"Gritty Blue Eagles just won’t die"

Down by six going into the last two minutes of the game, and probably, the season, Chris Tiu scored five of the game's last seven points, including the game-winning basket with 7.3 seconds left, to beat the PEPT Squad for the third time in four tries this season, and more importantly, to stay alive for, at least, one more game.


With the win, the Eagles will play the PEPT Squad for a fifth time this season on Sunday, with the winner moving on to play the top-seeded UE Warriors.

OBF.

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Image courtesy of the Ateneo Sports Shooters.

Bitter

From the New York Times, baby.

Senators, foreign diplomats, cabinet ministers, a smattering of Forbes’s 40 richest Filipinos, movie stars and enough professional basketball players to play five-on-five. They are the elite of Philippine society, and they all gather at Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City to watch the men’s basketball rivalry between the universities Ateneo de Manila and De La Salle.

Read the rest of the article here.

Crap. Now, the rest of the world knows who the cheats are.

Sweet!

“Iba ang usapan sa playoff. Tingnan natin ang tibay nila, basta kami matibay kami (The playoff is a different story. We’re tough, let’s see how tough they are).”

- UST Coach Pido Jarencio, before promptly losing to Ateneo, 69-64.

Now, this does not in any way come close to payback for the Game 3 loss last year. Nevertheless, it was still a sweet, sweet win. I was good - no, gratifying - to finally send them packing, especially after their gallery pulled that stupid stunt during halftime in the first round. In a rather weird show of sportsmanship, their cheerleaders - the Bumbling Bees (actually, they call themselves the "Yellow Jackets," inspite of the fact that these species are not native in this region) - promptly cheered for the PEPT Squad after losing yesterday, for good measure.

Comedy of Errors

Regarding my last entry re: Brian Ilad, in the spirit of fairness, love, and world peace, according to the *cough* "Dean of Philippine Basketball," *cough* and I quote:

"Regarding yesterday’s column about La Salle’s Brian Ilad, a reader clarified that the 6-5 center played only two years, not four, at Philippine College of Criminology. But Ilad qualified for only a season in the UAAP because he finished high school in 2001, a limitation in his eligibility. A UAAP senior athlete is allowed to play five seasons in a span of seven years from when he graduated in high school." (italics all mine, baby - d)

So there.

Speaking of errors, a friend from AMA Computer University asked me to post this:

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Many thanks to A.Y.

Murphy's Law

Last Saturday, the only thing that the Eagles needed to do to finally nail the twice-to-beat advantage in the stepladder playoffs was to beat the sorriest team in the history of the league (not necessarily for this season - that honor belongs to another team).

But of course, they did not.

Yesterday, they had to play a PEPT Squad that is obviously aching for payback, after the two similarly painful losses inflicted on them by the Eagles in the elimination rounds. The game was not so much different from the first two games - only this time, it was Ateneo who blinked first, and it cost them dearly.

(Brian Ilad also did not play - he was serving his automatic one-game suspension after being ejected from the DLRT-UE game, after hitting UE's Brian Fampulme, who had his back turned on Ilad, while Ilad was on the bench. It was reported earlier that he has likewise been slapped a five-game suspension on top of the automatic one-game ban, thus ending his illustrious one-year UAAP career. Note that Ilad had actually consumed four years of eligibility in another league with the Philippine College of Criminology, which explains why he looks like a police sketch.)

Now, the Eagles would have to contend with the defending champions (who just came off a win in their own playoff for no. 4) in a knockout match to determine who will face the PEPT Squad, for the right to play undefeated UE in the Finals. The PEPT Squad, by virtue of the win yesterday, will have the twice-to-beat advantage.

Not Once, But Twice!

Ateneo whooped green ass for the second time in as many games yesterday at the Araneta Coliseum. Chris Tiu (for the second time in as many games) buried the winning trey with 17.8 seconds left in the game.


The PEPT Squad actually had a chance to tie the game, but Rico Maierhofer's putback off JV Casio’s missed jumper was released after time expired. There's no word yet if the PEPT Squad will file a protest.


Honk if you know somebody in the picture (No, I don't mean Dato Arroyo).

Note to PJ Walsham: your level of arrogance should at least approximate your level of play (see Cardona, Mark or Yeo, Joseph). In other words, huwag kang maangas kung banban ka.

Note to all overly-sensitive losers: huwag mapipikon sa mga banners ng crowd ng kalaban. Ang pikon, talo. Sus . . .

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Images courtesy of the Ateneo Sports Shooters.

Untitled

The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who in the name of charity and goodwill shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy My brothers. And you will know My name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee.

- Jules Winnfield, each time he kills someone, Pulp Fiction.