Legen…
…wait for it…
…dary.
Legendary. That word sums up the feeling I had when Ateneo won its fifth straight championship.
I have to warn you though. I am primarily doing this write-up for myself. Forgive me for my self-indulgence. I am on sports cloud nine right now. How many times in your life can you experience five consecutive championships? Only a few are fortunate to witness their favorite team achieve that. Even powerhouse teams like Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers and New York Yankees were not able to achieve those feats. Even Michael Jordan only managed up to three straight. In my lifetime, the only other team to have done this half-decade achievement were the San Sebastian Stags two decades ago. So yes, this is special. (It also makes it bigger if your team has the most in collegiate basketball history at 22)
I have to admit: this fifth championship was very much expected at the start of the year. With or without Greg Slaughter, this year’s crop of Blue Eagles were the most poised to achieve the rare five peat. The player with the highest basketball IQ in the team, Ryan Buenafe, was returning. Another year in Kiefer Ravena’s resume is always a plus. The fact that he owned the team like an alpha dog last year – on his rookie year – says a lot on how dominant he is as a player. Nico Salva is consistent as ever. And in case you forgot, Justin Chua was the starting center in the three-peat year. Not only was he the starter then, he was one of the leading scorers in the team. My buddy Rap and I were even joking in Twitter last June that if we were going to get an alumni card (yup, it has been six years since I graduated and I still do not have one then), it would be at the bonfire. The Blue Eagles were even predicting championships since 2009. We were a confident bunch.
