By Ilyas Hussein and Daniella Lopez
You may have noticed the ‘Recent Posts’ page on The Eyeopener’s website throughout the year is filled with mostly sports stories. From game recaps to profiles to previews, we’ve been grinding all year to provide a captivating catalogue for our readers—even if it’s not the first section they look for.
Occasionally, this meant late hours and long weekends on game days. Yet, if we’re being honest, we wouldn’t have had it any other way.
Some may think we’re just random strangers who lurk in the Mattamy Athletic Centre (MAC) looking to ambush athletes for autographs after the game. But no, we are the ones who actually get the work done around here.
And here’s how we do it:
A race to the Gardens
It’s always a journey to arrive on time, especially for those early 12 p.m. games. Usually, we make a plan the day before—simply a quick text or conversation confirming what time we’ll meet up. Often, it’s the only part of our day we have complete control over. Sometimes, we’ll meet at the office and do other work-related tasks before trekking down Church Street. Other times, it’s every person for themselves and the first person to reach the MAC gets absolutely nothing. However, before arriving at our destination, we come prepared with either a slurpy Tim Hortons Iced Capp or something juicy and tasty from Loblaws—you can probably guess who gets what in this equation. Unfortunately, the money we’ve spent at these places hasn’t resulted in a sponsorship.
After meeting in the lobby, we skip over to the elevators to dodge the OneCard hunters seeking proof that we’re students. You might think they would recognize us by now but you would be wrong.
Watch from our secret lair
We usually post up at our hideout on the balcony above the court for basketball and volleyball games like Batman watching over Gotham City—the city needs us. This gives us a clear view of the action, but our happiness and workspace depend on whether the MAC’s comfy blue couches are available. If they aren’t, we play the cat-and-mouse game of waiting for someone to go to the bathroom before stealing their seats for ourselves. Sorry, not sorry.
When it’s time to drop the puck for hockey games, we typically find a seat in the stands where we can clearly hear the sounds of the in-game hosts chanting “T-M-U!” blaring over the rink’s much louder speakers compared to the court’s muffled audio. As for soccer, we don’t go on the adventure all the way to Downsview Park—besides that one time.
Sitting in the scrums
Our job relies on speaking to people, especially athletes and coaches. For recaps, these are an essential part of the story. We’ll always request certain players to talk to, but occasionally, you might see us quickly storming down corridors or staking out the change rooms to help our writer get the voice we really want for the story. The soundbites are typically old-age clichés, “Get the puck in deep,” “It was back-and-forth,” blah blah blah. But, our contributors ask the hard hitters to get the softies out—they grow up so fast. It pays dividends at the end when we add the meat to a story’s skeleton.
Time to make the magic happen
We do nothing once the games and interviews are finished. OK, not really.
After the arduous task of watching five games in a day, or just the women’s hockey team, we finally have an hour or so to ourselves. As our dedicated contributors work under a strict deadline, we spill the latest gossip. Sports editors? No, we’re actually Gossip Girl herself.
Once our writer has finished their first draft, the real magic starts to happen. Now, depending on the time of day, you can find us with our laptops open, sitting on the comfy blue couches, ready to dive deep into the story. Editing is…actually, we shouldn’t have to explain that to you. At the MAC, distractions can take up our time. Sometimes, we finish watching an intense game before diving into the nitty gritty. Other times, we’re getting ushered out of a dark, empty building once it’s too late. Bet you didn’t know that happens.
Yet, our favourite place to edit isn’t in the hustle-and-bustle environment of the MAC, but instead, our cozy little office in the same building as the Oakham Café.
We sit at our dedicated sports desk and make our contributors feel at home. Snacks or tea, anyone? Sometimes, these nights in the office stretch into the wee hours of the morning, but they are the best part of our week.
The gruelling behind-the-scenes
When the draft is at a place we’re happy with, we release our writer into the night and wish them a safe trip home. However, our job is only halfway done. We turn on the Alexa to get the party bumping. After we finish bopping our heads to “Murder on the Dancefloor,” “Unwritten” and “Zombie,” we look to get some photos from our lovely and amazing photographers. Sorting through hundreds of images is not easy, but the story must be finished.
Once we get those sick flicks downloaded onto our laptops that have essentially no storage left, we have all the pieces we need to make a great meal of a recap. We then resize, alt-text and tag them—which honestly has taken years off our lives.
Once we put it on the website, we let our online team—also known as the Powerpuff Girls, sometimes even the Teletubbies—know. We stay on alert in case anything happens. Usually, this is our time to call it for the night and attempt to arrive alive in an Uber following our mandatory press conference in the office lobby about our rigorous and intense day.
Rinse and repeat
You’d think we get the rest of the weekend off, but alas, we return the next day and do it all over again.
Epilogue
The last eight months have been a long rollercoaster for the sports team at The Eye. Yet, we have buckled in and enjoyed every second of the ride along with our dedicated contributors. This job couldn’t be done without their efforts.
To this paper, we bid you adieu, as you’ll never see our bylines here again. To the next sports editors, we hope you can spotlight the stories we might have missed and perhaps top off our year. To the future masthead, we can’t wait to watch from the sidelines and see more to come.
Some might say we now have finished our story. But when one good story ends, an even better one begins.
Farewell, ye olde Eyeopener.
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