Written by: Jacques

Edited by: Ingrid

Nowadays, people want to look effortless, nonchalant, cool, and always in control. It is about projecting a polished persona up front, even if what is underneath does not match. That same tension plays out during Battle of the Bearcats (BOB). 

Every year, high school batches from freshmen through seniors face off in the BOB, competing in a variety of events, ranging from basketball to speed reading to even Clash Royale. For over a quarter of a century, BOB has been one of ISM’s most fun annual traditions. Behind the scenes, ISSBA and grade-level councils spend countless hours organizing and coordinating the whole competition, managing everything from venues to cheering sections.

More than just fun and games, BOB was initially designed to bring the high school community together through spirited camaraderie and inter-grade competition, similar to the annual ICARE event. This is clearly demonstrated in the scoring system, which evaluates batches not based on wins in events, but rather on cheering and ‘batch spirit’. On paper, this is intended to foster more unity and bring the school together, rather than segregating it into year groups. But in practice, is BOB really unifying the batches? Is the ‘batch spirit’ BOB cultivates truly genuine?

With this year’s BOB having just concluded, many seemed to have heartily enjoyed the event as a fun way to kick off the school year. “It was a really great experience for us freshmen, and I can’t wait for next year!” commented Pascal, a 9th grader, participating in his first BOB. 

But among the upper batches, some noted a change in atmosphere from last year. “I just remember the seniors cheering every single chance they got, even when it was unnecessary and out of place,” recounted one junior, who would like to remain anonymous. They further added, “Every event I was in seemed packed with seniors and juniors, all chanting and beating their drums and stuff.” Clearly, not everything is sunshine and rainbows.

To really understand this shift, one needs to remember BOB from last year. Traditionally, seniors are expected to win, as they have the most experience and motivation to claim victory at least once before graduating. Aaron, a senior,  remarked, “They were sort of expected to always win; it was assumed to basically be rigged.”  However, last year saw an anomaly: then-sophomores, now juniors, secured the win. The result stunned many participants; numerous seniors were reportedly left in tears. This also shifted the paradigm: the current juniors, sophomores, and freshmen all realized winning was a genuine possibility, while the seniors realized they would actually need to fight for the win. This year, the new seniors came in with a clear resolve to win and prevent the lower batches, and particularly the juniors, from repeating the surprise from last year.

That determination showed in their strategies. According to one senior, their batch used walkie-talkies to coordinate which events to attend, ensuring a strong cheering section in every room. What was once spirited fun now feels almost like a chess match of headcounts and decibel levels. A sophomore anonymously commented on it: “It was almost annoying seeing the seniors and juniors obnoxiously cheering so loudly in front of the teachers, just to earn points.” Evidently, this is breeding resentment and widening divides between batches.

This raises a deeper problem with the scoring system. Cheering, once meant to show genuine goodwill and give encouragement, now feels hollow. It seems driven less by spirit and more by competitive calculation. Instead of uniting the school, the system is creating division, turning cheers into methods to score points rather than true goodwill support. It also skews incentives: why focus on winning your actual event if it does not even count toward the final score? 

So is BOB “performative?” To answer that, we need to ask, what does “performative” even mean in this context? In a general sense, being performative means doing something not out of genuine feeling, but because one wants to be seen doing it. It is pretending to study hard the moment parents walk in, and it is signing up for the club only because it looks good on your résumé. And in this case, it is the loud cheer meant to score points, rather than to encourage a team. It is about appearances, actions chosen to display the “right” image, even when the intention behind them is disingenuous.

In this year’s BOB, much of the cheering seemed more about winning spirit points rather than about the actual events at all. I myself remember the seniors fervently cheering for the freshmen, a heartwarming sight at first, though ironically, the freshmen were not even participating in the event. What appeared to be spirit was, in truth, little more than performance.

At this point, change seems necessary. If BOB is to truly be about unity, its format and scoring must show that, one suggestion being points more evenly distributed between spirit and actual performance. At the very least, we should reconsider whether forced cheering and performative enthusiasm truly achieve the event’s original intention.

It’s also worth questioning why BOB is formatted this way at all. In middle school, Sports Day divides the entire school into mixed-grade houses, with points based on both events and spirit. This balances experience amongst the competitors, as younger students are paired with older students, learning how to compete together. In comparison, BOB leaves freshmen batches at a disadvantage, often struggling with less polished chants and fewer experienced planners compared to upper batches. If implemented, this system could transform BOB into what it was meant to be: a unified entity that brings together the entire high school, not just the batches.

However, ISSBA president Yang Yang also made a good point on the matter, noting, “If you argue that a mixture is more beneficial than pure spirit, how does that address people faking spirit? Does it not just make spirit worth less in general? Instead of removing spirit due to it being ‘fake,’ we should aim to convert that into real spirit and award true sportsmanlike behavior, hence our changes to the spirit rubric this year.” It’s a fair point. Getting rid of spirit altogether would be the easy way out, but pushing students to turn performance into genuine energy is the real challenge, and maybe the more worthwhile one.

As sophomore president Gil reflected: “I think that competition is really big recently, especially with some upperclassmen, but I do think some people are taking this too seriously and taking it as something that will define them and their legacy. BOB is a great day to show spirit and have fun, but I think the amount of stress they’re putting themselves under is way too much to try to be cool. BOB is not that big a deal.”

And maybe that’s the point worth remembering. BOB should be about fun and community, not simply trying to win. If it’s no longer achieving that, then maybe it’s time to ask whether the Bearcat spirit we’re cheering for is truly well-intentioned or just a performative facade.