This hurts a lot as an avid basketball fan. When the De La Salle Green Archers last won the UAAP title in 2007, I really felt as if I belonged to the school, and when I passed the entrance exam, it sets up my definitive journey to the greenest pastures of Taft Avenue after high school graduation. Four years later, the bonfires that celebrated Ateneo's championships in Katipunan Avenue put a deep wound on my four-year college stay.
The recent DLSU loss to ADMU earlier, a 17-point blowout, stings much more than Ateneo's victories of the recent past. After every Archers loss to the Eagles I get mocked by some of my friends from Ateneo wondering why I decided to go green instead of blue, but today I got taunted to the extreme by chanting to me "L-A-S-A-LLE, La Salle Sucks". And now I seem to regret my decision to turn green instead of blue. But still, this is life, losing seems to learn a lesson. However, it's not that way when facing the boys from Katips.
Only once did I see La Salle beat Ateneo my entire college life, and that was last year. However, I've never seen La Salle beat Ateneo when I attend such an occasion at the Big Dome in QC. Now everyone wondering, 'Where's the Animo?' It used to be a regular thing when La Salle beat Ateneo so bad in the first half of the decade, and then things turned around upon I enter the St. La Salle Hall and its surrounding neighbor buildings. Now Ateneo is beating us so badly that the psychological wounds and fear begin to set in. This La Salle team is no longer the same, feared unit that won a lot of titles during my grade school years. What used to be the team of Don Allado, Ren-ren Ritualo, Mac Cardona and Joseph Yeo of years gone by had turned into a rag-tag squad that has too many egos, that is inexperienced, and that is lacking chemistry. The guys I mentioned took over games by themselves, but this squad has no one to take over in the most important moments. No, not Simon Atkins, LA Revilla nor any other current Archer. This is so disappointing, to say the least, that in my entire college life I'll not witness not even a single DLSU championship, ever.
This Ateneo team had a great coach in Norman Black, and a slew of players willing to play a role. They play smart, team-oriented ball that is effective and impressive. Check it out. Not even the departures of Chris Tiu, Rabeh Al-Hussaini, Nonoy Baclao and Jai Reyes affected Ateneo at all. In fact, they kept on finding ways to win. And now that they have a super-rookie in Kiefer Ravena and a giant of a man in Greg Slaughter, they are winning like forever. And if it continues that way, they might take home the title in a runaway fashion.
So the end of a college life without a title I go. I'll give my Atenean friends credit for playing well today. But I hope things go better next year.
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