I had the opportunity to talk with Chris Young and Will Venable at Citizen's Bank Park before tonight's Padres/Phillies game. While there have been numerous interviews published with one or the other over their respective professional careers, this is the first time I can remember Young and Venable interviewed as a pair.
They discuss their shared experiences, answered what type of teammate the other is, recalled when they first met, riffed off each other a fair bit, told me about the former Princeton basketball players who have visited them this weekend and answered a wide-ranging assortment of questions over 14:00+ while sitting in the surprisingly windy San Diego dugout.
Stephen Goldsmith is with me currently in Philadelphia and he'll have some photos from our trip up tomorrow.
1. I'm testing out a new means of link protection in select places today that should make it harder impossible for non-members to access URLs in the future. If you are a subscriber and have any trouble with one of the following external links, please let me know!
2. I'm interviewing two time Ivy League Player of the Year/author/Oregon State men's basketball coach Craig Robinson on Monday afternoon. Questions you would like me to ask? Send an email my way.
Will Venable broke out of a prolonged slump with four hits against the Dodgers on Wednesday. Sliding up to the leadoff spot, Venable nearly hit for the cycle and reached base five times. It was the third four hit game of Venable's major league career.
Judson Wallace and Benetton Treviso were blown out by Montepaschi Siena 118-79 in the first game of their Lega A quarterfinals.
Mason Rocca scored 14 points and grabbed nine rebounds in Armani Jeans Milano's 72-65 win over Sigma Coatings Montegranaro on the other side of the bracket.
The NCAA has recognized Princeton and four other Ivy League men's basketball teams for "their exceptional work in the classroom as part of the NCAA’s academic performance program." Northwestern was also one of the 37 programs honored. You can see the 2009-10 Public Recognition Awards organized by school here.
The NCAA has also released 2009-10 Division I attendance numbers by school and by conference. Did you know the Ivy League saw an average increase of 182 people per game last season compared to a national DI change in average of -147?
Video of Will Venable and Tony Gwynn, Jr. playing a friendly game of P-I-G. Here's another clip, this of Venable making a full extension dive for a catch against the Astros.
Padres announcer Dick Enberg talks with Chris Young as part of his "Inside the Clubhouse" series.
A second MRI confirmed a shoulder strain for Chris Young. He will be re-evaluated in a handful of weeks.
Padres announcer Dick Enberg talked with CBS-8 in San Diego. One of his stories was about how Young gave him a game ball autographed by the team after an Spring Training win.
Back in February, we reported that Bill Bradley would be honored by the NABC with their Court of Honor Award. The gala event is on Monday night, and you can find all the details here.
If you were at Bob Ruxin's excellent reception after the Princeton/Harvard game, you would have noticed an exceptionally tall high school student there as part of of the Milton Academy basketball team. While the Tigers were one of his potential collegiate destinations, he will instead play for Boston College, Steve Donahue's first official recruit.
While Chris Young remains frustrated by a mysteriously sore shoulder that continues to keep him on the DL, I'm not going to let that stop me from posting the first in a series of CY trading cards I won on eBay (a stack of nine different cards for a whopping $0.59 total).
This is #404 from Topps' 2009 throwback Heritage series.
Click here to enjoy our complete trading card series with classic images from Brian Taylor, Geoff Petrie and more.
Columbia has selected Kyle Smith from St. Mary's as their new head coach. Smith is close with Richmond coach Chris Mooney, as they were both assistants at Air Force under Joe Scott in 2000-01.
When Smith was up for the Hawaii job in March, Mooney said Smith "is the smartest man in college basketball. I think he has the best feel and overview of basketball programs and coaching of anyone I've ever met." High praise.
All eight Ivy coaching positions are now filled.
Columbia - Kyle Smith (2010)
Dartmouth - Paul Cormier (2010)
Cornell - Bill Courtney (2010)
Penn - Jerome Allen (2010)
Brown - Jesse Agel (2008)
Princeton - Sydney Johnson (2007)
Harvard - Tommy Amaker (2007)
Yale - James Jones (1999)
Those of you with access to Princeton Alumni Weekly's Class Notes should check out the piece on page 36 about Class of '35 scholarship holder and Tiger freshman center Brendan Connolly.
Here's video from Craig Robinson's most recent appearance on Jim Rome Is Burning.
A handful of videos I haven't had found the right moment to post that have been collected over this week, starting with part one of Craig Robinson's visit to Jimmy Kimmel Live.
The Chris Young rehab start that was supposed to happen yesterday has been pushed back. He is now likely to throw for AAA Portland on Sunday at Salt Lake City.
A diving catch by Will Venable (video) ended San Diego's 4-1 win over Florida on Tuesday.
TigerBlog took Wednesday's piece on this site about going to Harvard in 1989 and ran with it.
More from the Craig Robinson media bonanza: Video from his appearance on Charlie Rose, a feature on the ESPN web site, audio of his visit to NPR's Tell Me More and a Marin Independent Journal article on his visit to Dominican University.
Oregon State will visit Colorado in the 2010 Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood series.
Chris Young has been tentatively cleared to pitch on Thursday for San Diego AAA affiliate Portland.
Will Venable was 0-3 at the plate last night, striking out three times. The Padres fell 10-1 at Florida.
Northwestern is still in the mix for a point guard from Las Vegas.
It was 15 years ago this week that Gabe Lewullis chose Princeton.
Congratulations to our own Stephen Goldsmith, who had a picture from this site selected as one of last season's most memorable photos by College Hoops Journal.
Dartmouth has hired Paul Cormier as their new men's basketball coach. Cormier was previously coach of the Big Green from 1984-1991. He will officially be introduced on Monday.
Sean Gregory interviews Craig Robinson for Time Magazine.
Robinson was also a guest on WNYC (.mp3) yesterday.
The Washington Post reports on the Georgetown basketball banquet.
A bullpen session for Chris Young went well. The next step in his rehab is a simulated game on Friday in Cincinnati.
princetonbasketball.com was founded on April 28th, 1998 in an attempt to provide fans of the Princeton Tigers and Ivy League basketball with the best on-line source for up-to-date news and information. We have since expanded to launch a companion site, Georgetown Basketball News.
As these sites have continued to grow we have increased our coverage to include additional teams with Princeton connections - the Richmond Spiders, Denver Pioneers, Oregon State Beavers, Fairfield Stags and Mercer County Community College Vikings - plus former Tigers playing professional baseball and basketball all over the world. This site is not directly affiliated with the Friends of Princeton Basketball, Princeton University or the Princeton athletic department.
Sun. 11/10 vs. Florida A&M
Sat. 11/16 at Butler
Wed. 11/20 vs. Lafayette
Sat. 11/23 at Rice
Tue. 11/26 vs. George Mason
Sat. 11/30 at Bucknell
Sat. 12/7 vs. FDU
Wed. 12/11 at Rutgers
Sat. 12/14 at Penn State
Fri. 12/20 vs. Portland*
Sat. 12/21 vs. Pacific*
Tue. 12/31 vs. Kent State
Sat. 1/4 at Liberty
Sat. 1/11 at Penn
Sun. 1/26 vs. Kean
Fri. 1/31 at Harvard
Sat. 2/1 at Dartmouth
Fri. 2/7 vs. Columbia
Sat. 2/8 vs. Cornell
Fri. 2/14 at Brown
Sat. 2/15 at Yale
Fri. 2/21 vs. Dartmouth
Sat. 2/22 vs. Harvard
Fri. 2/28 vs. Yale
Sat. 3/1 vs. Brown
Fri. 3/7 at Cornell
Sat. 3/8 at Columbia
Tue. 3/11 vs. Penn
2,503 - B. Bradley, 1962-65
1,625 - I. Hummer, 2009-13
1,550 - D. Davis, 2008-12
1,546 - K. Mueller, 1987-91
1,451 - P. Campbell, 1959-62
1,441 - C. Robinson, 1979-83
1,428 - B. Earl, 1995-99
1,365 - B. Scrabis, 1985-89
1,321 - G. Petrie, 1967-70
1,292 - H. Haabestad, 1952-55
1,277 - G. Lewullis, 1995-99
1,239 - B. Taylor, 1970-72
1,207 - S. Goodrich 1994-98
1,133 - F. Sowinski, 1975-78
1,130 - R. Hielscher, 1991-95
1,122 - C. Thomforde, 1966-69
1,099 - T. Manakas, 1970-73
1,090 - J. Wallace, 2001-05
1,088 - C. Belz, 1956-59
1,079 - B. Hauptfuhrer, 1973-76
1,076 - B. Roma, 1976-79
1,071 - C. Mooney, 1990-94
1,064 - A. Hyland, Jr., 1960-63
1,062 - L. Brangan, 1957-60
1,057 - A. Hill, 1973-76
1,054 - D. Mavraides, 2007-11
1,044 - S. Johnson, 1993-1997
1,031 - J. Hummer, 1967-70
1,010 - W. Venable, 2001-05
