A sigh of relief as UP’s Men’s Basketball Team finally notched a win after two years and 27 losses? No. Talk about going all out to celebrate the losing-streak breaking win with a bonfire. It’s the first time in my existence as a maroon that I remember UP holding one.
And for what? To celebrate one win.
I do appear to be cynical by saying that but holding a bonfire is a reaction that is way out of proportion to the reality. If UP is all about honor and excellence, then the bonfire is an ugly misinterpretation of those ideals.
Defining honor. I’m all about creating a winning culture and that entails staying grounded after breaking a pathetic losing streak. The bonfire’s like throwing a pie in the face of Adamson after knocking them down. I think the bonfire would’ve been palatable for me if we won over some stronger team and not the other weakest in the yard. What gives us the right to start walking as if we had the biggest swinging dicks in the yard? Until that win, we were the other whipping boy. I expected UP to have been more humble victors given the context.
Defining excellence. So is ending losing streaks now our benchmark for bonfire-worthy achievements? UP boasts of a long line of champions from other sports (and from other disciplines) but when did we ever give them such a fan fare? When did we ever glorify not-being-last? In sports, premature celebrations get laughed at and yet here we are enabling one. If holding a bonfire after one win in the middle of a season isn’t premature celebration then I don’t know what is.
Anyway, so all of this has happened and many had their thrill with the win and the bonfire and all. The monkey’s off the back. What now? I’d say get a grip and get over it.
This should be the first real step towards excellence for the MBT. Build on the high and use this win as a springboard to more victories. In football, the most dangerous minutes for a team are the ones after the team has scored a goal.
And for the management and the admin, maybe it’s time to start addressing underlying issues rather than going mental after resolving one symptom. Start building a true winning culture.
For your viewing pleasure, here’s a list of embarrassing premature celebrations in sports. Learn from these, damnit.