Latest News

Student Life

Library Reviews: Episode 3 – Cybertheque

by Iain Macdonald on

More in Student Life:

commons.wikimedia.org

 

Cybertheque (correctly pronounced Si-Ber-THECK) is one of the newer additions to the McGill library system. Below Redpath, the library is adjacent to the Redpath-Leacock tunnel. It’s best known for its vibrant colours, group study areas, electronic resources, and overuse of glass in its design. As far as I can tell, the only books allowed in the study space are Mac Books.

 

Noise Level – Cybertheque goers are generally serious studiers. They tend to stay quiet and keep to themselves. However, as a swinging glass door is the only thing separating Cybertheque from the chaotic pandemonium known as the Redpath cafeteria, the din seems to sneak into the study space. If you’re near the door at Tim Horton’s opening hours, headphones or earplugs are pretty useful. When the cafeteria closes down, the click of keyboards is the noisiest thing around. Bottom Line: Cybertheque might as well be next to one of the busiest cafeterias on campus, oh wait… (3/5)

 

Accessibility – Just downstairs from Redpath and McLennan, Cybertheque isn’t hard to get to. The only issue might be it’s confusing location for new-comers, located behind the stairwell downstairs to the cafeteria. Open almost 25 hours a day, Cybertheque is a popular destination for nocturnal students. Bottom Line: Cybertheque is never far away, hard to find, or closed. (5/5)

 

Study Setup – The desks in Cybertheque are, like the space itself, new and trendy. Some like the vast open tables, but for others it feels a bit too communal. With almost as many computers as Trottier, it’s nice for those without portable machines. When not crowded, the sprawling desks are quite nice. On the other side, the colourful couches offer a less formal study setting for those who don’t like the rigid structure of particle board to do their work on. Bottom Line: Cybertheque’s modern appeal includes its fancy new desks and computers. The more casual half looks more like an Ikea showroom than a library. (5/5)

 

Facilities – One of Cybertheques major weaknesses, the adjacent cafeteria, is also a strength. Only feet away from Tim Horton’s, those who use the library during the cafeteria’s opening hours are never far from a coffee break. For those boycotting McGill Food Services, it’s not hard to head upstairs and across Sherbrooke to Second Cup. The Redpath cafeteria has large bathrooms with awesome, high powered hand dryers – be sure to check them out. Bottom Line: Cybertheque is not far from food, or bathrooms, although late night goers might have to travel a bit farther for a bite to eat. (4/5)

 

Décor – Cybertheque was built using glass and colourful fabric. Some portions of the space resemble a children’s play yard, and others, a futuristic setting where we write quotes about education and reading on glass. The setting in Cybertheque can be mildly overwhelming, with the only escape from the overwhelming colours being a glance out at lower field. Cybertheque feels much more modern than other libraries on campus. Bottom Line: The colourful setting can be a bit of a sensory overload. The glass pods in the middle are reminiscent of fish bowls. (1/5).

 

Overall Appeal – Cybertheque’s main draw is in its accessibility. Always open, it’s hard to avoid studying here at least once in your university career. The library is much easier to use at night, when the crowds have left the cafeteria, and the bright, colour-enhanced, setting is all that is keeping you awake. Cybertheque is a great fall-back study space for those who prefer another locale on campus. Bottom Line: Seriously, this place is never closed. (3/5)

 

Total Score: 21/30 [3rd]

Strengths: Accessibility, Study Setup, Facilities

Weaknesses: Décor, Noise Level

News

Tony Blair speaks to McGill on issues of religion and globalization

by Sean Wood on

More in News:

Holly Stewart
Holly Stewart

With his easy charm and boyish grin, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair spoke to scholars, students, religious leaders, and MPs at the Windsor Hotel on Friday.   

Blair’s visit was prompted by the Tony Blair Faith Foundation’s funding of teaching and research on religion and globalization at McGill’s Faculty of Religious Studies. Earlier that day, he led a class of the students of RELG 319: Religion and Globalization, the new course funded by the foundation.   

Blair considers the issues his foundation promotes to be some of the 21st century’s most vital.

“Does religious faith become a force for progress? Or does religious faith become a source of conflict and sectarianism?” Blair asked. “I think that’s the dominant question of the 21st century.”

Finding such answers becomes more and more important as globalization accelerates, he said.

“In China you’ve got more practicing Protestants than in England, more practicing Catholics than in Italy and more Muslims than in the whole of Europe,” he said. “And then you’ve got 100 million Buddhists.”

The foundation is funding teaching and research at seven universities around the world, including Yale, the National University of Singapore, and Peking University. Blair explained that the best approach to dealing with the challenges of religion and globalization is to “establish an intellectual framework” for discussion, which can only be done at universities. Blair’s ultimate hope is to raise religious literacy and reduce prejudice.   

“When you’re a Christian and you learn that Islam reveres Jesus as a prophet, it somewhat alters … your understanding of the religion,” he said. “When most people within Islam understand the debates over what the divinity of Christ is all about … it gives them a completely different framework.”

But the road to tolerance may not be so smooth. Aditya Bhattacharjce, U3 religious studies and a student in RELG 319, thought that Blair glossed over the hurdles that this dialogue has to overcome.

“I thought he was a little too idealistic,” he said. “Education seems like a big part of his Faith Foundation, and there’s often a fine line between educating people and interfering in a foreign religion’s matters.”

While he praised the merits of inter-religious dialogue, Blair said that no amount of religious understanding will dictate policy.   

“You can’t go into your corner and pray to God about what minimum wage should be,” he said.  

In his political career, Blair has had a variety of experience with religious issues. In 1998, he helped engineer the Good Friday Agreements, which assuaged sectarian violence in Ireland. As prime minister, he was often criticized for mentioning God in public, notably regarding his unpopular decision to go to war in Iraq.  He is currently the British government’s Middle East envoy.  

Even though Blair has moved on from party politics, the charm that won him elections was on full display. When interviewer Evan Solomon of the CBC asked him why his program had chosen McGill, Blair called it a “fantastic institution of learning,” prompting Solomon to quip that his political skills were “not rusty one bit.”

Xiomara Hurney-Cranston, U3 religious studies and anthropology, is taking RELG 319 and said she saw a different Tony Blair than the one she knew as prime minister.  

“I have a different perspective of Tony Blair than when I thought of him just as a politician,” she said. “He has such a negative reputation for Iraq, but I think this is a very, very important initiative.”

News

Architecture students vote to stand under EUS’s umbrella

by Maria Flores on

More in News:

The Engineering Undergraduate Society passed a motion at their council meeting on November 9 finalizing the incorporation of the Architecture Students Association as their seventh departmental society.  

The ASA held a formal referendum on the potential incorporation, which ended the week before council. Sixty-five per cent of ASA students cast ballots, with 90 per cent of the votes in favour of the merger.  

“There were a couple conversations over the summer, and then we came in September kind of knowing that we wanted this process to take place, so I researched with McGill how this could be worked out,” said EUS President Daniel Keresteci. “It is something that people have always kind of looked to as an option, but the right pieces never really fit together.”

The ASA’s main motivation to join the EUS was their lack of formal recognition at McGill and absence of a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA).

“The main problem is that the ASA is currently not a formally recognized group in McGill. We don’t have a MoA with McGill, and we lack any kind of formal affiliation to any other groups or to the university itself,” said ASA President Kyle Burrows. “It just became almost a necessity at some point; we realized that in order to continue to serve the students it was important to connect ourselves to McGill.”

Though some think that the new agreement is connected to the closure of the Architecture Café, Burrows claims this is a separate issue that only served as a wake-up call for the consequences of unofficial relations with the McGill administration. He added that the ASA was fortunate to be able to open and manage the café for so many years without a MoA from the university.

“[Joining the EUS] was something that we started investigating before that issue came up, but in the memorandum issued from [Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning)] Morton Mendelson’s office regarding the numbers of the Architecture Café it mentions as one of the reasons that the Architecture Café was not a formally recognized group at McGill,” Burrows said.

“The space is being renovated as a student space by Prof. Jemtrud and so we’ll see what happens once we have this affiliation with the EUS,” he added regarding the former café.

Being part of the EUS, a formally recognized student organization, grants the ASA the corporate status and accreditation to effectively represent its students through actions like negotiating with the university on formal matters. It also allows them to charge fees to their students and take advantage of the resources available to the EUS.

The merger, Keresteci said, will also allows Architecture students to participate in events held by the EUS.

By the end of last year, the EUS had already added a specific clause to its constitution allowing the addition of departmental societies.

“It was something that people always [considered] an option, but the right pieces never fit together, so when our executive came in Allan our VP Internal was the first one to reach out to the ASA.”

The final step in the agglomeration will be to ensure that the constitutions of the EUS and the ASA are aligned.

“The ASA is now an affiliated departmental society of the EUS, their constitution remains the same but they are now in the whole structure of the EUS,” Keresteci said.

According to Burrows, the way the ASA is currently run will not significantly change after its merger with the EUS. They will maintain the majority of their autonomy, but will now benefit from the connection the EUS has to McGill.

Alexandre LaPierre, a U2 Architecture student, actively supported the motion at council and thinks it was a step in the right direction.

“I think it is going to benefit the students a lot, as the president of the EUS said it will increase the sense of community between the EUS and the ASA,” LaPierre said. “So I think all the students are going to benefit from that.”

Due to similarities that exists between the study of architecture and of engineering both the ASA and the EUS are genuinely looking forward to their fusion.

“Career-wise, architects and engineers will be working together for the rest of their lives,” Burrows said.

Features

At UBC, Innocence Project marries law and journalism

by Mookie Kideckel on

More in Features:

The wrongfully accused in British Columbia have a new ally. Earlier this month, the University of British Columbia Faculty of Law’s Innocence Project, which works to overturn misappropriation of justice, announced a new partnership with the UBC School of Journalism.

The model is based on similar successful collaborations in the United States. Professor Peter Klein of the UBC School of Journalism hopes that merging the two faculties’ skills will prove helpful towards overturning the wrongfully accused.

“Law students get into the nitty gritty of a particular case,” he said. “The journalism students don’t have the legal background to understand everything about those details.”

Instead, journalism students can add a broader perspective that law students may miss.

“They can see the forest,” Klein said. “They can see if there’s a pattern of cases in the province, or an area of the country, or a certain municipality, where certain things are happening, or people are being targeted for racial or ethnic reasons, or there is a suspicious pattern of documents going missing. We also train our students to get documents, to interview, to be dogged.”

If the experience of similar projects at colleges like Northwestern University is any indication of the program’s effectiveness, the Innocence Project might help overturn some wrongful convictions in British Columbia. McGill has its own version of the program, Innocence McGill, which is student-run and supervised by faculty members and criminal lawyers. Klein sees these projects as part of a movement toward closer collaboration between journalists and academics.

At UBC, he said, “We want to do a lot more knowledge transfer between some of the academic work that’s done and help that information get disseminated. Some of the academics on campus are doing what I would call journalism … you can look at someone like [Liberal leader] Michael Ignatieff, who was at Harvard but also working for The New York Times Magazine.”

Thomas Jundt, a McGill history professor, sees the same blurred lines, and has observed how journalists cross into academic territory. This may be in part because their prose tends to be more accessible than that of academic historians, but Jundt suggests that it may also be because journalists take bolder stances on the issues at hand.

“Professional history is critical, which does not easily lend itself to the type of celebratory narratives that seem to sell so well,” Jundt wrote in an email to the Tribune. “Tom Brokaw can write about ‘the greatest generation,’ and sell more books than most academic historians could ever dream of. But training in history leaves most of us with the sense that every generation faces its own unique challenges and deals with them as best it can. Histor[ies are], among other things, stories we tell ourselves about who we are, and given the choice many of us seem to avoid the harshness of mirrors in favour of more flattering portraits.”

At the same time, Jundt sees some positive changes occuring in the academy. In trying to reach a broader audience, he thinks that, academics are abandoning “overly formal, impenetrable, and jargon-laden prose” in favour of a more accessible style.

Despite some movements towards each other, though, Jundt does not see a trend towards convergence. History will continue, he thinks, to “complicate our understanding of the past, while the public seems to prefer stories that flatten those complexities.” The rest of academia may be similar. Even if many academics write for each other, having a gulf between popular writing and specialized prose is likely necessary to ensure a strong critical focus.

When it comes to the law, Klein, at least, is optimistic about collaboration.

“As a learning experience, it’s been very helpful,” he said. “It’s too early to say if we’re going to get anyone out of jail, but we’re getting there. We’re doing some good work.”

Sports

Redmen win fifth consecutive QURL championship

by Rebecca Babcock on

More in Sports:

Ada Sonnenfeld
Ada Sonnenfeld

The McGill Redmen Rugby Team earned the right to be called champions on Sunday night, avenging their single regular season loss by defeating the Concordia Stingers 22-10 in the Quebec Student Sports Federation Championships. In the biggest game of their season, the Redmen turned in their best performance to win their fifth consecutive QURL title.

Both teams, although nervous, started strong. In the first minute, a penalty was called against Concordia; however, McGill’s Gideon Balloch missed the conversion. Cameron Perrin made a fantastic first half run. He was almost in the clear when a Concordia player made a nasty play and pulled him down by the collar of his jersey, choking him in the process. McGill was awarded a penalty kick but, again, it missed.

A few minutes later, Concordia committed another penalty and Balloch redeemed himself, making the kick and scoring the first points of the game to make it 3-0 for McGill. In the 23rd minute, Concordia answered with a successful kick of its own, tying the score at 3-3.

Then the Redmen took control of the game. In the 28th minute, Balloch scored the first try of the game off of some great offensive passing. He then succeeded at the conversion to make the score 10-3.

For the rest of the half, McGill dominated both offensively and defensively, making some great runs, lineout plays, and impressive hits. In the fifth minute, a Concordia player received a yellow card for a late tackle. McGill took advantage of this and with only a minute and a half to go Balloch scored the second try of the game and the conversion making the score 17-3 McGill.

The second half started off a little messy for both the Stingers and the Redmen. Concordia was offside for the first kick and then were penalized for hands in the ruck. McGill was called for a knock-on and a skewed lineout throw.

However, the most costly penalty was by Concordia’s Auguste Stoker who received a second yellow card for intentional obstruction and was ejected from the game. Concordia played the rest of the game a man down.

Sam Skulsky had some huge hits and stole some balls during the game.  

“It was really a team effort—the team allowed me to get into position to make those tackles.” Skulsky said. “We really clicked today which is good, we really wanted it and we came out with all guns firing.”

In the 11th minute of the second half, Concordia scored a try and a conversion to narrow the gap to 17-10.

Again, McGill answered, as Balloch scored the third try of the game. He didn’t make the conversion, but the lead was enough and the game finished 22-10 for McGill.   

“I was ecstatic,” said McGill Head Coach Craig Beemer. “I was really happy with our defence. The boys showed up ready to play and everything that happened is totally on them. They worked hard all year; the focus in practice was great. Their loss against Concordia helped our intensity level going into the playoffs and I couldn’t be more happy with them.”

The McGill forwards captain, Alexander Sunell, agreed with his coach.

 “We took everything we have been learning all season and put it in one game,” he said. “It’s surely the best game of the season. We just need to work on being a team like we were today; nothing will stop us if we play as a team.”

Six players on the team—Sam Skulsky, Keelan Chapman, Liam Brown, Roderick MacKenzie, Max Gregory, and Jong-Wook Lee—have earned a berth on the Quebec University Rugby League’s all-star squad.

Chapman said, “The game was tough in the first 20 minutes, but once we got the motor running everything fell into place and we were able to get the phases going and get those breakthroughs to get those tries.”

Their next game is the Eastern Championships on Saturday, November 20, at 1:30 p.m. at Molson Stadium.

Sports

Return to the shinny rink for NHLers

by Jon Rubenstein on

More in Sports:

The North American professional sporting world is primarily made up of the so-called “Big Four” leagues—the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, and the National Hockey League. Still, while the NHL will always have a strong base in Canada, it’s an afterthought for the majority of Americans. The NHL’s attempts to make the game more exciting, such as the incorporation of the shootout, haven’t quite had the impact that the league was looking for south of the 49th parallel.

This changed last week, when the NHL announced a change to the All-Star Game format that has sports aficionados drooling in anticipation. While fans will still have the opportunity to vote in six starters (three forwards, two defencemen, and a goalie), team captains will fill out their lineups by choosing the rest of the two squads in a fantasy-style draft.

By introducing this change, the NHL has come up with an ingenious idea to try and make the perennially lacklustre event exciting. Injecting a schoolyard style draft into the All-Star Game is unprecedented in any of the major sporting leagues. Everyone can relate to the days on the playground when two captains selected players for their team one by one from a pool of eager kids. Seeing professional hockey players do this on national television is going to be a joy to watch.

What may bring an even bigger smile to the faces of those watching is the reaction of the player who is selected last. On the playground nobody wanted to be “that guy.” When the final name was called, the remaining player would join his/her teammates knowing that they truly were an afterthought. “Fine, I guess we’ll take Joey,” the captain would say as little Joey hung his head and moped on over to the rest of his teammates.

As the NHL struggles to compete with other professional sports in North America, I applaud its willingness to take risks and go against the grain. Sometimes these changes work out (eliminating the two line pass rule), while other times they do not (the dreaded shootout). Nevertheless, the NHL has successfully realized that in order to have any chance of increasing its American fan base, it has to spice up its product.

I give further props to the NHL for recognizing the reality of the fan experience in sports today. Fantasy sports and “franchise mode” in video games have become as big a part of sports as actually following the games. There’s an indescribable thrill in assembling a squad of all-stars and seeing them work their magic together on the same team. Now, for the first time, sports fans will see their dreams turn into reality.

The concept of the all-star game in any sporting league has lost a lot of its lustre. Except for the MLB, many fans are uninterested in seeing athletes half-ass their way through a game that has no significance. However, NHL players are fired up about these changes and hopefully that will translate into a better product on the ice. Giving team captains the agency to choose their own team will make players more accountable and ratchet up the competition. I cannot wait to hear the phrase “With the first pick in the 2011 NHL All-Star draft, Alexander Ovechkin selects…”

Behind the Bench, Sports

What happened to retiring in style?

by Mari Mesri on

More in Behind the Bench:

Nobody wants to be “that guy” on campus. The guy in the seventh year of his undergrad and still trying to fit in. The guy who tirelessly attempts to convince you that the victory lap is, in fact, cool. Allen Iverson has become “that guy.”

On October 29, Allen Iverson signed a two-year contract with the club Besiktas Cola Turka. Never heard of them? You’re not alone. Besiktas is a professional basketball team based in Istanbul and belongs to Europe’s second-tier league, EuroCup. The 11 time NBA all-star and former MVP was showered with media attention as he landed in Istanbul, and Turkish fans are eagerly anticipating his debut on November 20. To the dismay of many fans, he’s made it possible for the words “Iverson” and “second tier” to be put into one coherent sentence.

The past two seasons have been a struggle for Iverson. Plagued by injuries and personal issues, he made a gradual descent from superstardom to the Detroit Pistons bench, to being out of the NBA before the 2009–2010 season ended. In July, Iverson posted on his Twitter account, “I want to return to the NBA this season, and help any team that wants me, in any capacity that they feel that I can help.” He’s now Istanbul’s biggest basketball celebrity after he received no calls and no contract offers from NBA teams. Larry Brown, the coach of the Philadelphia 76ers during Iverson’s tenure, said, “I think it’s sad having him have to go to Turkey to finish his career.” Sad is exactly how I felt as I read the headlines of Iverson’s signing. Allegedly, his plan is to dominate in Turkey, show the NBA that he’s still a star, and eventually make his return. However, his aspirations sound like a daydream.

Disappointingly, this seems to be a growing trend in the world of professional sports. Take David Beckham, for example. The English soccer star left Europe to play for the L.A. Galaxy of the MLS. He was also conveniently injured for the 2010 World Cup. I say conveniently because anyone who has seen him play recently can tell you that he is not the same Beckham that led the English squad so many years ago. Following him to North America was French soccer deity Thierry Henry. The once unstoppable Henry spent most of the 2010 World Cup helplessly huddled on the bench in a parka. Both Henry and Beckham were no longer competitive in Europe and knew that it was time to take their leave. Their awareness of their own abilities is appreciated, but their desperate attempts to stretch their careers are not. I grew up watching Beckham and Henry tear up the field in Europe. Seeing them in the MLS doesn’t make me nostalgic, it makes me disappointed.   

Iverson’s decision is not any different from the career shifts of Beckham and Henry. Iverson is one of the most decorated players in NBA history, but he’s now 35 years old and nowhere close to being the player he once was. His Besiktas contract will make him $4 million richer—not too significant for a man who has made over $200 million throughout his NBA career.

With all this in mind, how is retirement not the obvious option for Iverson, Beckham, or Henry? What is it that drives these formerly majestic athletes to seek acceptance elsewhere when they are no longer fit for the top level of competition? They’ve all had their share of accomplishments and recognition, so why not quit while they are on top and leave with their dignity intact? This may seem overly pessimistic, but as Iverson starts up his “revitalized” career at the sold-out game in the modest Besiktas J.K. Arena, where the seating capacity is 4,500, he will quickly realize that it doesn’t compare to the days when he was the most dominant player in the NBA, playing at the Wells Fargo Centre before the eyes of 20,000 adoring fans during the NBA playoffs.

I’m not undermining these athletes, their careers, or their pure love for their respective sports. They’re still productive players for their new respective teams. I just miss the classic curtain calls of legendary athletes, like Wayne Gretsky’s emotional ceremony, that left you feeling pleasantly reminiscent. I’m a sucker for picture perfect endings, and athletes like Iverson are raining on my parade.

Sports

Synchro team’s topical choreography a big hit

by Sam Hunter on

More in Sports:

Maxime Sawicki

With precision, the McGill synchronized swim team executed their routine and left the competition floundering. The McGill White team won the competitive team event.

The six-time consecutive Canadian University Synchro Swim League champions put on a dazzling performance and look primed for yet another big season.

The highlight of the competition was McGill’s White team’s vampire-themed routine, which started off with a few neck-nibbling poses and ended up with freshman Carrie Mouck walking on water (and the arms and shoulders of her submerged teammates).

“We were really happy with how we swam,” Mouck said.

“[The choreography] is a pretty big group effort between all the swimmers and the coaches.” Mouck added. “Generally, the coaches will give us an idea of what they want, then we’ll play around with stuff, and then we put it all together.”

Head Coach Cassandra Bilogan was also enthusiastic about the teams’ performances.

“I think all the swim teams swam really well today, it’s always good in front of an audience, it gives them that adrenaline that they need to be really… showcase-y, I guess,” she said.

Laura McClemont performed the only non-novice solo. McClemont swam for the Canadian national synchro team from 2003 to 2009 but quit the program in order to focus on finishing her degree.

“While I was swimming on the national team I was [a] part-time [student] because I was swimming 40 hours a week,” she said.

Still, synchro for McGill is different this year than it has been in years past since the squad recently transitioned from competitive club to varsity team status.

Coach Bilogan and coach Lynn Macrae both felt that the newfound status has produced a tangible benefit to their team, however slight.

“It’s those little things,” Macrae said. “I think the swimmers and the coaches have all noticed the transition from club to varsity even though day-to-day it doesn’t change so, so much, Even getting a little additional pool time, having all the varsity gear, it’s very motivating overall. We feel like these past years winning championship-after-championship… it’s nice to finally get the recognition.”

“I think that we went to varsity and didn’t get cut because of our performance—this is our seventh consecutive year we’re going for winning national championships,” Bilogan added.

The athletes also feel that they are being taken seriously as an organization.

“Our sport is often marginalized as just being a bunch of weird bathing suits and flopping around in the water. But [varsity status] validated us as being a real sport,” said McClemont.

With six consecutive league titles hanging around the pool, and a chance for a seventh this year, no one should be questioning the validity of McGill’s synchro team.

The team competes next at the Eastern Canadian Championship Meet on January 16 at Queen’s University.

Sports

Redmen rock the rims in opener

by Adam Sadinsky on

More in Sports:

It was a night of new beginnings for the Redmen basketball team as they opened up their Quebec University Basketball League season with an 82-65 victory over Bishop’s Gaiters on Saturday night. Freshman Simon Bibeau led the team with 18 points as McGill (1-0) delivered a win for Head Coach David D’Aveiro in his first regular season game behind the bench.

For a team full of new faces, the win on Saturday should help the confidence of this promising McGill squad. The Redmen started out cautiously, trading baskets with the Gaiters (0-1), and only led by four points at halftime before they pulled away with a 28-15 third quarter to put the game out of reach.

“We played well in stretches— I thought especially in the third quarter we came out and played some pretty good defence and executed our offence,” said Head Coach D’Aveiro. “We played fairly well throughout the game.”

The Redmen were led by two young Montrealers in Bibeau and second-year point guard Olivier Bouchard. Bibeau had five rebounds and a pair of steals to go along with his team-leading 18 points, while Bouchard contributed 15 points to the winning effort.

In the first half, both teams struggled in their first regular season game. Neither team shot well, and at the end of the first quarter the score was tied at 16-16.

The struggles continued into the second quarter, but with less than 20 seconds to go in the half, Bibeau hit a clutch three-pointer, grabbed a rebound, and made a buzzer-beating layup for a five point swing that gave McGill a four point edge and all the momentum going into the half.

In the second half, McGill came out flying and never looked back. They scored the first 12 points to build up a lead that would later swell to 25 points in the fourth quarter.

“To start the second half we attacked the rim a little more, played with more confidence offensively,” D’Aveiro said, “Defensively we had some steals and got some scores off them.”

Bouchard said the team owed a lot to their new coach.

“Coach told us that this was the time to impose our will on them, and we did,” he said. “We had to play hard defence and run on offence. We took good shots and we won.”

Neither team had a particularly good game shooting from the field. McGill only shot 38.8 per cent and Bishop’s finished with a weak 37.5 per cent. However, free throws played an important role in the Redmen’s victory as they got to the line often in the second half and hit 76.7 per cent of their free throws while the Gaiters shot a dismal 37.9 per cent from the charity stripe.

Michael White, the only senior dressed for McGill, had two highlight reel dunks that brought the crowd to its feet. White had 10 points and added six rebounds. Nicholas Nishikawa pulled down eight boards to lead McGill to a 41-33 rebounding advantage.

On the other side, Onnex Blackwood led the Gaiters with 18 points, while Alex Audette-Genier had 12 in just 19 minutes.

Despite the win, there’s still work to be done for the Redmen. D’Aveiro stressed patience with his young team and recognized that there will be a learning curve despite their performance in their first game.

“With a young team you’re going to make a few more mistakes than you would with a veteran team, so you’ve got to be patient,” he said. “You don’t want to make the same mistakes twice. We’ve never played with a lead of 20, so we need to work on playing with a lead.”

Bibeau, the star of the game for the Redmen, was happy to get off on the right foot.

“It’s kind of like the first year for everyone,” he said. “But we have lots of potential and I love what’s going on here. I’m loving the experience, with a new coaching staff and newcomers on the team it’s been easy to adapt. I made a great decision [to play for McGill].”

McGill and Bishop’s will meet again on Thursday night in Lennoxville. The Redmen’s next game at Love Competition Hall is on Saturday, November 27, against the UQAM Citadins.

Sports

Around the Water Cooler

by on
  • Author

More in Sports:

For those of you who don’t keep TSN as your home page or Sports Illustrated as your bedtime reading, we know sports can be hard to understand, this section is for you.

Salacious solicitation scandal

NCAA FOOTBALL:  Auburn quarterback Cam Newton is one of the most exciting athletes you’ll ever see. His passing and running abilities are sublime (watch his ridiculous highlights on YouTube) and he’s the runaway favourite to win the Heisman Trophy. That is, until last week, when the news broke that Newton’s father, Cecil, had attempted to solicit a “pay for play” agreement for his son in the neighbourhood of six figures. Cecil has admitted to the charges but contends that his son was unaware of his dealings. Regardless, this is another devastating blow to the integrity of amateur college athletics south of the border. If Newton plays the rest of the season (and doesn’t get suspended by Auburn or the NCAA), look for him to dominate, for Auburn to remain undefeated and for the National Championship game to be surrounded by serious (and deserved) controversy.

 

Lions roughly ridden

CFL PLAYOFFS: In what is sure to go down as an all-time great Conference semifinal playoff game, the Saskatchewan Roughriders defeated the B.C. Lions 41-38 in double overtime. Adding insult to injury, former Lion Jason Clermont scored the winning touchdown against his former team. Saskatchewan will go on to play Calgary in the Western Finals. In the other playoff game, Toronto defeated Hamilton 16-13 in the “Battle of Ontario” to set up a classic Eastern Conference final matchup against rival Montreal.

Pacman chews up Margarito

BOXING: Manny Pacquiao, the pride of the Philippines, staked his claim to be considered one of boxing’s all-time greats Saturday night when he absolutely demolished Antonio Margarito. Margarito, who was 17 pounds heavier and 4½ inches taller, was beaten so badly by the quick and powerful Pacquiao that he will need serious facial reconstruction surgery to repair his fractured right eye socket. This victory keeps the door open for a potential $100 million superfight with undefeated defensive wizard Floyd Mayweather Jr. It may be too late however, as Mayweather is facing domestic abuse charges and potential jail time.

 

Three kings or three stooges?

NBA: The Miami Heat now have more losses than they do all-stars. The new “big-three” suffered their third and fourth losses of the season to Utah and Boston, respectively. Looks like the Heat could use some more talent in South Beach.

NHLers unaware of how to properly tip cabbies

NHL: Hockey players seem to have a serious problem with cabbies. Less than a year after Stanley Cup hero Patrick Kane assaulted a taxi driver over $1.20 (Kane has a contract worth $31 million), Calgary Flames centre Brett Sutter was arrested for drunkenly sucker-punching a cabbie in Phoenix. This is getting outrageous—do NHLers need to be refereed at all times?

 

Straight cash homie

NFL: Randy Moss took the field for the Tennessee Titans on Sunday. After getting himself kicked out of New England and Minnesota for bad behaviour (watch “Randy Moss—One Clap” by DJ Steve Porter for an incredible all-time compellation of Moss’ ridiculous quotes like, “Straight cash homie.” and “I play when I want to play”), this will be the third team that the former all-pro receiver has suited up for this season. Moss struggled again this weekend with one catch for 26 yards. If his poor performance and attitude continue, maybe he’ll get a chance at team number four later this season.

1 … 1,261 1,262 1,263 1,264 1,265 … 1,367

Read the latest issue

Read the latest issue