Philippine Azkals vs. Philippine Dragon Warriors
Here's a repost from a Tumblr log about comparing the Philippine National Football Team, the Azkals, and the Philippine National Dragon Boat Racing Team, the Dragon Warriors:
Why compare NT Azkals to the Dragon Boat Team▬crab mentality strikes
These past few days,I’ve seen some posts about the comparison between Azkals and Paddlers. It’s getting viral;from twitter,facebook and now here in tumblr. I just don’t get it when they compare those two different Sports Team.
It goes like
Sasagwan ka ba sa karangalan o sisipa sa papogian?PH Dragonboat team (2011) : 5 Golds, 0 commercials, 90% Pinoy
Azkals : 0 Golds, 0 trophies, 5 TV ads, 20% Pinoy
this issue is really getting into my bones!!
Azkals didn’t got this far because of their looks alone,for your information they went from nothing;nothing as in NOTHING.
1st of all,its not easy for a football team to get a gold medal.I mean in football they have lots of qualifying rounds before they compete to the finals.
2nd,don’t blame the Azkals for having tons of product endorsements,TV ads etc. They’re not the one who went to those product company and beg to get them as the endorser..deal with it▬they’ve got the looks.
lastly the percentage of the Pinoy blood is ridiculous, 20% for the Azkals;the fact that most of them were half-breeds.
(So let say that the team only has 50 players and all of them were half-breeds. The Pinoy blood percentage of the whole team should be 50%,since they’re all half Pinoy.)
Why compare the Football team to the Dragonboat team;why can’t they just support all teams that represent the Philippines. Besides both teams strived so hard just to get where they are now.
▬Crab Mentality has to stop▬
Here's my few cents to this issue.
The Azkals started out with nothing too. They had no support whatsoever even if they had these (admit it, people) good-looking players.
Azkals' team captain Aly Borromeo, a Spanish mestizo by lineage, would tell local media that the team used to sleep in undesirable conditions you could imagine. Whether it could be the bleachers of a stadium, sidewalks that "smell like piss," anywhere there's somewhere to lie your head on except a matress and a pillow, that's where they slept when they had no financial and moral support.
Some members of the Dragon Warriors also confessed that they had trained in dire conditions, like the murky waters of Manila Bay and the Pasig River. They had no funds for them to eat a decent meal. They bring canned goods and instant noodles as meals on their trips.
Same thing with the Azkals, right?
That's how this country is prioritizing the sports programs, relishing more in basketball and boxing, than to more popular and more contemporary sports like football and dragon boat racing.
Alright, let's target 3 key points of this argument:
Sponsors and Commercial Endorsements
Up until now, a lot of people have been complaining how these men (including their current coach Michael Weiß) had gained popularity through commercial endorsements.
In the name of commercialization and profitability, and for the sake of helping the team in terms of finances and other forms of support, there will naturally come commercial endorsements. If the team does sell because of their skills and not just looks, these men have the potential to sell and be sold for more funds to come in to help in their trainings, their travels, the tournaments they will undertake.
It's not just because of their looks or physique, it's their dedication for them to play better. And take note: they had these endorsements boom only after they did sell. And it's not because of the Younghusband brothers who came before the others like Aly Borromeo and Neil Etheridge, who are now endorsing underwear! James and Phil did sell but not significantly beforehand.
For the Dragon Boat team to sell, they have to prove themselves worthy. And they did. A lot of companies are already tapping the team, such as Cobra Energy Drink of Interbev, a subsidiary of Asia Brewery. It's still beginning, and they'll be like the Azkals as well in the near future. They have the physique and the brawn, and that's good for them, too.
Awards
Dragon boat racing is way to different from football (or "soccer," as most Americans call it.). Many would say it can take forever to score a goal in football. There are a lots of possibilities for a scoreless fixture. But that makes it more exciting.
Sport is more than just the physical aspect: height, speed, stamina and strength. It's also a mental and an emotional challenge, which entitles its players to think, strategize, and plan. It can break them down or lift their spirits up.
And that makes each of them unique in every way.
Their Filipino identity
Like I said in a previous post, the Azkals, together with the Dragon Warriors, have all the reasons to call themselves Filipino, regardless of what racial mix they have.
Why complain about their ethnicity? Why complain about the color of their skin? Why complain about their beefed-up physique? Why complain about their accents?
Check your kokote, people. There is nothing to complain about.
Why not ask basketball cagers Chris Tiu and James Yap who are Filipino-Chinese, or a bunch of Fil-Americans in the PBA? Why not ask your lovely Fil-American actor Gerald Anderson and Fil-Chinese actress Kim Chiu? Why not ask your favoured beauty queens Malay-infused Miriam Quiambao and Arab-infused Maria Venus Raj? Why not ask a classmate who happens to be a foreign exchange student? Why ask a number of Igorots, Aetas, Maranaos, T'bolis, Tausugs, and all other indigenous peoples around?
Are they part of this nation, too? Yes, indeed they are. Including the Azkals and the Dragon Warriors.
They chose to represent the country. It's already a cliché already to see people bash these lads. It's irritating and heartbreaking to see our own people crushing each other. It's devastating to see people show off their crab mentality and chauvinism to bring down these people whose intention is to improve whatever potential field this country has, in sports, in the arts and the sciences, and in the cultural aspect.
So please, whoever you are, stop being a basher.
As President Noynoy Aquino would say in his 2011 SONA, crab mentality has to stop.
We need a place to breathe. We need a place to improve. So there is no reason to block them off.
Cheers,
KENNETH
