MAROONS SET THE STANDARD…

UAAP Season 71 Opening was a success! Last Saturday, performers from theUniversity of the Philippines set the standard of creativity, originality, and uniqueness in UAAPperformances.

The program started with a traditional drinking of native wine to foster friendship andunity among the participating schools; the ceremonial drinking was led by Dr. Emerlinda Roman,president of the University of the Philippines. Dancers from the UP Filipiniana, UP Dancesport,UP Jazz Ensemble, UP Dance Company, and UP Pep Squad performed dances after thedrinking that showcased fluidity and finesse in movements. The Bahay-Kubo formation with twochildren playing hide-and-seek was the crowd favorite among the floor works presented. Of course, the crowd was mesmerized by the death-defying stunts by the best pep squad in thePhilippines, the UP Pep Squad. The  patintero-inspired dance by the UP Dancesport earned alot of praises from the expectators as well. The very concept/theme of the dances and songnumbers performed was different from the old ones used at the UAAP; it was a combination of traditional and contemporary Filipinos, emphasizing the value of  leadership through sports.Despite the opportunity to make the presentation 100% UPcentric, the host school still did aconsiderably fair exposure of all the 8 participating universities. It was also remarkable that UPpresented diwatas to represent the core value of each university and the trait of the UAAP iconused by each institution.

Overall Championship would be highly-coveted again this season as all participatingathletes train hard to earn the gold. UP placed third last season, but this year, the country’spremier university is striving to finally bring back the crown to its rightful owner.

Good Luck to all UAAP schools, and may the value of  leadership through sports be

instilled in everyone’s heart.

MAROONS CAGED THE BULLDOGS

It was a tough first round for the UP Fighting Maroons, the NU Bulldogs was able tocreate a 10-point lead against the season 71 host school. The UP crowd started to becomegloomy because of the depressing score, but everything changed when the 2 nd quarter began.

Mike Gamboa and Martin Reyes started throwing 2 and 3 points basket, whichawakened the entire UP team and the crowd. The Maroons caught up with the Bulldogs andeventually led the game at the end of the quarter.

Cheers from the crowd enabled the Maroons to sustain their energy and their lead over the bulldogs. The cheers were overwhelming as DLSU and ADMU spectators joined the UPansin shouting for victory. The UP team was able to keep their lead until the game ended with thescore of 84-72, in favor of the Maroons.

The first victory of UP was ecstatic. UP did not win a single game last year, yet theplayers continued their rigid training in order to achieve victory at the university’s centennialyear.

I’m always proud of the UP Maroons, win or lose! I’m always proud to be UP ISKO!

EAGLES SOARED HIGH OVER THE  ARCHERS

The highly-anticipated game of every UAAP season came too early this year, but it didnot stop the blue and green fanatics to watch the match of a classic rivalry. The Ateneo-La SalleGame yesterday proved that no UAAP rivalry [as of the moment] could surpass the onebetween Blue and Green.

 About 21, 000 spectators filled the Araneta Coliseum. Each section was filled with ahuge crowd and no seat was vacated. The aggressive cheerers did not hesitate to yell at the top

 

of their voices to show school spirit and which school was better. Every ball thrown, passed, anddunked by the ballers made the crowd excited and overjoyed.

DLSU Green Archers conquered the first round that made the Ateneo crowd a bit quietfor some time. When the second quarter started, Chris Tiu began shooting from the 2 and 3point areas, which enabled the ADMU Blue Eagles to make the scores closer. 3 rd quarter favored the Blue Eagles as the scores reached a deadlock and eventually resulted to a lead bythe players from Katipunan.

The game heated much more when the 4 th quarter began. ADMU and DLSU reachedanother deadlock, 56-56. Players from both schools gave their 100% to win the 1 st round of theUAAP’s best rivalry match. Ateneo de Manila was successful at the end of the game with a 79-

73 score. Ateneo was able to soar high over its arch rival!

THE LESSONS I LEARNED

• Crap, if I will buy a ticket for Ateneo-La Salle game even on the first day of selling, I must

arrive 5 AM at Araneta. When I bought my ticket last July 31, I arrived 7 AM and the linehad already exceeded the Farmer’s Market. I missed a class because I was not able to

leave the coliseum before 10 AM. Crap! Anyway, it’s worth it, UP won!

• Never seat on the Archer’s side if you are an Eagles fan, because you will not enjoy! I

sat on the green side because that was UP’s side during the first game. I was not able toshout “Go Ateneo” because it would be a sign of disrespect to DLSU. Anyway, I wasable to cheer for UP, so I still felt contented after the games.

• UP is stronger now. Watch out! We might be able to beat DLSU for the UAAP Basketball

crown this year!

• UP Pep Squad has a big chance of retaining its Cheerdance Championship this year 

and many years after…hehehe!

• My sister is definitely the best companion during a UAAP game. 100% Ethnocentric!

• I’ll bring my little brother Dante (Bembem) on the next game so that he’ll meet Irish and

Karyn again. He likes both of them! Playboy!

• Patricia Anne Roque deserves to be the courtside rep than I. At first I got mad when I

was informed that she was chosen over me, but yesterday’s game made me realize thatPatricia Anne was a big fan of UP Basketball more than I. Her live reporting was

distracted by a shot from a Maroon player. Hehehe Go Pat!

• I love UP no matter what! Unibersidad ng Pilipinas!