Saturday, September 01, 2007
The Drama That Caused the Hangover

It was down to one last shot.

He held on to his guts,

and took a leap of faith.

Next thing he knew, they won.

This was the drama that caused Ateneo to scream the roof off the Big Dome. They finally had their "revenge" with the same déjà vú courtesy of its new-found hero, rookie Kirk Long.

The battle for school pride and a sure spot in the Final Four was intense. Pressure was on everyone's shoulders - field goals (FG) were low and the defence was tight. No, it wasn't the Finals yet. It was just the eliminations.

No one was sure who would win. Both teams just kept on answering shots one after the other. After a long enduring run of tabulating the scores, the Tigers had the final say when one of its best rookies, Khasim Mirza, passed through Nonoy Baclao's defence and gaining the upper hand, 71-70. There were only 19.3 seconds left and a final time out for the Blue Eagles.

Time was boiling down as the ball was put back into play. It was finally in the hands of Ford Arao, Ateneo's leading scorer. Slipping to the other side of the court, Kirk Long decided to take the leather to his hands because the Eagles main man, Chris Tiu, was heavily guarded. He attempted a three-point gunner but thought otherwise. He took a step pass Jervy Cruz and threw a long two. Thomasians and Ateneans alike, everyone began to pray. With what seemed like forever, the ball slipped inside the basket as soon as the buzzer sounded. The Blue Eagles won with a score of 72-71.

Just like all the spectators in blue and white, Bea, Mommy and I were jumping up and down, screaming our lungs out. Everyone was rejoicing! The funny thing that happened was that everyone just pounced on their hero causing them to stumble on the floor. Para silang mga bata na dahil sa sobrang tuwa ay nagkadaganan na! There were hugs and well-deserved pats on the back showing the brotherhood they share. The hero, then ran to his family, earning a big hug from his proud father. (Aww...) And you know what warmed our hearts even more? They gave back all the glory and praise to God. (The prayer was led by Coach Norman Black and former Blue Eagle, Doug Kramer. Both are Christians, by the way.) What a reward it was for his children! Praise God for this!

PS: The LONG-awaited hero just turned 19 today.Ü


Cheska's thoughts at 6:45 AM