Bronze in Nagoya, the country’s first esports medal at the Games, forces a generation of parents to revisit the phrase stop playing that

MANILA – Filipino parents spent the weekend reconsidering several decades of household policy after the national esports team won bronze in Pokemon Unite at the Asian Games, the country’s first medal in esports at the event.

As the Inquirer reported, the Sibol squad topped its group in Aichi-Nagoya despite forfeiting its opening match over a uniform issue, then beat China in the quarterfinals before falling to Indonesia in the semifinals. The team’s coach described the result as a breakthrough for a game he considers outside the mainstream at home.

Outside the mainstream, in this case, includes most living rooms.

The Fathers

At a barbershop in Marikina, a Sunday-morning panel of men in their fifties and sixties attempted to work out what had happened. Ernesto Villaluz, 61, a retired jeepney operator, held up a newspaper.

“It says we beat China,” Mr. Villaluz said. “In what? Nobody can tell me. My grandson says it is five against five. So, basketball. He says no, they are monsters. I said, so the Chinese players are monsters? He said no, Lolo, everybody is a monster. I said then how do you know who to cheer for.”

The barber, Rey Cabangon, said he had tried to follow a replay. “There is a yellow one,” he said. “I know that one. Pikachu. I asked if he is on our side. They said it depends who picks him. So he is like a congressman.”

Questions Recorded at the Barbershop

• “Is there a ball?”
• “Do they sweat?”
• “If it is on a phone, how did they lose a game over a uniform?”
• “Why is the yellow one sometimes the enemy?”
• “Is this the one where you walk around the mall catching things?” (It is not.)
• “Bronze is third. Did we at least beat Thailand?”

The Mothers Issue a Clarification

In homes across the capital, the medal reopened old cases. Corazon Bautista, 54, of Pasig, has a 23-year-old son who is not on the national team but plays the same game for what she estimates is nine hours a day.

“For ten years I told him, that will get you nowhere,” Mrs. Bautista said. “Now it turns out it can get you to Japan. I want to be clear that my statement was about him specifically. Those other boys, I am proud of. They have a coach. They have a uniform, eventually. Mine has a chair.”

Her son, reached in his room, said he felt vindicated. He was asked whether he planned to try out for the team. He said he was “more of a casual.”

The Tarpaulin Phase Begins

Local officials moved quickly. By Saturday afternoon, congratulatory tarpaulins had appeared in at least four barangays with no known connection to any player.

One, hung across a basketball court in Caloocan, read “CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR POKEMON HEROES” above a photograph of the barangay chairman, the full council and the chairman’s wife. The team did not appear on it. Asked why, a barangay secretary said they could not find a picture in time, and that the chairman “has always supported the youth and their Pokemon.”

A second tarpaulin in Las Pinas depicted a cartoon character that turned out to be from a different franchise. It has been left up. “The message is the same,” a councilor said.

A Sport by Any Definition

Dr. Arturo Delos Reyes, a sports sociologist at a Manila university, said the confusion is normal for a country meeting a new discipline. “Filipinos accept a sport when three things are present,” he said. “A medal, a rivalry with a neighbor, and a referee decision we can complain about. This team has delivered all three in one tournament. The uniform forfeit alone will be discussed for years by people who do not know the rules.”

He noted that the country’s Honor of Kings squad, which closed in on its Games berth in June, also came home with a medal. “That is two,” he said. “Two is a program. Somebody will now ask for a budget, and somebody else will ask where the budget went. That is when you know it is a real Philippine sport.”

The win was noticed abroad as well. Bohiney Magazine pointed out that American fathers are still coming to terms with soccer. The London Prat said Britain understood completely, having spent decades winning medals in events nobody at home could describe, several of them involving a horse.

The Uniform Question

At the barbershop, attention kept returning to the forfeited opener. Mr. Villaluz considered it the most Filipino detail of the campaign.

“We lost a game before it started because of the clothes, and then we won everything after that until the end,” he said. “That is my whole life. That is every job interview I ever had.”

What Comes Next

The team has said it is now aiming at an international cup, with a Philippine qualifier set for December and hopes of a rematch with Indonesia.

Mr. Villaluz said he intends to watch. He has asked his grandson to sit beside him and explain. “I told him, just tell me when to stand up,” he said. “I do not need to understand it. I did not understand billiards either, and I cried.”

SOURCE: bohiney.com