Is 32 points, 19 rebounds, six blocked shots and six assists a good night for a basketball player?
How about if that line came in a game that brought a championship to end a perfect season? And how about if the player whose line it was happened to be a senior?
Yeah, that's not too shabby, right?
Want some hints as to whose line that was?
Hint 1 - the player has a strong connection to Princeton basketball.
Hint 2 - it was a 1993 high school state championship game in Massachusetts.
Hint 3 - the same player had a team-high 15 points in the 1992 state final, bringing the team's two-year record to 50-0.
Give up?
Those numbers belong to Carla Berube, the head coach of women's basketball at Princeton. Berube put those numbers up at Oxford High School in Western Massachusetts, a team she led to a pair of state titles.
Her team almost won three straight championships, but her sophomore year ended with a semifinal loss to Southwick High School. Who was Southwick's best player that year? Rebecca Lobo.
Berube and Lobo would be teammates at UConn, where Berube would add another perfect season her sophomore year, helping the Huskies go 35-0 while winning the NCAA championship.
Berube mentioned her high school coach, John Doldoorian Jr., in yesterday's edition of "Conversations With Carla," the weekly podcast that she and TigerBlog do (you can listen to it HERE). She speaks with great admiration for her high school coach, the one who coached her before Geno Auriemma did at UConn.
TigerBlog has heard a lot of coaches here talk about a lot of high school coaches through the years. The basic premise is that having a great high school coach gives young athletes such a huge advantage.
On the other hand, TB also heard an unnamed Princeton coach say this about an unnamed Princeton athlete: "He could have been really good. His high school coach should be taken out into the town square and flogged."
Berube talked about how her high school coach was the first to really stress defense, something her college coach would as well. From the first day she was hired at Princeton, Berube has spoken about that end of the floor, and her first Princeton team is clearly buying in.
The Tigers are off to an 8-1 start under Berube heading into tomorrow's game against Penn State at home (tip off at 3). Princeton won its first four, lost in overtime at Iowa, and has won four more since.
The game tomorrow gives Princeton another shot at a Big 10 team.
Princeton is allowing 53.2 points per game, which is 16th-best in Division I. The Tigers also lead the Ivy League in blocked shots per game and steals per game.
Princeton has played nine game this season. Of those nine, Princeton has held its opponent to 53 or fewer points six time, including four straight. Also, there have been four opponents who have been held in the 40s, including three of the last four.
Couple that with the fact that Princeton is 18th in Division I in fewest turnovers per game, and you have the foundation of a winning formula.
What's even more impressive is that Bella Alarie has been on the court less than 40 percent of Princeton's minutes so far this year due to injury. There are six players on the team who have played more than Alarie has.
Alarie, of course, is the two-time reigning Ivy League Player of the Year and three-time first-team All-Ivy League selection. She was just named the Philadelphia Sportswriters Association Amateur Athlete of the Year, something you can read more about HERE.
Princeton follows its game against Penn State with games at Missouri and at St. Louis next week. After that it's a Dec. 29 game against New Hampshire in Jadwin Gym before the Ivy League opener at Penn on Jan. 11, followed by first semester exams.
Penn, by the way, is another really strong defensive team, one that actually allows fewer points per game than Princeton has to date.
Princeton and Penn have dominated Ivy women's basketball this decade. This year figures to be a great Ivy race, with seven of the eight teams above .500 right now.
In the meantime, it's Princeton and Penn State tomorrow on Carril Court. Once again, tip is at 3.
Friday, December 13, 2019
Thursday, December 12, 2019
Headliners
Back when TigerBlog was in the newspaper business, he spent 95 percent of his time covering games and five percent of his time working inside getting the paper out.
His favorite parts about working inside were 1) writing headlines, 2) the excitement of meeting different deadlines for different editions and 3) going out to eat after midnight in the Chambersburg section of Trenton.
Writing headlines can be as challenging as writing stories. Even today, TB sometimes takes longer to come up with the headline each day than he does writing the entire entry.
TB can't remember how many times people gave him a hard time for the headline on one of his stories in the paper, even though they were written by someone on the copy desk. Conversely, he would write headlines on other people's stories, and presumably, other people would blame them for not liking the headlines that TB had come up with.
For a newspaper, the headline has be a certain size, over a certain number of columns, which in turn limits how many characters you can use. This can impact creativity.
TigerBlog is pretty sure he's mentioned this before, but he can still remember his two favorite headlines. One was after the Philadelphia Eagles were having trouble with their kicking game and brought in two free agents for tryouts without signing either. The other was when the Philadelphia Phillies were in Pittsburgh and outfielder Lenny Dykstra had to come back to have emergency surgery.
TB's headlines:
"Eagles' kicking circus auditions two new clowns" and "Dykstra's appendix out at home"
The second one was better.
TB's former colleague Kurt Kehl used to be the designer of the football game program. He used to love when the headline matched the main picture that was used, like the time that TB wrote a story about All-Ivy defensive end Darrell Oliveira.
For that story, there was a picture of Oliveira as he swatted the ball away as a quarterback threw it. The headline was "No Passing."
TB has always been fascinated by the idea that every game starts with an endless number of possible headlines and then ends up with just one at the end.
Sometimes, when your team loses, it's the headline you hate to have to see (or worse, write).
The headline in the Trenton Times after the 1996 Ivy League men's basketball playoff between Princeton and Penn could have gone a million different ways, but it ended up being this: "Princeton Wins, Carril Retires."
For goprincetontigers.com or here at the blog, headline writing is a little easier, since you can adjust the number of characters pretty much however you want. It also affords another arena to be creative.
There are six stories that rotate through the main page of GPT at any given time. At one point yesterday, three of the six headlines featured the word "named" in them.
At this time of year, that's a good sign. The "named" in each case referred to Princeton athletes who had been "named" all-something.
Two of them were field hockey related. The other was women's volleyball.
For women's volleyball, Maggie O'Connell was named to the All-Region team. You can read that HERE.
In field hockey, the coaching staff earned a collective honor, being named the Mid-Atlantic Region staff of the year. You can read about that one HERE.
There haven't been a lot of coaching staffs who have had to deal with what Princeton's field hockey staff did this year, as head coach Carla Tagliente gave birth about two-thirds of the way through the season. The rest of the staff made sure the team didn't skip a beat, winning the Ivy League championship and then three NCAA tournament games to reach the national final before falling to North Carolina.
Of course, you can't have that kind of season without having great players. Princeton certainly had that.
In fact, three of them were named All-Americans: Clara Roth on the first team and Julianna Tornetta and Hannah Davey on the second team.
You can read about them HERE.
Anyway, the point of all this is that when you see the word "named" in a headline, it's usually a pretty good sign.
Actually, as TB goes back and looks, the last five headlines on the field hockey page all have the word "named" in it.
That's how you know you had a really good year.
His favorite parts about working inside were 1) writing headlines, 2) the excitement of meeting different deadlines for different editions and 3) going out to eat after midnight in the Chambersburg section of Trenton.
Writing headlines can be as challenging as writing stories. Even today, TB sometimes takes longer to come up with the headline each day than he does writing the entire entry.
TB can't remember how many times people gave him a hard time for the headline on one of his stories in the paper, even though they were written by someone on the copy desk. Conversely, he would write headlines on other people's stories, and presumably, other people would blame them for not liking the headlines that TB had come up with.
For a newspaper, the headline has be a certain size, over a certain number of columns, which in turn limits how many characters you can use. This can impact creativity.
TigerBlog is pretty sure he's mentioned this before, but he can still remember his two favorite headlines. One was after the Philadelphia Eagles were having trouble with their kicking game and brought in two free agents for tryouts without signing either. The other was when the Philadelphia Phillies were in Pittsburgh and outfielder Lenny Dykstra had to come back to have emergency surgery.
TB's headlines:
"Eagles' kicking circus auditions two new clowns" and "Dykstra's appendix out at home"
The second one was better.
TB's former colleague Kurt Kehl used to be the designer of the football game program. He used to love when the headline matched the main picture that was used, like the time that TB wrote a story about All-Ivy defensive end Darrell Oliveira.
For that story, there was a picture of Oliveira as he swatted the ball away as a quarterback threw it. The headline was "No Passing."
TB has always been fascinated by the idea that every game starts with an endless number of possible headlines and then ends up with just one at the end.
Sometimes, when your team loses, it's the headline you hate to have to see (or worse, write).
The headline in the Trenton Times after the 1996 Ivy League men's basketball playoff between Princeton and Penn could have gone a million different ways, but it ended up being this: "Princeton Wins, Carril Retires."
For goprincetontigers.com or here at the blog, headline writing is a little easier, since you can adjust the number of characters pretty much however you want. It also affords another arena to be creative.
There are six stories that rotate through the main page of GPT at any given time. At one point yesterday, three of the six headlines featured the word "named" in them.
At this time of year, that's a good sign. The "named" in each case referred to Princeton athletes who had been "named" all-something.
Two of them were field hockey related. The other was women's volleyball.
For women's volleyball, Maggie O'Connell was named to the All-Region team. You can read that HERE.
In field hockey, the coaching staff earned a collective honor, being named the Mid-Atlantic Region staff of the year. You can read about that one HERE.
There haven't been a lot of coaching staffs who have had to deal with what Princeton's field hockey staff did this year, as head coach Carla Tagliente gave birth about two-thirds of the way through the season. The rest of the staff made sure the team didn't skip a beat, winning the Ivy League championship and then three NCAA tournament games to reach the national final before falling to North Carolina.
Of course, you can't have that kind of season without having great players. Princeton certainly had that.
In fact, three of them were named All-Americans: Clara Roth on the first team and Julianna Tornetta and Hannah Davey on the second team.
You can read about them HERE.
Anyway, the point of all this is that when you see the word "named" in a headline, it's usually a pretty good sign.
Actually, as TB goes back and looks, the last five headlines on the field hockey page all have the word "named" in it.
That's how you know you had a really good year.
Wednesday, December 11, 2019
Honoring Jeremiah Tyler And Andrew Griffin
TigerBlog was at the corner of 41st Street and 10th Avenue in Manhattan Monday afternoon when he saw something he'd never seen before.
A truck made a wide turn onto 41st but couldn't quite complete it without taking out the light pole, so the driver tried to back up and then finish the turn. The car behind the truck never budged, and the truck's rear hit the car's hood.
The driver of the car did nothing. The truck then tried to pull up and turn again, and when it did, the car behind it pulled up as well, as opposed to getting out of the truck's way. Again the truck had to back up, and again it struck the car.
If you don't believe TB, you can ask Princeton's multimedia director Cody Chrusciel, who was driving while TB was in the passenger seat. The person in the car next to theirs tried to yell at the driver of the car that was being struck to watch out, to no avail. Then in typical New York City fashion, he switched from offering concern to offering scorn of the four-letter variety, while laughing at the same time.
Cody finally was able to get across 10th Avenue and head towards the Lincoln Tunnel and then get in front of the car that was hit, and it's hood was pretty much caved in. And yet still the driver did nothing. The truck driver even motioned to TB and Cody, thinking it was their car that he'd hit, because he wanted to get out and exchange information.
Then the other car went into the tunnel and continued on its way. TB suggested Cody follow the driver to find out why she had never pulled over (he was only kidding on that one).
It was a lot of time in the car with Cody Monday, since it took three hours to get from Princeton to the Hilton on 54th Street and then two hours to get back.
It was worth it though, to be in New York for the Bushnell Cup presentation and to support Jeremiah Tyler, the Princeton junior linebacker who was one of two finalists for Ivy Defensive Player of the Year. Dartmouth's Jack Traynor was the winner after the senior's third first-team All-Ivy League selection, while Yale quarterback Kurt Rawlings was the Offensive winner.
Being the runner-up takes nothing away from the extraordinary season that Tyler had. He led the Ivy League in tackles for loss and was second for Princeton in total tackles while earning unanimous first-team All-Ivy League honors.
The event in New York was a very nice one, with all eight league Directors of Athletics and head coaches in attendance. Princeton was also represented by a large group of Tyler's teammates, who also made the trek into the city to be there for Tyler.
Princeton has had the most Bushnell Cup winners (12) of any school in the league. That's an impressive number.
Rawlings, by the way, was Yale's 11th winner, which ties the Bulldogs with Harvard for second behind the Tigers.
The presentation of the Bushnell Cup came about an hour after the announcement of the CoSIDA Football Academic All-America team. Princeton was represented there as well, as senior wide receiver Andrew Griffin - a computer science major - was named to the first team.
This isn't an easy accomplishment to pull off.
As TB said, Princeton has had 12 Bushnell Cup winners. Princeton has also had 15 NFL draft choices and 44 overall professional football players, not to mention 72 first-team All-Americas.
How many national first-team Academic All-Americas has Princeton had?
Griffin is the fifth.
Here's the complete list:
Richard Sandler, 1968
Kevin Fox, 1976
Kevin Guthrie, 1982 and 1983
Alex Sierk, 1998
Andrew Griffin, 2019
For Griffin, it was the culmination of a remarkable career.
He spent his first three years as a backup wide receiver and special teams player, stuck behind Jesper Horsted and Stephen Carlson, the all-time Princeton greats who were playing his position then and who are playing (and doing well) in the NFL now.
When he finally got his chance, Griffin made the most of it. He started all 10 games and made 34 receptions for 490 yards, and he was fifth in the Ivy League in TD receptions with six, including four against Bucknell to tie the Ivy League single-game record. Griffin won Princeton football's Richard Colman Award for outstanding scholarship.
He was voted to the District II All-Academic team and then put on the national ballot. When the team was announced, there he was.
He's an extremely impressive young man. Princeton head coach Bob Surace has called him "the kind of person you get in coaching to coach," which is about the best praise you can get.
So congratulations to both Tyler and Griffin.
They're both exactly what you want to see out of the athletes who represent you.
A truck made a wide turn onto 41st but couldn't quite complete it without taking out the light pole, so the driver tried to back up and then finish the turn. The car behind the truck never budged, and the truck's rear hit the car's hood.
The driver of the car did nothing. The truck then tried to pull up and turn again, and when it did, the car behind it pulled up as well, as opposed to getting out of the truck's way. Again the truck had to back up, and again it struck the car.
If you don't believe TB, you can ask Princeton's multimedia director Cody Chrusciel, who was driving while TB was in the passenger seat. The person in the car next to theirs tried to yell at the driver of the car that was being struck to watch out, to no avail. Then in typical New York City fashion, he switched from offering concern to offering scorn of the four-letter variety, while laughing at the same time.
Cody finally was able to get across 10th Avenue and head towards the Lincoln Tunnel and then get in front of the car that was hit, and it's hood was pretty much caved in. And yet still the driver did nothing. The truck driver even motioned to TB and Cody, thinking it was their car that he'd hit, because he wanted to get out and exchange information.
Then the other car went into the tunnel and continued on its way. TB suggested Cody follow the driver to find out why she had never pulled over (he was only kidding on that one).
It was a lot of time in the car with Cody Monday, since it took three hours to get from Princeton to the Hilton on 54th Street and then two hours to get back.
It was worth it though, to be in New York for the Bushnell Cup presentation and to support Jeremiah Tyler, the Princeton junior linebacker who was one of two finalists for Ivy Defensive Player of the Year. Dartmouth's Jack Traynor was the winner after the senior's third first-team All-Ivy League selection, while Yale quarterback Kurt Rawlings was the Offensive winner.
Being the runner-up takes nothing away from the extraordinary season that Tyler had. He led the Ivy League in tackles for loss and was second for Princeton in total tackles while earning unanimous first-team All-Ivy League honors.
The event in New York was a very nice one, with all eight league Directors of Athletics and head coaches in attendance. Princeton was also represented by a large group of Tyler's teammates, who also made the trek into the city to be there for Tyler.
Princeton has had the most Bushnell Cup winners (12) of any school in the league. That's an impressive number.
Rawlings, by the way, was Yale's 11th winner, which ties the Bulldogs with Harvard for second behind the Tigers.
The presentation of the Bushnell Cup came about an hour after the announcement of the CoSIDA Football Academic All-America team. Princeton was represented there as well, as senior wide receiver Andrew Griffin - a computer science major - was named to the first team.
This isn't an easy accomplishment to pull off.
As TB said, Princeton has had 12 Bushnell Cup winners. Princeton has also had 15 NFL draft choices and 44 overall professional football players, not to mention 72 first-team All-Americas.
How many national first-team Academic All-Americas has Princeton had?
Griffin is the fifth.
Here's the complete list:
Richard Sandler, 1968
Kevin Fox, 1976
Kevin Guthrie, 1982 and 1983
Alex Sierk, 1998
Andrew Griffin, 2019
For Griffin, it was the culmination of a remarkable career.
He spent his first three years as a backup wide receiver and special teams player, stuck behind Jesper Horsted and Stephen Carlson, the all-time Princeton greats who were playing his position then and who are playing (and doing well) in the NFL now.
When he finally got his chance, Griffin made the most of it. He started all 10 games and made 34 receptions for 490 yards, and he was fifth in the Ivy League in TD receptions with six, including four against Bucknell to tie the Ivy League single-game record. Griffin won Princeton football's Richard Colman Award for outstanding scholarship.
He was voted to the District II All-Academic team and then put on the national ballot. When the team was announced, there he was.
He's an extremely impressive young man. Princeton head coach Bob Surace has called him "the kind of person you get in coaching to coach," which is about the best praise you can get.
So congratulations to both Tyler and Griffin.
They're both exactly what you want to see out of the athletes who represent you.
Tuesday, December 10, 2019
Tripleheader Tuesday
Remember that Florida-Gulf Coast women's basketball team who came to Jadwin Gym back on Nov. 17?
Princeton won that game 67-53 despite having Bella Alarie for only 11 minutes due to injury.
So what's the big deal about that game now, more than three weeks later? Turns out that the game at Jadwin is the only loss for Florida-Gulf Coast, who is now 10-1 on the season, including a win over Notre Dame.
The Eagles are the second team out of the Top 25, in the "others receiving votes" category, in this week's AP poll. They're also ranked 15th in Division in RPI.
That's a pretty good win for the Tigers.
Oh, and guess who is ranked fifth in this weeks RPI? It's 7-1 Princeton.
The top five in RPI through Sunday's games are: Oregon State, Missouri State, UConn, Stanford and Princeton. The next five are: Louisville, DePaul, Creighton, Gonzaga and Northwestern.
Obviously those rankings will shake up considerably as the year goes along. Still, Princeton is clearly off to a good start and continues to be a major factor in the national conversation in women's basketball.
And, even more impressively, the Tigers are doing this against a tough schedule, and without having had Alarie for three games (and only a small part of the F-GC game). And Alarie, the two-time Ivy Player of the Year, isn't the only player who has missed time, including Abby Meyers, who missed the first four.
Despite that, Princeton is at 7-1, with only an overtime loss at Big Ten member Iowa in between the Tigers and an unbeaten start. They've done this under a first-year head coach, Carla Berube, and a new coaching staff.
Princeton is allowing just 56 points per game (leading the league in blocked shots and steals), and opponents are shooting 36 percent from the field and 29.7 percent from three. The Tigers are also getting better as games go along, outscoring opponents by an average of 15.5-14.8 in the first quarters and then an average of 18.4-13.3 in the other three quarters.
Most recently, Princeton went on a 19-3 run in the second half to defeat a very good Marist team 62-50. Princeton's constant has been its defense, with five of eight opponents held to 50 points or fewer and a sixth held to 53.
You next chance to see the Princeton women's basketball team is, of all days, today. In fact, it's a very busy day at Princeton, with home games in women's basketball, men's basketball and men's hockey.
Also, because of how the schedule is set, you can see at least some of all three. It's tripleheader Tuesday.
The women's basketball team hosts Hartford at 5, followed by the men's game against Monmouth at 8. In between, facing off at 7, will be the men's hockey team, who takes on American International.
Monmouth brings a 4-5 record into the men's game. The Hawks have played as many games in Florida and Kansas so far this year as they have in New Jersey.
The game tonight will be Monmouth's only game in a 24-day stretch.
Princeton's Jaelin Llewellyn is coming off a career-high 28 points in the Tigers' most recent game, an 82-76 loss at Drexel last Wednesday. Llewellyn and Richmond Arirguzoh have combined to average more than 31 points per game between them.
Both basketball teams have had freshmen who have come on strong of late.
The men have Tosan Evbuomwan, who played 13 total minutes with five points in the first three games. Since then, in the last four, he's averaged just about 25 minutes per game, with an average of 9.3 points per game (and three games in double figures).
For the women, it's been the emergence of Ellie Mitchell, who has played 57 of her 131 minutes in the last two games. That equates to an average of 28.5 in the last two after 12.3 in the first six. She also has 19 points and 27 rebounds in those two games, with 17 of those 27 on the offensive glass.
As for the men's hockey team, the game tonight matches the Tigers against the defending Atlantic Hockey champs. AIC a year ago reached the NCAA tournament, knocking off No. 1 seeded St. Cloud State in the first round before falling to Denver in the quarterfinals.
Princeton won that game 67-53 despite having Bella Alarie for only 11 minutes due to injury.
So what's the big deal about that game now, more than three weeks later? Turns out that the game at Jadwin is the only loss for Florida-Gulf Coast, who is now 10-1 on the season, including a win over Notre Dame.
The Eagles are the second team out of the Top 25, in the "others receiving votes" category, in this week's AP poll. They're also ranked 15th in Division in RPI.
That's a pretty good win for the Tigers.
Oh, and guess who is ranked fifth in this weeks RPI? It's 7-1 Princeton.
The top five in RPI through Sunday's games are: Oregon State, Missouri State, UConn, Stanford and Princeton. The next five are: Louisville, DePaul, Creighton, Gonzaga and Northwestern.
Obviously those rankings will shake up considerably as the year goes along. Still, Princeton is clearly off to a good start and continues to be a major factor in the national conversation in women's basketball.
And, even more impressively, the Tigers are doing this against a tough schedule, and without having had Alarie for three games (and only a small part of the F-GC game). And Alarie, the two-time Ivy Player of the Year, isn't the only player who has missed time, including Abby Meyers, who missed the first four.
Despite that, Princeton is at 7-1, with only an overtime loss at Big Ten member Iowa in between the Tigers and an unbeaten start. They've done this under a first-year head coach, Carla Berube, and a new coaching staff.
Princeton is allowing just 56 points per game (leading the league in blocked shots and steals), and opponents are shooting 36 percent from the field and 29.7 percent from three. The Tigers are also getting better as games go along, outscoring opponents by an average of 15.5-14.8 in the first quarters and then an average of 18.4-13.3 in the other three quarters.
Most recently, Princeton went on a 19-3 run in the second half to defeat a very good Marist team 62-50. Princeton's constant has been its defense, with five of eight opponents held to 50 points or fewer and a sixth held to 53.
You next chance to see the Princeton women's basketball team is, of all days, today. In fact, it's a very busy day at Princeton, with home games in women's basketball, men's basketball and men's hockey.
Also, because of how the schedule is set, you can see at least some of all three. It's tripleheader Tuesday.
The women's basketball team hosts Hartford at 5, followed by the men's game against Monmouth at 8. In between, facing off at 7, will be the men's hockey team, who takes on American International.
Monmouth brings a 4-5 record into the men's game. The Hawks have played as many games in Florida and Kansas so far this year as they have in New Jersey.
The game tonight will be Monmouth's only game in a 24-day stretch.
Princeton's Jaelin Llewellyn is coming off a career-high 28 points in the Tigers' most recent game, an 82-76 loss at Drexel last Wednesday. Llewellyn and Richmond Arirguzoh have combined to average more than 31 points per game between them.
Both basketball teams have had freshmen who have come on strong of late.
The men have Tosan Evbuomwan, who played 13 total minutes with five points in the first three games. Since then, in the last four, he's averaged just about 25 minutes per game, with an average of 9.3 points per game (and three games in double figures).
For the women, it's been the emergence of Ellie Mitchell, who has played 57 of her 131 minutes in the last two games. That equates to an average of 28.5 in the last two after 12.3 in the first six. She also has 19 points and 27 rebounds in those two games, with 17 of those 27 on the offensive glass.
As for the men's hockey team, the game tonight matches the Tigers against the defending Atlantic Hockey champs. AIC a year ago reached the NCAA tournament, knocking off No. 1 seeded St. Cloud State in the first round before falling to Denver in the quarterfinals.
Monday, December 9, 2019
A Wrestling Weekend To Remember
TigerBlog watched "The Irishman" on Netflix last week.
He spread it out over three days, in fact. He's not sure he could have made it through a movie that length in a movie theater, though he does remember when he saw "The Right Stuff" in the theater way back in the pre-Netflix days of 1984.
That movie, if you've never seen it, is about the Mercury astronauts. It runs 3:12, which is fine for a football game but not to sit still for a movie. Anyway, TigerBlog's friend Ed Mikus Jr. dragged him to see it, despite the fact that TB had no interest in a move that long.
It started at 8. At what TB thought was about 30 minutes later he looked at his watch, to see that it was actually 10:40. So maybe he could have done "The Irishman" in the theater.
Or not.
Here is his mini-review: Instead of watching "The Irishman" once, watch "Goodfellas" twice. Or better yet, watch "Goodfellas" once and "Dog Day Afternoon once." That way you get peak DeNiro, Pesci and Pacino - and it'll only take you about 60 minutes longer to do so.
Yeah. That about covers it.
TB also watched another movie this weekend, one that he'd seen a bunch of times before: "Almost Famous." Now that's a great movie, especially the scene where Russell talks to William's mother on the phone. There aren't too many scenes in any movie anywhere better than that one.
The movie is the story of an up-and-coming band that is just hitting it big. The name of the fictional band - modeled after "The Allman Brothers" - is "Stillwater."
As TB was watching the movie, the Princeton wrestling team was actually in Stillwater, taking on Oklahoma State. It was the start of an incredible weekend for the Tigers.
If you're interested in just results, then you can say the Tigers went 0-2. If you're interested in the big picture, then you can say that nobody who was part of the team this weekend will ever forget it.
The big picture is always so much better.
Princeton, ranked 12th nationally, began the weekend in the aforementioned Stillwater to wrestle against No. 9 Oklahoma State. The weekend then concluded back at Jadwin yesterday afternoon, against No. 1 Iowa.
Between the two matches, Princeton competed in front of about 6,000 fans.
And, by the way, the Tigers acquitted themselves quite well. They actually won more matches than Oklahoma State, but a forfeit led to an 18-15 OSU win.
Then, back in Jadwin - which happens to be 1,350 miles from Stillwater - Princeton fell 30-9 to the Hawkeyes. Even with that defeat though, Princeton put on a great show for the large community of New Jersey wrestling fans.
The entire weekend seemed like one huge match of nationally ranked wrestlers after another. There were bouts that could provide rematches in the NCAA finals if everything breaks right.
Princeton had three wrestlers who won both of their matches: Patrick Glory, the No. 4 wrestler at 125, Travis Stefanik, unranked at 184, and Quincy Monday, ranked ninth at 157.
All three defeated wrestlers ranked higher than they are.
Patrick Brucki, an All-America a year ago and the No. 2-ranked wrestler at 197, went 1-1 on the weekend, with a win over Oklahoma State's No. 6 Dakota Geer and a loss to Iowa's No. 3 Jacob Warner. That's a lot of intensity in a weekend, sort of like a mini-NCAA tournament.
Princeton is now off until the 19th, when it hosts 20th-ranked Rider. Princeton is the highest-ranked Ivy League and EIWA team, and there will some huge Ivy matches come the new year.
This weekend didn't affect any of that, but it was still an incredible experience. It was a great bit of scheduling to be able to pull off, and it probably created all kinds of logistical headaches to coordinate.
In the end, it was well worth it, as Princeton had, as TB said, the kind of weekend that they'll all remember forever.
And isn't that the point of it?
He spread it out over three days, in fact. He's not sure he could have made it through a movie that length in a movie theater, though he does remember when he saw "The Right Stuff" in the theater way back in the pre-Netflix days of 1984.
That movie, if you've never seen it, is about the Mercury astronauts. It runs 3:12, which is fine for a football game but not to sit still for a movie. Anyway, TigerBlog's friend Ed Mikus Jr. dragged him to see it, despite the fact that TB had no interest in a move that long.
It started at 8. At what TB thought was about 30 minutes later he looked at his watch, to see that it was actually 10:40. So maybe he could have done "The Irishman" in the theater.
Or not.
Here is his mini-review: Instead of watching "The Irishman" once, watch "Goodfellas" twice. Or better yet, watch "Goodfellas" once and "Dog Day Afternoon once." That way you get peak DeNiro, Pesci and Pacino - and it'll only take you about 60 minutes longer to do so.
Yeah. That about covers it.
TB also watched another movie this weekend, one that he'd seen a bunch of times before: "Almost Famous." Now that's a great movie, especially the scene where Russell talks to William's mother on the phone. There aren't too many scenes in any movie anywhere better than that one.
The movie is the story of an up-and-coming band that is just hitting it big. The name of the fictional band - modeled after "The Allman Brothers" - is "Stillwater."
As TB was watching the movie, the Princeton wrestling team was actually in Stillwater, taking on Oklahoma State. It was the start of an incredible weekend for the Tigers.
If you're interested in just results, then you can say the Tigers went 0-2. If you're interested in the big picture, then you can say that nobody who was part of the team this weekend will ever forget it.
The big picture is always so much better.
Princeton, ranked 12th nationally, began the weekend in the aforementioned Stillwater to wrestle against No. 9 Oklahoma State. The weekend then concluded back at Jadwin yesterday afternoon, against No. 1 Iowa.
Between the two matches, Princeton competed in front of about 6,000 fans.
And, by the way, the Tigers acquitted themselves quite well. They actually won more matches than Oklahoma State, but a forfeit led to an 18-15 OSU win.
Then, back in Jadwin - which happens to be 1,350 miles from Stillwater - Princeton fell 30-9 to the Hawkeyes. Even with that defeat though, Princeton put on a great show for the large community of New Jersey wrestling fans.
The entire weekend seemed like one huge match of nationally ranked wrestlers after another. There were bouts that could provide rematches in the NCAA finals if everything breaks right.
Princeton had three wrestlers who won both of their matches: Patrick Glory, the No. 4 wrestler at 125, Travis Stefanik, unranked at 184, and Quincy Monday, ranked ninth at 157.
All three defeated wrestlers ranked higher than they are.
Patrick Brucki, an All-America a year ago and the No. 2-ranked wrestler at 197, went 1-1 on the weekend, with a win over Oklahoma State's No. 6 Dakota Geer and a loss to Iowa's No. 3 Jacob Warner. That's a lot of intensity in a weekend, sort of like a mini-NCAA tournament.
Princeton is now off until the 19th, when it hosts 20th-ranked Rider. Princeton is the highest-ranked Ivy League and EIWA team, and there will some huge Ivy matches come the new year.
This weekend didn't affect any of that, but it was still an incredible experience. It was a great bit of scheduling to be able to pull off, and it probably created all kinds of logistical headaches to coordinate.
In the end, it was well worth it, as Princeton had, as TB said, the kind of weekend that they'll all remember forever.
And isn't that the point of it?
Friday, December 6, 2019
Home. Away. And Both.
This is a 21-event weekend for Princeton Athletics.
That's a reasonably busy stretch from today through Sunday. If TigerBlog counted correctly, there will be 13 Princeton teams who compete during the next three days.
After that, the rest of the month quiets down quite a bit.
In fact, beginning Monday, there will be 11 more days in the month (and year) with at least one athletic event and 12 without any. That includes a week-long stretch from the women's basketball game on the 20th at St. Louis to the men's hockey game at home against Quinnipiac on the 28th where there are no events at all.
Other than final exams in January, it'll be the longest run without any events from late August until the last athletic event of the academic year.
If you're counting it all up, there are 21 events this weekend, then 12 more between then and the break before Christmas, followed by eight more between Christmas and New Year's. In other words, there are 21 events this weekend and then 20 more from Monday (the ninth) through the New Year.
There are some teams that are home this weekend. There are some that are away.
And there are some that are both home and away.
One is the men's track and field team, which will be competing at its own New Year's Invitational here and in Boston at a different meet, both Saturday. That will be a matter of sending some athletes to one and some to the other. It's not quite the itinerary of the other Princeton team that is both home and away.
That would be the wrestling team. It's not exactly like the Tigers are at, say, Rider or Rutgers tonight and then home Sunday. And it's not like they're playing just any teams on their weekend.
TigerBlog, for that matter, can't remember a team that has bitten off what the Tigers are doing this weekend. Princeton opens its weekend tonight at 8 Eastern (7 Central) at No. 9 Oklahoma State. Then it's back on the plane to come home to host Iowa Sunday at 2.
And where is Iowa ranked? How about No. 1?
'
To recap, that's a flight to Oklahoma, a match against the No. 9 team in the country, a flight back to Princeton and then another match against the No. 1 team in the country. Sunday's match, by the way, will be in Jadwin Gym.
Iowa, by the way, last wrestled this past Sunday, defeating Wisconsin 32-2. Wisconsin was ranked, hmm, checking, checking ... sixth in the country.
You have to give it to Chris Ayres and his staff for doing what they've done to make Princeton nationally relevant in wrestling. The Tigers are the 12th-ranked team in the country, making them the highest ranked EIWA and Ivy League team.
From the preview on goprincetontigers.com:
Against Oklahoma State, two possible highlight rematches include third-ranked Nick Piccininni of Oklahoma State and Princeton's fourth-ranked Patrick Glory, which went 10-4 to Piccininni last year, and second-ranked Patrick Brucki of Princeton against Oklahoma State's sixth-ranked Dakota Geer, when went to Brucki last year 8-4.
Against Iowa, Glory could have the chance at 125 to wrestle two-time defending NCAA champion Spencer Lee, who took an 18-2 technical fall in last year's match. Quincy Monday, ranked No. 9 entering this match, could have the chance for a rematch against current No. 4 Kaleb Young, who took a 7-4 win at 157 last year.
The full preview is HERE.
There's also a pair of home hockey doubleheaders, with the men's game against Colorado College this afternoon at 4 followed at 7 by the women's game against Cornell, while tomorrow it'll be the women first at 3 against Colgate and then the men at 7 against Colorado College again.
There is also home men's and women's swimming and diving, home men's and women's track and field and home men's and women's squash. The women's basketball team, at 6-1, is at 5-1 Marist tomorrow night at 6.
And of course, tonight at 7:30, there is the first round of the NCAA women's volleyball tournament, as Princeton is at Penn State. It's Princeton's eighth NCAA appearance and third in four years.
HERE is the complete schedule for the weekend (and month, for that matter).
That's a reasonably busy stretch from today through Sunday. If TigerBlog counted correctly, there will be 13 Princeton teams who compete during the next three days.
After that, the rest of the month quiets down quite a bit.
In fact, beginning Monday, there will be 11 more days in the month (and year) with at least one athletic event and 12 without any. That includes a week-long stretch from the women's basketball game on the 20th at St. Louis to the men's hockey game at home against Quinnipiac on the 28th where there are no events at all.
Other than final exams in January, it'll be the longest run without any events from late August until the last athletic event of the academic year.
If you're counting it all up, there are 21 events this weekend, then 12 more between then and the break before Christmas, followed by eight more between Christmas and New Year's. In other words, there are 21 events this weekend and then 20 more from Monday (the ninth) through the New Year.
There are some teams that are home this weekend. There are some that are away.
And there are some that are both home and away.
One is the men's track and field team, which will be competing at its own New Year's Invitational here and in Boston at a different meet, both Saturday. That will be a matter of sending some athletes to one and some to the other. It's not quite the itinerary of the other Princeton team that is both home and away.
That would be the wrestling team. It's not exactly like the Tigers are at, say, Rider or Rutgers tonight and then home Sunday. And it's not like they're playing just any teams on their weekend.
TigerBlog, for that matter, can't remember a team that has bitten off what the Tigers are doing this weekend. Princeton opens its weekend tonight at 8 Eastern (7 Central) at No. 9 Oklahoma State. Then it's back on the plane to come home to host Iowa Sunday at 2.
And where is Iowa ranked? How about No. 1?
'
To recap, that's a flight to Oklahoma, a match against the No. 9 team in the country, a flight back to Princeton and then another match against the No. 1 team in the country. Sunday's match, by the way, will be in Jadwin Gym.
Iowa, by the way, last wrestled this past Sunday, defeating Wisconsin 32-2. Wisconsin was ranked, hmm, checking, checking ... sixth in the country.
You have to give it to Chris Ayres and his staff for doing what they've done to make Princeton nationally relevant in wrestling. The Tigers are the 12th-ranked team in the country, making them the highest ranked EIWA and Ivy League team.
From the preview on goprincetontigers.com:
Against Oklahoma State, two possible highlight rematches include third-ranked Nick Piccininni of Oklahoma State and Princeton's fourth-ranked Patrick Glory, which went 10-4 to Piccininni last year, and second-ranked Patrick Brucki of Princeton against Oklahoma State's sixth-ranked Dakota Geer, when went to Brucki last year 8-4.
Against Iowa, Glory could have the chance at 125 to wrestle two-time defending NCAA champion Spencer Lee, who took an 18-2 technical fall in last year's match. Quincy Monday, ranked No. 9 entering this match, could have the chance for a rematch against current No. 4 Kaleb Young, who took a 7-4 win at 157 last year.
The full preview is HERE.
There's also a pair of home hockey doubleheaders, with the men's game against Colorado College this afternoon at 4 followed at 7 by the women's game against Cornell, while tomorrow it'll be the women first at 3 against Colgate and then the men at 7 against Colorado College again.
There is also home men's and women's swimming and diving, home men's and women's track and field and home men's and women's squash. The women's basketball team, at 6-1, is at 5-1 Marist tomorrow night at 6.
And of course, tonight at 7:30, there is the first round of the NCAA women's volleyball tournament, as Princeton is at Penn State. It's Princeton's eighth NCAA appearance and third in four years.
HERE is the complete schedule for the weekend (and month, for that matter).
Thursday, December 5, 2019
The Finalist And The First Round
Okay, that's three straight days with snow in the Princeton area.
TigerBlog is not a fan. On the other hand, none of its really stuck around very long, and it did look sort of pretty as it fell in big wet flakes.
It's not even winter yet, of course. That's still a little more than two weeks away. It's wintry, though, as the first week of December rolls through.
Will it be a white Christmas? Will it be a white winter? Last year wasn't too bad in terms of snow.
TAGD - Tiger Athletics Give Day - has come and gone, with a record amount of $3,185,738 raised in 24 hours, running the six-year TAGD total to more than $13 million. That money has gone directly into programs that benefit the current student-athletes, and Princeton Athletics is grateful to all those who so generously donated this week.
Also, if you didn't get a chance to check out the "Tiger Feud" videos - modeled on "Family Feud" - you can do so HERE, HERE and HERE.
The host was Noah Savage, a former men's basketball player. You can just say that Noah was born to do stuff like this.
In other big Tuesday news, Princeton football player Jeremiah Tyler was named a finalist for the Bushnell Cup as the Ivy League's Defensive Player of the Year. Tyler and Dartmouth's Jack Traynor are the two defensive finalists, and quartebacks E.J. Perry of Brown and Kurt Rawlings of Yale are the finalists on offense.
The awards will be presented Monday afternoon in New York City. Tyler, a junior from Detroit, is a very deserving finalist, after his unanimous first-team All-Ivy League season that saw him lead the league in tackles for loss and generally wreak havoc on a weekly basis with one impact play after another.
In addition, his enthusiasm is as obvious as his explosiveness.
Princeton had had a great run of football success this decade, and that's translated into Bushnell Cup success as well. In fact, the Bushnell Cup dates to 1970, and from that first year through 2012 (a total of 43 seasons), Princeton had six Bushnell winners - Walt Snickenberger (1974), Jason Garrett (1988), Judd Garrett (1989), Keith Elias (1993), David Patterson (1995), Jeff Terrell (2006).
Of course, for most of that time, there was only one Bushnell winner. The league split the award into offensive and defensive winners in 2010.
Since 2012, Princeton has had six more winners -
In addition, Princeton has also had four other finalists who did not win - Trey Peacock (2010 • Offensive), Caraun Reid (2013 • Defensive), Kurt Holuba (2016 • Defensive) and Jesper Horsted (2018 • Offensive). Horsted, of course, lost out last year to his teammate Lovett.
Princeton went 8-2 this fall and came within a Hail Mary and a recovered onsides kick of a second-straight Ivy League championship. Tyler is not the only key piece of that team who returns next year, and Princeton figures to be right back in the hunt for another championship after having won three in the last seven years.
The fall season, by the way, is still not over for Princeton Athletics.
The women's volleyball team will be at Penn State tomorrow night in the opening round of the NCAA tournament. Princeton is there for the third time in four years.
It's also Princeton's eighth overall, and seven of those eight have included Sabrina King as either a player (1997, 1999, 2000), assistant coach (2007) or head coach (2016, 2017, 2019). King is not the only one on the team who knows what to expect from the big stage; there are seven players on the team who were there in two years ago.
Then again, the opponent also knows a thing or two about being involved this time of year.
Penn State is ranked seventh nationally and is the No. 11 seed in the tournament. The Nittany Lions, who tied for second in the Big Ten, are making their 39th NCAA appearance. Just so you know, there have only been 39 NCAA tournaments in women's volleyball.
Penn State has also won seven NCAA titles, including six since 2007.
In other words, it'll be quite a challenge and quite an atmosphere for the Tigers.
On the other hand, that's the fun part.
TigerBlog is not a fan. On the other hand, none of its really stuck around very long, and it did look sort of pretty as it fell in big wet flakes.
It's not even winter yet, of course. That's still a little more than two weeks away. It's wintry, though, as the first week of December rolls through.
Will it be a white Christmas? Will it be a white winter? Last year wasn't too bad in terms of snow.
TAGD - Tiger Athletics Give Day - has come and gone, with a record amount of $3,185,738 raised in 24 hours, running the six-year TAGD total to more than $13 million. That money has gone directly into programs that benefit the current student-athletes, and Princeton Athletics is grateful to all those who so generously donated this week.
Also, if you didn't get a chance to check out the "Tiger Feud" videos - modeled on "Family Feud" - you can do so HERE, HERE and HERE.
The host was Noah Savage, a former men's basketball player. You can just say that Noah was born to do stuff like this.
In other big Tuesday news, Princeton football player Jeremiah Tyler was named a finalist for the Bushnell Cup as the Ivy League's Defensive Player of the Year. Tyler and Dartmouth's Jack Traynor are the two defensive finalists, and quartebacks E.J. Perry of Brown and Kurt Rawlings of Yale are the finalists on offense.
The awards will be presented Monday afternoon in New York City. Tyler, a junior from Detroit, is a very deserving finalist, after his unanimous first-team All-Ivy League season that saw him lead the league in tackles for loss and generally wreak havoc on a weekly basis with one impact play after another.
In addition, his enthusiasm is as obvious as his explosiveness.
Princeton had had a great run of football success this decade, and that's translated into Bushnell Cup success as well. In fact, the Bushnell Cup dates to 1970, and from that first year through 2012 (a total of 43 seasons), Princeton had six Bushnell winners - Walt Snickenberger (1974), Jason Garrett (1988), Judd Garrett (1989), Keith Elias (1993), David Patterson (1995), Jeff Terrell (2006).
Of course, for most of that time, there was only one Bushnell winner. The league split the award into offensive and defensive winners in 2010.
Since 2012, Princeton has had six more winners -
Mike Catapano (2012 •
Defensive), Quinn Epperly (2013 • Offensive), Mike Zeuli (2014 • Defensive), John Lovett (2016 • Offensive), Chad Kanoff (2017 • Offensive), John Lovett (2018 • Offensive).
Princeton went 8-2 this fall and came within a Hail Mary and a recovered onsides kick of a second-straight Ivy League championship. Tyler is not the only key piece of that team who returns next year, and Princeton figures to be right back in the hunt for another championship after having won three in the last seven years.
The fall season, by the way, is still not over for Princeton Athletics.
The women's volleyball team will be at Penn State tomorrow night in the opening round of the NCAA tournament. Princeton is there for the third time in four years.
It's also Princeton's eighth overall, and seven of those eight have included Sabrina King as either a player (1997, 1999, 2000), assistant coach (2007) or head coach (2016, 2017, 2019). King is not the only one on the team who knows what to expect from the big stage; there are seven players on the team who were there in two years ago.
Then again, the opponent also knows a thing or two about being involved this time of year.
Penn State is ranked seventh nationally and is the No. 11 seed in the tournament. The Nittany Lions, who tied for second in the Big Ten, are making their 39th NCAA appearance. Just so you know, there have only been 39 NCAA tournaments in women's volleyball.
Penn State has also won seven NCAA titles, including six since 2007.
In other words, it'll be quite a challenge and quite an atmosphere for the Tigers.
On the other hand, that's the fun part.
Wednesday, December 4, 2019
A TAGD Thank You
And here TigerBlog thought he'd seen it all in his 30-plus years covering Princeton Athletics.
Ah, but it turns out he was wrong.
Until yesterday, he'd never seen Chris Sailer, the Hall-of-Fame women's lacrosse coach who has taken Princeton to three NCAA championships, in a football uniform, complete with helmet and pads. And now he has.
Perhaps the most amazing part of the video isn't her inability to kick a football (though TB thinks she can do better than that in reality). It's the fact that the people who are walking past in front of Dillon Gym hardly seem fazed at all that there's a woman in a football uniform running with the ball, going out for passes and attempting a field goal, not to mention spiking the ball and then dancing.
As TB is located in Jadwin Gym, across the campus, it begs the obvious question of whether or not this is normal activity for Dillon? He knows that Dillon is famous for its ping-pong games. Phantom football too?
The occasion, of course, was TAGD, the sixth edition of the 24-hour fundraising challenge that went from midnight to midnight yesterday.
Sailer's fun video wasn't the only good one of the day as the team's brought out their best social media efforts.
The wrestling team is always good for some TAGD laughs, and those Tigers came through again with this effort:
That's pretty good, right?
There was all kinds of social media presence, ranging from the funny to the thoughtful tributes about what the Princeton experience means to some of the current athletes.
There was also the debut of "Student-Athlete Feud," a play on the game show "Family Feud," which featured teams of athletes, with your host, Noah Savage. Now that was funny stuff.
TAGD was once again a success, and again a way to celebrate the extraordinary loyalty that has always defined Princeton University as a whole and Princeton Athletics specifically. Again, as someone who attended Penn, TB can vouch for you that it's just a different world here at Princeton.
TB wrote this last year on the day after TAGD, and he'll go back to it again:
There's something of a feel of Election Day to TAGD.
There are early results and forecasts. There are projections. The polls, as it were, are open for a finite time.
Mostly, it's a sign of faith in the direction of the current programs, a message of approval for the athletes - and a reaffirmation of what the Princeton experience meant to so many people who have competed here through the years. Princeton Athletics clearly appreciates it.
The TAGD sentiment was captured relatively perfectly by Tom Schreiber, the men's lacrosse alum. Schreiber, by the way, is a great enough player to be considered by many the best player in the world right now, and yet his defining characteristic isn't his skill, it's his humility and class.
This is what Schreiber posted yesterday: "Most of the great things in my life can be directly or indirectly tied back to the opportunity to attend Princeton and play for Princeton men's lacrosse. I'm thankful for that that afforded me that opportunity and am proud to support the next generation as part of Tiger Athletics Give Day."
That's pretty much the point of the day. It's also a point that so many people seem to agree with, as they once again have done so much to show their support on another TAGD.
So on behalf of everyone here at the Department of Athletics, TB wants to thank everyone who contributed to enhancing the experience for Princeton's 1,000 varsity student-athletes, who will benefit directly from the generosity.
Ah, but it turns out he was wrong.
Until yesterday, he'd never seen Chris Sailer, the Hall-of-Fame women's lacrosse coach who has taken Princeton to three NCAA championships, in a football uniform, complete with helmet and pads. And now he has.
We are ON THE HUNT to tackle #TAGD day!! pic.twitter.com/MEzz0CUuZp— Princeton WLAX (@princetonwlax) December 3, 2019
Perhaps the most amazing part of the video isn't her inability to kick a football (though TB thinks she can do better than that in reality). It's the fact that the people who are walking past in front of Dillon Gym hardly seem fazed at all that there's a woman in a football uniform running with the ball, going out for passes and attempting a field goal, not to mention spiking the ball and then dancing.
As TB is located in Jadwin Gym, across the campus, it begs the obvious question of whether or not this is normal activity for Dillon? He knows that Dillon is famous for its ping-pong games. Phantom football too?
The occasion, of course, was TAGD, the sixth edition of the 24-hour fundraising challenge that went from midnight to midnight yesterday.
Sailer's fun video wasn't the only good one of the day as the team's brought out their best social media efforts.
The wrestling team is always good for some TAGD laughs, and those Tigers came through again with this effort:
What could happen if our supporters forgot to donate today (12/3) for TAGD...
To donate or follow TAGD please go here:https://t.co/4S20roAWmn pic.twitter.com/OrOGkcYwQ4— Princeton Wrestling (@tigerwrestling) December 3, 2019
That's pretty good, right?
There was all kinds of social media presence, ranging from the funny to the thoughtful tributes about what the Princeton experience means to some of the current athletes.
There was also the debut of "Student-Athlete Feud," a play on the game show "Family Feud," which featured teams of athletes, with your host, Noah Savage. Now that was funny stuff.
TAGD was once again a success, and again a way to celebrate the extraordinary loyalty that has always defined Princeton University as a whole and Princeton Athletics specifically. Again, as someone who attended Penn, TB can vouch for you that it's just a different world here at Princeton.
TB wrote this last year on the day after TAGD, and he'll go back to it again:
There's something of a feel of Election Day to TAGD.
There are early results and forecasts. There are projections. The polls, as it were, are open for a finite time.
Mostly, it's a sign of faith in the direction of the current programs, a message of approval for the athletes - and a reaffirmation of what the Princeton experience meant to so many people who have competed here through the years. Princeton Athletics clearly appreciates it.
The TAGD sentiment was captured relatively perfectly by Tom Schreiber, the men's lacrosse alum. Schreiber, by the way, is a great enough player to be considered by many the best player in the world right now, and yet his defining characteristic isn't his skill, it's his humility and class.
This is what Schreiber posted yesterday: "Most of the great things in my life can be directly or indirectly tied back to the opportunity to attend Princeton and play for Princeton men's lacrosse. I'm thankful for that that afforded me that opportunity and am proud to support the next generation as part of Tiger Athletics Give Day."
That's pretty much the point of the day. It's also a point that so many people seem to agree with, as they once again have done so much to show their support on another TAGD.
So on behalf of everyone here at the Department of Athletics, TB wants to thank everyone who contributed to enhancing the experience for Princeton's 1,000 varsity student-athletes, who will benefit directly from the generosity.
Tuesday, December 3, 2019
It's TAGD 6
Tiger Athletics Give Day No. 6, and it's been an extraordinarily
successful addition to the Princeton Athletics calendar. And one that's
been a lot of fun.
For information on TAGD, including how to make a gift, click HERE.
TigerBlog wrote about Jesper Horsted's first career NFL touchdown catch yesterday.
When you think of Horsted's college career, you think of a big wide receiver who has great hands, especially in the end zone. You think of the fact that he is the all-time leader in receptions and touchdown receptions at Princeton.
You even think of him as a first-team All-Ivy League baseball player who had to choose which of the two sports to play professionally.
What you may not think of, at least without being reminded of it, is that he was also the narrator of last year's video on TAGD.
Of all the videos that Princeton Athletics has produced through the years, it's very likely that the TAGD video last year was TB's favorite, as Horsted narrated a famous Grantland Rice poem while athletes from all 37 teams posed in their venues. It ended with Horsted on camera, in full uniform, putting his helmet on after he says:
"For when the One Great Scorer comes
To write against your name,
He marks - not that you won or lost -
But how you played the Game."
That was last TAGD.
Today is the sixth TAGD. The first five have enabled Princeton to raise more than $10 million as the competition among its Friends' groups has become an annual part of the calendar.
TAGD grew out of the 150th anniversary of the first athletic event in Princeton history, a baseball game against Williams College on Nov. 22, 1864. Since its beginning, TAGD has helped Princeton Athletics raise more than $10 million, with a record $2.7 million a year ago.
In addition to the dollars raised, another impressive number from last year was 8,693. That was the number of gifts that Princeton received a year ago.
That's an extraordinary number. It also speaks to something much larger.
The loyalty that the experience here breeds is like nothing else that TigerBlog has seen anywhere else. There is an unspoken, but obvious, responsibility on the part of those who have come through here to give back to the next generation so that those experiences can exceed theirs.
That has been one of the main takeaways from the TAGD experience to date. Another is the intensely competitive nature of everyone associated with Princeton Athletics, as each Friends' group wants to outdo the others in its bracket or overall.
It's also turned into a great deal of fun.
And today figures to be more of the same, with the annual social media presence (use the hashtag "#TAGD") and video content and contests. This year, one of the themes has been "on the hunt," which speaks to the idea that despite its overwhelmingly impressive history and the success that Princeton teams continue to have, nobody here is taking anything for granted or ever would take anything for granted.
That kind of sustained success has involved so many generations of athletes and coaches leading to the current group, the ones who will benefit directly from today's generosity.
Princeton Athletics uses that money to invest in the education and experience of its 1,000 student athletes and 37 varsity teams. Those athletes then use what they learn here in their educational and athletic pursuits and go off in so many different areas to make such a positive impact in their communities and globally, all fueled by their time as Princeton Tigers.
And that's what TAGD is really about.
So enjoy the celebration that TAGD has become. And, on behalf of the entire athletic department and all of its athletes, thank you once again for stepping up and showing the loyalty that defines Princeton.
It's TAGD.
For information on TAGD, including how to make a gift, click HERE.
TigerBlog wrote about Jesper Horsted's first career NFL touchdown catch yesterday.
When you think of Horsted's college career, you think of a big wide receiver who has great hands, especially in the end zone. You think of the fact that he is the all-time leader in receptions and touchdown receptions at Princeton.
You even think of him as a first-team All-Ivy League baseball player who had to choose which of the two sports to play professionally.
What you may not think of, at least without being reminded of it, is that he was also the narrator of last year's video on TAGD.
Of all the videos that Princeton Athletics has produced through the years, it's very likely that the TAGD video last year was TB's favorite, as Horsted narrated a famous Grantland Rice poem while athletes from all 37 teams posed in their venues. It ended with Horsted on camera, in full uniform, putting his helmet on after he says:
"For when the One Great Scorer comes
To write against your name,
He marks - not that you won or lost -
But how you played the Game."
That was last TAGD.
Today is the sixth TAGD. The first five have enabled Princeton to raise more than $10 million as the competition among its Friends' groups has become an annual part of the calendar.
TAGD grew out of the 150th anniversary of the first athletic event in Princeton history, a baseball game against Williams College on Nov. 22, 1864. Since its beginning, TAGD has helped Princeton Athletics raise more than $10 million, with a record $2.7 million a year ago.
In addition to the dollars raised, another impressive number from last year was 8,693. That was the number of gifts that Princeton received a year ago.
That's an extraordinary number. It also speaks to something much larger.
The loyalty that the experience here breeds is like nothing else that TigerBlog has seen anywhere else. There is an unspoken, but obvious, responsibility on the part of those who have come through here to give back to the next generation so that those experiences can exceed theirs.
That has been one of the main takeaways from the TAGD experience to date. Another is the intensely competitive nature of everyone associated with Princeton Athletics, as each Friends' group wants to outdo the others in its bracket or overall.
It's also turned into a great deal of fun.
And today figures to be more of the same, with the annual social media presence (use the hashtag "#TAGD") and video content and contests. This year, one of the themes has been "on the hunt," which speaks to the idea that despite its overwhelmingly impressive history and the success that Princeton teams continue to have, nobody here is taking anything for granted or ever would take anything for granted.
That kind of sustained success has involved so many generations of athletes and coaches leading to the current group, the ones who will benefit directly from today's generosity.
Princeton Athletics uses that money to invest in the education and experience of its 1,000 student athletes and 37 varsity teams. Those athletes then use what they learn here in their educational and athletic pursuits and go off in so many different areas to make such a positive impact in their communities and globally, all fueled by their time as Princeton Tigers.
And that's what TAGD is really about.
So enjoy the celebration that TAGD has become. And, on behalf of the entire athletic department and all of its athletes, thank you once again for stepping up and showing the loyalty that defines Princeton.
It's TAGD.
Monday, December 2, 2019
TD Horsted
TAGD is tomorrow. It's Tiger Athletics Give Day No. 6, and it's been an extraordinarily successful addition to the Princeton Athletics calendar. And one that's been a lot of fun.
For information on TAGD, click HERE.
The weather forecast for snow and ice in the Northeast yesterday resulted in new worst travel day of the year.
Instead of the Sunday after Thanksgiving, it became the Saturday after Thanksgiving. TigerBlog heard of and read about horror stories of drives that normally take two or three hours drifting past five.
The Thanksgiving weekend ended with some awful weather as November turned to December. TB hopes that you had a great holiday and that any travel woes weren't so bad.
As for Thanksgiving Day itself, the best part wasn't necessarily anything to do with turkey or stuffing or even green bean casserole. Nope. It had to do with Jesper Horsted, a rookie tight end with the Chicago Bears.
A year ago, Horsted was a senior wide receiver at Princeton, record-setting receiver at that. Horsted is the Tigers' career leader in both receptions (196) and receiving touchdowns (28), and he was a Bushnell Cup finalist a year ago, losing out on the honor to his teammate, quarterback John Lovett.
The other starting receiver opposite Horsted was Stephen Carlson. Lovett, Carlson and Horsted all made it to the NFL this year - essentially all three as tight ends (though it's really hard to assign a position to what Lovett does, though, with a uniform number of 40, he's definitely not a quarterback).
Lovett has spent the entire season on injured reserve with the Kansas City Chiefs, but all indications are that he has a nice future there. Carlson was activated three weeks ago from the Cleveland Browns' practice squad and now has four catches, including a touchdown reception, in three games.
Carlson caught two passes for 28 yards in a 20-13 loss to Pittsburgh yesterday. His first catch went for 21 yards and included a massive stiff arm.
If you're keeping track, by the way, Carlson had one fewer catch for one fewer yard than Odell Beckham Jr. did in the game. Carlson also averaged 14 yards per catch, compared to 9.7 for Beckham.
As for Horsted, he was injured on his pro day and went undrafted. The Bears, who signed him and saw him have a big end to the preseason, released him and brought him back to the practice squad at the first opportunity.
Like Carlson, Horsted spent much of the season on the practice squad, and he had to wait an extra week for his first NFL appearance. His debut came two weeks ago in a win over the Giants, a game in which he caught one pass for four yards.
That game was followed by the Thanksgiving Day game against the Lions in Detroit. On this huge stage, Horsted did more than just make a name for himself. He may have saved the Bears' entire season.
Overstatement? Nope.
Chicago trailed 17-10 late in the third quarter when Horsted hauled in an 18-yard TD pass from Mitchell Trubisky. The catch, like Carlson's TD, was not an easy one.
Trubisky dropped the ball over two defenders, leading Horsted into the end zone. Horsted had to catch it with two defenders who were closing in on him and the his back to Trubisky.
Horsted's catch tied it at 17-17. Chicago would win 24-20. Trubisky finished with 338 passing yard and three TDs and was the hero of the day ... but how different it could have been.
Had Horsted not caught the ball and allowed a Detroit defender to take it away from him, then it's likely that Chicago loses that game. A loss would have taken Chicago to 5-7 on the year and essentially out of the playoff race.
Instead, Chicago is now 6-6, and a late-season playoff run is still a possibility. At the very least, Chicago finishes the season at Minnesota, a team the Bears have already beaten once this year. The Vikings are 8-3, with a game at Seattle tonight.
The Bears need to be within a game of Minnesota for the final wild card spot heading into that last game. They'd have no chance had they lost Thursday.
Would they have lost had Horsted not made that catch? There's obviously no way to know, but his catch was as big a play as the Bears had in their biggest game so far.
For information on TAGD, click HERE.
The weather forecast for snow and ice in the Northeast yesterday resulted in new worst travel day of the year.
Instead of the Sunday after Thanksgiving, it became the Saturday after Thanksgiving. TigerBlog heard of and read about horror stories of drives that normally take two or three hours drifting past five.
The Thanksgiving weekend ended with some awful weather as November turned to December. TB hopes that you had a great holiday and that any travel woes weren't so bad.
As for Thanksgiving Day itself, the best part wasn't necessarily anything to do with turkey or stuffing or even green bean casserole. Nope. It had to do with Jesper Horsted, a rookie tight end with the Chicago Bears.
A year ago, Horsted was a senior wide receiver at Princeton, record-setting receiver at that. Horsted is the Tigers' career leader in both receptions (196) and receiving touchdowns (28), and he was a Bushnell Cup finalist a year ago, losing out on the honor to his teammate, quarterback John Lovett.
The other starting receiver opposite Horsted was Stephen Carlson. Lovett, Carlson and Horsted all made it to the NFL this year - essentially all three as tight ends (though it's really hard to assign a position to what Lovett does, though, with a uniform number of 40, he's definitely not a quarterback).
Lovett has spent the entire season on injured reserve with the Kansas City Chiefs, but all indications are that he has a nice future there. Carlson was activated three weeks ago from the Cleveland Browns' practice squad and now has four catches, including a touchdown reception, in three games.
Carlson caught two passes for 28 yards in a 20-13 loss to Pittsburgh yesterday. His first catch went for 21 yards and included a massive stiff arm.
If you're keeping track, by the way, Carlson had one fewer catch for one fewer yard than Odell Beckham Jr. did in the game. Carlson also averaged 14 yards per catch, compared to 9.7 for Beckham.
As for Horsted, he was injured on his pro day and went undrafted. The Bears, who signed him and saw him have a big end to the preseason, released him and brought him back to the practice squad at the first opportunity.
Like Carlson, Horsted spent much of the season on the practice squad, and he had to wait an extra week for his first NFL appearance. His debut came two weeks ago in a win over the Giants, a game in which he caught one pass for four yards.
That game was followed by the Thanksgiving Day game against the Lions in Detroit. On this huge stage, Horsted did more than just make a name for himself. He may have saved the Bears' entire season.
Overstatement? Nope.
Chicago trailed 17-10 late in the third quarter when Horsted hauled in an 18-yard TD pass from Mitchell Trubisky. The catch, like Carlson's TD, was not an easy one.
Trubisky dropped the ball over two defenders, leading Horsted into the end zone. Horsted had to catch it with two defenders who were closing in on him and the his back to Trubisky.
Horsted's catch tied it at 17-17. Chicago would win 24-20. Trubisky finished with 338 passing yard and three TDs and was the hero of the day ... but how different it could have been.
Had Horsted not caught the ball and allowed a Detroit defender to take it away from him, then it's likely that Chicago loses that game. A loss would have taken Chicago to 5-7 on the year and essentially out of the playoff race.
Instead, Chicago is now 6-6, and a late-season playoff run is still a possibility. At the very least, Chicago finishes the season at Minnesota, a team the Bears have already beaten once this year. The Vikings are 8-3, with a game at Seattle tonight.
The Bears need to be within a game of Minnesota for the final wild card spot heading into that last game. They'd have no chance had they lost Thursday.
Would they have lost had Horsted not made that catch? There's obviously no way to know, but his catch was as big a play as the Bears had in their biggest game so far.
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