Overheard at the Ateneo Gallery: Puso

 
What kind of a team is this?
 
In the dying seconds of the game, when the opponent was leading and all seemed lost, the gallery was still cheering like a sixth championship was about to be won. Defeat. When it was all over but the bawling, the crowd sang the alma mater hymn with gusto.  The team failed to get the sixth crown – it was even eliminated from the last leg of the race. A first after fourteen years. Total, absolute shame. Dishonor on you. Dishonor on your whole family. Dishonor on the coaches that trained you since you were young. Yet there was no finger pointing. There was only domed applause and a deafening cheer that silenced even the golden (pun intended) screams of the true victors of the day. 
 
If you want to know what the Ateneo community is like, all you needed to do was witness what happened after the singing of the alma mater hymn.  After both teams disappeared into the dugout, the Blue Eagles and the coaching staff returned to the court and faced the community it supposedly “failed.” Cheers of gratitude and support erupted in thunderous applause. And Ateneo cheered “Go Ateneo” for the last time in the Senior Men’s Division.
 
What kind of a team is this? What kind of fans would support and cheer for a 5^th placer? What kind of human beings would actually stay to watch grief and drama unfold in the court when defeat was certain?
 
To face the Ateneo de Manila University is to do battle with an unfathomable tsunami of impassioned believers. Cheers are not always called by the cheerleaders. Bursts of “One Big Fight” can and will be started by any cheering group from any section of the coliseum. A lawyer and alumnus of the university who once served as the captain of the Blue Babble Battalion will suddenly jump from his Patron section seat, march up and down the aisle, shout at all the VIPs (even the Jesuits) seated there, prod them to cheer and shout – something a former Senator of the Republic did. These are but examples. To face the Ateneo gallery  is to face not five players on court but the thousands in attendance.
 
We will always be a mystery to the outsider. Win or Lose, It’s The School We Choose to many is an excuse we utter.  “Di niyo lang tanggap na talo kayo,” “Win or lose, it’s the excuse we choose.” Here’s a little trade secret: Win or Lose, It’s the School We Choose is not a post-game thing; it starts the moment we enter the venue, before we even play ball. Because win or lose is not (just) a song line that ends with an exclamation point; it is a sentence that ends with a colon. It signals the beginning of the listing of the many ways one can exemplify and champion support. Be it coming with colorful banners, lining up for tickets, cheering your heart out, or simply saying “tiwala.” Win or lose is merely a matter of utterance, but a manner of proceeding. It is what prompted the Sixth Man to cheer on and what brought the team to return to the gallery. Ultimately, it was what bound both players and supporters together. It is what will make us return next year. Louder, prouder, and filled with more surprises.
 
Puso.