Nathan Hayhoe – The Concordian

Fashion trends at Concordia haven’t been particularly hard to track these past few years. Most students will have noticed the steady increase of Canada Goose jackets, rubber boots by Hunter and black leggings (or tights, or jeggings, or yoga pants—the terminology can be difficult to master). But the more observant among us may have also picked up on the proliferation of another accessory: the blue and white Montreal Impact scarf.

Unlike the jeggings, though, the scarf is about passion, not fashion.

“I wear them to school all the time,” said Psychology major Yann Bonato De Angelis, a faithful supporter of the club. “Game day or not, it’s how I roll.”

The Impact colours have gained prominence on campus since the team’s entry into Major League Soccer in 2012 and their four straight wins to start the 2013 season has led to a visible uptick in popularity. Many of the Impact faithful, though, were on board long before the bandwagon came to town.

“I have been an Impact fan since the day they started in ’93,” said De Angelis. “However, I have been a loyal supporter for five years now and have gone on several trips to watch the team outside of Montreal.”

Like De Angelis, recent graduate in History Sebastian Hertner owns many Impact scarves, and wears them daily. Asked why he supports the club, Hertner’s reply was succinct: “Love your city—support your club.”

These aren’t fair-weather fans, folks. And although the blue and white may not have entirely supplanted the bleu, blanc et rouge as the colours of choice on campus, those who do wear the gear wear it proudly.

At the root of the passion, De Angelis explained, is “the Ultras mentality,” which means “being a supporter, rather than just an ordinary fan.”

The “Ultras” mentality of which he speaks refers to the philosophy of the club’s largest supporter group, the Ultras Montréal (UM02). To the Ultras, being a supporter is about more than just watching the games. It’s about standing and chanting for the 90 minutes that the team is on the pitch. It’s about travelling for hours by bus to make yourself heard in hostile road stadiums. It’s about supporting the team through good times and bad—to suffer and to celebrate with the club and, above all else, to be “always faithful.”

So, back to those little blue and white scarves that have been popping up around campus. Well, they have nothing to do with fashion, to be sure, and they are most certainly not a passing trend. They are the symbol of a group of fans who wear their hearts on their sleeves—and their colours around their necks.

And they’ll still be wearing them next year, long after those boots by Hunter have found their way to the back of the closet, alongside that pair of Uggs from 2009.

Concordia students aren’t mad about spring basketball

Harvard’s men’s basketball team never won a National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament game. In fact, they had only qualified three time in the school’s history. That changed on March 21, when the 14th-ranked Crimson stunned third place New Mexico. Havard was led by Quebec’s Laurent Rivard, whose 17 points and key three-point shooting down the stretch helped to ice the victory. It was, in a word, madness.

The presence of Canadian athletes in the field has led local media outlets to ramp up coverage of the month-long March Madness tournament but, in the halls of Concordia, student interest was decidedly less enthusiastic.

“March Madness? Never heard of it,” was the number one response, followed closely by “March what?”

There are exceptions, though. Recent biology graduate and current Arts and Science Federation of Associations office manager Sofiane Guend follows the tournament closely and fills out a prediction bracket each year. Guend hails from Madison, Wisconsin, and says that down south “everyone watches it, everyone fills out a bracket.”

When asked what the expected response would be if a typical Wisconsinite were questioned about the meaning of March Madness, he quickly replied, “You wouldn’t even have to ask. They’d already be talking about it.”

Canadian university sports are markedly less hyped. According to Guend, media coverage is at the heart of the contrast. While televisions on and around campus are dominated by the Habs, the story is different in the U.S., where “the games are always on, wherever there’s a T.V..”

American-born students aren’t the only ones who catch basketball fever in March. Fourth-year linguistics student and Quebec native Curtish Mesher grew up watching the 64-team tournament.

“I used to get University of Michigan football games on T.V. from some American channel as a kid, so I watch Wolverine games when I can,” he said. “Plus, I have a friend who is a big Kentucky fan.”

Although media coverage played a role in his development as a basketball fan, he provided another reason for local fans’ apathy towards basketball

“[It’s] not that hyped a thing here in Montreal, probably because basketball isn’t a very big sport in Quebec,” he said. “It’s definitely a presence. There are definitely still fans that are super into it, just not in the same numbers as elsewhere.”

When Laurent Rivard and Harvard pulled off their historic first-round upset on last week, they did so in front of 14, 345 fans, many of whom stormed the court after the final buzzer sounded.

Around here, sadly, we measure attendance like we order our doughnuts: by the dozen. If the Canadian Interuniversity Sport basketball championship hopes to bridge the gap with its American counterpart, it needs to start with coverage and hype. How about a CIS final 8 basketball bracket to go along with your March Madness pool, next year?

Until the coverage is provided — and the hype generated — Guend and Mesher will remain the exception rather than the rule. March basketball simply is not a topic that is close to the hearts Concordia students. Most would prefer to talk about how we got 26 centimetres of snow on the first day of spring. Now that’s madness.