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LAST WORD: How Yoga came to the west and lost itself on the way

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EIC
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WEB-yoga-Mark Burnham

By Ljudmila Petrovic
Photos by Mark Burnham

It seems like no matter where you go in Vancouver, you cannot escape the fresh-faced, mat-carrying yogis that dot the city’s sidewalks and studios. In fact, Vancouver’s 2011 designation as one of the worst-dressed cities is mostly blamed on the excess of yoga pants. Sure, you can call me a hypocrite — my keychains are filled with yoga studio tags — but that’s never stopped me from ranting about something before. Nor can we deny that the practice has become so unlike the meditation yogis thousands of years ago were striving for that it is nearly unrecognizable. No matter how many namastes are exchanged in our over-priced swanky classes, the fact remains that simple spirituality has been replaced with the likes of Yogilates (a hybrid between yoga and pilates) and Power Yoga.

We now have yoga raves — a kundalini class with music and glow sticks — antigravity yoga and harmonica yoga (which is exactly what it sounds like). In April 2011, 21-year-old Jean Wharf was kicked off of a Vancouver Skytrain for refusing to take off her “Fuck Yoga” pin. Yeah, that was a big deal at the time because of freedom of speech, and organizations like the B.C. Civil Liberties Association got involved and so on. Whatever, that’s irrelevant in this context. What matters here is that there is clearly a movement to counter that of yoga’s rising popularity. There is a record label with the same name, and an entire website that sells merchandise emblazoned with the words.

Just as there is an entire army of downward-doggy-styling, wheatgrassdrinking, quinoa-munching individuals, so too is there a group that thinks they’re full of shit.

Not everyone takes such an angry approach. There are also those who feel that yoga has become grossly misrepresented by the styles of yoga that have developed in recent years. The “Not Yoga” group, for example, jokes about this on their light-hearted Facebook page. “[This] group is playfully devoted to the ways in which yoga is misrepresented,” reads their page. “Yoga is now so totally altered that we can cry, get angry, or laugh, and laughing might be the most positive.” Those that subscribe to these ideas are not of the belief that yoga is even being practiced wrong, so much as that its very essence has been misrepresented; its practitioners strive for the poses and have lost the spiritual aspect on the way. “Yoga is primarily a spiritual discipline. I don’t mean to belittle the Yoga postures,” writes Paramahansa Yogananda in The Essence of Self-Realization. “The body, moreover, is a part of our human nature, and must be kept fit lest it obstruct our spiritual efforts.”

Swami Chidananda Saraswati, head of the internationally known Sivananda Ashram, is another proponent of the idea that the familiar poses we view as making up a class are actually inconsequential — or at least minimal — in the grand scheme of an individual’s practice. “Physical posture serves at best as an auxiliary, or a minor form of Yoga,” he has explained.

In recent years, there has also been more media attention surrounding the “Take Back Yoga” approach, headed by the small, but significant, Hindu American Foundation (HAF). The group believes that those practicing yoga should become more aware of the Hindu traditions that lie at the core of the practice. At 2009’s Parliament of World Religions, Suhag Shukla of HAF brought to attention the rising commercialization of the yoga movement and the ways in which this was insulting to its Hindu roots. The following year, The New York Times drew more attention to the cause with the article “Hindu Group Stirs a Debate Over Yoga’s Soul.” Since then, there has been a rise in the discussions surrounding yoga’s roots and whether the West is honoring the traditions of yoga or bastardizing them.

A prime example is that of Bikram Choudhury, an Indian-born yoga instructor and founder of the Bikram stream of yoga. Based in Los Angeles, he is the self-proclaimed guru to the stars, he is filthy rich and unapologetic about it. His system consists of 90-minute long sessions, held in a 105-degree Fahrenheit room. The session involves a sequence of 26 poses and two breathing exercises, which Choudhury unsuccessfully tried to copyright in a recent lawsuit: in July 2011, he sued two yoga instructors that were using the same sequences without his permission; the case finished in December 2012. “The sequence — Choudhury’s compilation of exercises and yoga poses . . . is merely a procedure or system of exercises,” wrote U.S. District Otis Wright about the ruling.

Lawsuits? LA celebs? This doesn’t sound like the yoga that has spirituality at its roots, and yet this is one of the most popular and well-known streams of yoga. So, how can we describe the yoga craze in North America? “It’s a mess,” said Dr. Georg Feuerstein in a 2003 interview in LA Yoga Magazine. “Looking at the Yoga movement today, part of me feels very saddened by it, but then I also see that it contains the seeds of something better.” So, as much as I can bitch about what the practice has become, the fact remains that yoga is what we make of it. You can do it for the sake of Lululemon, you can do it for the physical benefits, you can do it because it’s all the rage, but you can also do it to acquire a calm introspection and become the most spiritual person you can be amongst the everyday bustle.

FIRST PEEK: Keeping it glassy, SFU

By
EIC
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The vessel you use to convey your brew from tap to mouth makes a difference

By Adam Dewji

Depending on how many beers you’ve ordered at any given pub, you might notice that some pubs serve different brews in different glassware. I’m not talking about size. I understand that if you order a sleeve, it’s going to be smaller than a pint. The different glassware used for specific beer serves different purposes.

Yeah, it’s true; it’s not all just marketing. Different types of brews will react differently to different types of glassware. That spells out a lot of variables for someone stuck in math nine, so let me break it down for you. When you pour a brew into a glass, you want to pour it so it doesn’t just hit the bottom and foam up (unless you’re pouring a Guinness out of a can). You generally want to let the beer slide down the inside of the glass and let it foam up naturally, tilting the glass on its side to achieve minimum head.

There are 10 general glass types that a beer can be served in, each serving its own purpose. When a beer is poured into a glass, the amount of head (or foam) that is created releases certain aromas and has minor chemical reactions that allow for better taste, smell, and texture of a beer. These micro-changes can affect the way that a beer tastes overall.

The 10 types are: flute glass, goblet, mug (or stein), pilsner glass, pint glass, snifter, stange, tulip, weizen glass (weizens are wheat beers), and an oversized wine glass. I don’t have space to describe them all, but their purpose is easily googled.

You might be overwhelmed, wondering what you normally drink out of at a pub. If you order an econo-beer, you’re probably being served in a pilsner glass or a pint glass. Some restaurants are starting to carry weizen glassware (like a slim Coke-glass) for macro-brew wheat beers, like a Rickard’s or Keith’s White.

I have always loved the goblet, because it always makes people wonder why I’m drinking out of it. They’re the ones that look like the bro-version of a wine glass, and are meant mainly for Belgian strong ales and IPAs (India Pale Ales). They’re built to generally have around an inch of head, post-pour. They are also built wider at the mouth for deep sips to hit you with lots of flavor at once. Not only that, but they look pretty damn awesome too. You could totally salute the rock gods in style while listening to Dragonforce with one of these suckers.

In Belgium, some breweries actually engineer glassware just for their specific brews. Most craft beer pubs will do the right thing and serve your beer in an appropriate glass.

Next time you’re out for a brew, see what they serve it in and maybe you’ll finally know why some beers are served in differently shaped glasses than the rest.

Watch first, judge later

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EIC
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ZD 30

The reaction to Zero Dark Thirty has been plagued with unfounded accusations

By Will Ross

Were you not already embroiled in the controversy surrounding Zero Dark Thirty, a political thriller based on the search for and assassination of Osama bin Laden, you may have picked up the impression that it is a finely made film, but one that either implicitly or explicitly condones or even valorizes the US government’s use of torture.

This is an understandable impression for the layman to have, but its widespread acceptance by those who have not even seen the film is fearful. For not only is such a position not founded in actually watching the film — a prerequisite to all rational opinions of art — it is also founded in media pieces that have propagated the claim without having seen the film themselves.

The false-starting gun was fired by Glenn Greenwald in a Dec. 10 article in The Guardian. Having no experience with the film except for reading reviews of it, he concluded that the film glorifies torture by portraying it as having been essential to finding bin Laden.

Backlash was immediate. Greenwald defended his piece by condemning an alleged “blackout on discussing film reviews that appear in major media outlets prior to the film’s opening. “If writers at major media outlets who review the film all say the film shows torture being helpful in finding bin Laden,” said Greenwald, “then people are going to talk about that.”

In fact the film did have defenders who denied any torture glorification, but Greenwald apparently decided that he could accept the perceived majority impression as the true one. When publicly commentating on reactions to art one hasn’t seen, any dissent whatsoever must be fully acknowledged, but Greenwald’s underresearched opinion was taken as legitimate as often as it was taken to task.

Since then, many pieces have surfaced condemning the film for a myriad of faults, without having seen the film — often apparently inventing its plot as they go along. One such piece in The Huffington Post, “Why I Won’t Be Watching Zero Dark Thirty”, baselessly states that the film portrays Muslims in a negative and stereotypical light. That a Huffington Post piece could say the film “capitalize[s] on an already tense environment of suspicion and fear” without the author having seen the film and without a single supporting quotation should be a scandalous breach of integrity. Instead, it has blended into a sea of similar pieces and passed by unnoticed.

Such behavior normalizes biases and ignorance in discussions of art, as if rational consideration of the evidence is unnecessary if someone else has done it for you. It only leads to imposed narratives and confirmation bias; it came as no surprise that when Greenwald did see the film, he did not see the complex allegory that most critics did, but a “cartoon,” one undeserving even of the word “art.”

But art it is, and if more commentators — prosecutors and defendants alike — read the film closely, they would notice a scene that explicitly marks the torture as unnecessary: the intelligence was simply buried in the files all along. Instead, they change course, denouncing director Kathryn Bigelow for evading criticism (she isn’t) and claiming that the film was approved or even funded by the CIA (it wasn’t).

Sadly, condemnatory hearsay comes with the territory of Oscar season. But the discourse around Zero Dark Thirty has ruined a rare opportunity to discuss a movie that actually approaches modern political issues with intelligence and gravitas. Instead of soberly weighing available facts, responses to the film have been driven by passion alone. And while passion ought to fuel discussions of politics and art, it should never touch the steering wheel.

Letters to the Editor – January 28, 2013

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EIC
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By Travis Freeland and Kyaelim Kwon

Dear editor,

I had to read Jan. 21’s “Student are apathetic and that’s OK” several times before I was confident that it wasn’t a hoax. While I suspect that this article, like a lot of “right wing” writing, is intentionally provocative and controversial,

I will give it the benefit of a response. I believe the arrogance displayed here necessitates it. I know there are many others that share my feelings. To begin, I’d like to dispel any notion that the opinions expressed in this piece can reasonably be associated with a rational, politically “right” mindset. That a legitimate conservative agenda would involve the celebration of apathy is laughable.

Activism was a founding principle of modern conservative politics. I’d like to see the author try to tell the innumerable conservative citizens’ groups and committees that work tirelessly to promote their ideas that “there are no illusions about how pointless protesting is.” Instead, the ideas and arguments presented in this article smack of the aimless, aggressive nonsense we already get enough of courtesy of Fox News and Glenn Beck.

When I’m looking for my fix of dismissive arrogance and underlying hostility, I’ll tune into Kevin O’Leary, thank you very much. The columnist writes about the way we’ve mythologized the “radical past” of SFU, and to some extent, I would agree. What about the past isn’t mythologized? Mythology is a powerful force on any university campus.

Certainly, our “radical past” is viewed in a romantic light by some, but the fact remains that the period in question was a truly defining time for our young institution. Like it or not, the messy formative years of SFU were instrumental in shaping its current configuration. The “apathetic campus” Onderwater celebrates is itself a notorious myth, one that many people here are working to reject.

“The Montreal protests seem more like something out of Egypt or the Middle East, rather than something that could actually happen at a university campus in Canada.” I will side-step the issue of a vaguely racist undertone in this statement in the interest of saving space. Onderwater claims that students no longer need to be radical, since we have it so good now. Tuition and cost of living are soaring, but hey, student loans are easy to get and part-time jobs abound. No need to complain!

This is the threadbare argument used by individuals who don’t face significant boundaries in attaining the education and experience they need to continue their comfortable, middle-class lifestyle. It is rare to hear it coming from single parents, refugees, the differently abled, victims of violence, or people representing racial and gender minorities for whom the process of applying, paying for, and excelling in post-secondary education (a process that is seemingly effortless for so many others) can be challenging and even prohibitive. I know, what a bleeding heart, you must be saying.

Onderwater attributes what he perceives to be a rightward shift at SFU to the eminence of the business program: “SFU is all about training future capitalists in the ways of making lots of money.” I know there are business students out there who are shuddering at the thought of being characterized as a bunch of selfcentered, money-hungry automatons, patiently putting in their four years on the degree factory conveyor belt so they can get out there and start earning at other peoples’ expense.

Onderwater then launches an all-out attack on the “Rotunda Four,” claiming that groups like SFPIRG and the Women’s Centre are relics of a bygone age. This is where my gears really start to grind. Personally, I find it completely disheartening to hear someone malign the core group of people on campus who are actually interested in something other than department socials, intramural sports, and networking wine parties.

The continued work of groups in the Rotunda Four, and elsewhere, as well as our very active labour unions, shows that the spirit of activism is very much alive at SFU. There are people here who continue to strive for a safer, more accessible, affordable, and tolerant place to learn. This kind of unprovoked, unsubstantiated attack, primarily directed at women and racial and gender minorities is what poisons politics and turns many conservative and otherwise-oriented people away from productive involvement.

This article provides us with a rather grim portrayal of conservatism indeed. Well, what do you think, my friends on the right side of the spectrum: is it fair to say that you’re all lazy, business-oriented, and thriving in an atmosphere where no one gives a shit about anything? Tell me this is just an unfortunate and unproductive characterization.

Tell me you don’t really believe in blindly, naively attacking political involvement. Tell me you don’t instinctively resent the funding of student groups because of some misguided attempt at replicating the “anti-big government” debate here, at a government-subsidized institution. We also happen to be paying for The Peak, which this week, unfortunately, served as a platform for dispiriting, ineffectual rhetoric. “Write Wing” indeed.

Sincerely,
Travis Freeland
Graduate Student
Department of Archaeology

 

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Dear editor,

We are young and small, but we do an exceptional job at “engaging the world”. Our students travel the world, studying, volunteering, or working, as ambassadors of SFU and of Canada. Our professors, among the best in their respective fields, come from every corner of the globe, from Norway to Portugal. Our Human Security Report is cited by academics and policy advisors across the globe. Together, with the exceptional staff, we have built an interdisciplinary research and teaching centre of international studies — one of the few in the world.

We, the School of International Studies, are perhaps doing the best job in fulfilling the university’s mandate of “engaging the world.” Indeed, in today’s globalized economy, employers seek for candidates with global perspective and experience.

It explains partly why the School’s programs are highly demanded by the students: currently there are only 207 declared majors admitted with 258 additional students that wish to enter the programs.

This is why it is hard for us to understand the lack of the support from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Since 2006, the number of students has increased over 2000%. Yet, the School has fewer faculty members in 2013 than in 2006. Concretely, it means that less classes are offered; that our students are burdened with more loans in prolonging their studies; and that the faculty have less time to engage with undergraduate and graduate students, or to publish cutting-edge research that gets cited widely and worldly by their colleagues.

To continue engaging the world, by attracting the brightest of minds and sharing the international perspective, the School of International Studies needs the university’s support to hire one more tenure-track assistant professor. For us, one more professor would mean four more classes offered per year for 120 more students!

We will be holding a Townhall meeting on Feb. 6 in AQ3181 at 6 p.m. International Studies students: please come out to air your concerns about the program. All SFU students: please join us to support our cause. One more faculty, to engage the world, together.

Sincerely,
Kyaelim Kwon
Departmental Committee Representative
International Studies Student Association

Protesting the Paramount is completely pointless

By
EIC
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Paramount_BW

Closing down a strip club will not end objectification, but rethinking our relationship to sex might

By Gloria Mellesmoen
Photos by Jan Zeschky / flickr

¬¬Strip clubs and the women who work at them have long been the target of groups preaching women’s rights and/or equality. In the past week, this controversy has struck locally. Students from Dr. Charles Best Secondary School’s Social Justice 12 class are pushing for the closure of New Westminster’s Paramount Gentlemen’s Club, justifying their petition by arguing that the Paramount encourages objectification of women.

Though I cannot deny the existence of objectification at strip clubs, I can quite firmly state that they are not the root cause. Strip clubs are a controlled place for us to delve into fantasy and appreciate the human body. I have to agree with Garbage, the 90s altrock band, whose song “Sex is not the Enemy” chants: “The institution curses curiosity/ It’s our conviction/ Sex is not the enemy/A revolution/ Is the solution.” The ability to enjoy sex and take pleasure in the sight of someone else’s body is completely natural and predates the concept of objectification.

There is nothing wrong with a woman who takes pride in her body and sexuality, whether in private or on a stage. The real enemy is in how we are educated. While I am in complete support of young adults advocating for worthwhile causes, I believe that the students at Dr. Charles Best are misguided. Truly fighting objectification would be seeking to modify the way we are taught to perceive of the human body. Objectification is not surprising in a culture that associates sex with shame and dehumanization. Instead of making sexuality and nudity taboo, we should encourage dialogue to stress important concepts like respect and consent. Shutting down a single strip club is not going to solve anything. Closing down The Paramount will only cause harm for those working there.

Steven Mountford, owner of the Paramount Gentlemen’s Club, has expressed that the campaign to close his business does not take into account that his employees are people, too. The dancers at the Paramount are adults who are working for a living, just the same as anyone else. If we consider all the reasons we have had for working where we do, they tend to look alike: some women are working through school, some truly enjoy what they do, some are just really good at it, and some are only doing it to support themselves.

Regardless of the reason, they have chosen this career. It is hypocritical to claim one is striving for women’s rights while at the same time removing choices of how to use one’s body and which professions are appropriate.

The Paramount is a location that permits women to perform as a means to live in a safe environment. Mountford explained what the dancers do is legal “as a profession in Canada and is included in the list of occupations for immigration.” He is worried that the protesting students have “linked human trafficking and prostitution to [their] cause” and are drawing hasty conclusions that could have serious consequences for those who find employment at The Paramount. None of the involved students or the teacher at the school have tried to contact him.

The Paramount is not the enemy. This all comes back to my belief that we need to change how we educate about sex. These passionate young minds are attacking an honest business and threatening the livelihood of many employees, not just the dancers, because they deal in appreciation for the human body. It is time to stop telling women what they can and cannot do with their bodies. Objectification will always be an issue if we do not properly educate our young, and encouraging them to attack an effect rather than its cause helps no one.

NHL hockey is back, but do you really care?

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EIC
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Web-hockey-Mark Burnham

By Travis Homenuck
Photos by Mark Burnham

The Sheaf (SASKATOON) —The NHL is back in business. Whoa, calm down! Is the excitement actually seeping out of every pore of your body, or are you nonchalantly shrugging your shoulders at the announcement like I am?

The absence of this single sport from TV hasn’t been as terrible as some make it out to be. In fact, I think the NHL’s absence has been wholly positive.

Those who claim to miss hockey on TV should reevaluate their priorities in life.

It is just a game, people. Go play the game if you miss it that much — and you don’t have to go to Russia to do it. We have the technology right here in Canada, whether the pros are playing or not.

I’m more of an arts person myself, though I’ve played pretty well every sport. Much of my disdain for sports has to do with the fact that my own father spent night after night with his butt parked in front of the TV, watching whatever game might be on when I was just a young lad.

In some cases — perhaps in most — fathers may be able to get their sons obsessed with sports on TV too, but I guess I was a tough nut to crack. There are other things I would have liked to have done with my dad, but didn’t get to because the game was on.

Let this be a note to all parents: not every child likes or wants to have anything to do with sports. Encouraging them to watch or play something they have no interest in won’t help anybody.

Some parents push ballet, others drama or football. I wonder if the best thing one could do as a parent would be to expose your child to anything and everything and then see where they find their niche in the world of sports, the arts or the great outdoors. If your daughter wants to be a quarterback and your son wants to be a dancer, let them thrive.

I’ve digressed, but the absence of one activity gives invitation to others. What have those who’ve typically spent hours in front of the TV done in lieu of watching NHL games? Perhaps there have been more date nights or more time at the rink actually playing the freakin’ game.

Perhaps the dad with the kid who likes theatre took him or her to a show or two, and realized how great bonding can be when it’s over something mutually enjoyed.

The lockout hasn’t been bad for fans so much as it has been bad for the hockey industry. Perhaps that’s the real problem: hockey has become a business and the true essence of the game has been lost as a result.

Instead of leaving fans with nothing to watch, the loss of the NHL this winter has allowed smaller leagues to gain high-status media attention.

If you’ve truly missed hockey, I’m sorry about the lockout. I’m sorry that you haven’t been able to yell at your TV or share a beer with your TV-watching companion. I’m especially sorry to those who like hockey because it’s their favourite game and pastime. I may not be a fan, but I can appreciate a winter night on the rink, skating and tossing a puck around just like a true hockey junky.

But I hope that those who have traditionally spent a lot of time in front of the TV obsessed with the NHL have invested that time into other aspects of life, areas that have most likely been neglected during previous hockey seasons. So, major league hockey is back — though I’m not sure it needs to be.

Why Honey Boo Boo’s family is more functional than yours

By
EIC
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0

HoneyBooBoo_BW

Without the Kardashian sex scandals, the Thompson-Shannon household’s focus on family values is showing us how it’s done

By Tara Nykyforiak
Photos by K. Babineau

“Nobody can be proper and etiquettely all the time, I don’t care who you are,” says June Shannon, mother of the outspoken and opinionated Alana Thompson, star of TLC’s Here Comes Honey Boo Boo.

Living in small town Mc-Intyre, Georgia, Honey Boo Boo and her family are chronicled in their day-to-day lives with some of their time spent planning for and attending beauty pageants that Alana participates in. Unlike their Toddlers & Tiaras counterparts (the show that first introduced us to Honey Boo Boo), the show displays a strong family unit and parental practices that are lacking in other reality television shows and society as a whole.

Many children today live a sedentary lifestyle. Leisure activities revolve around sitting in front of screens and are, for the most part, indoors. This is vastly different from previous generations, who could be found outdoors and actively sporting grass stains and bruises. Honey Boo Boo and her family, on the other hand, can consistently be seen partaking in activities outside of the house; they can be found swimming in lakes, jumping in mud, and running around their yard. This is very different from the children of comparable TV shows, such as Toddlers & Tiaras, whose lives are shown to be indoors, for the most part, either at the pageants they attend or inside their bedrooms.

These children’s disconnection from nature parallels most children of the present generation; they aren’t given the chance by their parents to explore and use their imaginations to create their own fun.

The family also exhibits a genuine closeness, with Shannon involving her children in the majority her daily undertakings. The family adopts budgeting in order to support Honey Boo Boo’s pageants, and uses coupons and auctions as a means of saving money. The whole family clips coupons together, and also go to auctions as an entire family unit. Through activities such as these, not only is Shannon instilling in her children the value of money and budgeting strategies, but she is also getting them actively involved in helping to manage the household.

This can be further extended to the family’s eating habits. I will not pretend to find their eating habits healthy (they are regularly seen eating copious amounts of junk food), but
Shannon does make her children help with cooking dinners.
I am a firm believer that “a family that eats together, stays together,” and this practice is alive and well in the show.

Many families in contemporary society operate on hectic schedules and do not eat together as a family unit. Honey Boo Boo and her family are always seen eating together at the same time in the same room of the house, and I do believe this exemplifies the importance of making time for family, not normally seen on other reality shows.

A final admirable quality Shannon’s refusal to pressure her children into living up to some ideal standard of appearance or behaviour. Media puts a lot of pressure on young girls and women to appear physically polished and refined. Honey Boo Boo can be seen subverting this expectation, proudly grabbing at her stomach and loudly expressing her opinions with no regard to how she might be judged. All the while she is wholly supported by her mother’s opinion that “we like to be ourselves, you like us or you don’t like us, we just don’t care.”
 

SFU hockey starts fast, wins big

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EIC
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WEB-m hockey-Vaikunthe banerjee
SFU scores early and often while dismantling UVic

By Andrew Jow
Photos by Vaikunthe Banerjee

The Simon Fraser University men’s hockey team (11–3–0) returned home to the Bill Copeland Sports Centre Saturday and went back to their winning ways against the University of Victoria Vikes (6–9–0). SFU dominated from the first puck drop until the final whistle en route to an 11–2 victory.

SFU’s first goal was a sign of things to come. At the 10-minute mark of the first period, Mike Ball skated the puck from his own end of the rink all the way into the offensive zone and found number 89 Nick Sandor on the left wing. Sandor finished the great play off by going hard to the net and roofing the puck over Vikes goalie Sunny Gill. SFU continued to apply pressure throughout the period, and eventually netted another goal with 3:28 to go in the first. Captain Christopher Hoe tapped in the puck at the goalmouth after a great passing play with Ball and Trevor Milner. Ball was all over the ice early, and his efforts resulted in a four-point night.

Early in the second period Ball was at it again. The defenseman grabbed the puck behind his own net, flew through centre ice and found Milner, who sniped it top shelf. SFU added three more goals in the frame by Hoe, Ben La Vare, and Jono Ceci. All three goals were generated by SFU’s down-low pressure, as their relentless fore-check outmuscled Victoria’s defense, leading to easy, tap-in goals. Simon Fraser goalie Graeme Gordon had a solid night, turning away 31 of 33 shots. The only blemishes came in the third period.

After a breakaway goal by SFU’s Brenden Silvester and another tap-in for Christopher Hoe, Victoria finally got on the board. The Vikes’ Shawn Meuller forced a turnover at SFU’s blue line and fired a shot that not very many goaltenders could save. SFU responded to the missed shutout opportunity by adding three more goals, and Victoria found another to bring the final score to 11–2 for the home team. SFU won this game by moving through the neutral zone with ease and setting up their offense down low in Victoria’s zone. With their next three games coming on the road against Trinity Western University, Eastern Washington, and Selkirk College, SFU will look to build on their strong performance from Saturday night.

Committing to the Clan

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EIC
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Courtney Triano has worked hard throughout her time at SFU both in and out of the pool

By Clay J. Gray
Photos by Mark Burnham

Meet Courtney Triano, a fifth year senior from Tsawwassen. This breaststroker races in the 100- and 200-metre distances and has been shaving seconds off her time throughout the last five years. Don’t let that throw you off though; Courtney wasn’t recruited to SFU for her speed in the pool. In the summer of 2008 Courtney was contacted by the head coach, Liam Donnelly. He asked if Courtney was considering SFU.

When she responded that she had already applied and been accepted to school, coach Donnelly immediately told her she wasn’t fast enough to make the team, but gave her some times to meet. By the fall, Courtney had clocked in at the specified times and secured a spot on the swim team. However, Triano’s work had only just begun, as she would spend her first year on the verge of being cut from the team. After a year of hard work, coach Donnelly made Courtney the team captain. While Triano was grinding out her first years on the swim team, she also found her way into the position as president of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee. The organization is aimed at bridging the gap between administrative personnel and the student-athlete body, organizing community initiatives, and building a positive image for collegiate athlete.

Courtney’s stint as the president of SAAC coincided with the time when SFU unveiled the idea of joining the NCAA. When she was asked about how the switch affected her, Courtney said, “In meetings, administration would talk about how SFU was thinking about moving into the NCAA. The SAAC went out and got petitions of support signed by our fellow athletes, professors, and many others.

Looking beyond my time here and to SFU’s future, being in the NCAA is going to be a really good thing.” Being involved with SAAC has given Courtney more than just a chance to engage the community, it also helped her make many of her best friends. Courtney said, “I met a lot my best friends from other teams; who I may not have met if I had not been involved with SAAC.” If the extra workload from their sport is to be considered a burden, the travelling that student- athletes do could easily be considered their reward. When asked which trip has been the most memorable, Courtney quickly recalled some training camps in warmer climates but her trip to the North Pole stood out the most. When the women’s team went to Fairbanks, Alaska for a competition, they could not find a hotel in the city due to a convention being held the same weekend.

So, they were forced to find boarding in the nearest city, which happened to be North Pole, Alaska, a town with a year round Christmas theme. Courtney
Said, “On the plane ride up, I happened to have been seated away from the team and beside some people who lived in North Pole. One guy drew me a map, one lady gave me a list of all the places we had to see. So, as we got off the plane and the team was ready to sleep, I dragged them all over the North Pole.”

However, it’s not all travel and practice for her. As she wraps up her time at SFU, Triano looks to her own future and sees herself in the role of an educator. Courtney is an English major with a minor in world literature who has recently applied to the Professional Development Program at SFU. After that, Courtney plans to teach high school. As a future educator, Triano places a high value on the role of education, saying, “Academics are a huge part, if you aren’t eligible in school, you can’t compete as an student- athlete. There is a reason we are called student-athletes and not athlete-students; academics come first.”

For many people, the desire to create a legacy to be remembered by drives them to do things they normally wouldn’t, such as volunteering, joining a club, or even spray painting “class of 2013” on anything they can reach. The legacy Triano wants is one of hard work and determination. “I’m not the fastest swimmer on the team. I’m not even close,” said Triano. “I do work hard though, and that is why I am still on the team.” For that attitude, Triano was given the Terry Fox Most Inspirational Athlete Award last year, an award that Courtney holds as her personal favorite. “Being given the . . . award has been one of the biggest distinctions I’ve received while at SFU.

My dad knew Terry Fox because they played basketball together while they were at SFU. When I think about everything he has done, I feel honoured to have been given an award under his name,” said Triano.

The rise of the NC-double eh?

By
EIC
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WEB-Carl Basso-Mark Britch

By Robert Murray
Photos by Mark Britch

The CIS and NCAA both share a proud history, and have both provided athletes to professional leagues and the Olympics.

SACKVILLE (CUP) — The walking distance between Evans, Georgia and the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) head offices in Ottawa is roughly 1,679-kilometres. On Nov. 29, 2012, the foot of Simon Fraser University men’s soccer player Carlo Basso sent a shockwave this distance in just a matter of a few seconds.

That moment was the lone goal scored by SFU in a 3–1 semi-final loss to Saginaw Valley State at the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) Division II Men’s Soccer championship, held in Evans this fall. As the first Canadian school in the NCAA, SFU’s success this year in men’s soccer and other sports has raised questions about what other Canadian schools could make similar jumps in the coming years.

With an overall membership listed on their website as 1,273, the NCAA easily outnumbers the CIS in size. CIS president-elect Gordon Grace admitted during a phone interview, “If you’re talking about football we [the CIS] would never have a chance.” He did go on to mention that in some sports, CIS schools would be able to compete with some of the top NCAA schools.

Both organizations have produced their fair share of top talent. Several professional hockey players’ paths to the National Hockey League have gone through the CIS and NCAA. NHL goaltender Ryan Miller won the 2001 Hobey Baker Award (the top honour for a NCAA men’s hockey player) during his time at Michigan State University.
2002 Olympic Gold Medalist Paul Kariya accomplished the same feat as a member of the University of Maine back in 1993.

Before NHL head coach Mike Babcock made headlines as a Stanley Cup winner and Olympic gold medal-winning coach, he won the 1993–94 University Cup with the University of Lethbridge. For on-ice talent, the CIS has taken on the role of developing players that might still be rough around the edges after stints in Major Junior Hockey.

Players like current Washington Capitals forward Joel Ward (University of Prince Edward Island) and Philadelphia Flyers enforcer Jody Shelly (Dalhousie) have enjoyed successful careers so far in the NHL, even after taking the CIS route.

On the amateur sport side, Canada’s only gold medalist from the 2012 Olympic Games, trampolinist Rosie MacLennan found success while going to the University of Toronto. Another Canadian Olympian, high jumper Derek Drouin, won a bronze medal after a 36-year drought. Before London, Drouin’s claim to fame was as a three-time NCAA Division One champion, competing for Indiana University.

Despite the size difference, Grace conceded that “a lot of CIS university’s could do it if they chose to do it.” Despite this the University of British Columbia declined to make
the jump to the NCAA back in 2011. The decision was made back then by current UBC president Stephen Troop citing his school’s “proud history within the CIS” in an article filed by The Ubyssey.

The one main attraction of being associated with the NCAA as opposed to the CIS is the dollar sign attached to memebership. Andrew Bucholtz, editor of Yahoo! Sports Canada’s 55-Yard Line Canadian football blog and a devout follower of university football weighed in on the topic by email. “A non-successful Division III team really doesn’t do much for a school, but even a bad Division I FBS [Football Bowl Subdivision] power-conference team still can draw tons of fans, big television games, and plenty of money.”

When comparing dollar signs between organizations, the results are staggering. ESPN announced last summer that they would shell out $80 million each year between 2015 –2026 for broadcast rights to the Rose Bowl, one of the NCAA’s premier football games.

Grace bluntly admitted that this would simply not happen in Canada. “We know we have to get better, but at the same time, we have to be realistic about who our competition is,” he commented. He elaborated that instead of constantly comparing schools in the CIS to those of similar stature in the NCAA, the focus should be on developing the product with a focus on Canada. Grace made it clear that he is committed to the CIS brand. He mentioned that schools in Canada “at times . . . undersell the opportunities in the CIS.”

Both the CIS and NCAA have sustainable legacies with several success stories on either side. However, some schools in the CIS may feel like a large fish in a small pond. Despite this, Bucholtz expects that the case of SFU will be an isolated one. “[The] CIS has shifted enough to address most of the concerns of other schools that were thinking about following suit, though, so it seems likely Simon Fraser’s going to be the only Canadian school in the NCAA for a while.”

For most athletes, the choice can often come down to some large variables, such as money, playing time or academics. Grace fully encouraged any Canadian who may have an opportunity to play football at an school like Alabama, or basketball at a school like Duke, to take it. Ultimately, Grace placed the decision in the hands of the student-athlete. “What’s the best fit for you,” he stated.

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Simon Fraser University’s independent student newspaper since 1965.

Contact us: [email protected]

© The Peak Publications Society 1965-2024

Simon Fraser University’s independent student newspaper since 1965.

Contact us:
[email protected]

© The Peak Publications Society 1965-2024