The 18th Banner was titled as such in reference to the banners hanging in Blue Eagle Gym. Season 71 was fascinating for many reasons as it didn't come easy after lots of heartbreak and heartache by the Blue Eagles. After 2002, many wags said we'd wait for another 14 years for another title. It took six and we did it back-to-back. So eat crow, dumbnuts.
Initially it was supposed to be in book form but the people we were speaking with were either on drugs or not interested so it didn't prosper. But I have to really thank Robin Tong for being such a huge help. Really one of the nicest guys around. Fortunately, Blueblood picked up it and I am grateful for that. The original manuscript ran for over a hundred pages excluding pictures. The final layout goes for 106 pages including pictures and for Php200 only. Not bad, I guess.
So what did we chop out? A lot. I may disagree with the removal of certain parts but I had to respect the wishes of certain people. I wonder why some people want to keep things under wraps when many people know about what went down. Nevertheless, I'm still happy with it. As I always say, beggars can't be choosers.
You'll be glad to find out how the deal with adidas came out, some of the behind the scenes stuff with ABS CBN, the ankle injury of Rabeh and what transpired, and many stuff that isn't seen by the general public. I tried to paint an accurate picture of what goes on in a season and while I wish I had more material to work with, it's still not bad.
The inspiration behind all of this was John Feinstein's A Season On the Brink that chronicled the 1985 season of the Indiana Hoosiers. Peter May's The Last Banner was an inspiration more for the title than anything. But really, it was back in 2001 when a friend sent me a picture of the banners in the BEG rafters that I got the idea for the title. Ruel de Vera's It's Our Time also was an inspiration. Any time you have an excellent writer like Ruey on board then you know it's going to be good.
I didn't have a chance to put credits there so I'll do it here:
(not in any order okay? -- Fr. Ben, Robin Tong, Norman Black, Paolo Trillo, Debbie Tan, John Alonte, Ricky Palou, Odette Velarde, the Blue Eagles, Jun Jun Capistrano, Sonia Araneta, Hector Guballa, Jun Dalandan, Jimmy Alabanza, Arben Santos, Mekoy Quiogue, Joel Banal, the coaching staff, my brothers in the Ateneo Sports Shooters, Mai Ventura, Kenneth Ti, and Rudy Allayban. And of course, Loudette Guevara and Tony Veloso.
So what about Season 72? Oh, no. Let's leave that for someone else to do. I have been increasingly busy on two websites (that are totally not related to sports) and that's been eating a lot of my time.
But I have Turn On the Bright Lights coming out and a collection of the best of my Bleachers' Brew columns in Business Mirror all in the first quarter of 2010. Then I'm working on a children's book of a story that I wrote some six years ago while sitting down at the Great Lawn of Central Park. I'm working with a young and talented artist. And of course, there's the story of Smart Gilas Pilipinas that I'm continuing to cover. Hopefully, that can be combined along with many of the things that have not seen print.
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