clean and clear

we beat them twice, they beat us once and they get the twice-to-beat advantage. sigh. but as i was telling jan, i do not feel as seething as i was the past two games la salle.

there was not much incident this time. there was that malabes-tiu almost scuffle but thankfully it was stopped in its tracks. i therefore conclude it's ilad that gets my goat. rico maierhoffer also toned down his jubilations this time. they should all learn from ty and jvee who work quietly but stealthily.

so it was a game that was played skill-against-skill, luck-against-luck. with an arao off-night and a fiery casio and tang... it was a pretty rough ride. it was disappointing of course. definitely. ika nga ni eric, second na naging bato pa. but it wasn't as disappointing as the NU loss. the team played with heart, they did the best they could, they were pretty steady most of the game.

dlsu got this fair and square. now, we face off with the tigers for gasp!... a twice-to-win fight against the greens to meet the gasp! red warriors.

whatever the results of the coming games will be, i will say this... i love my team. i love the rookies. i love coach norman black. whether we finish fourth or we take the (suntok sa buwan) championship... MASARAP MAGING ATENISTA. the UAAP basketball men's seniors is just one facet of what Ateneo is. and if it is that exciting... imagine all the fun we had/have in school!

WIN OR LOSE, IT'S THE SCHOOL WE CHOOSE! OBF! (and with rookies like my boy nonoy and kirk long... we have a lot to hope for. considering it's just arao who is graduating this year (i think). and who would've thunk arao graduating would be a loss to the eagles? maybe there is hope for rabeh al-hussaini!)

gutted by the bulldogs

argh.

it was a disappointing loss to the NU bulldogs. they just played better and harder than we did, despite the fact that we needed the win more than they did. kudos to the dogs, especially to fernandez who just kept raining threes. they played like they wanted to win. the eagles didn't play with as much heart as they did in the previous games as they appeared to have taken NU for granted. which was what really made it disappointing.

sigh. the worse thing about is it means we have to have another face-off with la salle. which means i have to cut down on my meat intake because it will be another heart attack game. not only will it be a close-match, it will be a physical one. and all for a mad dash for second place. nge.

and you can't expect anything less from the fierce archers who will see this opening for second place a perfect opportunity to nock more of their arrows at us. the rivalry is exciting, true... but i hate the feeling i get everytime i get pissed at their players because i dislike their arrogance and their unsportsmanlike methods to make a win. i hate that feeling. i wish i can respect their team like i do others... but i just can't. they haven't really done anything to deserve it.

and the possibility of meeting them for three times makes me exhausted already. fahk. i have exams this month you know. how can i study this way? darnit.

anyway... congratulations NU. congratulations asoro. in a way, i was glad for you. you leave the league with a high note. i'm just sad it was at our expense.

my beloved team... let this fire your desire! we need all the passion and the smarts we can get. good luck! win or lose, it's the school we choose.

at ika nga sa plug ng studio 23... dinidibdib ang bawat laro. charing!

attacks from behind

dlsu assistant coach salgado to arwind santos (thanks to paralusi of gameface.ph for this link) and yesterday ilad to UE's fampulme (still can't find it in youtube yet).

update: video of the scuffle finally out.
and as far as i know, in the ethical code of fist fights, hitting an unsuspecting victim from the back is cowardice. moreso, when you run away after hitting. casio allegedly scolded ilad. good jv. bad ilad. you just wasted tang and casio's good game.

vid c/o kai, an article and some photos of the admu-dlsu game

which is actually an almost five minute video from the last 30 seconds of the game with yuri drawing the defense to him leaving tiu wide open for the three to the botched casio shot to the rico's last ball to the review of the maierhoffer shot and his rejoicing to black's show of emotion after the declaration of victory... and the blue side cheering like we won the championship (it is almost as good!).

right now, that the thrill has died down a little... i could imagine how bloody the overtime could have been. i just thank God we wasted enough time to leave la salle with an alanganin possession and that casio (sorry, dear) was not in his element yesterday...

clearly everyone from both sides played hard and played heart... including the 15,000 sixth men all over araneta.

i give ourselves until this evening to rejoice. then we put back this win and relish it some other time... look forward and face NU who will definitely not give us a win on a silver platter.

by the way... TO THE ADAMSON FALCONS... hangkyut niyo! i love your pep squad cheering the final four cheers. gulat to the max ako when i suddenly heard them on TV shouting... go ateneo. "Go ateneo?" I had to text somebody in araneta to ask if i heard right. Apparently they did the final four contenders cheers. that's a good sport for you. kyuuut.

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and an article from the ateneo website. of course, bleeding blue pride ito. but i just love jobe's hirit to la salle. read, read!

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this photo and this photo... hubaran ba players namin, ilad?

more exciting photos at fabilioh.com!

admu vs. ust

i hate ust. know why?

because all their players look so nice and friendly and are really good at basketball. there is jervy cruz and dylan ababou who flash those winsome smiles that just makes one all motherly and think... "oooooh! oversized grade two children... how cute." or that japs cuan looks so much like barkada trip's bok. or that mirza, the rookie, looks so much like a young severus snape (and i like snape). or that allera is just so my type.

i hate ust because there isn't anyone to dislike in the team. there isn't anyone to throw vile cuss words at. they ARE good. but they are nice. it's no fun making fun at them because it simply feels evil. the only thing i can think off is calling them the UST jebras because their uniform uses black stripes on white which is no way a tiger, but a zebra or a jebra if you are from bohol which i'm not but it sounds funny so there.

last thursday was already nerve-wracking for me, with a paper due the next day. but instead of starting on it, of course, i had to watch the ateneo-ust game. wearing my nice and soft ANG SARAP MAGING ATENISTA shirt (c/o tat and nin). of course.

and so quarter after quarter, i saw my team pummeled by the jebras... i ached seeing them fumble with the ball... i hated seeing shots miss the ring while the yellows just stabbed us with threes and twos... and i resented the fact that i could not dislike jervy cruz... and more irked that i wanedt to pinch dylan's cheeks...

and then the fourth quarter came... i think it was my jai-namite who started pumping life back into the team. of course, everybody else did a great job especially chris tiu who has been using his smarts the entire game. i was getting that wonderful feeling of "kaya to!"

and even during the last minute when ust got their lead back at 69-70... with less than 12 seconds to go, i think... "kaya to!" my heart was beating fast, my hands linked with jan's, like the rest of the team on the bench... the UST was defending real hard... from jai to ford who was double teamed... to kirk long who looked unsteady but still had to take that last shot... as he was about to release the ball... i thought to myself, "there will be a miracle! i know it!" and there it was... what seemed like an awkward shot went in! clean and clear!

we won the damn game! almost killed me getting there... but we did it!

i know, i know... it's a regular game. but hey... for most ateneans, every uaap basketball game is a championship game. we aren't called ateneo's 6th men for nothing.

i think i can conjure an patronus charm easily thinking of that last second...