A Tiger Tale

Published online Oct. 23, 2017

This summer I moved back to Princeton with my wife and two young sons after almost two decades in Manhattan. I brought my 3-year-old to the opening football game against San Diego — his first Princeton game. He quickly spotted the Tiger mascot and kept updating me on the Tiger’s whereabouts as I attempted to explain the action on the field.  At one point in the third quarter, the costumed undergrad headed off the field through the tunnel, presumably for a respite from the heat. A few minutes later, an injured Princeton player limped off through the same point of egress.  As questions ensued about the Tiger’s continued failure to reclaim its post on the sideline, the injured player suddenly re-emerged, sporting a heavily bandaged knee. My son, sizing up the situation, speculated: “Maybe the Tiger bit him.”