Dear Editor,
I try to attend as many UTM sports games as I can. Of course, having a busy school schedule doesn’t always permit my attendance, but whenever I get the chance I’m usually treated to some fun on-campus entertainment. Sadly, whenever I go, there aren’t many people sitting in the stands with me. The culture at U of T seems to be focused solely on academia, and there is not much attention given to the students giving their all for our sports teams. I reckon it’s disappointing for these athletes not to see anybody rooting for them in the stands, to have the name of the school you play for but no one off the court cheering that school on. The question has been bugging me… Do students really care about sports at U of T, and if not, how can we get them to care?
American universities and colleges are given their identity based on the success of their school sports teams; there is camaraderie among students, a sense of oneness. March Madness College Basketball is covered on all the largest sports networks and news outlets—even the president of the United States makes a bracket with his predictions every March. Theirs is a community that thrives on a love for sports. Granted, the scale of American college sports is an entirely different level than anything in Canada, but the interest for sports is present in our student community; we just don’t get the opportunity to show our support. Maybe it’s our schedules that keep us from going, or the feeling that we’re cheering for a team with players whose names we don’t know, or the fact that we don’t know when the games are. Whatever the reason, we need to change the culture at U of T, show some pride in our school, and support those who represent us on and off campus.
Jason Coelho
Sports Editor
