In those days, the juniors and seniors played back-to-back games at the Loyola Center, the Rizal Memorial Coliseum, or at the UST Gym.
I don’t recall ever having a problem getting in any venue. It was difficult playing in UST because of the partisan crowd. One time they beat us in both the juniors and seniors divisions. That was a tough tough day. I was so distraught that I got left behind in España. I had to commute just to get home. And I didn’t even know how because I either took the car or the school bus to Ateneo. But in those days, I could only count handful of Ateneo supporters. I don’t recall seeing any of those supposed die-hards that surround the current crop of Blue Eagles watching the game. Back then if you were a fan, you were also said to be a masochist because the team didn’t win much. So those who claim to be from the Dark Ages of the 90s, welcome to the original suck when Ateneo basketball was in the dregs of NCAA withdrawal and lack of school support.
Normally, there were few supporters and those fellow suckers for pain from the Guidon. Well, there were the classmates and family of the players, Fr. Raymond Holscher S.J. but that’s about it.
In one game between Ateneo and UE in 1986, I went to the game with four other classmates. It was just us five and the Guidon photographer. Undaunted, we began cheering in the bleachers as if the Blue Eagles were in a championship game.
We cheered loud and non-stop that we drew the attention of the players on the court. There was the Blue Babble Battalion but they hardly went to the games. What we did was we invited some of our friends from the La Salle Pep Squad (who came from the AHS) to cheer with us. That was quite a sight – 10 guys in blue and green cheering with everything we got. We drew a standing ovation from both Ateneo and UE squads for that. Incredible.
I guarantee you that will never happen again.
Times have changed between the blue and green sides. There is more animosity and the dislike is genuine and palpable. The just-for-fun heckling has been replaced with venomous words and ill will.
That should give you an idea when people refer to the “good old days.”
One time while in college, I asked permission from the Corps Commander to bring my entire flight of Air Police to catch an Ateneo game versus UP at RMC. There were 44 of us and we all filled up a bunch of cars to watch the game in Manila. Surprisingly, we were even allowed to enter the bleachers section with our nightsticks. It was great but to the presence of the UP supporters, the sight of dozens of Ateneans in fatigues was like a call to arms. We lost in case you want to know.
As usual, it was during the matches with La Salle when the hoop houses were packed with people. While reminiscing with Mhel Garrido the night we beat UE for our fifth UAAP Seniors crown, I recalled that tickets bore the princely price of PhP 10 each then. That was huge during the mid-80s but nevertheless, we all watched. And easily, those games were the best attended of the year. If people say that Ateneo filled up three-fourths of the Araneta Coliseum during the best of three Finals with UE this past Season 72, it was very much the same back in 1987.
But after we swept La Salle in the elimination rounds of 1986, the games were moved to RMC. We had the homecourt advantage in Loyola, they reasoned. We responded in 1987 by sweeping them once more. Next.
In 1986, I watched Danny Francisco lead a Blue Eaglets team against a tough Adamson Baby Falcons squad. If the Eaglets won the game, it meant a 14-0 sweep and an outright league title. Back then the senior sections were allowed to watch the title matches. There was hardly anyone to support Adamson (not to say that their supporters would have made a difference).
The Blue Eaglets trounced Adamson behind Francisco, Olsen Racela, Billy del Rosario, and some other guys. We rejoiced and knew that Francisco could be the missing piece to the seniors’ puzzle.
And he sure was. After the Blue Eagles lost an infamous Opening Day match to UP, then team went 14-0 tear and beat Jerry Codinera’s UE Warriors after a miraculous comeback from 20-points down in the late 3rd Quarter to win the school’s first ever UAAP Seniors crown.
Like the post-game celebration the following year against La Salle, there were no Masses after the games. Everyone just went to Ateneo and held impromptu drinking sessions in the parking lot in front of the Loyola Center (Blue Eagle Gym to today’s generation). The players freely mingled with everyone. There were no digicams or videocams to record the merry making. There were no AVP’s, music videos, or other parts of a larger program. It was just eating and drinking and ye burning of firewood. It was that simple and intimate.
Jimmy Javier, the famed veteran sportscaster, was a member of Ateneo’s repeat volleyball champs in the mid-70s NCAA recalled being asked to go up a stage and he could only utter two words: “Thank you.” There were no farewell speeches. There was teasing and needling of one another for sure.
The only thing today that was present back then were those enterprising shirts that lampooned La Salle. That was it.
Going back to 1987, in that Opening Day UP game, the revived and revitalized Blue Babble Battalion formed the number “1” on the court at the half. It was something not lost on the seven other schools and the “Beat Ateneo” chant was born. It might have been there before during the NCAA days but not in the UAAP. Somehow, everyone knew we had a good team.
It was plenty good enough to beat everyone including defending champions UP. It didn’t help the Maroons’ cause that they were going to lose some of their players to National Team duty during the season.
But as good as that team was, there was no pushover in the league perhaps save for NU whose only star was Cris Bolado who was the lucky charm on many a champion pro basketball team. But the Bulldogs always played the spoiler’s role and we had to be wary even then.
Even if Ateneo was favored to repeat in 1988, the other teams were no pushovers.
They had built a contender over in Taft and sure enough, they won a pair of titles after Ateneo. That year they had Dindo Pumaren, John Edel Cardel, Dickie Bachmann, Joey Sta. Maria, George Peralta, and Teddy Monasterio. In UE, they had an exciting pair of rookies in Bong Ravena and Jolly Escobar to help out Vernie Villarias and Modesto Hojilla. In Adamson, they had Nandy Garcia and Juancho Estrada. In FEU, they had Dodong Postanes, Jack Tanuan, Andy de Guzman. For UP, they still had Benjie Paras, Tata Marata, ex-Blue Eaglet Alfie Manlulo, and Joey Guanio. While UST had their twin towers of Gido Babilonia and Julian Tomacruz. Save for Monasterio, Hojilla, Marata, and Manlulo, all made it to the pros where some had spectacular careers.
The league was just as tough as it is now. Maybe it was more dangerous then because fights and rumbles a little more common place. Like my father's time before me, you didn't bring a date to the games because things could get nasty. And it did during fights and rumbles with UE, La Salle, and UP.
The Blue Eagles won six straight to start the 1988 season bringing their total to 20 consecutive wins dating back to the previous year. Then they lost to La Salle and all of a sudden, the team was in a dangerous place. It seemed almost unthinkable that we lost to the green and white. Even before their entry to the UAAP, we were handing them back their behinds.
But the Green Archers were no pushovers. They had one of the most imposing lineups ever.
Those three games they played that 1988 season are some of the most nerve wracking I’ve ever watched in 26 years of watching collegiate and pro hoops. And I didn’t just watch Ateneo games. When possible, I also watched those of other teams. Including our old foes in the NCAA when possible. But win we did and Ateneo had its second UAAP title and its fifth back-to-back title.
After beating La Salle then, the only television guest appearance the team made was on Late Night with Edu (Manzano), the actor and late night host who also once donned a DLSC (De La Salle College) jersey a few years earlier. It was hilarious and it was a riot. The championship shirt simply read: “Great Champions Die Hard.”
Countered Manzano, “Die hard? Sounds like a car battery.”
For his penance, he was made to wear the championship shirt on national television. What a sport! Truly it was another time.
After seeing defeated UE Head Coach Lawrence Chongson graciously walk the short length between the two teams at the Araneta Coliseum with seconds to play and shake Ateneo Coach Norman Black’s hands, I couldn’t help but think back to the 1980’s when the games were tough but not at the cost of sportsmanship.
Said Chongson afterwards, “We lost to a better team. Ateneo was more mentally, emotionally, and physically prepared to play in a big game. They deserve it.”
The bonfire two days later was okay. For a hastily organized one, it wasn’t bad. But I sort of missed how the simplicity of a celebration when we could all mingle with the athletes and everyone. Of course, it is a different time and I shouldn’t live in the past but simply celebrate and reminisce. But the championship, the road to glory, the One Big Fight…. some things never change.
Thank you's:
Would like to do my annual thanks for helping me cover the basketball season: Sonia Araneta, Ricky Palou, Mike Valencia, Pong Ducanes, Tessa Jazmines, Jun Lomibao, Norman Black, Paolo Trillo, Mark Molina, Leo Austria, Manny Dandan, Pido Jarencio, Fr. Emerito de Sagon, Commissioner Joe Lipa, Bam Paguia, Aboy Castro, Hans Sy, Manny Sy, Jojo Villa, Ramil Cruz, Glenn Capacio, Lawrence Chongson, the UAAP Press Corps, the players of the different teams especially Elmer Espiritu, Khasim Mirza, Chris Camus, Dylan Ababou, Leo Canuday, Jan Colina, Kokoy Hermosisima, Jewel Ponferrada, Mervin Baloran, Mark Barroca, Jens Knuttel, Aldrech Ramos, Ric Cawaling, Marko Batricevic, and Kish Co. And to the Ateneo side -- well... too many to mention. The guys at Rebound: Ken, Myu, Abasolo, Raddy, Chris, Sid, and Bob. Where's Juane? Bill Velasco and Boyet Sison. Sorry if I forgot some people.
No thank you to Araneta Coliseum.
No comments:
Post a Comment