Where UAAP Moments Happen…

Note: This is an old post from my Multiply site last July 12, 2008.

Last Sunday ended with the blue crowd jumping up and down in triumph while the green crowd stood and wondered, “What went wrong?” I was situated in the sea of blue at the Araneta then where I was rejoicing and shouting at the top of my lungs as the Ateneo Blue Eagles beat their archrivals – the De La Salle Green Archers.

Yes, my dear, the UAAP season is back again!

This blog, however, is not intended to discuss the game that I mentioned. Much has already been said on it so if you are looking for an in-depth analysis, just search it on the Web or read the newspapers last Monday. It’s old news anyway, but the new UAAP Men’s basketball? It will just get hotter for the next three to four months.

I have not written a journal about the notable moments of my whole UAAP experience yet, so I guess this is the appropriate time to talk about it. Thus, let’s get the drum rolling…

The Un-Biased (or Biased) Basketball Experience
The UAAP is not just about the Ateneo for me… seriously?

Teams that I Usually Watch
1. Ateneo Blue Eagles. I think this is already a given. Win or lose, I will find time to watch the basketball games of my Alma Mater. I even cheer when I am watching UAAP games alone in my home. Not just cheer, but scream joyously whenever they win and swear when a terrible call goes against them.
2. De La Salle Green Archers. Ateneo won’t reach their current status in the UAAP without La Salle. The same goes for the latter. Simply put, your archrival defines you. It’s either that or it is exciting to watch their games as well. Of course, I would want to know how our archrival school plays and all. Even though La Salle was suspended for a year, the number of La Salle games I have watched are still higher than the number of games that I have watched that featured the other UAAP schools.
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3. University of the East Red Warriors. This is a very distant third. I am a UAAP fan but I do not watch most of the games because I also have life other than watching the UAAP. Nonetheless, I think I have watched a lot of the UE games. I have to attribute this to the fact that they always field a legit lineup and they have pretty courtside reporters (Go Tracy!).

Best School Cheers and Chants
1. Ateneo’s “One Big Fight!” Ateneans normally reserve this chant on the climactic parts of the game or if there is a major turnaround of events. It has the propensity to shake the Araneta Coliseum and it scares the hell out of Ateneo’s opponents (I have read something about this before). It is perfect whenever Ateneo makes a major run and successfully catches up their opponent.
2. Ateneo’s “Go Ateneo!” This is very close to the “One Big Fight!” chant because this cheer always makes Ateneans jump and dance as they shout the two simple words. It is very upbeat so it doubles the adrenaline of the crowd. The Blue Babble typically triggers it at the start, the end or at times when the Blue Eagles are on fire.
3. De La Salle’s “Go La Salle!” The “Go Ateneo!” counterpart. The drums always give the sindak feeling as the green crowd shout this cheer in unison. This is their momentum cheer so the players normally get better as the crowd pumps them up. I will always remember Green Archers dribbling the ball with rejuvenated energy from the backcourt (i.e., Joseph Yeo, TY Tang, Mike Cortez) whenever this cheer plays on my mind.
4. De La Salle’s “Beat Ateneo! Animo La Salle!” This chant never fails to frustrate me. Lasallians always use this to drown the Ateneans cheer probably the same way Ateneo’s “One Big Fight!” overwhelms their opponents. I hate this chant but I won’t deny that it is a good and strong one at the very least.
5. University of Santo Tomas’ “Go Uste!” This is touted to be the best cheer by many because you will feel like dancing whenever it is being played. Numerous Ateneans in the Game 3 of the Ateneo-UST Finals Game even do the hand actions when the Yellow Jackets played it. However, it does not give that much effect to me as compared to the top Ateneo and La Salle cheers.
6. University of the Philippines’ “U-nibersidad ng Pilipinas” I do not actually know how they call it but this cheer is so original that I loved to do it when I was in 1st Year College. It is very entertaining and catchy but it does not scare UP’s opponents.
7. Ateneo’s Locomotive Cheer. A-rah-rah-rah… T-rah-rah-rah… E-rah. N-rah. E-rah-rah-rah… Ooooo! This cheer slowly but surely gives the perfect entrance to the “Go Ateneo!” cheer.

Best Commentators
1. Jude Turcuato. KABOOM! You will feel the explosiveness whenever he shouts “Kaboom!” after a three-point shot was made. He also reserves it as well so that you would not get so used to it. I also liked his un-biased views then. You won’t even think he was an Atenean whenever he announces in Ateneo games. But I have to give the #1 to him because the “Kaboom” reaction never ceases to fade in my most used words. Too bad, I was able to watch his commentary for just a year
2. Sev Sarmenta. Another Atenean here. I am so un-biased. But seriously, Sev has got to be the best there is in UAAP right now. He is not biased and he delivers excellent reactions at high points of the game. He makes me think of WWE’s Jim Ross.

Favorite UAAP Players
1. Larry Fonacier (Ateneo). This Blue Eagle is the epitome of class and excellence. He also has the perfect height to provide mismatches on the 2-3 position. He is clutch. He is good in passing. He is a great leader. The only bad thing about him was he had an ACL in his final year and it was not even his fault. I felt safe when he has the ball in the dying seconds of an Ateneo-La Salle game because you know that he would find a way to make the team win.
2. Mike Cortez (DLSU). The Cool Cat inspired me to press in my basketball games in college. He is a man playing with the boys when he dominates the game. Apart from his skill and talent, I admired this Green Archer because he doesn’t have the angas that most Green Archers have. He has some attitude but it is classy.
3. Chris Tiu (Ateneo). Chris Tiu won’t be on the list if you asked me a year ago. Nevertheless, he has become someone that exemplifies the things that I want in basketball players. He is a better clutch shooter than Larry Fonacier. I always rank clutch players a rank higher because the feeling is so much different in endgames. It is the time when a star player saves his team and becomes a hero. The crucial plays down the wire are full of pressure to which some of the good basketball players easily crumble. Furthermore, he is a great leader because he knows how to develop and build the confidence of his teammates – something that the players of the 2002 champion team failed to deliver. I would also add the fact that Chris graduated from the ME program. The reason why he is just #3 was that he just broke out two years ago. I will never forget the times when I thought that La Salle got the better of Ateneo when they got JV Casio (not anymore!). Another plus for him. If he delivers the crown to Ateneo this year, he’ll be on the top of the list.
4. Wesley Gonzales (Ateneo). Three classy players then I have a highly emotional one in the list. I know that a lot of people hate this guy due to his attitudes. Nevertheless, I liked his strengths (slasher/shooter) when Ateneo won the 2002 crown. His attitude also gave Ateneo something to answer the cockiness of the Green Archers.
5. Rich Alvarez (Ateneo). Strong defense and consistent rebounding made this guy for real. His exclamation dunks on Ateneo-La Salle games also made a statement then.

The Women of UAAP
Testosterone levels are at a high… My girlfriend might kill me for writing this one down but I cannot leave this one out because this is part of my UAAP experience. I used to watch UAAP games wishing that a pretty girl sits near me or hoping to see my college crush(es). This is for the Patty Laurels, George Rochas, Tracy Abads, and Sharon Yus of the UAAP.

Best Courtside Reporters
1. Lia Cruz (Ateneo). This petite, chinky-eyed courtside reporter has always impressed me in her two-year stint in the UAAP. She is cute and pretty but what I liked the most was the substance of her reports. If I am not mistaken, she was not that much knowledgeable on basketball when she started reporting for Ateneo but she was able to show that she was for real by providing quality reports and appropriate emotions. She does her homework very well. Look where she is now – she is commonly seen in Basketball TV and she hosts NU 107’s School of Rock.
2. Patty Laurel (Ateneo). Another courtside reporter that provides substance on her reports. Actually, I am not that much into UAAP during the time when she was the girl of Ateneo Men’s Basketball but I appreciated the way she delivers the reports whenever I see her in TV. She was able to become an MTV VJ as well after her UAAP stint. Great bod, nice face and sweet reporting… what more can you ask for?
3. Tracy Abad (UE). Is this Cindy Kurleto in my TV? Damn! She’s so pretty! And she also reports well. This chic has got to be the prettiest courtside reporter in my books. She also provides great reports. I was not impressed at her at the start but she improved greatly in her second year. She is currently a DJ in Jam 88.3. I’ll miss her this season.
4. Gretchen Fullido (UP). Arguably the courtside reporter with the best body. This iskolar ng bayan is the only UAAP courtside reporter to have three years of reporting. She is actually good in delivering her reports. They are substantial but the problem is, it gets long and she sometimes gets too emotional and biased for her Alma Mater. Nonetheless, she is still a great courtside reporter. She hosted in a sports show with Boom Gonzalez as well.
5. Rheema Villamor (UST). I did not care on tracking down the UST Growling Tiger games (they sucked so bad when she was with the team) then but I surely wanted to watch each UST game because I want to see this petite and pretty girl delivering substantial reports.

Sorry for overkilling the word ‘substance’ in the descriptions.

Most Beautiful Courtside Reporters
1. Tracy Abad (UE)
2. Gretchen Fullido (UP)
3. Andi Manzano (FEU). Andi9’s pretty and cute face surely lighted up my afternoons when I watched FEU games in the TV last year. Too bad, she only had a one-year stint and we all have to imagine her pretty face when we listen to her in the radio.
4. Patty Laurel (Ateneo)
5. Sharon Yu (DLSU). DLSU’s MVP. Damn! This chinita is getting better every time I watch her in the UAAP. I did not find her that much beautiful last year because her eyes are too tiny or I just don’t dig girls with her facial features. I often dig chinitas but there are some that do not appeal me even if they are pretty. But hey, I think she is getting appealing this year. Let’s see if she moves up the rankings next year. This spot should have been for Ateneo’s Vanna Lim.

Favorite Pep Squads (Girl Cheerleaders Only)
1. DLSU Pep Squad. Is this for real? Ateneo is not on top of the list? Yes. And DLSU pep squad wins this by a mile. They normally have the prettiest faces amongst the pep squads and their fair complexion adds to the appeal. Lastly, they have the sexiest uniforms (oh my girlfriend is really going to kill me)
2. Ateneo Blue Babble. I always thought that Ateneo has the best ratio of pretty girls per square meter (of course, you will just count the Ateneo College grounds on this one) but I guess La Salle’s bigger population produced the prettier pep squad. It’s either that or La Sallian girls are prettier than Ateneans (Oh, even my Atenean girl friends will kill me now). Anyway, the Blue Babble is still great nonetheless. I think the Blue Babble cheerleaders have more talent than their green counterparts (ayan ha… bumawi na ako). Furthermore, I also liked the traditional uniforms. Very classy indeed.
3. UP Pep Squad. I seldom watch UP games but I always watch the UP Pep Squad during the cheerdancing competitions. I got to admit that they are hot in the past years (not last year, I think it was three years ago)

I guess I have to stop discussing this part or else Caress will kill me. Anyway, 99.9% of this one was taken from previous years of experience when I was still single.

(Liar! Liar! Pants on the fire!...)

OK, fine! 99.8% na lang

(Blue) Blood is Thicker Than Water
But of course, my favorite topic. The Ateneo Blue Eagles.

Favorite UAAP Moments
Blue bloody hell?! Why is this not in the un-biased UAAP experience part? One answer on this one: favorite nga e… It won’t be a favorite moment to me if it featured my team losing.
1. Ateneo beating La Salle in the Game 3 of the 2002 Finals. This has got to be the sweetest win that I watched. After 14 years, Ateneo became the champions again. Forget the fact that I was in the general admission area of Araneta. It was history unveiling in front of me. It is the very first time I watched a team become the champions and it was the team I was rooting for. It was sweet jubilation for the Ateneo team that struggled for years. From the BJ Manalo betrayal to the painful 2001 loss to their archrivals. This time, it was ours.
2. Ateneo wins Game 1 of the 2002 Finals against DLSU. This has got to be one of the best clutch defense I have ever seen. Ateneo was leading at that time when Larry Fonacier swatted Mac Cardona’s shots twice in order to secure the Game 1 win for Ateneo.
3. Gec Chia sinks the Hail Mary shot as Ateneo against UE of the 2002 Final Four match. I have to admit that I was frustrated when I watched Gec Chia’s awful miscues in the final few minutes of this grueling battle with James Yap’s UE Red Warriors. But when Gec Chia turned my “No, not you!” to a “Yes!” I was jumping up and down running across our living room shouting that “Get ready, La Salle! I will watch the Finals games.” This is one of the special Ateneo moments because it brought the Blue Eagles from a disappointing eliminations round back to the Finals to meet their archrivals once again.
4. The three wins of Ateneo on La Salle on Season 70. Forget the fact that La Salle eliminated Ateneo last season. We had more wins and all of which were satisfying as well. Chris Tiu became the Archer Killer as he took the nailbiters in each of the closing seconds of those games. Those were for every Archer fan who laughed at him when he missed the open layup on a crucial fastbreak possession on an Ateneo-La Salle game early in his UAAP days.
5. Doug Kramer’s 1 second game-winning shot against the UST Growling Tigers in the Game 1 of the UAAP Finals in Season 69. I was about to get frustrated then after Allan Evangelista of UST was flexing after he made a clutch shot in order to taunt the Ateneo fans. Haha! We still had the final laugh of that game and I was jumping up and down at Gen Ad seeing Black magic happen when Macky Escalona sent a rainbow pass to a free Doug Kramer underneath the basket to seal Game 1 in Ateneo’s favor.
6. Ateneo eliminating La Salle in the 2003 Final Four. It ended with Wesley Gonzales taunting a frustrated Joseph Yeo. I was so glad then that we have beaten La Salle for the second straight year. The feeling had double pleasure written all over it because the rivalry got more heat after the Tenorio-Gaco incident. It was funny to shout “Uwi na kayo!” to La Salle while the latter could only respond “F-E-U! F-E-U!”
7. LA Tenorio hitting the game-winning step-back three point shot to beat Adamson in the elimination in 2004. This was the first game that Ateneo played without Larry Fonacier. Ateneo started the game being down by a huge double-deficit against the Falcons. But they played their hearts out and slowly diminished the huge falcon lead. It set up for the LA Tenorio game winner. The game ends with the Ateneo gallery chanting “Larry! Larry!” as Fonacier’s mother was shown in TV. Another bonus then was that they featured my College crush as the Close-Up Smile person.
8. Watching Ateneo give La Salle its first loss in 2002. 13-1. This was my very first UAAP game live. I watched it with my high school friends in the La Salle side. Seeing Ateneo rip La Salle by a huge margin to avoid the sweep was a very good thing to see. It also calmed my growing urge to cheer for my Alma Mater because the Lasallian crowd gave unfriendly comments on the Ateneo and its players. Perhaps, I was immature on UAAP then. Right now, it’s just a given. People cheer and jeer. These games bring the best and worst from both sides. All for the love of one’s school.
9. After being down by 14 in the second quarter, Larry Fonacier carries Ateneo to win over La Salle in the 1st game of eliminations in 2004. This is one of Larry’s clutch performances. He carried the team to a win that seemed to be a loss. This was the last win that we had prior to the La Salle domination in 2004-2005.
10. Ateneo sweeping La Salle in the eliminations round in Season 66. This was by far, the most walk-in-the-park wins of Ateneo against La Salle. We fielded a veteran team composed of Alvarez, Gonzales, Fonacier, and Tenorio while a rookie-laden La Salle squad had to endure rebuilding in the post-Cortez era. If I am not mistaken, Ateneo won these games in double digits.

Ateneo Teams That Had the Highest Chances of Winning the Crown
1. 2002 Team. Duh! They won because they fielded the best Ateneo lineup in the recent years. If you have five superstars in your starting lineup and an experienced bench to match it, you are a fool if you won’t win this one.
2. 2007 Team. I am not kidding on this one. Ateneo may have lost JC Intal, Doug Kramer and Macky Escalona but this 2007 team was special as well. The team is much more seasoned for team play (instead of just relying on the franchise player). They have a clutch player in Chris Tiu (sorry JC and Macky, you guys are not that clutch enough… even Doug. One game is not enough). Chris was in the 2006 team but he is not the go-to-guy. They have a great defender in Nonoy Baclao. Eric Salamat was also a great slasher. Most of all, the team was peaking at the right time. The championship dream diminished when Ateneo lost to NU and eventually to DLSU. Ateneo won more matches against La Salle that year and if we had the twice-to-beat advantage, we could have advanced to the finals to beat the rusty UE Red Warriors.
3. 2003 Team. The team had its Fab 4. Up to this day, the one of the only reasons I could think of as to why Ateneo lost it was because they got tired against La Salle in the Final Four. Other than that, they choked big time.
4. 2006 Team. The Intal-Escalona-Kramer triumvirate was able to deliver Ateneo to a dominating eliminations round record. They were predicted to win the championship as early as the half of the eliminations round was over. But I knew deep inside that this team is not ready to win it all because 1) their main stars are not clutch; 2) they were a team that came from overusing the 2002 team superstars; and 3) they were not peaking at the right time.
5. 2004 Team. This was when Larry was not yet injured.
6. 2005 Team. With only LA Tenorio to lead the team and JC Intal is not yet ripe to be a star? No way, dude!

The 2008 Team can go anywhere from #2-#4. But the Blue Eagles have disappointed for so long that I cannot say that they have a high chance of becoming the champions. But I tell you, this year’s squad is very good. If you have a second unit that can qualify as a starting lineup in other teams, your team is bound to achieve high.

Go Ateneo! One Big Fight! Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam