2025 was a year that kept sports fans on edge from start to finish. Across every major league and international stage, athletes delivered performances that defined their careers and reshaped competition worldwide.
Fan culture is often celebrated for its enthusiasm, community spirit and capacity to elevate athletes and teams to a higher status. However, fan behaviour can become toxic, causing far-reaching negative effects on the athletes at the receiving end. This phenomenon merits academic attention, especially given its links to social media proliferation, parasocial relationships and identity-based entanglement in sports fandom.
The Brock Badgers hosted the University of Waterloo Warriors in a regular season clash that saw the Badgers handle business, sweeping away the visitors in game one of a two-game set.
Last week's slate of NFL games broke records amongst its tightly contested games and tragic moments. Now past the midway point of the season, we’re beginning to see what teams are really made of and who might be battling for a wild card spot at season's end. Some teams are blowing things up, while others are stacking up in the hopes of creating contending rosters. A lot has happened over the past week, so let’s take a look at how the top teams fared in this week's NFL power rankings.
The Brock women's volleyball team defeated the Western Mustangs on Halloween night during a thrilling five-set match where they started out behind but came out on top.
In the modern sports world, activism has become inseparable from athletic identity. No longer confined to the sidelines, athletes across leagues and continents are using their platforms to confront issues of race, gender, equality and governance.
The Toronto Raptors begin the 2025-26 NBA season with cautious optimism and a clear objective: to return to playoff contention after three disappointing seasons. If the Raptors are to re-establish themselves as a postseason team, they must strengthen three core areas: roster cohesion, offensive structure and defensive discipline.
Another year has gone by with the Seattle Mariners outside of the World Series. This time around, Mariners fans and players were left a little more heartbroken than before.
The Brock Badgers men’s soccer team saw their promising season conclude in the OUA quarterfinals after a 3-0 defeat to the Waterloo Warriors on Oct. 18 at Warrior Field. The result marked the end of an encouraging campaign for a team that had shown significant growth from the previous year.
As the 2025-26 collegiate sports season approaches, the NCAA finds itself in the midst of an ambitious rebuilding process, driven as much by legal imperatives as by strategic necessity. How the association adapts may determine the shape of college athletics for the next decade.
As the NBA eyes an expansion beyond North America, the prospect of a European footprint is changing from speculation into strategic projection. While no formal expansion into Europe has occurred yet, the league — with endorsement of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) — is actively pursuing what would amount to a new European league or competition under NBA influence.
On Oct. 23, Shams Charania of ESPN reported that the Portland Trail Blazers’ Head Coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier had been arrested in relation to illegal gambling and sports betting.
In October, Indonesia announced that it would refuse visas to Israeli gymnasts set to compete in the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Jakarta. The decision revived historical tensions between sport and geopolitics, prompting legal maneuvers by Israel through the Court of Arbitrations for Sport (CAS).
During the May Asian Athletics Championships in Gumi, South Korea, two Iranian athletes and a national team coach were arrested for the alleged sexual assault of a 20-year-old South Korean woman. The case attracted wide attention across Asia, sparking debate about the obligations of national federations when their representatives face criminal accusations abroad.
An arduous offseason is now in the books, and teams across the league are finally settled into what looks to be a difficult stretch of hockey. All the moving pieces have been put into place, with players and coaches demonstrating the ease with which they fit into new teams or the difficulties that come with putting on a new jersey. The 2025-26 NHL season is upon us, which means it's time to overreact to and power rank teams one week into a fresh season.
It’s that time of the year, just before the NBA season begins, when there’s never a better time to speculate player progression. No matter the case, there is always a select group of players that exceeds preseason expectations and explodes onto the scene. For NBA fans and media, there’s no better feeling than bragging about a niche player going for a career season that you predicted months in advance. A handful of players have landed in new spots, signed small deals to prove their worth or posted offseason workout videos, making viewers curious about what kind of season a player can have. Let’s look at some players who could be destined for a leap ahead of the 2025-26 NBA season.
Fresh from a disappointing 2024-25 campaign, the Brock men’s volleyball team enters the new season with something to prove. Last season wasn’t one to remember, as the Badgers finished the year with a 7-13 record, failing to qualify for the OUA playoffs. Whether it was a lack of cohesion within the team or the minimal amount of depth on the roster, Brock just couldn’t figure it out.
In one of the most anticipated matchups in women's rugby history, England and Canada faced off in the Women's Rugby World Cup final on Saturday, Sept 27.
Since winning the franchise's first championship in 2019, the Toronto Raptors have become the embodiment of mediocrity. They’ve managed to finish just outside of or in the play-in for what seems like the last half-decade. Raptors fans have become impatient following another disappointing year amidst the once promising Scottie Barnes era. For most of that time the team looked directionless, often making questionable trades and signings that left fans and media wondering what is really going on.
In October, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced a new scholarship program aimed at supporting Palestinian athletes as they prepare for upcoming continental and global competitions. The initiative, coordinated with the Palestinian National Olympic Committee, signals a renewed effort by the IOC to use its Olympic Solidarity arm to bolster sporting development in regions facing hardship.
Representation in hockey continues to grow and Brock University’s Avery Diljee is part of that change. The second year forward for the women’s hockey team was awarded the Bernice Carnegie Scholarship by the Black Girl Hockey Club on Sept. 21.
Throughout sporting history, certain coaches have become defined as much by controversy as their achievements. Their decisions, behaviour or public remarks have drawn criticism and scrutiny. The following cases illustrate how some of the most accomplished coaches have been the most divisive.
Hot off one of the most exciting seasons in recent memory, the Blue Jays were crowned the American League East champions for the first time in a decade.
After their opening exhibition game against UBC Okanagan, it’s safe to say that the 2025-26 Brock women's basketball team is looking like a force to be reckoned with.
Amidst a wild stretch of competition in Tokyo for the World Athletics Championships, Team Canada finished second, returning home with a silver medal. Canada’s quartet consisted of Aaron Brown, Jerome Blake, Brendon Rodney and Andre De Grasse, all of whom were ready to defend the crown that they captured at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
Imane Khelif’s position in international boxing has become one of the most contested issues in sport. The Algerian boxer, who won gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics in the women’s 66 kg division, now finds herself at the centre of legal disputes, regulatory battles and global debate about gender eligibility in athletics.
Downtown St. Catharines carried a different kind of energy on Friday night. The Meridian Centre, filled with 3,700 spectators, became more than an arena; it was a meeting ground for tradition and community. The Steel Blade Classic, now in its 26th year, is no longer just a hockey game. The game has become the heartbeat of Brock's Homecoming — a reminder that belonging can be felt as much in the stands as it can on the ice.
With a new day comes another comeback for the Blue Jays. Former Toronto 2024 first-round pick Trey Yesavage was called up for Monday’s game against the Tampa Bay Rays in an anticipated start.
The Brock women's volleyball team is coming off another successful year, falling short of another OUA title after losing to the McMaster Marauders in the finals. The 2024-25 season was an important one for the Badgers, as many of the team's best players would be leaving the next year — not to mention that they were fighting for their fourth straight Quigly Cup win.
Opinions are beginning to change around the NFL. With some rust shaken off, teams are starting to show their true colours, previewing what the remainder of the season could look like. Regardless of some teams’ records, the landscape of football remains in flux after a slate of games that saw some teams lose but still look strong.
Pickleball, once an improvised backyard diversion, has become one of the most rapidly expanding sports in North America, with nearly twenty million participants in the United States as of 2024.
The 2025 WNBA Playoffs have reached the semifinals with top seeds holding firm, underdogs advancing and a new Finals format set. The postseason has blended predictability with surprise, offering fans the sustained dominance of perennial contenders and the excitement of unexpected breakthroughs.
A dispute of considerable magnitude has engulfed British basketball, centering on legal claims between governing bodies and league operators. At its core, this revolves around employment rights, competition law, licensing procedures and the future governance of men’s professional basketball in Great Britain.
Angel Reese’s rookie season with the Chicago Sky has been defined as much by controversy as dominance. The league’s leading rebounder was suspended twice in early September, once by the WNBA for technical fouls and once by her own team for critical comments.
The Indiana Fever’s playoff ambitions were dealt a crushing blow when rookie Caitlin Clark was officially ruled out for the remainder of the 2025 WNBA season.
Alex Formenton’s name has been at the centre of one of the most scrutinized cases in Canadian hockey in recent years, tied to sexual assault allegations dating back to 2018.
After a highly anticipated slate of games in Week 1 of the NFL season, the teams did not disappoint with high-scoring, drama-filled battles across the conferences.
With the 2025 NBA season in the books, bringing us into the dead part of the offseason, what better to do than reminisce about the so-called “glory days” of the NBA that was ten years ago?
As September rolls around, varsity basketball teams from across Ontario are gearing up for an arduous season beginning in October. With lots of drama unfolding in last year's men's OUA playoffs, the Brock men’s basketball team heads into the 2025-26 campaign with one goal in mind: to prove that they still belong within the top teams in the province.
