Introducing the Threejay triple option

In the beginning, there was David Baumgarten ’06.

Only two-and-a-half years ago, three misguided freshmen — deluded by dreams of limitless wealth and glory, not to mention a possible trip to Durham to see Princeton get clobbered by Duke — signed up to write for The Daily Princetonian sports section. At the time, Prince Sports was run by a tall, gawky and unreasonably dedicated senior who told us to call him Dave.

Other than his incredible work ethic, superb writing skills and encyclopedic knowledge of Princeton athletics, Dave’s best quality was his ability to conceal the extreme sleep deprivation that went with the job of being the sole managing editor for the section.

Since then, the onerous responsibility of putting out the paper’s better half has always been divided among three or four mere mortals. Seniors Ashley Wolf, Karl Micka-Foos, Michael Gallo and Trent Magruder were the latest luminaries to voluntarily sacrifice much of their time — though somewhat less than the 12 million hours they reported in their farewell — to this admirable endeavor. And the section they passed onto us is as vibrant and as healthy as it has ever been.

We will try hard. Our goal is to not screw up as much as the previous regime — not that they were too error prone, but hey, nobody’s perfect. Their standard of mediocrity we can only hope to achieve.

Our predecessors had some good attributes — Karl’s ’fro, Trent’s vulgar language, Gallo’s animal magnetism, Ashley’s — um, well, we’re sure she’s good at something — but that was then, this is now. Jake has a ’fro of his own, Jason loves to say the F word, and we’re also sure Jennifer is good at something.

Why, you might ask, did we accept this job? The chicks (dudes)? Unlikely.

Certainly there may be some reasons — obsessive-compulsive disorder combined with a deep sense of masochism being the best clinical explanation — that are better left untouched. The reason we would like to focus on, however, is our love for Princeton athletics in all its forms.

If you’re ever lucky enough to get a hold of press pass for a sporting event, be sure to read the back. Access to the press box and free food are nice perks, but the best part is that you can watch the game from the sidelines. No one — not even the coach — has a better view of the action.

For a true college football fan, it doesn’t get much better than standing five yards away from a sophomore’s breakout touchdown run — as Jennifer did during this year’s 34-31 defeat of Cornell, when tailback Jordan Culbreath set career highs with 145 yards and two scores. Very little compares to witnessing firsthand the ensuing celebratory mob.

And this unique joy doesn’t hold for football games alone. In the time since we were lured by false promises of seeing the Blue Devils, the three of us have sat on the sidelines of major sports such as baseball, hockey, basketball, soccer and lacrosse.

But we’ve also enjoyed our time covering Princeton’s lesser-known teams: volleyball, fencing, crew, wrestling, squash and softball.

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In the process, we’ve learned about new sports, deepened our knowledge of the ones we have loved since childhood and befriended many athletes after putting away our tape recorders. We’ve even managed to aggravate a few in our time — apologies, once again, to senior quarterback Bill Foran.

We also love that Tiger athletes, even after graduation, still feel connected to the Princeton family and have given us some of our best stories. Stars for the Orange and Black of bygone years have enjoyed successful careers in almost every major sport.

In the past year, Prince Sports has written about San Diego Padres starter Chris Young ’02, who made his first All-Star team this past July. We also chronicled the debut of Ross Ohlendorf ’05, who pitched out of the bullpen for the New York Yankees as the team seized the American League wild card only months after trailing the Boston Red Sox in the standings by more than 15 games.

More recently, we examined the story of another alum breaking into the big leagues. Jon Dekker ’06 got a taste of the NFL life with the playoff-bound Pittsburgh Steelers in December, joining the team for its 24-10 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals.

Of course, many Princeton athletes also find their calling in the coaching realm.
As offensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys, Jason Garrett ’89 led the National Football Conference’s most explosive offense, working with household names such as quarterback Tony Romo and wide receiver Terrell Owens. And, unlike several of Owens’ former play-callers, Garrett seems to have avoided setting off one of the mercurial star’s temper tantrums thus far. Look for a feature on Garrett — and perhaps his secret for dealing with T.O. — in the coming weeks.

Over the next two semesters, we will continue the work of our predecessors. But we also plan to bring something new to the table. We will publish features that will illuminate the unique beauty of every sport — not only what it means to run a triple-option in football, but also how a field athlete can throw a javelin without a wobble or how a field hockey player can manage to score goals using those unwieldy sticks. In doing so, we hope to impart our love for all the sports that Princeton plays upon you, our readers.

We will also oversee the major changes that come with a long-awaited renovation of the ‘Prince’s’ website. One of the exciting new features for sports fans is the advent of photo slideshows: Rather than seeing only one or two shots in the paper, readers will now be able to access all the pictures that a photographer took during his or her time at the game. Check out our new webpage for our first slideshow of the men’s basketball team.

Overall, we aspire to avoid the “endless abyss of mediocrity” that our previous editors foretold in their last column. Considering the fiascos they confronted in their time at the ‘Prince,’ one would think they would be more forgiving of our shortcomings. After all, we’re all good writers. And you as readers can expect good things — if not John Thompson III ’88 good, at least Joe Scott ’87 good.