So the UAAP Men's Basketball Finals just wrapped up, and really this post would've made more sense a week ago. But Ateneo just won the championship round for the first time since 2002, so the post-series buzz runs a little longer than usual.Here's the all-time most memorable moments of UAAP Basketball for me, and they're not always about the games:
That regular season game against DLSU in the 90's when everyone, including players whose last name wasn't Sison, dropped like three dozen threes and we won by, like fifty (citation needed). I remember people starting to get bored by halftime.
A regular-season game played in the Blue Eagle Gym against UP that exemplifies what Ateneo basketball was all about in the 90's. With the Eagles down by two with a chance to tie in the dying seconds, Pinzon breaks any sort of press the Maroons throw at him, but then takes the ball himself into the paint amidst the trees and throws up a wild shot that hits nothing but the backboard. Game over.
Losing Game 3 of the Finals to DLSU in 2001. Saw the game at Strumm's Makati, organized by one of the bosses at the office. After the final buzzer sounded, my boss Carlo, an Atenean who was ironically in Taft at that time taking his MBA, and I alternately texted the Song For Mary line for line until we finished it.
Post-game analysis with Cybil in Starbucks Katipunan after losing Game 2 of the Finals to DLSU which took the series to a deciding Game 3. Saw the game at the Moro Lorenzo gym. At least I though it was post-game analysis. Who remembers anymore?
Winning Game 3 and the series against DLSU that year. Of course I remember seeing the game in Moro; the long three in the dying minutes that put the game out of reach. The campus suddenly flocking with people who were coming from the game and all over. Spontaneous blue-eagle-spelling from total strangers at Grilla in Libis after. And then of course the accident in Timog that evening/the following morning that sobered me up. I thanked God for two things that day.
Which brings us to this past week where history repeats itself, somewhat. The series didn't take three games, and I didn't get to see the game at all because I was out interviewing the next generation of portal developers, but still got updated with the highlights (Thanks Cricket, and you're welcome Pat). But it wasn't just the game that repeats history: the day after the game I got into a freaking accident again! With not one but two cars! Not my fault this time, though. Hopefully this isn't the start of another tradition.
