This weekend is UBC Athletics’ "Super Weekend.” There are 11 UBC games this weekend. Four basketball games, four volleyball games, four soccer games (but UBC only will play in two) and a football game.
The men’s soccer team is hosting the Canada West playoffs and are likely to win. Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams are playing their home openers on Friday and football is hosting the CIS West semifinal game that they are also likely to win.
The Super Weekend is UBC Athletics' latest scheme to drum up support for the teams. It’s an interesting idea — getting as many people out to as many games as possible — but is it the best way create excitement about the program?
First of all, it’s the middle of November and most students are busy with projects, paper and exams — it’s hardly ideal timing. Plus advertising over a dozen games is hardly the best way to get students out, it’s just overwhelming.
Most students, even those who are interested in going to a game or two, can’t and won't go to all, or even several, games. People won't go to the back-to-back basketball and volleyball games because watching two games in a row is just too long to sit in a gym. People won't go to basketball or volleyball on Friday and Saturday because watching a team for two days in a row is also too much. And people won't go to the football game at noon, go home and then return for a soccer game a 7:30 p.m.
Packaging all these games together makes sense on paper but, realistically, it’s going to split up the crowd and fail to create the very atmosphere Athletics is trying to create. Sports games are fun because of the crowd and without a big crowd at any one game, you lose that excitement.
All that criticisms aside, Super Weekend should be really exciting. Men’s soccer will almost certainly win on Friday night, qualifying them for the CIS championship in Toronto — they’ll probably win that too. Football has already beaten Manitoba twice, most recently last weekend in a 24-10 home game victory and previously they won 51-48. The two teams will clash in a rematch on Saturday which UBC is certainly capable of winning, qualifying them for the CIS championships.
Both volleyball teams are always crowd pleasers. Men’s basketball, despite losing top players last years, has shown promise in the preseason and women’s basketball won the CIS West last year and is one of the most exciting teams to watch at UBC.
But there are two games everyone should go to — soccer on Friday and football on Saturday. If soccer wins, they go to Nationals and are undefeated — you do the math. Football has done a 180 from last season and has yet to show how good they really can be. That's not to take anything away from the other teams, but those are the exciting and important games of the weekend and should have the best fan atmosphere.
For the price of $10, students can access every single game this weekend — you can’t go wrong. Whether you just catch one game or run around campus trying to catch as many as possible, this weekend is sure to be exciting for diehard fans, sports-apathetic students and athletes alike. If you really don’t have any interest in watching sports, buy a ticket anyways because Dan Mangan is performing at halftime for the football game.
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