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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 8^th 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

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?

Partially it’s because I love watching football, like the rest of America. After all, Sunday Night Football is NBC’s highest rated program (which may say more about NBC than football, but moving on). And I know it was way before my time, but Princeton pretty much invented college football – we played the first game ever against Rutgers in 1869, and we still have more football championships than any other college.

Fortunately, this Saturday at 1 p.m. the football team matches up against Dartmouth, and as GoPrincetonTigers.com optimistically points out, Princeton’s won six straight against Dartmouth. Plus, there’s always Trey Peacock, the senior receiver who was briefly second in the nation in receiving and still leads the Ivy League.

But in some ways, I really don’t care whether football wins or loses. Sure, it’d be nice to beat Dartmouth. But the choice between historically terrible and just really, really bad isn’t one I want to make at a Princeton fan. I’ve expended more of my college football energy this season following Auburn’s Cam Newton than rooting for the Tigers. I didn’t get back to campus in time to witness Penn’s 52-10 trampling on the last Saturday of fall break. I was glad to be stuck in traffic on I-287 that afternoon. The men’s soccer game later that night was much more satisfying.

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)

(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

What’s your drink?
Jack and Coke

What’s your favorite medication?
Cyclosporin

What’s hanging above your desk and/or bed?
High school Football Jersey

Where do you do your best thinking?
In the shower

When’s bedtime?
There’s no such thing

New Butler or Old Butler?
New Butler

Best and worst thing about being on the football team?
Best: All of the social perks. Worst: Time commitment

What is your best Princeton football memory?
Making the number one play on Sportscenter Top 10

Where is the best place on campus?
Sector 6

Where is the worst place on campus?
E-Quad D221

Who is your mortal enemy?
Lex Luthor

When’s the last time you used cash?
Cover charge in DC

Where do you go to study alone?
My bedroom

What makes someone a Princetonian?
Their senior thesis of course

You can follow Culbreath’s journey on his online journal here.

(21 Questions inspired by New York Magazine’s Daily Intel)

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.

Aplastic anemia is a bone marrow condition where your body stops producing enough blood cells, leaving you feeling weak and fatigued. According to a website set up by Culbreath’s family, he has Aplastic Anemia/PNH, a rare condition where the immune system attacks the bone marrow, causing anemia.

On the website, Culbreath, who is being treated with immunosuppresant therapy at the National Institutes of Health Clinic in Bethesda, Md., has a journal, where he posts updates about his progress.

With Culbreath in the hospital, the football team is “day-to-day,” according to the article, and head coach Roger Hughes has been making moves to help inform and support his players, including having a doctor speak to the team about Culbreath’s condition.

“I think a lot of things are going through the kids’ minds,” Hughes said, “(like), “Could that happen to me? If he was our leader and he’s done everything right — he’s a poster boy — why would that happen to him? Is Jordan going to be OK?’ I think all those questions are going through their minds and, as men, sometimes we suppress those feelings and don’t get them out.”

Much 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

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!:

• The media was given its first look at the new Butler College, which was designed by the famed architectural firm Pei Cobb Freed & Partners. (The same folks also designed Spelman and Friend Center, though Henry Cobb was the lead architect for both the new Butler and Friend, while I.M. Pei did Spelman.) The new four-year residential college looks pretty cool, and we’re being sincere! The two C-shaped complexes do a good job of tying in Wu Hall with Bloomberg and Scully, and the rooms will be among the largest on campus. Each suite will have its own private bathroom, and each single will have a shared one. But none of this really matters, because apparently 14 varieties of sedum–which look suspiciously like normal weeds–have been planted on the green roofs, and they will solve global warming and cure cancer, or something.

• In other news, democracy sucks. Electronic voting machines are still susceptible to hackers. Maybe people would trust these machines more if Princeton folk would just stop hacking into them and telling the world that election results can be corrupted! I mean, what’s the big deal? Khamenei says it’s okay!

• Do you ever get frustrated when you’re trying to pack for school, and you can’t fit all of your clothes in two bags, and you’re stressed out that the mean airline representative at the check-in counter will make you play a gazillion dollars and force you to take shoes from one bag and shove them into the other? Well, that has nothing to do with this, but two Princeton researchers have beaten the world record of how much a specific shape can be packed into a sphere. The problem, first posed in 1611, was solved in 2005, and since then people have been trying to pack more shapes into the space. Professor Salvatore Torquato and graduate student Yang Jiao figured out how to use tetrahedra to fill a volume to 78.2% capacity. This beat the previous record of 77.8% that was set last year, and they also pwned the legendary John Conway, with whom Torquato set a world record in 2006 by filling 72%. This latest discovery will be very useful, apparently. And cure AIDS.
  

  Hi! I'm a tetrahedron, and really smart people pack me into spheres! I have an awesome life.

• Woody Woo professor Jim Leach ‘64 (and former Republican congressman and Obama endorser) was confirmed by the Senate to become head of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

• Professor Paul Krugman bought a nice new Manhattan apartment on Riverside Drive for himself and his wife. The $1.7 million co-op had been on the market for over a year and was originally listed at $2.5 million. That’s so smart! A Nobel prize-winning economist would totally do that! What else did we learn? Krugman and his wife, Robin Wells, likes to decorate their home with “Danish modern” furniture. So elitist!

• A preseason poll picked Princeton’s football team to finish fifth in the Ivy League this season. We weep.

• A New York Times blog discussed the emergence of the phrase “Princeton Plan,” which refers to a recently proposed international carbon emissions cap that the Princeton team says distributes the burden more equitably between developed and developing nations (here’s the PDF file of the report). Instead of capping emissions on a national or per capita level, the Princeton Plan would identify the top one billion least “emissions-inefficient” people in the world and set national caps based on how many of the top one billion people live in a country. As the all-important December Copenhagen talks approach, the Princeton Plan will probably be seriously considered, especially by developing countries that want developed countries to bear a larger burden.

• Newly elected Democratic congressman Jared Polis ‘96 from Colorado was on last night’s Colbert Report, as part of the show’s on-going “Better Know a District” series. (Did you know he is the first openly gay person non-incumbent man to be elected to Congress? Ever.) When Colbert quotes Polis as once saying that working in Congress was like going back to college (a.k.a. Princeton), he challenges Polis to funnel some Coors Light. So fratty! Polis doesn’t seem to be very experienced in beer funneling (like, aren’t you supposed to pour in the beer first before funneling it down?), but it’s hilarious. Here’s the clip:

(image sources: princeton.edu)