Best of 2015

» A few highlights of the last year

Davie Wong
Sports Reporter

A: always, it’s been quite the

year in sports. So, as we start
into 2016, here’s my list of the top
10 sports related events of 2015.

10. SKT1 Reclaim League
of Legends’ World Title:
Although the e-sports scene is
still growing, this year’s world
championship showed everyone
who still owns the crown for best
e-sports teams. For the third
straight year in a row, a Korean
team demolished the rest of the
international competition in front
of a viewing world of 8.5 million
fans. This year, it was the Korean
powerhouse, SKT1 that claimed a
title. They became the first team
to win the championship for the
second time, although not ina
row. The total view count for the
event topped off at 32 million
making it one of the bigger
sporting events of the year.

g. Evil Genius win DOTA
2 International: It was one
of the biggest ventures in the
history of prize pool sports; a
crowdfunding sourced prize pool
resulted in over $18 million being
poured in by fans and supporters
worldwide. And to top it all off, a
North American team took home
the trophy for the first time in
the competitive e-sports scene.
Although viewership numbers
were not as high as the League
of Legends scene, the prize pool
alone was enough to make this
event much bigger with much
higher stakes.

8. The Kansas City Royals
win the World Series: Truly
this is a story for the legends. A
franchise that rebuilt itself from

: nothing has hit its peak. The

: Kansas City Royals spent years at

: the bottom of the league, drafting
: and rebuilding from the ground

: up. All while fans waited patiently
: for this exact moment. Now with

: all the right pieces in place, they

: showed the world that it takes

: more than a few nifty trades to be
: the best.

7. The New England

: Patriots win the Super Bowl:

: Going into a season where many

: people doubted the longevity of

: Tom Brady’s career, he showed

: everyone why he is one of the best
: at the game. Taking the Patriots to
: their sixth Super Bowl appearance
: with him under centre. Years from :
: now, when Tom Brady is long

: retired and fresh faces play in the
: NFL, people will still say that the
: Seahawks should have ran the

: ball.

6. Year of the Golden State:

: What a year it has been for the

: Golden State Warriors. A 67-15
regular season record with their

: first NBA title in 4o years should

: normally be enough to cap off a

: great year, but they came back the
? next season and showed why they
: deserved it and so much more.

: Their 23 games undefeated to start
: the season shattered the previous

: record set in 1884 and set the

: second longest winning streak in

: the NBA at 28. They are without a

: doubt, the most dominant team in
: any sport right now.

5- Ronda Rousey: No one

: has had a more complete story

: this year than Ronda Rousey.

: Rising to fame in the early parts

: of this year for her quick and

: efficient fighting style in the UFC
: ring, Rousey was quick to milk

: every dollar and second of it. Fans

: loved her and none could doubt

: her skill. But like all things in

: the UFC, nothing ever lasts. Her

: defeat at the hands of Holly Holm
: marked her fall from grace. It is

: unlikely that she will ever reach

: the heights she did this year, but a
: comeback is not impossible.

4- Kobe Bryant announces

: retirement: It has been feared

: and predicted by many fora

: number of years. Basketball

: legend Kobe Bryant announced

: that this would be his last year

: in the NBA. Bryant has achieved
: almost everything there is to

: achieve. His trophy case includes
: 5 NBA Championship titles,

2 gold medals, and 17 All-Star

: nominations, amongst other

: awards. He is undeniably one of

: the best to have played the game,
: and his retirement will mark the
: end of an era.

3. FIFA scandal: No year is

: complete without its scandals.

: This year, the entirety of FIFA

: was under heavy fire. After

: allegations arose accusing key

: members of the organizations

: including former FIFA President

: Sepp Blatter, of bribery and

: fraud, separate investigations

: were conducted. One by one, key
: members of the racketeering ring
: plead guilty to the charges, the

: corruption of the organization

: came to light. To say that the

: people's faith in FIFA has been

: shaken would be a massive

: understatement. It has gone down :
: as one of the largest and most :
: complex scandals in the history of :
: sports.

2. The Toronto Blue Jays

make the playoffs: No team in
: 2015 has had a seasonal Cinderella:
: story like the Toronto Blue Jays.

: After a shaky start to the season
: where they barely played .500 ball, :
: the team came back from the All-
: Star break looking okay. It was the
: couple days leading to the trade

: deadline that defined the team

: however. Making huge trades to

: acquire shortstop Troy Tulowitzki
: and pitching ace David Price, as

: well as outfielder Ben Revere, the

: Jays put themselves in an all-in

: position. With their new line-up,

: the revamped Jays went on a tear,

: accumulating a record of 48-23

: after the break and making the

: playoffs for the first time in 22

: years. Although they ultimately

: fell to the soon-to-be champions

: Kansas City Royals in the AL

: Championship series, this season

: has been one of the Jays best. Led
: by MVP Josh Donaldson, the Blue :
: Jay were truly one of the most

: exciting teams to watch this year.

1. Deflategate: Oh

: Deflategate. If I had a dollar
: for every time that I’ve heard
: someone accuse an excellent
: player of cheating, I'd be rolling
: in dirty money. Most allegations
: against players prove to be false,

  

Image via www.washingtonpost.com

: but if the allegation comes from

someone with a lot of credit, say

: another team, an investigation

: is started. And boy did this one

: turn nasty real quick. Accusations
: of the Patriots using tampered

: footballs arose during the

: American Football Conference

: Championship game, in which the
: Patriots handed a heavy loss to

: a bitter Indianapolis Colts team.

: Long story short, the balls were

: below the regulated inflation

: rating, which supposedly gave

: anadvantage to the Patriots, as

: it was easier to throw. Months

: of arguing ensued resulting in

: the fining of the organization

: and the suspension of superstar

: quarterback Tom Brady. This

: matter went as far as a federal

: court before the punishment to

: Brady was overturned. Even now,

: Deflategate remains a relevant

: matter to those who truly believed
: that the Patriots intentionally

: cheated by deflating footballs.

: Whether or not it is true, this

: scandal has been the biggest event
: In 2015.

 

Shadow walrlors

» Be a ninja at Vancouver Bujinkan Ninjutsu

> and badass samurai armor.

  

Adam Tatelman
a Staff Writer

R= off the bat, my personal
experience with Vancouver
Bujinkan Ninjutsu was very
different from any other school

I have yet attended. I was
initially put off by the shabby
accomodations; aside from the
obvious wear and tear on the
Oka Dance building itself, the
actual Ninjutsu class took place
ina rather cramped space which
appeared to be a hybrid dance
studio and sitting room. Errant
furniture aside, I must admit the
practice itself was, compared

to my previous experiences,
entirely unique due to its

focus on practical application,
partner work, holistic study,

The first question I had

: was, “why bring a samurai suit

: toa Ninja school?” According to
: the instructor, many ninja were

: In fact disgraced samurai who

: became mercenaries instead of

: committing ritual suicide for

: honour’s sake. I doubted this at

: first, but when I started dropping
: names and dates from Japanese

: history, the instructor knew

: exactly what I was referring to.

: The instructors at VBN clearly

: have a broad knowledge of the

: subject they teach. Although the
: classes do not usually feature

: such historical exhibits, | felt

: most honoured to spar witha

? man in authentic samurai armor.

The rest of the class was

: devoted to warmup stretches
: (many of which were similar to
: traditional karate stretches),

: evasion against an armed

: opponent, defensive throws, and
: grappling with the assistance

: of arope. Like the samurai

: sparring, I haven't had much

: opportunity to practice any

: of these concepts. Due to the

: unarmed tournament focus of

: most martial arts schools, few

: offer this type of training.

This is what makes Ninjutsu

: such an interesting school of

: practice. In their day, the ninja

: were similar to modern day

: special forces groups; their

: training focused on preparing for
: various dire combat situations.

: As such, they offer a holistic

: hand-to-hand method that

: encompasses striking, grappling,
: throws, and a limited amount

: of ground work. However, the

: grappling techniques are less

: emphasized than in sport jiu-

: jitsu, since the ninja are more

: concerned with flooring the

: Opponent and escaping quickly
: than they are with wrestling on
: the ground for a whole match.

The focus on weapons

: training allows Ninjutsu students
: to face armed enemies with and

: without weapons of their own.

: This prepares the student for

: the possibility of an opponent

: picking up an improvised weapon
: from the environment. This also

: allows the student to recognize

: such weapons, applying them

: as makeshift knives, batons,

: staves, spears, swords or throwing
: weapons. Yes, they do teach

: shuriken-throwing here.

The difficulty with massively

: diversified training is its lack of
: specificity. You may learn a lot

: of surface-level fundamentals

> ona number of combat subjects,

: but it may take a long period of

: sustained practice to reach a high
: level in any one of these areas. For
: this reason, I would recommend

: people with an interest in more

: specialized training to jom an

: MMA group. Also, those who

: do not wish to travel the 00

: block of West Hastings street at

: night should look elsewhere.

All this said, if you are

: looking to build a well-rounded

: set of improvisational martial

: skills focused on breadth of study
: and practicality, I would most

: highly recommend Vancouver

: Bujinkan Ninjutsu. Classes are

: $75 a month fora six month

: package, with two practices a

: week. Join the ancient clan of the
? ninja at Oko Dance Vancouver,

: 45 West Hastings Street... that

: is, if you can find them.