There's No Difference Between Green and Blue (By Charles Tiu)

I took this blog from my brother's multiply website http://charlestiu.multiply.com/journal/item/41/Theres_no_difference_between_GREEN_and_BLUE:

Seriously, apart from the physical properties, there isn't really anything different between these two colors, or for that matter DLSU and ADMU.

I am probably one of the few people who thinks that this rivalry is over the line. Apart from the usual battling of the players in the court, a lot of extra curricular activities are going on, from the fans bashing one another, their genuine hatred (for some at least) for one another, looking for reasons to make fun of the other and stuff like that. I wish people just left all the emotions on the court and let go of them right after the game (okay i admit i may be guilty!). Of course when i say this, it doesn't apply to all of the supporters, there still are those sensible ones. Maybe it's just me, since i don't believe that people need to fight one another. I feel that the cheering during the games get out of hand sometimes, especially when it becomes so personal. Like during game 2 of the series, some die-hard Lasalista shouts terrorist to Rabeh! I mean come on! what did he ever do to you to deserve being called that? And Ateneans who always love to make fun of Walsham, Rico or Cardona and others where's the breeding there? And when people shout Tangina Mo, its like what did my mom ever do to you?! As a player, you have to learn how to block it all out but man, sometimes it's gotta hurt too. But of course i've got to make it clear that not everyone does this. It's probably just a few of those super crazy die-hard fans!

I've been thinking about stuff and i realized that these two schools are no different from one another. Both schools are constantly looking for things against the other and when they do find something, it's like a time bomb waiting to explode. There will be non-stop taunting and teasing and all those stuff, and it goes back and forth. Let's see, Ateneo was having a blast by making fun of La Salle for their mistake in the spelling of La Salle during the cheering competition (i've always thought this was pointless. gee!) and they had their share of cheering wrong spelling! They've also had the pleasure of making fun of La Salle for their "cheating" (fielding ineligible players) and they've been saying bad stuff about La Salle for that. La Salle on the other hand, have had the pleasure of boasting their numerous championships through the years and they have this new bonfire incident to take against Ateneo (I must say this was a stupid move by some alumni who did it. Disgrace. To whoever did it, imagine if it were our own players? That would be below the belt)

La Salle calls Ateneo mayabang. Ateneo calls La Salle bobo. I don't know what the basis for this is because i believe that the education of both schools are equally as good (Yes ateneans, gotta admit La Salle has a helluva good engineering course, plus accounting too!) even though the rankings may differ (before La Salle was higher but now it's Ateneo) and as for the mayabang claim of La Salle, i'm sure there are tons of mayabang people from DLSU too.

Ateneo makes fun of Brian Ilad for throwing a punch during a game, gee could they have forgotten that our very own beloved LA Tenorio once threw a punch too, (a sucker cheap-shot punch for that matter) against La Salle pa!

Ateneans despise La Salle players like Maierhofer, Yeo, Cardona, Malabes and the other "mayabang" ones. La Salle despise Ateneo players like Salamat, Buenafe, Villanueva and those others they call mayabang too! But i bet one thing is for sure, as long as those players perform on the court, their own schools would love them no matter who they are (as long as they don't do anything to ruin the school's image) and they would stick with them. So i bet if those players changed teams and were playing for the other school, like lets say Rico played for Ateneo, it would be the other way around. Ateneo would love him and La Salle would hate him! haha that's just the way it works.

Players have to work hard and prove themselves to gain the respect of both schools. Ateneo and La Salle both have certain players that they like to make fun of or criticize (im talking about the fans) but of course once they do well then it all ends. I remember hearing non-stop criticism before for Rabeh, Ford Arao, even Jai Reyes and their very favorite Chris Tiu. But where are those naysayers now? Haha. I also knnow from my La Salle friends that they do this too. Kish Co was always being criticized until he showed up big and played well during last year's finals. People from DLSU keep on critcizing Walsham, Malabes, Ferdinand and others too. I remember they used to criticize my good friend Ty Tang back when he was still a rookie (i still used to root for La Salle cause of him hehe until Chris went to Ateneo) but after delivering a championship on his final year, i doubt they have anything bad to say about him anymore! So see? The way we act and treat players are alike! After all, we are all Filipinos still!

When Ateneo loses they blame the referees, when La salle loses, they blame the referees too. Both communities come up with really good explanations as to how the officials made them lose, but the bottom line is the outcome won't be changed. Both schools accuse each other of sourgraping when they lose.

I thought all the while that it was just Ateneo saying that DLSU buys players and gives alot of stuff under the table. I also thought na it was only Ateneo accusing DLSU of having double standards for the players, finding ways for them to enter the school even if they fail the entrance test and giving alot of special privileges and stuff like that. Apparently, as i stumbled upon some DLSU thread, i found that they too accuse Ateneo of exactly the same thing. I found it funny. I mean, both sides would go on debating and finding evidence to prove that they are right and rest assured that they will both defend themselves and claim that this doesnt happen in their school. But i bet that it does happen, in both schools! Funny though that the threads of both schools accuse the other about the same thing! Amusing and amazing.

I know right now that DLSU is having the last laugh especially after the bonfire incident. They can make fun of our breeding. But Ateneo has been saying the same thing through the years (not coming out for the championship awarding?). I don't think it will ever stop but i do wish that it were less volatile! Sure that might take the fun out of the UAAP, but it would hurt less people too!

And one more common thing is that both schools love to generalize. When one Atenean makes a bad goof-up (bonfire!) its generalized to the whole community! When one Lasallite makes a mistake or when there is a bad incident (awarding, illegitimate players) it is generalized to the whole community too! And i personally think that it is not fair. No matter what sort of education each school gives to their students, one way or another, there will always be those immature boneheads who deviate from the norm. And they are the ones who do these stupid acts that unfortunately people automatically generalize to the school. So no matter how much Ateneans love to say that they are superior over DLSU when it comes to education, i do not believe that one bit! (for the record, i have never made fun of DLSU when it comes to that wrong spelling incident, as well as i am never personal to any of their players when i cheer. I cheer for my school, not against another school.)

On a side note, i must say that i am deeply disappointed and embarrassed by that bonfire incident. I would like to apologize to the La Salle community for that act. But as i said in the preceding paragraph, the action of one alumni (who wrote their names on the wood) must and should not be generalized to that of the whole school. I believe Fr. Ben was very angry upon finding out about it and he will issue an official letter of apology to DLSU. I was talking to Rabeh about it and he said that yeah, it really was below the belt and we both agreed that if that were done to our players we would be outraged too, so i understand where the DLSU community is coming from, but learn to direct your anger please. It is not the team who did it nor is it any school official/administration. Oh yeah, and regarding that article on Rabeh almost transferring to LSGH but didn't because he didn't pass; well, his comment to that was that it was "a bunch of BS" :)

So there you have it, i don't know maybe it's just me who sees it that way. I'm sure alot of people will beg to differ. Unfortunately for you, if you want to beat me up for writing this, you'd have to wait til next year since i'm in far far away land :)

One thing i do know is that no matter what each school says about the other and no matter what wrong actions the school may have done, a Lasallite will always be proud to be a Lasallite and an Atenean will always be proud to be an Atenean too.