Brianna Buziak
The Silhouette
All over campus you can hear the buzz of students and faculty alike talking about the upcoming homecoming game against the Waterloo Warriors this Saturday. If you’re anything like me, you got your ticket well in advance, but forgot one thing: McMaster gear.
Going to homecoming in any other colour scheme besides maroon and grey might give off the impression that your loyalty is with another team. To ensure that no one assumes my support lies with our competition, a trip to the Campus Store was definitely in order. If much like this devoted Marauder who left her colours back home, here are last minute items to add to your homecoming wardrobe.
The Triple Tee Pack
In addition to this being a great way to save costs, if you’re a first year and are looking for some staple items to contribute to your McMaster clothing collections, check out this pack.
For $29.95 (plus tax) you get three McMaster University t-shirts in white, grey and maroon. If you don’t need all three, split with a couple friends. Be sure to layer these shirts with a long sleeve shirt of another colour to keep warm, otherwise you’ll be making trips to DBAC every ten minutes to warm up.
Circle Crest
The Circle Crest sweater, available as either a hoody or a crew neck, will keep you warm and cozy during the long game. Wearing one of these will not make your outfit stand out (as almost every student has this sweater in at least one of the four colours available) but it is one of those timeless McMaster pieces that you will wear over and over again. Both styles are available at the Campus Store for $29.95.
Classic Marauder Baseball Cap
In the off chance that the sun decides to show up to help cheer on the Marauders, be prepared with the Marauder baseball cap. With an embroidered crest on the front and the “Fear the Bird” slogan on the back, you’ll be able to enjoy the game without worrying about a glare or an awkward face burn in the middle of October. The hat is $21.95 plus tax, but worth it to prevent your nose from experiencing an intense sunburn the week before Thanksgiving.
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All these items are articles of clothing that you have probably already seen around campus. This year, The Campus Store starting carrying items referred to as “cheer gear.” If you wish to stand out from the crowd at homecoming, but still show your marauder spirit, these new pieces may be for you. Or not…
MAC Daddy Fedora
The name pretty much says it all. For $8.50 plus tax, this polyester suede hat may not completely protect you from potential sunburn, but it will ensure you look like “that guy” while you watch McMaster defeat the Warriors.
Handlebar Moustache
Ever wanted to know what you would look like with a moustache, especially with Movember coming up so soon? This is your chance! Campus Store has a maroon handle bar moustache for those who wish to test out the facial hair waters while supporting their favourite football team.
Furry Leg Warmers
I’m honestly speechless.
Amanda Watkins
LifeStyle Editor
It was homecoming weekend. There I was at 9:00 in the morning, dancing to Nicki Minaj and far from my normal sober reality.
My housemates and I were hosting our own informal house party to get ready for the football game as we passed around a can of something called “Sucker Punch” and a tube of maroon lipstick. Because hey, what’s a little oral herpes among friends?
The concept of “day drinking” was foreign to me, and quite frankly, I had no idea that a football game and face paint also meant we needed to start hitting the Sambuca 12 hours earlier than normal.
Prior to starting university, I led a pretty alcohol-free and sports-free life. And although I wasn’t all too familiar with either of these worlds, a part of me knew that they weren’t always grouped into one.
As we eventually made our way to campus to watch the game, I was greeted by a string of piss drunk students who, in addition to making me feel sorry for toilet bowls across Hamilton, also made me feel a lot better about my own alcohol tolerance. Everyone had their Mac sweaters on and seemed to be pretty jazzed, but a lot of people seemed completely oblivious to what would be going on that day.
Homecoming means showing school spirit. It’s a time to welcome back alumni and celebrate your school with your classmates and friends. It could mean decking yourself out in maroon and grey, or learning the obscure lyrics to the McMaster anthem, but getting sick from the drink seems like a burnout excuse for enthusiasm. Alcohol is fun and delicious. I will say that openly without feeling shameful or like a washed up Disney star. But I will also say that I know it’s not a necessary part of having school spirit.
As fun as it was to be drunk in the wee hours of the morn’, it was also kind of sad. My friends and I left the game at halftime because we all felt like shit. And by 6:00 in the evening, we were all lying on the ground, completely hung-over from the morning passed.
As fun as it is to escape from reality for a while, being wasted all the time makes you lose sight of what we’re actually here for. And so, with that being said, I announce my quest for sobriety. For the next month, I will be leading a completely alcohol-free life. And yes, that does include Halloween.
You don’t need to follow my example, especially seeing as we’ve laid out this week’s issue with a kick-ass Mac-inspired drink, beer reviews and hangover cures. But as you indulge in our suggestions and advice, just be safe, use your judgment and remember that we're all coming together this weekend to respectfully celebrate our school.
So thank you, alcohol, for helping make and erase a long string of memories. But I think it may be time for things to change.
After a convincing victory against the York Lions by a score of 54-14, the McMaster Marauders inched one step closer to a perfect season. Last year, winning the national championship, Mac finished 7-1 in the regular season and this year’s perfect result so far is, in fact, an improvement.
Approaching this weekend’s homecoming game, Mac has a chance to improve on their result from last year. The injury trouble experienced by this team has been notable; regardless, the Marauders have responded with spectacular play, making the injuries simply a bump in the road.
“Regardless of our injuries issues, we try to push and get better every week. The quest for the Yates cup is not one you can succeed at every week if you don’t try and get better. Instead of focusing on who isn’t there, we try to focus on developing on who is there,” said Head Coach Stefan Ptaszek of his team’s resilience so far this season.
Mac’s injuries have been less notable this season due to the sizeable contribution from players like running back Kaesean Davis. “The big thing with the injuries to Chris Pezzetta and Jimmy hill has been he development of Kasean Davis. Everyone sees the great open field funning, but its pass protection and the things that are harder to spot which make this kid special. He can pick up a linebacker blitzing full speed, even with his limited experience. He has been a joy to watch,” said Ptaszek.
It is not just the offence that needs help either. The defence has experienced its fair share of challenges as the usually dominant secondary has had some bumps and bruises. According to Ptaszek, “Our secondary is a little dinged up and you are seeing the emergence of our younger players filling in the roles. Some of these young kids can play. We are getting great play from a very good rookie class.”
It may be the veterans, it may be the rookies, but something about this team is different and unique, even from last years history-making squad. Obviously, a 6-0 team is one with a plethora of solid players. But only 12 men can be put on the field at once. Maybe McMaster has something else in its arsenal.
“At the end of the process, to earn first place and have home advantage during the playoffs. We are definitely aware of this and we need to win one of the next two games to guarantee that. Hopefully a sold out crowd at Ron Joyce will help us do that,” said Ptaszek of his upcoming weekend.
“We want to continue to grow that culture, loyalty and develop that fan base not only now but throughout the playoffs. Having home field advantage, including a possible national semi-final on campus is important. That 13th man is going to be a big help as the competition gets tighter and the margins for error get smaller,” he continued.
The support of Mac fans has been electric this year. Something about defending a national championship has translated into a campus wide appreciation for football that didn’t even exist a year ago.
Ptaszek is thankful for this, and commented, “Playing our tougher opponents at home has been amazing. Getting to play our tougher opponents at home was great, and the fans were a big part of that.”
This weekend, McMaster will look to live up to the expectations of the team and the coach: a sold out stadium of cheering and passionate fans. At the same time, those crazed fans are excited for what they have come to expect - a sizeable win at Ron Joyce.
The game itself will kick-off at Ron Joyce on Saturday, Oct. 13 at 1 p.m. and with a victory, the Marauders will clinch home advantage in the playoffs, a luxury they did not have last season, and we all know how that one ended.
There’s a mystique about Western University. The hate thrown at Western is incomparable to any other university in Ontario, and possibly for good reason.
Chances are you’ve had an interaction with a Mustang, Western’s mascot, and those interactions probably were not very positive.
The London, Ont. university has gained a reputation for being cocky or snobby and there are certainly people who love going to Western for that very reason.
But is the school really that bad? I travelled to Western University to cover their Homecoming football match-up against the McMaster Marauders and I discovered that in reality, Western is not that much different than us.
My adventure on the campus began with a walk from a friend’s house through Western’s student housing area.
I knew the Western Homecoming parties would be something to experience, so I headed out early to soak in all the festivities.
Now, I am a huge Marauders fan, but I’m also supposed to be non-partisan while covering Mac athletics, so wearing Maroon and Grey is rather unprofessional.
And I’m not an idiot.
Wearing Mac colours would probably have only ended badly for me, so I chose to wear a black sweater.
I still stuck out in the sea of purple and white, but Western students only chastised me two times through my 20-minute walk, which was a pleasant surprise.
The stroll through the student housing area was not what I expected. It looked like a typical Homecoming event; lots of drinking, school spirit, and police cars.
By eleven o’clock, a good number of the students were pretty far into their drinks, evidenced by the red cups littered across every lawn and the near fights breaking out on the sidewalk.
I expected more from Western. As a school that was listed by Playboy Magazine as one of the top-10 party schools in North America, I thought there was going to be more of a spectacle from the Western student population, but McMaster offers the same Homecoming experience.
My first goal while arriving on campus was to find the real on-campus celebration but for whatever reason, there was no central party hosted by Western University.
There were speaker systems set up throughout the property, whether it was in front of their student centre or other parking lots littered throughout the spacious campus. It was difficult to get a vibe about how Mustangs celebrated their school, other than with dancing and day drinking.
I headed down to the football stadium to check out the facilities and get my credentials for the game and the atmosphere at the stadium amazed me. The grandstands at TD Waterhouse Stadium are unlike anything I’ve seen at a Canadian university.
After receiving my media pass, I took a walk through the main building at the stadium.
Walking through the hallways of the building, it’s easy to notice a much richer football history. The walls are lined with pictures, new and old, of former Mustangs donning Canadian Football League jerseys, or even in some cases, jerseys from the National Football League.
But football was not the only sport that gained the attention from the school and their alumni.
Before the kick-off, Western University inducted new members into the Mustang Hall of Fame and many of the alumni in the area stopped what they were doing to try and catch who was being honoured. They threw names of track athletes, swimmers and other sports around the way McMaster talks about Kyle Quinlan.
Hearing the names of athletes in rather B-list sports be thrown spoke to the pride Western instils in its students, both past and present.
As the game was about to begin, the buzz in TD Waterhouse Stadium was electric, with an official attendance of 10,900 ready to watch two CIS heavyweights battle.
It was easy to see that Western fans believed they would see their Mustangs defeat the No.1 team in Canada, and early on in the game, it looked like a realistic possibility.
When the Mustangs were winning, the only way to describe the atmosphere was NCAA-like. The line for the beer garden looked like it went on for miles, and it was hard to find someone who was not holding either a concession or a new piece of clothing from the Mustang fan wear tent.
But as the Marauders took control, the fan support wavered. The Western cheerleading squad gave their best effort to keep the fans into it, but the Marauders took the crowd out of the game with a number of deflating plays throughout the second quarter.
Although the game was a shellacking from the Marauders, the Western Mustang crowd did not waver.
Despite some of the pictures flying around Twitter and Facebook, McMaster did not out number the Western crowd. In the fourth quarter, some of the Western students left their seats, realizing the game was out of reach for the home team.
The journey home was easily the best part of the day. Watching the purple and white fans leave the stadium with their heads held low at their own Homecoming is one of the best feelings an OUA fan can have.
But I left the campus with a better sense of what Western students are really like. Yes, some of them are cocky and arrogant, but McMaster has those students too.
Are we really that different? I think McMaster students would like to think so. But I’m sceptical. I’ve got a newfound respect for those London, Ont. students. Western has tremendous support for their athletics programs, both before and after their time as a student.
I’m sure the “Wuck Festern” saying will live on forever, but all I’m saying is go to Western, and see what it’s like there. You might think twice.
Smoke’s Poutinerie is bringing the World of Major League Eating to university campuses across Canada, and one McMaster club is at the forefront of partnering with Smokes on this event.
The Hamilton leg of the World Poutine-Eating Championship: Campus Edition kicks off at McMaster’s own Homecoming on Oct. 13. DECA U Executives are currently speaking with MSU representatives to ascertain if this event can be part of the official Homecoming schedule.
The DECA U club first found out they were selected as one of the national semi-finalists of the Smoke’s Competition on Sept 19. The campaign to gain support for their club and promote Smoke’s World Poutine Eating Championship started immediately.
During the first ten days of the campaign, DECA U has been trying to gain support through social media channels. The next ten days of the campaign will focus on promoting the specific poutine-eating event on Oct. 13.
The franchise first hosted and organized the World Poutine-Eating Championship in 2010 in Toronto. This will be the first-ever World Poutine-Eating Championship: Campus Edition. Students will race to eat poutine as fast as they can in competition to win sponsorship in funding for McMaster’s own DECA U Club.
DECA U is ramping up to choose four McMaster students to compete in the contest. All of the Canadian university teams are competing with each other for the best times. The teams with the most amount of support accumulated on social media platforms and the best team eating times will then secure the first prize of $2,500.
The McMaster DECA U Chapter was formed at Mac in 2007. The club seeks to provide professional development for its members through entering in business case study competitions with universities across Canada. Case study competitions typically examine industry issues in marketing, finance, services and business administration.
DECA U’s initiative this year is to provide the enhanced value for its members, academically and socially. They hope to further redevelop their training modules and run their own case competitions as well as broaden their membership body if they receive the Smokes sponsorship.
Palika Kohli, VP Marketing for DECA U stated her desire to build the club’s brand on campus and specifically attract a higher diversity of members from a variety of faculties.
“The sponsorship is for DECA U…but it’s really about Mac winning this [nationally],” said Kohli
Ill Scarlett, USS and Walk Off the Earth were announced as the bands playing at McMaster's Homecoming Concert on Homecoming Weekend, Oct. 12-14.
The three bands will be performing in the Burridge Gym and tickets will cost $20, which includes admission to the football game. Tickets can also be purchased individually, $15 for students and $18 for alumni and students at the door.
Tickets will go on sale for the concert at Compass on Sept. 28 at 9 am.
