Focus your fire on the coaches and managers, the clueless athletic department, the frozen, reactionary 'comm experts,' and university officials
Let us allow the young men of the Ateneo Blue Eagles, mates of Rene Baterbonia and Divine Adili, to heal at their own pace. They are victims, survivors who will have to overcome endless replays of a nightmare that bludgeoned their bodies and killed their friends. They will struggle with survivor’s guilt, which will not spare even those who did their best to save others.
Their greatest struggle will unfold in the silent arenas of hearts and souls. Their loyalty to a university and a sweet game that once offered so much privilege and adulation now grapples with the reality of abandonment. Memories of triumph now clash with the display of cold rationalization by an institution that basked in the Blue Eagles’ glory but shoved them into the dark to protect institutional interests.
I have seen some folks snarl, “It’s not about you.” But it is about them. (READ: ‘I might not make it’: Ateneo players Kieffer Alas, Sam Reyes faced death in Aurora tragedy)
Their anger is the same fire burning among Ateneo students, alumni, faculty, and non-faculty staff. It stems from knowledge that the administration’s stonewalling deprived them of the tools to properly grieve with the families of Rene Baterbonia and Divine Adili, and to properly pay respects to brethren taken too soon, with all the promise they represented to kin and home communities.
