The Stingers new jerseys and new logo didn’t save them from a humiliating home loss
Earlier this week, Concordia officially unveiled the first phase of their “historic” re-branding initiative. Ironically, buzzwords were in no short order at Wednesday’s press conference/fashion show, where Concordia’s president Alan Shepard and athletic director Patrick Boivin took to the stage, bloviating about the Stingers new look.
Rebranding they said, Stingers United they said, but 37-0… no one said anything about that. The football team’s sad performance Friday night against Sherbrooke highlights the real issue with a majority of Concordia athletics. We’re just not that good; and without the facilities and fan support to attract a better crop of incoming talent, 37-0 runs the risk of becoming the norm for the rebranded Stingers.
A slippery slope awaits if the new look Stingers continue to have trouble adapting to the new realities of Interuniversity athletics. People want shiny things that sparkle and win, but delivering somewhat shiny things that don’t win isn’t an easy sell.
New jerseys and re-sodded turf don’t translate into gridiron success, and Friday night’s 37-0 debacle at Loyola bares witness. Head coach Mickey Donovan turned water into wine last season, when he took an undersized and undermanned Stingers team to the playoffs in his first year at helm. However, handcuffing Canada’s best up and coming head coach to the recruiting tagline of “we got new jerseys,” isn’t doing anyone any favours. We’ve seen this movie before, and the premature proclamations of the boys who cried wolf, eventually turns skeptics into us all.
