Showdown in Sherbrooke
In the first week of January, twenty students at U of T Law ventured up to the quaint, wintry town of Sherbrooke, Quebec, to compete against other Canadian law schools at Law Games 2019. This year’s theme was “How to Get Away with Murder,” an appropriate title for a killer, week-long event, full of athletic activities all day and social events all night. You’re never quite sure if you will survive the whole week or simply drop dead from exhaustion at tomorrow’s soccer game, but that’s all part of the fun.
We started our adventure with a seven-hour bus ride from Toronto to Sherbrooke, accompanied by the Osgoode and Windsor teams. U of T was the rowdiest (read: most obnoxious) team on the bus, deciding that we would get the party started early by blasting music for the whole bus to enjoy. Even when the speaker died, we insisted on entertaining the bus with poorly belted acapella renditions of all the classics including “American Pie,” “Sweet Caroline,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” and “thank u, next.”
Upon arrival, we checked in at the Delta Sherbrooke and headed to the pep rally held every first night at Law Games. After lacklustre chants of “Ps get Degrees,” we promptly lapsed into silence, maintaining our infamous lack of school spirit. We did, however, show more life at the pub crawl that night, particularly when we discovered Sherbrooke’s amazingly low drink prices. A good portion of the team took full advantage of the $4 jager bombs, which it may or may not have regretted the next morning.
The Talent Show was the next night and, as usual, it did not disappoint. Highlights included Dalhousie’s classic pirate outfits and partial nudity in front of a panel of Stikeman Elliott lawyers and/or judges of the Québec bench, Western’s egocentric routine rousing the usual “Fuck you, Western” chants from the rest of the law schools, and U of T’s own Liam Thompson (2L) and Honghu Wang (2L) slapping together a surprisingly funny last-minute news skit, titled “UofTSN.”
On the sports front, U of T exceeded expectations and made it to two semi-final rounds (two more than last year!) in volleyball and tug-of-war. Our team was unable to repeat our trivia triumph from last year due to an unfortunate change of the rules, but we did U of T proud just the same. One of our beloved captains, Eli Bordman (2L), also made it his mission to practice his advocacy skills and argue every single referee call possible, earning us a good deal of notoriety with the organizers. When asked for comment, Bordman maintained that he never lost his cool, even when trying to fight the University of Saskatchewan’s captain, after a late headshot in dodgeball.
Overall, U of T’s Law Games performance was a great success. Despite a few close calls, no one threw up on the volleyball court, even after a full night of drinking. We also managed to make friends with other schools, lose our voices, and throw one hell of a dance party in a U of T hotel room. I still have remnants of the Law Games flu as a souvenir, including a gross cough that doesn’t want to go away (so sorry to those in classes with me), but I still have no regrets. Cheers to everyone on the team for an incredible Law Games! Here’s hoping I get rid of this cough in time for the next one.
*Karlota Borges is a Co-captain of Law Games.
