The Drive for Five DVD is now available!

The Drive for Five DVD will be on sale this Saturday, December 8, 2012 at the basement of the MVP Center, Ateneo de Manila University at 5pm. The two-disc package will feature a one-hour documentary written (and conceptualized by yours truly) on one disc with the second disc containing many outtakes, interviews and other material. The two-disc set will cost Php1,200. 

You may find more details in this link including payment and reservation details. There are only a limited amount of DVDs that will be produced so you want to pay for it in advance. The entire team will also be there to sign copies of it so you might want head over there. And yes, non-Ateneans may also buy.

When I wrote the script to this, I drew from a lot of what I previously wrote about the Ateneo Blue Eagles from the last eight years I have been closely following them. When writing about this, the template we used was the Chicago Bulls 1998: UnforgettaBulls aka The Last Dance. But of course, the documentary is not a carbon copy. Far from it. I had to make the production team behind this understand my thinking in writing this script and how it should be filmed together. 

There was one more homage to the Chicago Bulls as the first part was titled: Learning to Fly which if you are a chicago fan know is the title of their 1990-91 championship video. Learning to Fly, is of course the title of the song from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers that also appears in the Bulls video. 

The first four years of the title run are pretty much glossed over because I only had an hour to play around with (if I had my druthers I would have written this whole thing as a seven-part series with each one having a 45 minute run time) in the second part that is titled: Flying High. 

The last part, titled, "Last Flight" is obvious. It was the last run of Norman Black. There's a part in this denouement where you will hear no voice over and no music. We will simply let the ambient noise say it all it I guarantee you that it will give you goosebumps. 

When I first set about writing about the Blue Eagles, that was in 2005. The following year, I replaced Paolo Trillo in delivering the Blue Eagle Bulletins. That changed from simple recaps to me writing stories about the team all the way to shifting to match analysis. I simply used to watch, man. Sometimes, there would only be five of us in attendance. Not just watching but cheering our lungs out. Sometimes we went to the games prepared to not only cheer but to fight if there was a rumble afterwards. Thankfully, the UAAP games have changed and become more a community event rather than an excuse of beat the tar out of another guy simply because cheered for the other team. Doing this (along with The 18th Banner that I wrote about Season 71 -- the title a homage to the Boston Celtics) as in writing this has got to be one of the best things I have ever done. 

And one of the best things that I will do after this is buy my dad (and my brothers as well) a copy for Christmas. And we'll all share a cheer and some drinks when we watch this together.