Parasites in sports

Opportunistic parasites of various stripes despicably gorging on their filched pound of flesh in the euphoric afterglow of Carlos Yulo’s Olympic triumphs are utterly repugnant.

Surely nothing is amiss in these challenging times with the animated national pride written all over our faces over Yulo’s milestone double-gold feat. By all means, let us all celebrate him.

But salivating exploiters of our national pride, akin to our “epal” (thick skinned) politicians, who have done nothing for sports but who are now riding on the coattails of Yulo’s sterling feat we must definitely exclude from our celebratory mood.

Isn’t it downright execrable that these “epals” are plastering their cheesy mugs proportionally larger than Yulo’s on their congratulatory messages? Objectionable congratulatory messages which we must say are crude attempts at framing that they too were partly responsible for Yulo’s amazing feat. They were not and never have.

(By the way, unabashed social media influencers making pointless remarks about the Yulo family drama are also parasites. But that’s for another time.)

Anyway, far too many are the sad tales of athletes, begging bowls in hand, asking for help from politicians and government functionaries, for funds and resources to properly be trained in their respective sports.

Yet, these sad begging tales are quickly deemed immaterial once an exceptional athlete, despite all the odds stacked against him or her, emerges victorious in a major athletic competition like the Olympics. It is as if their struggles and pleas never happened, that they once had no proper sports shoes or gear.

A depressing scheme of things which soon enough hoodwinks us all into focusing wrongly on the ample monetary and other rewards the private sector is showering on Yulo, like expensive condominiums, lifetime free buffets, and whatnot.

But those seemingly innocent rewards aren’t really out of gratitude or free. It’s just business. In truth, those promised rewards are smarmy ways of sneakily turning recognizable Yulo into a brand endorser or ambassador of some sort without him agreeing to it, much less getting paid for it.

Anyway, the point here is that we must be aware of one major systemic issue in Philippine sports: Filipino athletes need money and resources BEFORE and NOT AFTER historic wins.

As a recent resolution filed by some honest congressmen correctly states: “The current system primarily focusing on rewarding athletes after they win, rather than providing consistent and substantial support throughout their training” needs to be addressed.

Yet, politicians and government don’t hear that stark truth, which tells us about their poverty of low expectations insofar as what Filipino athletes can achieve for the country’s honor.

In fact, despite the performances of Filipino athletes in the Paris outing, government sees no need to increase funding.

In the proposed 2025 national budget, for instance, government is only allocating P725 million for the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), significantly less than last year’s P1.156 billion budget.

Additionally, the newly created National Academy of Sports gets only a minimal increase in the same proposed budget, at P253.3 million from 2024’s P230.6 million allocation.

Understandably, government needs to judiciously farm out the country’s meager resources. So many Filipinos besides athletes have their own begging bowls out, after all.

But, at the same time, it is also government’s sworn duty to make sure that however meager the funds or resources for sports are they are used responsibly and wisely.

What that means is that something decisive must be done about corrupt government functionaries scandalously lining their pockets with government monies allocated for our helpless athletes.

In the face of all this distress, what is the able athlete to do?

Left to their own devices, he or she runs to relatives, friends, foreign governments, and the private sector for money and professional help.

But seeking help from the private sector also entails a slew of issues. Corporate sponsors aren’t really gamblers. Corporate suits far more safely invest in “major spectator sports where they can maximize their brands” which, in misogynistic Philippines, is the probably one reason why macho basketball thrives.