it's exactly 3:13 Monday morning, Manila time. but no, i am not crying as the title suggests. just writing. i'm trying to sleep but i guess the sugar boost from that Red Ribbon cake forbids me to. anyway..
i heard speeches and read articles in the past pointing out that Filipinos are characteristically emotional. more profoundly, that is, mababaw daw ang kaligayahan natin at sa kabilang banda mababaw din ang luha. and this i believed. for the former i admit i am included in its statistics. i delight in very simple things. i find joy in elementary matters. i exhibit childlike credulity even. but i'd like to tackle on about the latter. crying.
about 12 hours ago was the tip-off for the deciding game between the country's college hoops bitter rivals Ateneo and La Salle to decide which team moves to the finals of the 70th UAAP basketball tournament. if this were a boxing match, it will be the 12th and final round (siyempre wala naman kasing overtime sa boksing eh) that is why i wasn't surprised that a sellout crown of over 23,000 flocked the Araneta Coliseum (that is a gate-attendance record i believe). and as expected it was a slugfest from the opening buzzer until the final minutes. La Salle lead most of the way, thanks to their ever reliable guards JV Casio, TY Tang and Cholo Villanueva plus forward Rico Maierhofer. Ateneo on the other hand launched rallies in between behind their big men Nonoy Baclao and Ford Arao, and shooting guard Chris Tiu. the Taft-based Archers detonated timely bombs and doused cold water on their rivals everytime the Katipunan-based Eagles are on fire rallying for a comeback. after the war smoke settled in, the last men standing were those with green banners which drew cheers, standing ovation and applause from those in the arena. the Green Archers are pronounced victors and is advancing to the Finals this coming week against University of the East Warriors. they deserved it. congratulations!
but i'm not to talk more of that game. it hurts, besides the fact that it meant P200-less from my wallet hehe.
right after every game of this relevance i have always observed how these teams absorb the aftermath. on one side you see the jubilation and cheers amongst the victors. the high and low "5s", the "triumphant hugs" (there is another type. later..), the jubilant screams, the "no. 1" or "V" (for victory) hand signals, and the pride that overwhelms them while singing their alma mater's anthem. on the other hand is a scene of how an unsuccessful squad absorbs the loss. long faces, despair, disappointment for a failed attempt, the "comforting hugs" from fellow 'losers' (no pun intended), and crying. a lot of crying. and i'm referring to the men who are known to be physical juggernauts on court. yes, they do cry. we do cry.
while the cameras were there to catch these players' (and yes again, they're men) break down, i was sent into flashbacks via my own episodes of this process of crying, which according to WordWeb is (noun, 1. the process of shedding tears usually accompanied by sobs or other inarticulate sounds). not that there are too many of them in my life. i can only recall a few excluding those inflicted by pain like pinalo ka ng sinturon ng tatay mo hanggang sa mahati ang sinturon sa tatlo OR hinataw ka ng kaserola sa ulo ng nanay mo OR nahiwa ang kamay mo ng kutsilyo dahil na rin sa katangahan mo OR dahil sa black eye mo dahil nag away kayo ng kuya mo at nasapak ka niya OR nabangga ka ng motorsiklo dahil ulit sa katangahan. well i would be surprised if you tell me na hindi ka umiyak nung bata ka sa ganyang mga kadahilanan. and those i mentioned are personal experiences mind you. if you're reading my previous entries you'd argue, "eh 3 posts earlier lang sabi mo umiyak ka." i object your argument. that is just shedding two or three tears, and was not accompanied by inarticulate sounds hehe. so it's not counted :P
my most memorable emotional breakdown (besides nung tinuli ako) was when i was told that i won't graduate of high school because together with my mga napakabait na mga barkada had one of our senior teachers break down into crying herself. i don't recall exactly what we did but as badly behaved juveniles it was, i would bet, something of great magnitude hehe. and its effect on me was also of that nature. it meant being booted out of the scholarship program i'm in, being a laughingstock at school, revelation to my parents of who i really am (how bad i had become) at school, and palo na naman sa magulang. isang sinturon na naman ang mahahati sa tatlo :) it was as if my heart immediately dropped into my colon. i spent almost half an hour in a bathroom stall to regroup and pull myself together. frankly, i had grown accustomed to working hard and achieving what i want so failing like this, compounded by the cheapness of how it came about, is plainly unacceptable. crushing albeit stupid to put it bluntly. and so i cried.. and there are other similar few (emphasis: few) crying experiences i ought to not reveal.
i need not be part of a school's basketball team that competed in UAAP (except inter-college department) to understand these bawls. i had my share. it is human nature so i am not ashamed. and witnessing earlier the Ateneo Blue Eagles' inability to control their inner infant, i wasn't ashamed for them. i wasn't ashamed because the big men cried like a sixth-grade girl who's been told that she will have to wait another year to get her ears pierced. in fact, i am proud of them crying. because it showed that they cared enough to cry.
that exemplifies the school spirit. which i suppose is why people, like me, like college basketball. they are focused only on one thing. they only cared about winning that game. even those who have already graduated twenty, thirty or even fifty plus years ago from their respective schools still exude that spirit. every season. on and on until one team is left. a winner. a conqueror.
ONE BIG FIGHT!
o pa'no, UE versus La Salle sa finals. UE ako, P200 ulit ;P anyone?
