Superstitions

Ever since I was a child, I have been accustomed to having superstitious beliefs. My parents always forbid me to walk over someone who is sleeping or lying along my path because the person ‘might not grow anymore.’ Either way, it is rude to do that. Whenever I drink liquor, I spill a shot full of liquor to the ground. “For the gods” as they say. The same superstitious attitude is also reflected when I watch sports events. If you back track on my previous journal entries, you will observe that I perform some irrational rituals or acts to bring luck to the team I root for. I even had a Final Four/Championship Beard (no shaving until the last game of Ateneo) this year. In the recently concluded UAAP Finals, believing in such superstitions and signs was very much prevalent not just to me, but for many fans as well.

There were telling signs. Everyone was comparing this season’s finals to the miraculous 2006 title run of UST. There were just too many similarities. These have been stated in various forums or articles so I will just name a few:

• Both UST ‘06 and UE ‘09 placed third in the elimination round and they defeated their Final Four foes after both of those had controversial players accused of selling out their games.
• Ateneo ’06 and ’09 both placed first and have pretty much plowed through the opposition.
• Both UST ’06 and UE ’09 had rookie coaches. Norman Black apparently has a bad record against newbies.
• The Philippines was hit by massive storms (Milenyo and Ondoy) in both years. Consequently, the UAAP Finals were postponed.
• Both UST ’06 and UE ’09 won by huge margins on their Game 2 bout.
  

Other than which, both UST ’06 and UE ’09 were very hungry teams as their schools were deprived of years without a championship. And as I mentioned in my previous writeup “The Outliers”, Cinderella teams tend to always win the UAAP Finals since 2002. By the way, the two first seeded teams that were able to win it all then (FEU ’05 and Ateneo ’08) battled the defending champions so the Cinderella story can be on their side as well. Trouble is on the way for the mighty Blue Eagles.

On a personal note, there were also some parallelisms of unfortunate endings to this year’s experience. I cheated my way to Upper B in both Game 2’s of the 2006 and 2009 Finals. Ateneo never wins if I cheated my way to get my seat. This was purely karma on me. OK, there was one exception when I watched in the DLSU side with some of my officemates. I had to ‘cheat my way’ so that my friend who was afraid to do it could watch the game. And besides, Ateneo always wins if I have to sacrifice for the sake of friendship when I have to sit with my Lasallian friends in the green side. When I was watching Game 2 last Sunday, I bought an Ateneo basketball jersey. The only other time I bought such was during 2003 when Ateneo lost to FEU thus depriving the former of a back-to-back. After watching Game 2, Dad and I decided to eat at KFC for a quick meal as I need to go as soon as possible so that I will not miss the Holy Mass in Ateneo. When I was waiting for my Zinger meal, I realized that I also ate at KFC during the Game 2 of 2006. Yikes! To beat the superstitions, I decided to take out my food and eat it in the car instead. Besides, several minutes already passed and I am late for the Mass.

Signs were all over the place. Are we headed for another disaster ending?

I did miss the Mass last Sunday (it was held 6 PM at the College Covered Courts). I decided to pray alone in Gesu saying thanks to God for a wonderful year it has been. After all, Ateneo is still defending the crown valiantly. I prayed that Ateneo wins this year’s basketball title as it is only once for a school to celebrate its 150th year anniversary. It was the fitting ending for us if ever.

After Game 2, I went home defeated but not sad. I knew that Ateneo did not have a shot of winning that game because UE’s shots were all over the place. It was a terrible way to lose but by no means was it more frustrating than Ateneo’s humbling losses to DLSU in 2005. I know that even if the players got relaxed and overconfident, they still tried to fight back. UE was just clicking in all cylinders and you cannot do much about it anymore. There’s still a Game 3 after all.

October 8, 2009. 10/08. The two numbers on that date happen to be part of my favorite numbers. 10 is Chipper Jones’ jersey number. If you do not know him, he is the Atlanta Braves’ franchise slugger. I also used the number 10 in my HP basketball jersey last 2006. The number eight is my favorite number. 2008 was such a memorable year for me that I decided to use 8 as my new favorite number. Will numerology do me a favor? When I was lining up for tickets for the Juniors game, I still do not know. All I knew then was I was a bit unfortunate – the lower box and patron tickets sold out before I got to buy. I bought an Upper A ticket only to realize that the ticket lady gave me an Upper B ticket. It was too late when I found out about it. This time, I was ‘cheated’ for my place. If that was karma for past instances, I accept it. After all, what matters is Ateneo wins the game. After struggling the season by ending third in the eliminations, the Blue Eaglets defeated the De La Salle Zobel Junior Archers. I rejoiced with the crowd but I suddenly remembered that the Blue Eaglets also won in 2006. The foreshadowing is quite scary. Nevertheless, I left the stadium and hurried to line up for seats for the next game.

As usual, the line for seats was terribly long. I was just fortunate that there were seats available in the upper middle part of the Upper B section. I always want to watch the game in an angle similar to that on TV so it was a treat to me. My only concern is if Ateneo loses the game. Ateneo won their 2002 and 2008 championships when I was in the Gen Ad section. This time around, I am on Upper B. The last time I witnessed a championship game in Upper B was in 2006. Of course, you know that it was not a good ending for me. This foreshadowing is killing me…

The UE crowd was really hyped up for Game 3. For the first time in a very long while, the Ateneo crowd was outnumbered by the opposition. The red crowd bled over the usual boundaries in the Upper B and General Admission sections. When they threw their initial cheers, I knew that they were feeling it. It was reminiscent of the 2006 UST crowd which was overwhelming our usually dominating cheers. On the other hand, the blue crowd was not that pumped up. The Blue Babble Band has not yet set up their equipment either.

The tides turned when the Blue Babble started distributing my favorite flyer – the Fight/Wala sign. It was then when I remembered that it was my lucky flyer of the year. I was holding it while I cheered when we beat La Salle twice this year. It was also the same flyer that I had when Ateneo won last year. The UE crowd maybe loud then but once the Ateneo gallery started flashing the ‘Wala’ signs on them, nasupalpal na sila. It was like Nonoy Baclao emphatically blocking a driving red Warrior. The Sixth Man was back on their relentless cheering as we waited for the start of Game Three.

Amidst all the signs and terrible foreshadowing that we had, I knew deep inside that Ateneo can win. After all, it is not the superstitions and the signs that win games. It is the players. They have worked hard for this and they have learned several valuable lessons in the past. By the time the Blue Eagles erupted with a huge lead, we never looked back and collegiate basketball title number 19 was on the way. The Blue Eagles literally and figuratively defended the crown. Their hard-nosed defense forced the Warriors to try their luck from downtown. They were fortunate to shoot the lights out in Game 2 but I knew that it is difficult for them to replicate it again. Luck does not win championships. When UE scored a measly 25 points by the break, I was pretty confident that we are going to take this game. The reason why UE wins games is if they get a lot of shots early on the game. This is because they thrive heavily on momentum. Game 2 was a testament to that.

The Red Warriors tried to climb back in the second half but unfortunately for them, we have the Reyes magic. In the 1980’s Ateneo had a Jun Reyes who performed well in crunch times. He was part of the Blue Eagle team which climbed from a 20-point deficit. Two decades later, his nephew – Jai Reyes – proved that he is really part of the family of clutch shooters. Jainamite exploded and we saw another Reyes beating a team that fielded a Zamar. In the end, Ateneo was victorious and the much-awaited back-to-back was at hand. Lightning does not strike the same place twice.

I went to Gesu after the game to attend the mass and it was a great sight as we finished strong. I thanked God for listening to my prayers. He made our 150th anniversary extra special. Yes, the superstitions and signs were against our way prior to the game but all those beliefs are disregarded when we talk about the only important Being to believe to. Thank God for the special season that we had.

After this season, I will still probably believe in karma and superstitious acts and beliefs. This is not because these are the ultimate truths but rather as a sports spectator, we like to find ways of ‘contributing to our team’s wins’ even if these are irrational. We minutely affect the games as fans that is why we have the tendency to think of such. But still at the end of the day, sports teams win it and only God can intervene.

One Big Fight! See you all in the bonfire later.

For more pictures, please check my Multiply site.