ATENEANS ARE expected to live out the values of Saint Ignatius, as we are reminded to uphold cura personalis, which emphasizes compassion and the care for others. We make it a point to develop ourselves into competent and compassionate individuals.
Unfortunately, we haven’t been that consistent in terms of our values, as is evident in how we behave in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP). We show that despite the good intentions that we have, there’s a side of us that’s overly sensitive and at the same time very tactless. To put it in layman’s terms, the UAAP brings out our tendency to be—as the term popularized by social media goes—very “butthurt.”
For example, the “beat Ateneo” chants used against our school caused uproar among Ateneans on social media, claiming how everyone who used it lacked class. It bothers me how we’re comfortable with how the media markets the Ateneo-La Salle matchup as the most intense rivalry of the Philippines yet a simple “beat Ateneo” chant rattles a good section of our community. We’ve sensationalized the rivalry but we can’t even tolerate one of the basics of a heated competition.
To add context, “beat Ateneo” resembles the “beat LA” chant popularized decades ago in the National Basketball Association. It’s a classic chant that solidifies the Los Angeles Lakers as worthy competition. As Ateneans, we shouldn’t even be offended by it; rather it’s something that should encourage us even more as supporters of our school. It fires up the tournament to a greater extent and sitting down; complaining how it hurt one’s feelings won’t bring any good.
Other than being overly sensitive, we also have the tendency to be too inconsiderate. Let’s go back to when the eventual UAAP champions, the National University (NU) Bulldogs, eliminated the Blue Eagles. Ateneans expressed all over social media their disbelief concerning how NU’s faithful behaved. Ateneans were appalled by NU’s constant jeering and their accusation of unfair officiating, with “One Clean Fight” chants hurled against us. Ateneans retaliated as they claimed to be the better crowd, with their “classier-than-you” mentality. We assert ourselves to be the cleaner and well-raised crowd with our so-called respectful demeanor. It’s silly how we look down to the opponent for lacking class when we ourselves act inappropriately: “Jeje,” “skwater” and other offensive remarks were passed around during the same time that Ateneans were claiming that fellow Ateneans were well-cultured.
We’re so proud of our “men-and women for others” mantra and yet we lose our sense of decency in a sporting environment. Being emotional is normal for sports, but failing to see how irrational we can get and claiming how we’re better than everyone else is a sign of an unhealthy case of fanaticism. We insult, humiliate and condescend while we lustfully sing “A Song For Mary.” It just doesn’t sound right to me.
If we want to follow Saint Ignatius’ footsteps, then first we have to drop the pretention and admit the fact that we’re not the holiest of people. The inappropriate remarks will be very difficult to avoid, as it’s a known fact that heckling is part of the game. But as Ateneans, we shouldn’t deny our imperfections; we should acknowledge our mistakes and set forth from that direction of honesty and sincerity.
