The Black Sunday that never was

In a released communication, two universities for the elite and the more affluent students invited their supporters and spectators alike, in protest of the human rights victims in the country, to come in black outfits when their basketball teams faced each other over the weekend.

Last Sunday’s marquee matchup between the Ateneo Blue Eagles and the de LaSalle Green Archers had the administration of both schools releasing memos seeking unity in protesting versus the frequency of extra-judicial killings and opposition to the Marcos burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

Ateneo’s black intention is “… to express our unity with the victims of human rights violations and with all others struggling to uphold human rights in the country.”  La Salle on the other hand, in a previous statement, is alarmed with the indifference of the public over the “blatant contempt for the human life and the rule of law.”

Well and good.  We’re all free to express our political views but manifesting them in a sporting event is not the proper venue.   Sport is defined as an activity pursued for pleasure, enjoyment and well-being, testing the physical capabilities of participants in a competitive nature.  It never said that it may be influenced by the misconceptions, actions, opinions and policies of the holier-than-thou.  It’s more fun in the Philippines and the fun multiplies if basketball is injected with politics, according to their school heads. 

Because their superiors said so, athletes, like it or not, have to toe the line and act according to stated viewpoints than risk reprimands.  Probably because it is against their good judgement, their game suffers and the win goes to the opposing team.

So what happened last Sunday when Ateneo went up against LaSalle?  Thankfully, the call for the blackout was ignored by the majority except for a few people in black.   The rest were in the colors of their respective schools.  The Blue Eagles wore black shirts over their playing jerseys but the Green Archers were clad in their trademark green.  Animo prevailed because One Big Fight was not enough.  So guess which team was influenced more by the whims of their superiors.

Both are Catholic schools.  Ateneo is run by the Jesuits, de LaSalle by the LaSalle Brothers.  It has been known far and wide, long ago and until time stands still that there never was a separation between the church and the state.  The hierarchy of the clergy cannot keep quiet no matter who stays at that palace along a murky river.

 As if they never had inconsistencies and controversies of their own.

Ateneo, in some ways, specially their players, was correct in their color of choice.  Because de LaSalle was very clinical in their assignments, they routinely butcher and manhandle their adversaries that often resulted in extra-judicial double-digit blowouts.  The Green Archers made sweeping summary executions of their rivals in the eliminations. 

And like the carnival that’s happening now in a supposedly distinguished and respectable Shame-nate, the UAAP can call for an inquiry into the unexplained domination of the Green Archers and interrogate their number one hitman, the unstoppably good Benoit Mbala. 

They can cross-examine the 6-7 Cameroonian on why he came to the UAAP when he was comfortably settled with the Southwestern University Cobras in the CESAFI and most probably could have given Coach Yayoy Alcoseba and SWU their fourth straight title counting this season.  In all seriousness, the Cobras’ loss is the Green Archers’ gain.  I still have to see someone, import or local, who can contain Mbala on the hardcourt.  He reminds me of San Beda’s Nigerian import of a few years past, the equally dominating Samuel Ekwe.

With all the imports at the UAAP, NCAA and the other school leagues around the country, maybe the people behind the national team should study the possibility of naturalizing some of these players.  They’re practically residing in the country and are enrolled in local universities and colleges.  The best thing is that they’re in their early twenties and they haven’t reached their true potentials yet.

Sports and politics is not a good blend. Let the athletes do what they do best and leave the politicking to the perverted morals of the statesmen we elected into office.  We got what we wished for so let’s all shut up and stop complaining.