Being a collegiate athlete at McGill is an enormous commitment. Practices during the week and travelling for games on the weekend takes up a large block of student athletes’ schedules. However, the Martlet Varsity Field Hockey team experiences this reality at an extreme.
Behind the Bench
In praise of Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool
The charismatic Jurgen Klopp arrived at Liverpool FC as a highly pedigreed manager last year. He previously led Borussia Dortmund–a mid-table Bundesliga club before his arrival in 2008–to two Bundesliga titles and a European Champions League final appearance in 2013. Liverpool fans anticipated Klopp’s arrival with sky-high expectations. For the[Read More…]
The end of an era: A tribute to the great Vin Scully
When Vin Scully first started broadcasting Dodgers games in 1950, baseball had just desegregated. Mickey Mantle and Hank Aaron were the league’s MVPs and New York had three baseball teams. Dodgers games took place in Brooklyn, far from the current swashbuckling, free-spending Los Angeles iteration of the team. In those[Read More…]
The World Cup of Hockey: Semi-Final Preview
Russia’s lack of defensive depth will be their undoing against Canada; the Canadian offence is too well-balanced and aggressive for the sub-par Russian blueline corps.
Playing out of pride: The story of the McGill Fight Band
On a late night in 2006, Ted Smith and a few of his friends went out for drinks. The night led them to Bar des Pins, where they entered as buddies and emerged as a band—more specifically, the Fight Band—McGill Athletics’ leading pep squad. The Fight Band is a staple[Read More…]
Behind the Bench: More than the franchise: The soft power of the sports business
The political agency of sports is often downplayed in popular conversation, if not totally ruled out. While scoring a goal from centre ice doesn’t exactly warrant a parliamentary medal, sport culture is fostering a growing liberalism. Furthermore, a desire from sporting entities to maintain a wide audience has the potential[Read More…]
Training for Super Smash Bros
Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. has been a staple of many a childhood since the ’90s and beyond. Created by the legendary Masahiro Sakurai, “Smash” presents itself as a cuddly, kid-friendly fighting game wherein a greatest hits of Nintendo characters duke it out for supremacy by attempting to knock each other[Read More…]
Behind the Bench: How fans shape ticket prices
The essence of fandom is hard to capture in words; fans tend to have a more familial connection to their favourite team than to other organizations or businesses. The emotions they invest into sports transcend those of any other service that is provided to the common person. Yet, the reality is[Read More…]
Behind the Bench: Rooney Rule Ramifications for Female Representation
Diversity and minority visibility in professional athletics has recently made international headlines, with the inauguration of new professional women’s sport leagues, such as the WNHL, the MLB implementing programs to increase female and minority job candidates, and new awards like the British Ethnic Diversity Sports Awards recognizing the diversity of[Read More…]
Simplicity in concept, duplicity in design: The precarious state of daily fantasy sports
I have never purchased a lottery ticket, gone to a casino, or joined any online poker site. I can count on my fingers the amount of times I have made serious wagers with friends, and raffle tickets have always revolved around the spirit of charity rather than the thrill of[Read More…]
