Fighting for history

After more than 30 years of drought, the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons made it to the basketball finals of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP). I wasn't born then but I heard it was during the time of now-actor Benjie Paras. With the state university making it into the finals, history has been etched and much more if we clinch the championship.

There is only one UP campus in Cebu and the rest in this province do not join UAAP. We are receiving scoffs from individuals who do not understand why we cheer so hard for our team to make it through the finals. You see, being in UP does not end once the final walk has been taken wearing that maroon, green, and gold sash around your torso. It goes beyond the walls and transcends to the community you are in. Being in UP means being an agent of change, using all that you have learned to be the best in your chosen field because the nation made you to be one. So when we cheer on to win, we want the world to see that we are more than just academics and social activities. We want unity to be seen in the way we unite for our own basketball team.

It may just be a mere sport for some but to us it means the whole being of us being part of the university. It can translate into the power that we have in showing everybody what the youth of tomorrow can do. Our hymn says that we are the hope of the nation. It is quite evident though how high-ranking officials, both appointed and elected have been to UP. The institution has taught us to love our country and our being Filipino with our whole being.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, will be game 2 of the finals. We just lost the first one, in case you didn't know. We will cheer with all of our might so we can win and make history. We can also cheer with all of our strength and lose, but it's okay. At least we know, we can make it. It is a big deal that a school like ours - stained with controversy, full of dilapidated facilities system-wide, with poor system and inefficient management can be something big in sports. We can level up to the big league schools, which are private by the way, funded by the money of rich individuals. Being in UP banks on the hope that alumni will help each other to raise one another.

I will be at work during the second game but deep inside I will be secretly rooting for my school, the place that has shaped the whole adult of me. It has seen my darkest side and made me who I am today. There is so much to thank for to UP; it's time that we give back as well. I will surely miss screaming in the crowd amidst the small projector screen, chanting the university cheer. I'm crossing fingers that we make it; if not then I'm thankful for the connections forged and lessons learned. Heck, go UP!