#fighting maroon

[brewingideaswhiledrinkingcoffee]

HELL-o October.

Good morning! Goodbye good and bad memories of September. You have done enough damage to make me strong and whole again.  Hello October! I just want you to know that no matter how stressful you are, I'll beat the hell out of you. #4thyearstruggle #FIGHTING

[riaaaaanne]

Back2Back2Black! Lezz go, UP.

Texted someone from the UP Pep Squad about a shirt I haven't claimed.  After he had confirmed, I said thanks and gave some enlightenment. His reply? This: Yeah.we will win it. :)) - That's the Fighting Maroon spirit. And, indeed, we will win it. Oh I declare. \m/ 

[batangbasketball]

Why Fighting Maroons No More?

Just as the new academic year commenced, a contest was held to give the University of the Philippines' athletic team a new look. The mission: Give the team currently known as the Fighting Maroons a new moniker. Of course, many dropped their suggestions in the name game. Some gave names that spell S-T-R-O-N-G, while others just joked around the contest by giving funny names, while a few more suggested interesting monikers. The winning new name was supposed to be announced during the Maroons' pep rally last July 9. I wasn't able to go there. However, for those who didn't even bother to join and maybe for those who entered the contest, one question is being asked to themselves: Why on earth does UP want to change its name?

The name game was inspired by the fact that most of the schools in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines, five to be exact, have animals as their team monikers [Only UP (Maroon, referring to a member of an African anti-colonization army), De La Salle University (Archer), and the University of the East (Warrior) have human monikers]. Another thing about the new name is that unlike the other UAAP schools, UP doesn't have a team mascot, and the Oblation, UP's main symbol, is not that appropriate for them, perhaps due to its nudity, not to mention that the statue was not colored maroon. Because of these, UP came up with this name game concept, only to find out that most of the names entered were, apart from its "trash talk" and "comedy" contents, not named after an animal. Speaking of the Kingdom Animalia...

I mentioned to you awhile ago that matching up with Adamson (Falcon), Ateneo De Manila (Eagle), Far Eastern (Tamaraw), National University (Bulldog), and the University of Santo Tomas (Tiger) was the main point of UP's image renewal. However, the existing animal symbols of State U brought this name game to an epic failure. Why? Apart from Oble, UP also has an eagle and a parrot as its symbols. Eagle is a no-problemo. It's just that ADMU is already using it. The parrot, on the other hand is not that strong like the eagle and the other big birds, and parrot is just known for its "talking" ability. However, the, arguably, main concern for the name change has something to do with the current tainted image of the Nation's Scholars.

Apart from its poor performance in the UAAP, the main concern about UP's name game are the recent events that led to shame. One time last year in Muntinlupa City, I was tagged as an activist by a city traffic enforcer after I said that I'm a UPian, and I was annoyed with her comment. I'm not even involved in a major rally or demonstration. Aside from rallyists, which is not the case for most of us, some others, fellow UP students or from other UAAP schools, mocked us by giving the name "F****** Morons" just because UP's an afterthought in basketball and in other sports or just being nerds, which is again not the case for many.

Whether these guys who created "Give UP's New Name Contest" know what Maroon actually means or not, it seems like we are moving away from the true facet of the team's current moniker. Maroon, as I mentioned above, is not the literal maroon the dark red color, but the African warrior who wanted to resist colonial control by the European conquerors. The Maroon is brave, strong, and with heart, and just because you hate to be called such fun names, being mascot-less, or just wanna go with the flow of most schools' varsity teams' animal names are just lame excuses, as a comment said when I posted the reason for the name game. As the same guy cited, UP is UP, and we should know what the school is all about and not just join the bandwagon of the continuous commercialization of State U. With a mascot or without, with knowledge about our UAAP name or doesn't bother knowing it at all, whether we're called morons, rebels, NPA, or not, we should be proud in saying, "I'm from the University of the Philippines (add the campus if you want), and I'm a proud FIGHTING MAROON!!!!!"

Segway: Among the names posted in a Facebook note, I liked the Maroon Griffins the most, because aside from keeping maroon, this time as the dark red hue, griffin will remind us of our flying symbols and yet not having some conflicts with the two blue birds' nests, Ateneo, which is just a jeep ride away from UP via Carlos Garcia Ave. (C5/Katipunan Ave.), and Adamson, a bus ride via Quezon Ave. and Taft Ave. away. Thank you Sherbonn Ciceron for the comments.