It never is easy to plan for a championship celebration. It is impromptu and spontaneous at best. But I wanted to start a tradition. We've seen that most recently and famously when Paul Pierce dumped that bucket on Doc Rivers when the Boston Celtics clinched the NBA Finals series against the Los Angeles Lakers in 2008. Of course there has been a lot before and since. However, here in the Philippines there is none at least in pro sports. And I (along with my equally conniving officemates) planned it. I tried doing this with another pro team but we were unable to do so because of a few concerns.
With Pachanga on the verge of promotion to the UFL's Division One, I thought about dunking head coach Norman Fegidero Jr. We first enlisted the help of team manager Jojo Rodriguez and team owner/co-captain Freddy Gonzalez. Once they approved (we planned other things regarding their promotion and we hope to do the same with some Div 1 teams), we kept quiet until their practice before the Agila match that they had to win to secure the promotion. Team Assistant Coach Marjo Allado was quickly recruited for this as well as team captain Yves Ashime.
On match day, we added Paolo Misa to the mix. Paolo's role was to distract Coach Noy and do whatever means necessary -- hug him, ask him a question, whatever. Coach Marjo and Jojo were to make sure that coach did not have his cellphone, wallet, and clutch bag on him (we also made sure we had an extra shirt on hand for coach). At the half, we brought in the team's support staffer, E, to prep the Gatorade powder. Meanwhile Freddy and Yves grabbed the bucket. As soon as the team left the field, I ran out to remind Paolo because I was nervous that coach was on to us. But no cigar. We got him good and at least the first ever Gatorade bath in Philippine sports was pulled off. We were able to get this on video high def. Should be up within the next two days.
We were worried that the weather would not cooperate. With rain clouds darkening the sky, we were concerned that the match could be postponed due to lightning but it just rained. But the rain stopped and we were able to pull off a simple plan. And there goes the dunking.
You can see from the left side of the pic a video cam as I filmed from the left side. And by the way, here's the game recap.
And here is an excerpt from my game recap about the dunking: Paolo Misa immediately sought out winning coach Norman Fegidero Jr. for a congratulatory hug while striker Freddy Gonzalez and team captain Yves Ashime quickly went to the bench. “Coach, may tanong ako,” began Misa as his voice trailed off suddenly unsure of himself but knowing he had to distract Fegidero. Gonzalez and Ashime quickly moved in and before Fegidero could get out of the way, the duo gave their coach a Gatorade bath.
The players and the team’s supporters applauded in appreciation. Fegidero smiled, accepted more words of congratulations then sought out Misa: “Ano yung tanong mo?”
Misa laughed out loud.
Other famous Gatorade baths (usually done in American football matches) include Robert Griffin III, Jim Schwartz, and Steve Spurrier among others.
No comments:
Post a Comment