The annual MBNA Capital Hoops Classic is a great way to both display the best of Ottawa university basketball teams and get Ottawa university students excited about Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS). Each year, it’s a huge success in both areas.
Before the team folded, the Carleton Ravens football program had a similar event, dubbed the Panda game. Since 1955, every year the Ravens and Gee-Gees football teams would face off at Landsdowne Park, and the winner would get to take home “Pedro the Panda” until the following year’s Panda game. Pedro has an interesting history: he has parachuted into Landsdowne, been kidnapped by the Panda Liberation Front of Queen’s University, buried in a soccer field, nominated for president of the Carleton University Student’s Association, mentioned in a House of Commons debate, and once appeared on CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada.
It is this sort of friendly public rivalry and tradition that Carleton’s other varsity sports seem to be lacking. Carleton is known for its basketball team, but should be known for more. We have great hockey teams, soccer teams, water polo teams, and more. All of these teams deserve their own variation of the Capital Hoops Classic or Panda game. They could either stand alone or fall into one big Ottawa university sports week. Not only would the events be great for students, they would help create the American collegiate sports atmosphere that Canadian universities severely lack.
