply understood, it seems, that men's sports would take priority over women's.
He has no way of knowing this, but he assumes that it was the women's coaches who drove the league to start down the path of equality on something as basic as having an all-league team. Or were it the earliest women's administrators? What they had to fight for was extraordinary.
Really, it's hard to picture it. TigerBlog has spent decades working in Ivy sports, and he has spent way more time than he could possibly guess in meetings of all kinds, discussing every possible aspect of Princeton sports. At no point in any of those meetings has TB ever found himself in a situation where someone even remotely suggested that something be done for the men but not the women based simply on gender.
Not once.
It's hard to imagine that not even 10 years before he started covering Princeton sports, such decisions were still in effect. Maybe he can ask one of the players on the first All-Ivy women's lacrosse team what she remembers about. There was a player from Harvard named Chris Sailer who was first-team in 1980 and 1981. Maybe she knows something.
Speaking of Sailer, she's been the women's lacrosse coach here for 31 years. Did you realize that Princeton has had only three women's lacrosse coaches in its history - Penny Hinckley for five years, Betty Logan for nine and now Sailer. That's fairly amazing.
Perhaps TB should track her down.
The comment from "Nassau83" mentions that Lippincott was an outstanding figure skater, along with Treby Williams, the University's Executive Vice President. Rosen's UCLA bio goes one further, mentioning that his parents - his father is a Penn grad and orthopedic surgeon - were actually U.S. national champions in ice dancing, which, by the way, TB thinks is more entertaining than pairs figure skating.
Lippincott's son put on quite a show the other night, especially in the second half, and really in the fourth quarter. He spent the entire first half getting beaten up and then in the second half was incredible.
It doesn't matter what he does the rest of the year. All people will remember is what happened on opening night, especially Jets fans, who were drooling over USC quarterback Sam Darnold, until they saw Rosen.
And his mother is a Princetonian. Even better. Darnold's mother went to Long Beach City College, where she played volleyball, by the way.
And that's it for today.
What? Oh year. Women's soccer.
Well, apologies again to the Tigers. They had a great weekend, beating two top 20 schools on the road.
But tomorrow they have a home game, against Rider, on the back end of a doubleheader, after the men play Seton Hall at 4.
TigerBlog promises to talk women's soccer tomorrow. And hopefully many other times as the year goes along.
It's certainly been a great start.
After all, the Tigers are off to an amazing start.
Still, TB wanted to talk college football yesterday, so he figured he'd start out today with women's soccer. And while technically he has, he'll get back to that in a second.
First, there's the little matter of someone named "Nassau83." Well, that's not exactly the person's actual name. It's the name that TigerBlog has seen on message boards before. The assumption, of course, is that it's a Princeton grad, Class of 1983. Or possibly someone who wore the No. 83 at Princeton, but that's more of a longshot.
Actually, TigerBlog wonders if he's ever met "Nassau83." Ah, but that's not the point.
"Nassau83" is the author of a comment yesterday that mentions something that TigerBlog never knew to be true. UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen, who engineered one of the greatest comebacks football has ever seen the other night with his four-TD fourth-quarter against Texas A&M, is the son of Princeton women's lacrosse player?
Who knew this?
Rosen's bio on the UCLA website says that his mother, Elizabeth Lippincott, was an all-league lacrosse player at Princeton.
It's true. Lippincott, known as "Wiz," was a 1981 and 1982 first-team All-Ivy League selection. She also won the, as "Nassau83" said, the Emily Goodfellow and Women's Lacrosse Awards, two major Princeton team awards, her senior year of 1982. She was also the captain of the 1982 Tigers, the only captain that year.
The first year that there was a women's lacrosse team at Princeton was 1973. The first year of an All-Ivy League team for women's lacrosse was 1980.
Think of all the great early women's lacrosse players in the league who never had a chance to be recognized with something so simple as "all-league." TigerBlog wonders what it was like administratively back then, when it was simply understood, it seems, that men's sports would take priority over women's.
He has no way of knowing this, but he assumes that it was the women's coaches who drove the league to start down the path of equality on something as basic as having an all-league team. Or were it the earliest women's administrators? What they had to fight for was extraordinary.
Really, it's hard to picture it. TigerBlog has spent decades working in Ivy sports, and he has spent way more time than he could possibly guess in meetings of all kinds, discussing every possible aspect of Princeton sports. At no point in any of those meetings has TB ever found himself in a situation where someone even remotely suggested that something be done for the men but not the women based simply on gender.
Not once.
It's hard to imagine that not even 10 years before he started covering Princeton sports, such decisions were still in effect. Maybe he can ask one of the players on the first All-Ivy women's lacrosse team what she remembers about. There was a player from Harvard named Chris Sailer who was first-team in 1980 and 1981. Maybe she knows something.
Speaking of Sailer, she's been the women's lacrosse coach here for 31 years. Did you realize that Princeton has had only three women's lacrosse coaches in its history - Penny Hinckley for five years, Betty Logan for nine and now Sailer. That's fairly amazing.
Perhaps TB should track her down.
The comment from "Nassau83" mentions that Lippincott was an outstanding figure skater, along with Treby Williams, the University's Executive Vice President. Rosen's UCLA bio goes one further, mentioning that his parents - his father is a Penn grad and orthopedic surgeon - were actually U.S. national champions in ice dancing, which, by the way, TB thinks is more entertaining than pairs figure skating.
Lippincott's son put on quite a show the other night, especially in the second half, and really in the fourth quarter. He spent the entire first half getting beaten up and then in the second half was incredible.
It doesn't matter what he does the rest of the year. All people will remember is what happened on opening night, especially Jets fans, who were drooling over USC quarterback Sam Darnold, until they saw Rosen.
And his mother is a Princetonian. Even better. Darnold's mother went to Long Beach City College, where she played volleyball, by the way.
And that's it for today.
What? Oh year. Women's soccer.
Well, apologies again to the Tigers. They had a great weekend, beating two top 20 schools on the road.
But tomorrow they have a home game, against Rider, on the back end of a doubleheader, after the men play Seton Hall at 4.
TigerBlog promises to talk women's soccer tomorrow. And hopefully many other times as the year goes along.
It's certainly been a great start.
Tuesday, September 5, 2017
Rosen And Olson
The college football season is underway, in case you didn't happen to stumble on one of the approximately 1,000 games that were on TV this past weekend.
Once the Ivy League football season starts, and with all of the games that Princeton's fall teams play on your average Saturday for the next two-plus months, TigerBlog won't get a chance to watch endless college football, like he could this past weekend.
Not that he watched all that much. The point is that he could have.
College football was everywhere on television. Are the powers that be worried about over-saturation of their product? If they are, you can't tell by the schedule in Week 1, and it'll only get bigger and bigger as the season goes along.
It all started at noon Saturday, when there were nine games on TB's television. That doesn't even count all the games that were on ESPN3 or streamed elsewhere.
For all of the college football this weekend, there were really only two players who stood out. One was Josh Rosen. The other was Jake Olson.
Let's start with Rosen, UCLA's quarterback. Are these good passing numbers: 19 for 26, 294 yards, four touchdowns?
Yeah? Because that was Rosen's fourth quarter against Texas A&M Sunday night. yeah. His fourth quarter.
Of course, UCLA needed all of those yards and TDs. The Bruins trailed 44-10 in the third quarter before Rosen brought the Bruins back, all the way back, for a 45-44 victory.
The largest comeback in college football history was 35 points. This was only 34. Of course, any conversation about comebacks has to include Princeton's 50-49 win over Penn in men's basketball at the Palestra in 1999, but hey, why digress right now?
TigerBlog was hardly paying attention to the UCLA game after it become a blowout. He was mostly seeing Rosen being pitied on Twitter for having to stand out there and get beaten up like that.
Then all of the sudden, he started the comeback. TB didn't even turn it on until it was 44-38 and Rosen with the ball for the last time as he took his team to the win, converting a fourth-and-6 along the way after a sure, certain first-down pass on third down had been dropped. He even did the fake spike on the game winner.
It's going to be hard to top that one as the best individual performance of the year by a player. In fact, TB will go out on a wild limb and say nobody will.
The play of the year might also have happened in Week 1, and it also happened in Southern California. That's where Olson comes in.
Olson was the long snapper for USC. The Trojans scored a late touchdown against Western Michigan to go up 48-31, and Olson came on to be the snapper for the extra point for the first time in his career. And his snap was good, leading to a 49-31 final.
Play of the year? Well, if you consider that Olson is completely blind, yes, it is. Read about it HERE.
You probably already heard about that of course. There's more to the story than just the USC part, of course. The official who started the play deserves a lot of credit for how he handled it, as do the Western Michigan coaches and players, especially the ones on the field at the time.
It'll make you teary a bit if you watch it again.
Anyway, that was a big Week 1 for college football.
For Princeton, Week 1 for the football season is in two Saturdays. This is always the toughest week for Ivy League players, TB supposes, in that now everyone is playing, but you still have another non-game week to go.
Princeton opens its season against San Diego, on Sept. 16 an Powers Field at noon.
If you want to buy tickets in person, by the way, you have to go out to the football stadium to do it. The ticket office in Jadwin Gym is now closed, as part of the Jadwin lobby renovation project. As a result, the ticket office has been relocated for the time being to the ticket booth in the football stadium.
San Diego opened its season this past weekend with a 34-20 win over Western New Mexico. Up next is UC-Davis, before the trip to Princeton the following weekend.
Lafayette, Princeton's Week 2 opponent, lost 31-12 to Monmouth this weekend. The Leopards next host Sacred Heart this Saturday and then are at Villanova before hosting the Tigers. By the way, TigerBlog will be rooting for Sacred Heart in this weekend's game, for obvious reasons.
Georgetown, the other non-league opponent for Princeton, opens this weekend.
The later start for Ivy League football is part of the culture of the league. It's just how it is.
Besides, the 2017 season at Princeton should be worth waiting for. The Tigers were the best team in the league last year, earning a share of the title with Penn but owning a 28-0 win over the Quakers. Princeton also had the No. 1 offense and No. 1 defense in the league.
With the start of a new season will come a chance to see whatever new wrinkles will be part of what is already the most unique offense in the sport, with its multiple quarterbacks on pretty much every play.
Besides, a week from Saturday will be here soon enough.
In the meantime, you can watch the next 1,000 games on TV next weekend.
Once the Ivy League football season starts, and with all of the games that Princeton's fall teams play on your average Saturday for the next two-plus months, TigerBlog won't get a chance to watch endless college football, like he could this past weekend.
Not that he watched all that much. The point is that he could have.
College football was everywhere on television. Are the powers that be worried about over-saturation of their product? If they are, you can't tell by the schedule in Week 1, and it'll only get bigger and bigger as the season goes along.
It all started at noon Saturday, when there were nine games on TB's television. That doesn't even count all the games that were on ESPN3 or streamed elsewhere.
For all of the college football this weekend, there were really only two players who stood out. One was Josh Rosen. The other was Jake Olson.
Let's start with Rosen, UCLA's quarterback. Are these good passing numbers: 19 for 26, 294 yards, four touchdowns?
Yeah? Because that was Rosen's fourth quarter against Texas A&M Sunday night. yeah. His fourth quarter.
Of course, UCLA needed all of those yards and TDs. The Bruins trailed 44-10 in the third quarter before Rosen brought the Bruins back, all the way back, for a 45-44 victory.
The largest comeback in college football history was 35 points. This was only 34. Of course, any conversation about comebacks has to include Princeton's 50-49 win over Penn in men's basketball at the Palestra in 1999, but hey, why digress right now?
TigerBlog was hardly paying attention to the UCLA game after it become a blowout. He was mostly seeing Rosen being pitied on Twitter for having to stand out there and get beaten up like that.
Then all of the sudden, he started the comeback. TB didn't even turn it on until it was 44-38 and Rosen with the ball for the last time as he took his team to the win, converting a fourth-and-6 along the way after a sure, certain first-down pass on third down had been dropped. He even did the fake spike on the game winner.
It's going to be hard to top that one as the best individual performance of the year by a player. In fact, TB will go out on a wild limb and say nobody will.
The play of the year might also have happened in Week 1, and it also happened in Southern California. That's where Olson comes in.
Olson was the long snapper for USC. The Trojans scored a late touchdown against Western Michigan to go up 48-31, and Olson came on to be the snapper for the extra point for the first time in his career. And his snap was good, leading to a 49-31 final.
Play of the year? Well, if you consider that Olson is completely blind, yes, it is. Read about it HERE.
You probably already heard about that of course. There's more to the story than just the USC part, of course. The official who started the play deserves a lot of credit for how he handled it, as do the Western Michigan coaches and players, especially the ones on the field at the time.
It'll make you teary a bit if you watch it again.
Anyway, that was a big Week 1 for college football.
For Princeton, Week 1 for the football season is in two Saturdays. This is always the toughest week for Ivy League players, TB supposes, in that now everyone is playing, but you still have another non-game week to go.
Princeton opens its season against San Diego, on Sept. 16 an Powers Field at noon.
If you want to buy tickets in person, by the way, you have to go out to the football stadium to do it. The ticket office in Jadwin Gym is now closed, as part of the Jadwin lobby renovation project. As a result, the ticket office has been relocated for the time being to the ticket booth in the football stadium.
San Diego opened its season this past weekend with a 34-20 win over Western New Mexico. Up next is UC-Davis, before the trip to Princeton the following weekend.
Lafayette, Princeton's Week 2 opponent, lost 31-12 to Monmouth this weekend. The Leopards next host Sacred Heart this Saturday and then are at Villanova before hosting the Tigers. By the way, TigerBlog will be rooting for Sacred Heart in this weekend's game, for obvious reasons.
Georgetown, the other non-league opponent for Princeton, opens this weekend.
The later start for Ivy League football is part of the culture of the league. It's just how it is.
Besides, the 2017 season at Princeton should be worth waiting for. The Tigers were the best team in the league last year, earning a share of the title with Penn but owning a 28-0 win over the Quakers. Princeton also had the No. 1 offense and No. 1 defense in the league.
With the start of a new season will come a chance to see whatever new wrinkles will be part of what is already the most unique offense in the sport, with its multiple quarterbacks on pretty much every play.
Besides, a week from Saturday will be here soon enough.
In the meantime, you can watch the next 1,000 games on TV next weekend.
Friday, September 1, 2017
More Opening Days
Well, if you go back pretty much exactly 12 years to the day, you can find a picture of Miss TigerBlog and her friend Wiki on the first day of kindergarten.
They were at the same bus stop, two little wide-eyed girls getting on the school bus for the first time. In their elementary school, kindergarten kids wear a little pin on their clothes for the first few days with their name and teacher's name, in case they get lost. It's cute.
Each year since on the first day of school, MTB and Wiki stood next to each other for a picture. Every single year. Even through middle school, when they first learned to roll their eyes. And all the way through high school, even though the idea of taking yet another picture was "sooooooo embarrassing."
Yesterday was the last of those pictures. It was the first day of senior year, and the two of them stood next to each other yet again, for the last of the first day of school pictures. It was nice, and it was a tad bittersweet.
Unlike the five year olds who got on the bus all those years ago, MTB and Wiki posed for their picture and then got into their cars and drove off to school. Times change. And goes by quickly.
One day you're in kindergarten. The next you're a high school senior. At least there are all those pictures as a reminder.
So that was yesterday's opening day. Today's opening day is much more Princeton-centric.
The women's soccer team opened its season with a sweep last weekend against Monmouth and Villanova. This weekend the Tigers are at North Carolina State (tonight at 8) and at Wake Forest (Sunday at 1), both of whom are unbeaten and ranked in the top 20.
You can see both of those games, by the way, on ESPN3.
Ah, but TigerBlog is talking opening days today. And that applies to three other Princeton teams today and then another one tomorrow.
Of the four teams who are starting their seasons this weekend, three of them are doing it on the road. TB will start with them.
The men's soccer team is in Central New York this weekend for the, well, Central New York Classic. It starts today with a game at Syracuse at 3 and then concludes at Colgate Sunday at 4, if you happen to be in Central New York.
There are two things about Syracuse men's soccer that TigerBlog didn't realize before he read the story about the game. First, Syracuse is ranked eighth in the country. That's not all that stunning.
The other is. Princeton and Syracuse have never met in men's soccer before. Syracuse has been playing since 1920. Princeton has been playing since 1938. The two have never played before?
Of course it's not like Princeton and Colgate have gone at it every year either. This will be just the fourth time the Tigers and Raiders have played.
The first meeting between Princeton and Colgate was played in 2007. Where was that game played? It was played on Powers Field at Princeton Stadium, in the year when Lourie-Love Field was torn down and Roberts Stadium was built.
By the way, both Syracuse and Colgate are coming off of NCAA tournament appearances, so Princeton is really jumping into the deep end to start the season.
Speaking of jumping into pools, the men's water polo team starts the 2017 season at the Navy Invitational. The first game is tomorrow at 10:30, against Salem International.
Princeton, ranked 11th nationally in the preseason, also plays Fordham and La Salle tomorrow and then Navy Sunday.
The women's volleyball team begins its season today, four hours before the men's soccer team does, when it plays at Boston College at 11. Then it's North Texas at 5 and Bryant tomorrow at 2.
Princeton has won two straight Ivy League women's volleyball championships. The 2016 season ended with a strong showing in the opening round of the NCAA tournament against BYU, and the 2017 Tigers are among the league favorites yet again.
The other team to get started today is the field hockey team. How's this for an opening weekend: the No. 1 team in the country Friday and then the defending NCAA champion Sunday.
Princeton, who reached the Final Four a year ago, takes on North Carolina, the No. 1-ranked team in the country, this afternoon at 4 on Bedford Field. Then, right after that, it's a game at Delaware Sunday at 1:30.
Delaware, by the way, beat Princeton in the semifinals a year ago before beating North Carolina in the championship game.
And, of course, it's no longer August. Once again, another August has zoomed by.
Now it's September. The campus already has a completely different feel to it.
Very, very shortly, classes will be underway. Then it will be August again. And then MTB and Wiki will be, wait, what? College students?
What the heck?
They were at the same bus stop, two little wide-eyed girls getting on the school bus for the first time. In their elementary school, kindergarten kids wear a little pin on their clothes for the first few days with their name and teacher's name, in case they get lost. It's cute.
Each year since on the first day of school, MTB and Wiki stood next to each other for a picture. Every single year. Even through middle school, when they first learned to roll their eyes. And all the way through high school, even though the idea of taking yet another picture was "sooooooo embarrassing."
Yesterday was the last of those pictures. It was the first day of senior year, and the two of them stood next to each other yet again, for the last of the first day of school pictures. It was nice, and it was a tad bittersweet.
Unlike the five year olds who got on the bus all those years ago, MTB and Wiki posed for their picture and then got into their cars and drove off to school. Times change. And goes by quickly.
One day you're in kindergarten. The next you're a high school senior. At least there are all those pictures as a reminder.
So that was yesterday's opening day. Today's opening day is much more Princeton-centric.
The women's soccer team opened its season with a sweep last weekend against Monmouth and Villanova. This weekend the Tigers are at North Carolina State (tonight at 8) and at Wake Forest (Sunday at 1), both of whom are unbeaten and ranked in the top 20.
You can see both of those games, by the way, on ESPN3.
Ah, but TigerBlog is talking opening days today. And that applies to three other Princeton teams today and then another one tomorrow.
Of the four teams who are starting their seasons this weekend, three of them are doing it on the road. TB will start with them.
The men's soccer team is in Central New York this weekend for the, well, Central New York Classic. It starts today with a game at Syracuse at 3 and then concludes at Colgate Sunday at 4, if you happen to be in Central New York.
There are two things about Syracuse men's soccer that TigerBlog didn't realize before he read the story about the game. First, Syracuse is ranked eighth in the country. That's not all that stunning.
The other is. Princeton and Syracuse have never met in men's soccer before. Syracuse has been playing since 1920. Princeton has been playing since 1938. The two have never played before?
Of course it's not like Princeton and Colgate have gone at it every year either. This will be just the fourth time the Tigers and Raiders have played.
The first meeting between Princeton and Colgate was played in 2007. Where was that game played? It was played on Powers Field at Princeton Stadium, in the year when Lourie-Love Field was torn down and Roberts Stadium was built.
By the way, both Syracuse and Colgate are coming off of NCAA tournament appearances, so Princeton is really jumping into the deep end to start the season.
Speaking of jumping into pools, the men's water polo team starts the 2017 season at the Navy Invitational. The first game is tomorrow at 10:30, against Salem International.
Princeton, ranked 11th nationally in the preseason, also plays Fordham and La Salle tomorrow and then Navy Sunday.
The women's volleyball team begins its season today, four hours before the men's soccer team does, when it plays at Boston College at 11. Then it's North Texas at 5 and Bryant tomorrow at 2.
Princeton has won two straight Ivy League women's volleyball championships. The 2016 season ended with a strong showing in the opening round of the NCAA tournament against BYU, and the 2017 Tigers are among the league favorites yet again.
The other team to get started today is the field hockey team. How's this for an opening weekend: the No. 1 team in the country Friday and then the defending NCAA champion Sunday.
Princeton, who reached the Final Four a year ago, takes on North Carolina, the No. 1-ranked team in the country, this afternoon at 4 on Bedford Field. Then, right after that, it's a game at Delaware Sunday at 1:30.
Delaware, by the way, beat Princeton in the semifinals a year ago before beating North Carolina in the championship game.
And, of course, it's no longer August. Once again, another August has zoomed by.
Now it's September. The campus already has a completely different feel to it.
Very, very shortly, classes will be underway. Then it will be August again. And then MTB and Wiki will be, wait, what? College students?
What the heck?
Thursday, August 31, 2017
Swoosh Day
TigerBlog heard from Scott Jurgens yesterday.
He thanked TB for the mention yesterday, about he and another former Princeton Athletics staffer, Mary Gleason, have been dealing with Hurricane Harvey.
TigerBlog asked Scott if the rain had finally stopped, and he said yes. Then he gave one of the best lines TB has ever heard. Here was the actual text from Scott:
"It's funny that last week we were not supposed to look at the sun and now we have never been so happy to see it."
Doesn't that sum everything up pretty much perfectly? TB really hopes Scott came up with that himself. Regardless, it's nice to see that the sun has come out down there.
That's not really what TigerBlog wanted to talk about today. In fact, anything that TB would talk about pales in comparison to what's going on in Houston, so he feels a little guilty talking about something that doesn't measure up, like what happened around here yesterday.
It was Nike day, the day when athletic department staff is issued its annual gear for the coming academic year.
Yes, it's a nice perk of working here. To TigerBlog, it represents a lot more than just that, though.
He's written about this before. Actually, he's written these exact words before:
The effect off the Nike deal on all of Princeton Athletics has been nothing short of extraordinary. What started out as a bit of a perk has turned into the single best element of what has come to be know around here as "overt pride," something that stretches across every coach, athlete and staff member of the department - and even outside the department.
It's still true.
When TigerBlog first started working here, there were different color oranges, there were different brands, there were different everything. And it led to something that he used to see all the time and almost never sees anymore - the sight of Princeton athletes on this campus wearing gear from other colleges.
TB absolutely hated that.
Now, Princeton's teams look like teams. They look uniform. They wear the same colors, with the same designs. They have the same fonts.
It sounds so simple, but it's a huge thing. It leads to feeling like you're part of something larger than just your spot on your team. It leads to being part of the larger Princeton Athletics family.
It leads to feeling proud.
And that's a great thing.
TigerBlog firmly believes that the uniform look that Princeton teams have, on their teams and across the department, has a positive impact on the field. Maybe it doesn't make the difference in the final moments of a close game, but in general, TB thinks that an athletic department works better when everyone feels that they are fully invested in it.
For TigerBlog, that understanding means more than the new gear itself, though he certainly appreciates what he gets.
With yesterday's allotment, TB was given the choice between a hat or a visor. He went with the hat. He never understood the whole visor thing.
It doesn't cover your whole head, for one thing. This becomes an even bigger deal if, like TigerBlog, it's possible that your hair has thinned just the slightest on top.
Also, it's like one of those winter jackets that has no sleeves. Why do people get those?
The new sneakers are also great. They're gray, with black laces. TigerBlog has a pair like that from two years ago that are pretty beaten up, but the gray does stay cleaner than white.
TigerBlog, by the way, has not bought a pair of sneakers in 25 years or so.
The men's water polo team opens its season this weekend in a tournament at Navy, which is, by the way, the alma mater of Princeton head coach Luis Nicolao. The members of the team came in yesterday for their head shots, following the parade of the other fall teams who have already been here.
Each member of the team came in wearing a black Nike longsleeve dri-fit with a white Swoosh, a white P and white lettering of "water polo." They looked exactly how a team is supposed to look.
You know that carries over on the field, or in their case, the pool.
He thanked TB for the mention yesterday, about he and another former Princeton Athletics staffer, Mary Gleason, have been dealing with Hurricane Harvey.
TigerBlog asked Scott if the rain had finally stopped, and he said yes. Then he gave one of the best lines TB has ever heard. Here was the actual text from Scott:
"It's funny that last week we were not supposed to look at the sun and now we have never been so happy to see it."
Doesn't that sum everything up pretty much perfectly? TB really hopes Scott came up with that himself. Regardless, it's nice to see that the sun has come out down there.
That's not really what TigerBlog wanted to talk about today. In fact, anything that TB would talk about pales in comparison to what's going on in Houston, so he feels a little guilty talking about something that doesn't measure up, like what happened around here yesterday.
It was Nike day, the day when athletic department staff is issued its annual gear for the coming academic year.
Yes, it's a nice perk of working here. To TigerBlog, it represents a lot more than just that, though.
He's written about this before. Actually, he's written these exact words before:
The effect off the Nike deal on all of Princeton Athletics has been nothing short of extraordinary. What started out as a bit of a perk has turned into the single best element of what has come to be know around here as "overt pride," something that stretches across every coach, athlete and staff member of the department - and even outside the department.
It's still true.
When TigerBlog first started working here, there were different color oranges, there were different brands, there were different everything. And it led to something that he used to see all the time and almost never sees anymore - the sight of Princeton athletes on this campus wearing gear from other colleges.
TB absolutely hated that.
Now, Princeton's teams look like teams. They look uniform. They wear the same colors, with the same designs. They have the same fonts.
It sounds so simple, but it's a huge thing. It leads to feeling like you're part of something larger than just your spot on your team. It leads to being part of the larger Princeton Athletics family.
It leads to feeling proud.
And that's a great thing.
TigerBlog firmly believes that the uniform look that Princeton teams have, on their teams and across the department, has a positive impact on the field. Maybe it doesn't make the difference in the final moments of a close game, but in general, TB thinks that an athletic department works better when everyone feels that they are fully invested in it.
For TigerBlog, that understanding means more than the new gear itself, though he certainly appreciates what he gets.
With yesterday's allotment, TB was given the choice between a hat or a visor. He went with the hat. He never understood the whole visor thing.
It doesn't cover your whole head, for one thing. This becomes an even bigger deal if, like TigerBlog, it's possible that your hair has thinned just the slightest on top.
Also, it's like one of those winter jackets that has no sleeves. Why do people get those?
The new sneakers are also great. They're gray, with black laces. TigerBlog has a pair like that from two years ago that are pretty beaten up, but the gray does stay cleaner than white.
TigerBlog, by the way, has not bought a pair of sneakers in 25 years or so.
The men's water polo team opens its season this weekend in a tournament at Navy, which is, by the way, the alma mater of Princeton head coach Luis Nicolao. The members of the team came in yesterday for their head shots, following the parade of the other fall teams who have already been here.
Each member of the team came in wearing a black Nike longsleeve dri-fit with a white Swoosh, a white P and white lettering of "water polo." They looked exactly how a team is supposed to look.
You know that carries over on the field, or in their case, the pool.
Wednesday, August 30, 2017
Dealing With Harvey
TigerBlog read the other day that more than nine trillion gallons of water had fallen on the greater Houston area as a result of Hurricane Harvey.
He can't remember ever reading about a storm in terms of the gallons of water that fell, so he's not sure where other major rainfalls end up, or even an average rain, like the one that fell in Princeton yesterday.
He did a search for it, and what it said was that one inch of rain that falls over one acre of land brings with it 27,154 gallons of water. If you want to factor that out to nine trillion, it gives you a sense of what's going on down there.
And actually that was a few days ago. The rainfall has pretty much doubled since then.
The pictures from the flooding there have been horrific. The stories of the loss of life have been even more tragic. The pictures of the rescue efforts, on the other hand, have been nothing short of heroic.
There have been shots of parks or roads before the rain and since it started, and they hardly look like the same place. TigerBlog has experienced flooding around here at various times, but nothing remotely close to what's going on down there now.
TigerBlog reachd out to Scott Jurgens and Mary Gleason the other day, to see how they were doing. Scott used to be the marketing director here at Princeton and, after stops at East Carolina and Montana State, now has the same position at Rice, in Houston. Mary is a former Princeton women's basketball assistant coach, who would become the head coach at Houston Baptist and now is a high school coach in the area.
TigerBlog has never been on a motorcycle. The closest he's come is one of those Vespas, which Mary owned when she coached here, back when Richard Barron was the head coach. She took TB for a ride one day, and which led to this conversation between her and a panicked TigerBlog:
TB: "How fast is this thing going? 70? 80?"
Mary: "22."
As far as Scott and transportation when he was here, he went with a blue car that, as TB recalls, was missing a door or something. Maybe not a door, but it was pretty beaten up.
Both Scott and Mary have been lucky, since they've been pretty removed from the major flooding. Mary's brother Joe works for a TV station down there as a sports producer, and he did a live remote from his flooded house on television that enabled him and his family to be rescued.
You can read about that HERE.
As for Scott, he and his dog Barnaby are also safe. He's actually been able to get out and around a little, getting to work. And has taken pictures of flooded areas. Scott. Not Barnaby.
It's hard for TigerBlog to believe that there is a dog anywhere who's ever been photographed more than Barnaby has, ever since Scott got him as a rescue while he was still at Princeton. Pretty much every day there's another picture on Scott's Twitter of the dog. TB is pretty sure he's seen Barnaby actually roll his eyes at the idea of getting another picture taken.
Scott and Mary were Jadwin Gym regulars for awhile, though they didn't overlap. Mary left just before Scott arrived back in 2007, and then Scott left in 2011.
Mary is the all-time leader in three-pointers made at SMU, so she was a high draft pick in lunchtime basketball when she played. Scott? He, well, he has a heart of gold, a really strong work ethic and a great sense of humor. TB can't remember ever seeing him shoot a basketball, though he assume he isn't very good at it.
TigerBlog is glad they're doing well down there. Hopefully the waters recede, and the long process of cleaning up and getting life back to normal there can get underway.
And it was nice to check with both of them. TigerBlog mentioned that Richard Barron, the head coach when Mary was an assistant, had stopped by a few days ago, and Mary mentioned the health problems that he's had, and how his wife, former Princeton softball player and then coach Maureen is a saint. That was obvious.
TigerBlog hasn't really talked to Mary much through the years. He's tried to stay more in touch with Scott, who will text every now and then and ask TigerBlog how it's going, always calling him "my friend."
TB is happy for Scott that he's at a place like Rice. He just hopes the weather gets better there soon.
As he says, it was nice to hear from them.
Hopefully, next time it won't be to check and see if they're in the heart of an epic, and very much life threatening, flood.
He can't remember ever reading about a storm in terms of the gallons of water that fell, so he's not sure where other major rainfalls end up, or even an average rain, like the one that fell in Princeton yesterday.
He did a search for it, and what it said was that one inch of rain that falls over one acre of land brings with it 27,154 gallons of water. If you want to factor that out to nine trillion, it gives you a sense of what's going on down there.
And actually that was a few days ago. The rainfall has pretty much doubled since then.
The pictures from the flooding there have been horrific. The stories of the loss of life have been even more tragic. The pictures of the rescue efforts, on the other hand, have been nothing short of heroic.
There have been shots of parks or roads before the rain and since it started, and they hardly look like the same place. TigerBlog has experienced flooding around here at various times, but nothing remotely close to what's going on down there now.
TigerBlog reachd out to Scott Jurgens and Mary Gleason the other day, to see how they were doing. Scott used to be the marketing director here at Princeton and, after stops at East Carolina and Montana State, now has the same position at Rice, in Houston. Mary is a former Princeton women's basketball assistant coach, who would become the head coach at Houston Baptist and now is a high school coach in the area.
TigerBlog has never been on a motorcycle. The closest he's come is one of those Vespas, which Mary owned when she coached here, back when Richard Barron was the head coach. She took TB for a ride one day, and which led to this conversation between her and a panicked TigerBlog:
TB: "How fast is this thing going? 70? 80?"
Mary: "22."
As far as Scott and transportation when he was here, he went with a blue car that, as TB recalls, was missing a door or something. Maybe not a door, but it was pretty beaten up.
Both Scott and Mary have been lucky, since they've been pretty removed from the major flooding. Mary's brother Joe works for a TV station down there as a sports producer, and he did a live remote from his flooded house on television that enabled him and his family to be rescued.
You can read about that HERE.
As for Scott, he and his dog Barnaby are also safe. He's actually been able to get out and around a little, getting to work. And has taken pictures of flooded areas. Scott. Not Barnaby.
It's hard for TigerBlog to believe that there is a dog anywhere who's ever been photographed more than Barnaby has, ever since Scott got him as a rescue while he was still at Princeton. Pretty much every day there's another picture on Scott's Twitter of the dog. TB is pretty sure he's seen Barnaby actually roll his eyes at the idea of getting another picture taken.
Scott and Mary were Jadwin Gym regulars for awhile, though they didn't overlap. Mary left just before Scott arrived back in 2007, and then Scott left in 2011.
Mary is the all-time leader in three-pointers made at SMU, so she was a high draft pick in lunchtime basketball when she played. Scott? He, well, he has a heart of gold, a really strong work ethic and a great sense of humor. TB can't remember ever seeing him shoot a basketball, though he assume he isn't very good at it.
TigerBlog is glad they're doing well down there. Hopefully the waters recede, and the long process of cleaning up and getting life back to normal there can get underway.
And it was nice to check with both of them. TigerBlog mentioned that Richard Barron, the head coach when Mary was an assistant, had stopped by a few days ago, and Mary mentioned the health problems that he's had, and how his wife, former Princeton softball player and then coach Maureen is a saint. That was obvious.
TigerBlog hasn't really talked to Mary much through the years. He's tried to stay more in touch with Scott, who will text every now and then and ask TigerBlog how it's going, always calling him "my friend."
TB is happy for Scott that he's at a place like Rice. He just hopes the weather gets better there soon.
As he says, it was nice to hear from them.
Hopefully, next time it won't be to check and see if they're in the heart of an epic, and very much life threatening, flood.
Tuesday, August 29, 2017
"I Do. For GoPrincetonTigers.Com, This Is Cody Chrusciel"
If you're reading this, then odds are good you've heard Cody Chrusciel's voice.
Probably more than once.
Cody, in his two years at Princeton, has been the broadcaster for Princeton football and men's lacrosse on the radio and then basically every other sport that Princeton has on the Ivy League Network. Whenever someone is needed to fill in, on jumps Cody.
When TigerBlog interviewed Cody for his position in multimedia, he came away impressed with his experience, ability and references. And voice. Definitely his voice.
TigerBlog has done a lot of radio and public address. He uses different voices for both, and neither is exactly his every day speaking voice, if that makes sense.
TB was talking the other day to Tom McCarthy, the former Princeton announcer and now the TV voice of the Philadelphia Phillies, as well as the NFL and NCAA basketball. Tom's regular speaking voice isn't exactly his broadcasting voice.
Cody, though, talks like a broadcaster at all times. It's unique. It's like TB or McCarthy are imitating broadcasters or anything. It's most about elongating how you speak or the cadence of your voice that changes a bit.
Not with Cody. He's always the same.
And so there was Cody, Friday night, as he prepared to marry longtime girlfriend Justine Nothstein, who is now Justine Chruschiel. When it comes time to exchange vows, your average groom speaks with a soft, low, serious voice.
When it was Cody's turn, he used the same Cody voice that you hear all the time. He might as well have said "Holuba on the tackle, and I do" or "I do. For goprincetontigers.com, this is Cody Chrusciel."
It was very charming.
TigerBlog wishes Cody and Justine nothing but the best. They had a very nice wedding. TB was happy to be a small part of it.
Of course, Cody scheduled his wedding for the same exact moment as the first athletic event of the 2017-18 season, the women's soccer team's 3-0 win over Monmouth Friday night. The guest list - for the wedding, not the game - included John Bullis, Princeton's other multimedia person.
This led to the obvious question of "how is the women's soccer game going to be videostreamed?" You know, if Cody was getting married and Bullis was there to be part of it, who would be doing the streaming for the Ivy League Network.
By the way, for 2017-18, it's now the Ivy League Network, not the Ivy League Digital Network.
Most broadcasts are set up well in advance and can then be trouble-shot remotely should something come up. And that's exactly what happened Friday night.
The wedding was supposed to start at 6:30 but began a bit late. The game was at 7. Bullis was monitoring the ILN feed and found that there was a small problem. It wasn't working.
In fact, Bullis was trying to solve the problem from his phone as the wedding processional made its way down the aisle. TigerBlog suggested that Bullis simply grab Cody as he came by and ask him if he had any ideas. Knowing Cody like TB does, he would have simply paused, fixed it and then gotten married.
In the end, Bullis was able to solve it (something about finding the compatible cord) just around the time the officiant was comparing true love and dog ownership. It had something to do with Cody and Justine's dog, who was represented there by a cardboard cutout. It was cute.
Oh, and in addition to fixing the ILN issue from about 30 miles away, Bullis also turned out to be quite the entertaining dancer. He's pretty good at it, and he has a certain degree of, let's call it, flair on the floor.
The Office of Athletic Communications has seven people on staff. Cody, Bullis, TigerBlog and four others who cover sports and write the stories that you read on goprincetontigers.com.
As Cody was getting married, there were six of them there, with the seventh - Andrew Borders - having to cover the women's soccer game. During the wedding ceremony itself, there was back and forth about making sure a videostream was working.
That's how it is in the athletic communications world.
Princeton is lucky. It has a really good group of people who are dedicated to what they do.
So congratulations to Cody and Justine. They had a really nice wedding Friday night, on a really nice night.
All that's left is to have a great life together.
Probably more than once.
Cody, in his two years at Princeton, has been the broadcaster for Princeton football and men's lacrosse on the radio and then basically every other sport that Princeton has on the Ivy League Network. Whenever someone is needed to fill in, on jumps Cody.
When TigerBlog interviewed Cody for his position in multimedia, he came away impressed with his experience, ability and references. And voice. Definitely his voice.
TigerBlog has done a lot of radio and public address. He uses different voices for both, and neither is exactly his every day speaking voice, if that makes sense.
TB was talking the other day to Tom McCarthy, the former Princeton announcer and now the TV voice of the Philadelphia Phillies, as well as the NFL and NCAA basketball. Tom's regular speaking voice isn't exactly his broadcasting voice.
Cody, though, talks like a broadcaster at all times. It's unique. It's like TB or McCarthy are imitating broadcasters or anything. It's most about elongating how you speak or the cadence of your voice that changes a bit.
Not with Cody. He's always the same.
And so there was Cody, Friday night, as he prepared to marry longtime girlfriend Justine Nothstein, who is now Justine Chruschiel. When it comes time to exchange vows, your average groom speaks with a soft, low, serious voice.
When it was Cody's turn, he used the same Cody voice that you hear all the time. He might as well have said "Holuba on the tackle, and I do" or "I do. For goprincetontigers.com, this is Cody Chrusciel."
It was very charming.
TigerBlog wishes Cody and Justine nothing but the best. They had a very nice wedding. TB was happy to be a small part of it.
Of course, Cody scheduled his wedding for the same exact moment as the first athletic event of the 2017-18 season, the women's soccer team's 3-0 win over Monmouth Friday night. The guest list - for the wedding, not the game - included John Bullis, Princeton's other multimedia person.
This led to the obvious question of "how is the women's soccer game going to be videostreamed?" You know, if Cody was getting married and Bullis was there to be part of it, who would be doing the streaming for the Ivy League Network.
By the way, for 2017-18, it's now the Ivy League Network, not the Ivy League Digital Network.
Most broadcasts are set up well in advance and can then be trouble-shot remotely should something come up. And that's exactly what happened Friday night.
The wedding was supposed to start at 6:30 but began a bit late. The game was at 7. Bullis was monitoring the ILN feed and found that there was a small problem. It wasn't working.
In fact, Bullis was trying to solve the problem from his phone as the wedding processional made its way down the aisle. TigerBlog suggested that Bullis simply grab Cody as he came by and ask him if he had any ideas. Knowing Cody like TB does, he would have simply paused, fixed it and then gotten married.
In the end, Bullis was able to solve it (something about finding the compatible cord) just around the time the officiant was comparing true love and dog ownership. It had something to do with Cody and Justine's dog, who was represented there by a cardboard cutout. It was cute.
Oh, and in addition to fixing the ILN issue from about 30 miles away, Bullis also turned out to be quite the entertaining dancer. He's pretty good at it, and he has a certain degree of, let's call it, flair on the floor.
The Office of Athletic Communications has seven people on staff. Cody, Bullis, TigerBlog and four others who cover sports and write the stories that you read on goprincetontigers.com.
As Cody was getting married, there were six of them there, with the seventh - Andrew Borders - having to cover the women's soccer game. During the wedding ceremony itself, there was back and forth about making sure a videostream was working.
That's how it is in the athletic communications world.
Princeton is lucky. It has a really good group of people who are dedicated to what they do.
So congratulations to Cody and Justine. They had a really nice wedding Friday night, on a really nice night.
All that's left is to have a great life together.
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