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Jordan

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If you don’t know who Jordan Culbreath is, you probably don’t follow The Trentonian, The Washington Post, ESPN, The Daily Princetonian, or, erm … this blog. In fact, some would tell you to get out to the football field more, and while you’re at it, get some school spirit.

But let’s shift back to a more positive tone, shall we?

Last month, Culbreath ’11 was announced as a finalist for the 2011 Uplifting Athletes Rare Disease Champion, a national award given to a leader in college football who has positively influenced the rare disease community.

Co-captain of the football team, Culbreath has won numerous All-Ivy League honors and holds the 8th all-time rushing record at Princeton with 1,935 rushing yards. He’s also been diagnosed with aplastic anemia, a potentially fatal disease in which bone marrow fails to produce enough new blood cells.

Voting for the Rare Disease Champion ends this Sunday. The winner will be announced on Feb 28, International Rare Disease Day, from the National Institute of Health in Bethesda.

Old School Princeton Football Player, Looking Down in Shame at What's Become of His Team

Old School Princeton Football Player, Looking Down in Shame at What's Become of His Team

It’s been a great season to be a Princeton sports fan. For field hockey, Junior Kathleen Sharkley was the most prolific goal scorer in the nation, notching 31 goals, and won the Ivy League player of the year (Princeton’s had six straight Ivy League players of the year, by the way). The field hockey team won the Ivy League title and made it to the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament. Women’s volleyball was in the thick of the Ivy League race until a late season loss at Dartmouth. Women’s soccer played magnificently all season and hosted Penn in their last game for a de facto Ivy League championship, but a tie meant that the Quakers walked away with the Ivy League title and an NCAA berth. Both the men’s and women’s cross country teams are having outstanding years. And how many ways did the men’s soccer team exemplify the Tiger’s autumnal excellence? They were perfect in the Ivy League, winning the title outright after a terrific victory against Penn on the last night of Fall Break. Junior Antoine Hoppenot, who scored the second goal in the 2-1 victory over Penn in the last game of the season, was named the Ivy League Player of the Year. And the team hosts UMBC in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Thursday at 7 p.m.

And then, there’s the football team.

The Tigers currently sit at 1-8, and 0-6 in the Ivy League. Injuries are at least partially to blame. All-American linebacker Steve Cody ‘11 was lost for the year in the first game of the season (quick tangent: I played high school football against Steve Cody. In addition to linebacker, he played offensive guard and returned punts; it was terrifying and he knocked me over repeatedly). Then Princeton lost junior starting quarterback Tommy Wortham in a loss to Brown, and senior running back (and greatest inspirational story ever) Jordan Culbreath not much later.

But wins and losses are wins and losses, and Princeton’s football team is on the precipice of a level of putridity it hasn’t seen since 1973. That’s the last time we went 0-7 in the Ivy League. And 1-9 would be the worst overall record the football team’s ever had since we switched to a 10 game schedule in 1990.

In a year where Princeton’s already had so much success athletically, why does a bad season by the football team bum me out?

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The good ol’ days! Couple things of note:

1. Our beating Yale used to be newsreel-worthy; the game was called “the Ivy League climax.” Hard to get on Sportscenter nowadays. (0:06)

2. Tailgates used to be less brews, tees, and jeans, and more tweed and awkward separation of the sexes. (0:07)

3. Is that… Quad? I can’t get a good look, too many people. (0:20)

4. People went to football games: 46,000 of them, enough to actually fill the stadium, which… is not the case today. (0:25)

5. Blimp. (0:29)

6. Famous people came to our games. Let’s get Gov. Chris Christie to come on down! Oh, no? Okay. (0:40)

7. Kids knew how to dress. Haircuts were another story (yeah, flattop, sorry man). (1:17)

8. Just how long has the band worn those awful jackets? (3:14)

Culbreath

(source: Culbreath)

PRINCETON’S STAR RUNNING BACK, WHOSE BRAVE BATTLE WITH APLASTIC ANEMIA HAS INSPIRED CAMPUS COMMUNITY, TAKES TIME TO ANSWER THE INK‘S QUESTIONS

Name: Jordan Culbreath ‘10
Age: 21
Major: Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Hometown:
Falls Church, VA
Eating club/residential college/affiliation: University Cottage Club

Who’s your favorite Princetonian, living or dead, real or fictional?
Jack Donaghy from 30 Rock

What’s the best meal you’ve eaten in Princeton?
Phat Lady and Cheese Fries

In one sentence, what do you actually do all day?
I visit the doctor, relax, and work on my senior project.

What is your greatest guilty pleasure?
Phat Lady and Cheese Fries

What’s the last student performance you saw?
Our Documentary Theatre performances for my writing seminar

Do you know all the words to Old Nassau?
Most of them

What do you hate most about Princeton?
Attendance at athletic events

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Roger Hughes will have to return the headset. He'll probably get to keep the sunglasses.

Princeton has fired head football coach Roger Hughes, the Associated Press reported Sunday.

Hughes was 47-52 during his ten year tenure at Princeton. The Tigers finished this season 4-6 after beating Dartmouth Saturday.

Princeton went 9-1 in 2006, winning the Ivy League. But Hughes had only two other winning seasons since coming to Princeton in 2000.

Athletic Director Gary Walters said he would meet with Hughes to figure out the now ex-coach’s role as he finishes his contract, according to the statement released by the Princeton Athletic Department.

Stay tuned for the new-coach search. Last we checked, former Steelers coach Bill Cowher, P ‘08 ‘10, was still looking for a job…

(image source: http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/news/state/new_jersey/20091122_ap_princetonfiresfootballcoachrogerhughes.html)

Culbreath in front, in September

Yesterday, the Times of Trenton published a feature about senior Jordan Culbreath, Princeton’s All-Ivy running back–and it’s worth a read. After he was injured in the second game of the season against Lehigh, Culbreath, Princeton’s first Ivy League rushing champion since 2002, was diagnosed with aplastic anemia and bone marrow failure. I don’t really know anything about football–to be honest, I have only the vaguest inkling of what a rushing champion is–but this story goes beyond sports.

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butlerMuch like its students–many of whom are finished with their totally awesome life-changing (important), lucrative (really important), resume-enhancing (most important) internships at McBainMorganWater & Sachs of America Madoff, Inc.–Old Nassau, it seems, is sort of vegging out the rest of August. You see, nothing crazy or absurd occurred this past week.

But still, there were some gems, including a Princeton alumnus who funneled beers with Stephen Colbert on Monday’s Colbert Report! Ch-ch-check it out!:

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