And so it ends. Finished. Finito. 30 (journalism’s end number). Sad day, sad end, sad season.
No choice. This virus, once dismissed as a non-threat, has turned into a global killer, a monster of a problem unparalleled in human history.
The Virus
No, the virus is not as deadly as the bubonic plague (aka the Black Death), a rodent carried bacterial disease, which first devasted the Earth in the 14th century, and again attacked Europe and Asia in the 19th and early 20th century nor the “Spanish flu (aka the 1918 flu pandemic) a more deadly flu pandemic which lasted two years and reportedly infected 500 million people, or a quarter of the world’s population at that time and killing between 17 to 100 million people, making it one of the deadliest pandemics in human history, second only to the Black Death” (source: Wikipedia).
Yes it’s not as deadly… potency-wise. In the Philippines for instance, around 17% of approximately 4,000 people were tested positive for the virus, and using that percentage, survival rate is also around 80%. So simple computation will give us around 3-4% mortality rate. Meaning, 3 or 4 out of 100 people may die from the disease or it’s complications.
But don’t be complacent. Contracting it is no cakewalk. A lot of the survivors, including a news reporter, and even two of my senior citizen closest friends, spouses, have reported feelings of near death experiences.
The deadliness of the virus comes from the fact that it attacks the lungs. It strangles you. It drowns you. You don’t have oxygen. It’s like a python. That’s why it is deadliest for senior citizens and immuno compromised people. It must be a painful experience, a near hell on Earth.
And oh, the Earth’s population is more than 6.4Bn now. Even at just 1% mortality rate, that will translate to around 64Mn deaths and up to 3 to 4 times more, by the time this thing gets figured out. THAT’S SCARY.
Some speculation that this virus was a germ warfare weapon come out here and there, but let’s stick to the accepted facts first. It was out of disrespect for Mother Nature. Eating bats and pangolins. Really.
Bottomline. Cancel the games!!!! Stay home!!!! Stay safe!!!!
But you know, in every action, is an equal and opposite reaction. Physics 101. And in this one decision, the opposite reactions are as diverse as the groups that comprise our little sports universe. Let’s elaborate.
The Student Athletes
Of all the groups concerned, the most affected will be the student athletes. Reading posts, tweets, tags, and watching their tiktoks (btw delete that app. It is reportedly a spyware/malware of information gathering), they took the hardest hit.
Their studies were affected. Their training is limited. Some of them went back to their specific provinces and countries. Their schedules have been screwed up.
It’s specially hard for our Lady Spikers, Men’s and Lady Blazers of our volleyball program, and our men’s and Lady booters of our soccer program. These are our teams who just started their campaigns and have more than equal chances of winning it all.
Noteworthy performances are the unbeaten campaigns of the Lady Blazers and Green Booters, and the rousing debut of our rookie laden Lady Spikers.
And yes, most importantly to them, they’re bored.
The Fans
Speaking of being bored, the fans, specially the volleyball fans take the cake. My goodness they trended on Twitter over repeatedly replayed games of La Salle and Ateneo. Toxic tweets at that. It was as if they could still change the outcome of the games.
Hahaha these people really need to undergo psychiatric evaluation, counseling, and possibly shock treatments. High voltage.
But there were funny ones too. A close friend of mine and fellow alumnus and batchmate kept talking to his appliances. Heck, he posted this everyday on Facebook.
What’s worse was he infected our other alumni, very distinguished people at that. I suspect they were the reasons why the school decided to offer psychiatric and psychological evaluation services. We better defeat this virus soon or these captains of industry might just find themselves committed in an institution. I’m not kidding. Look what you did pre!!!!!!
The UAAP League and the Board of Directors
Next season, I expect a lot of meetings about special rules for consideration, mainly due to player eligibilities and number of playing years available.
At this point, we can only surmise the fairness of extending player eligibilities for one more playing season, as this season was inadvertently cancelled. Of course some players may be over aged and/or have reached their maximum playing years this season.
As a parallel model, the NCAA has reportedly already announced an extension of eligibility of players for next year, moving player eligibilities succeeding seasons onward.
It’s just fair.
Players still should have the option out, as in some reportedly already signing off. Subsequently, however, players who are supposed to be eligible next year, must wait for another season before being declared eligible to play, for consistency’s sake.
See? There will be a lot of jostling around and we all know the UAAP Board. No comment on this though. We just know them. Hahaha.
But a little bit of good news though. We are the hosts next year (unless …. Hahaha). Like the virus, this might be an environment of reflection (or infection), depending on your viewpoint and analysis. Hahahaha I’m telling you. Brace yourselves.
Guys, I write for our entertainment, and my relaxation, period. I, too, am bored. I don’t write for money nor to promote any agenda. Except for now.
The season may have been cut short. But the memories of their only game will last forever
See you next year. #ArrowsUp ?? pic.twitter.com/ARdtLtJ3cb
— Go Archers (@GoArchers) April 8, 2020
Aside from entertainment, my agenda is just for us to keep safe at this time. This enemy knows no race, political affiliation, age, physical state, sexual preference, and school loyalty. It Doesn’t Care!!!! And it’s Deadly. So stop bickering!!!!
The Earth is healing but it’s also talking to us. Whatever is important to us is just trivial to Mother Earth, which is reminding us to respect it. And Who owns it. And Who should we look up and pray to.
The All Knowing Healer is talking to us. We should all talk to Him in prayer. In the grand scheme of things, we are just specks of dust. Including the UAAP season cancellation.
Live Jesus in our hearts. Stay safe.