One Big Fight

The Cebu Coliseum last Wednesday started filling with people as early as 2:30pm for the winner-take-all game between Cebu’s junior version of the blue versus green basketball match made famous in Manila by the Eagles of Ateneo and the Archers of De La Salle.

By game time, half of the venue was filled with Sacred Heart School - Ateneo’s blue-clad supporters while the other half were UV’s predominantly white-clad fans. 

There was the usual battle of the drums and as I manufacture this piece, my 50-year old ears were ringing from the constant banging and shouting. It was lively inside and I enjoyed the moment together with my children bisan pilde mi, ahak baya oy. 

Nothing compares to the feeling of an athlete playing with colorfully loud fans behind their benches.

The game was close most of the way except for that stretch when Ateneo closed the third quarter leading UV by ten points behind the three-point shooting of Aaron Sing and Henry Asilum’s playmaking.

With momentum in their favor, Ateneo should have started the fourth quarter with the same unit that ended the third since Asilum was doing well at the point and Sing was in a groove with his long range bombs. 

But for reasons only known to their coaching staff, they tweaked a jelled unit and UV promptly capitalised. Moral? Don’t fix something if it’s not broken.

The last four minutes or so was an exchange of baskets between both teams. By that time, Sing lost his rhythm and it was UV who got the breaks. 

Two questions: 

Why was Julius Cadavis on Ateneo’s bench in the dying minutes when he was the only big man they’re using? And why was Asilum in and out of the game? The boy played for and was a major factor for our Gilas junior national team, he can well damn play the whole freakin’ 40 minutes and still have energy to Facebook till dawn.

In the end, the Baby Lancers of UV, behind eventual MVP Paul Desiderio, Marvis Dennison, Matthew Oche and Nelson Peralta won the battle and bragging rights for the 2011 CESAFI Junior Basketball title. 

One big fight indeed as UV lanced the flight out of the eagles of SHS-AdC.

This season was Ateneo’s biggest chance for the junior crown. Next year will be a different scenario since at least half of the current line-up will graduate from high school this coming March and the bulk of their rotation will move on to college. It will be a really big and massive fight for the Eagles.

UV’s crew will dominate the junior leagues for at least two more years if they keep their core group intact. The school knows what to do.  And yup, these boys already know how to play mind games, getting into the nerves of the opposition as well as the fans. 

There were at least two or three players from the junior squads of USP and CEC who deserved to be named to the mythical five. 

Correct me if I’m wrong but I think the selection process goes thru some kind of voting among coaches and the media people but it looks like the chosen five were hand-picked by the high and mighty on the spot, right after the game.   You guys trying to please someone?

MVP Desiderio is the son of a childhood friend, Abner, who lives a few houses away from our place. The gloom from the loss was somewhat eased with Paul’s achievement. The abilidad of the father has an upgrade since the son also rises. One thing – artistahon pud, gamay saghid, ligid-ligid dayon.  

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On Sunday, another big fight is coming, this time of a bruising, painful kind. 

Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao a.k.a. Congressman PacMan, goes for a different kind of facial with Mexico’s Juan Manuel Marquez. In the final part of their brutal trilogy, this battle will decide who’s who.

Both fighters are assured of at least 15 million dollars and I suppose they deserve the amount considering their stature in the boxing universe. Who is it gonna be? Odds favor our PacMan and hopefully, our honorable lawmaker makes good. One big fight! Go Pacman Go!

As per pre-fight shows on TV, both boxers maintain a fleet of luxury vehicles and they can well afford to add a few more to their stable after they get their paychecks. JuanMa has the mandatory Hummer H2, a Mercedes M class SUV and several high performance cars.

As we all know, PacMan recently acquired a Ferrari 453 Italia. He could very well buy a Lamborghini Reventon or an Enzo with the anticipated millions. JuanMa on the other hand, can get himself a really nice and vintage Mustang Shelby muscle car to match his new and larger physique.

So, how much really are those cars? The Ferrari in particular hovers in the vicinity of P20 million. Maintaining the thing is another story. The tires are Pirelli-specific and a set of four costs about P100,000. Clutch disc is P120,000. Carbon ceramic brakes shoots at P780,000 and shock absorbers are P75,000 each. Need an oil change? The car consumes 14 liters that will set you back further by P20,000. And don’t forget a secure and high-tech garage.

Except for the oil, everything else is sourced overseas and the above quoted prices don’t include freight and the corresponding government taxes. At least P1 M will be needed to keep the Ferrari running. Mag-multicab na lang ta, disposable pa.

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