The Weekly Blog: 11/8/06

Football aims for a bonfire and a title

With a win over Harvard in hand, the Princeton football team can clinch its first H-Y-P bonfire in more than a decade by beating Yale Nov. 11. But a win in New Haven would also go a long way toward another goal: the Ivy League title. The Bulldogs, with a 5-0 Ivy record, need two wins to clinch the crown, but Princeton, close behind at 4-1, could secure at least a share of the championship with wins at Yale and at home against Dartmouth Nov. 18. “We’ve changed the culture of the program, and now we’re in a position to play for the championship,” said head coach Roger Hughes, who is in his seventh season at Princeton. “This is what everyone has dreamed of.”

On with the show

Rehearsing a song called “Don’t Tell Mom” from the new Triangle Club show, “Heist Almighty,” are, from left: Faaria Kherani ’09, Caroline Loevner ’08, Hannah Barudin ’10, Katie Seaver ’10, Katie Benedict ’10, and Laura Hankin ’10. The show will be performed at McCarter Theatre Nov. 10 and 11. Triangle's December tour will include stops in New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., and Richmond.

Photo by Frank Wojciechowski

Alumni in the news: Spitzer leads Princeton candidates

“Spitz blitz buries Faso” a Nov. 8 New York Post headline blared, announcing the gubernatorial election win of Democrat Eliot Spitzer ’81, the New York state attorney general. Spitzer’s share of the vote was projected to break the record of Gov. Mario Cuomo (64.6 percent, set in 1986) according to The New York Times (registration required). In Maryland, Democrat John Sarbanes ’84, son of the retiring Senator Paul Sarbanes ’54, won a seat in the House of Representatives, according to the Baltimore Sun. But not all of the November results were positive for Princeton alumni. Longtime Republican Rep. Jim Leach ’64 of Iowa was unseated, the Des Moines Register reported, and two other incumbents – Democratic Rep. Jim Marshall ’72 of Georgia and Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich ’79, a Republican – found themselves in races that were too close to call on election night. Ehrlich conceded the race to challenger Martin O’Malley on the morning of Nov. 8, the Baltimore Sun reported.

Back on the hardwood

Men’s basketball opens its season Nov. 10 against Loyola (Ill.) in the Black Coaches Association Classic at Ohio State, and women’s basketball tips off at Jadwin Gym against Wagner Nov. 11 at 7 p.m. Both teams enter the year with Ivy League title hopes, but that may be where the similarities end.

Head coach Joe Scott ’87’s men’s team, which runs a methodical offense and plays stifling defense in a 1-2-2 matchup zone, likely will rely on two freshmen, former California high school teammates Marcus Schroeder and Lincoln Gunn, to join veterans Luke Owings ’07, Noah Savage ’08, and Justin Conway ’07 in the starting lineup. Freshman Zach Finley, a 6-foot-9-inch center from South Dakota, could see significant playing time as well. “It’s going to be a year of seeing those guys grow up,” Scott said. “But if our older guys are consistent and have the stamina and play well, game after game, that always helps the younger guys grow up faster.”

Women’s head coach Richard Barron, on the other hand, expects to rely almost entirely on veteran players for the first time in his six seasons at Princeton, and his offense will provide a notable contrast to the men’s system. Barron spent part of the offseason with coaches from the NBA’s Phoenix Suns, and he plans to install elements of the Suns’ fast-breaking approach to take advantage of the athleticism of returning starters Meg Cowher ’08, Casey Lockwood ’07, and Jessica Berry ’09. “We’re certainly going to try to increase the tempo,” Barron said. “We’re looking for a lot more ‘early offense.’ ”

Family circle

In author Jodi Picoult ’87’s 13th novel, The Tenth Circle (Washington Square Press), released in paperback last month, the members of a family in Maine must deal with their demons. Teenager Trixie Stone’s life begins to unravel after she breaks up with a boyfriend. Her father, comic book artist Daniel Stone, doesn’t pay much attention to his daughter’s emotional trauma. But after she is raped, Stone and his wife, Laura, a college professor, must deal with their daughter’s problems and their own, including Laura’s affair with one of her students and Daniel’s difficult childhood. The novel is a metaphorical journey through Dante’s Infernoas told through the eyes of this family. For information about other books by alumni and faculty, visit New Books at PAW online.

More at PAW Online

Under the Ivy – Former president Robert F. Goheen ’40 *48 was the “right man in the right place at the right time,” says Gregg Lange ’70.

On the Campus – For some students, the observance of holy days during October meant a time of fasting on campus, Joy N. Karugu ’09 writes.

Reflections on Iraq – The “bare-minimum approach” is not working, writes First Lt. Pete Hegseth ’03 in an Online Exclusive essay.