berserk over uaap

When I met Marc Nelson in the Arrneow, oops, Ateneo during a Christmas party, I confessed that I was terribly uncoordinated. He said something to the effect that one doesn’t have to engage in sports to become fit, but I was so distracted by his swoon-worthy physique that his words floated in the air like a Greek god’s summon on a mere mortal. That’s the closest I can get to sports: I will endure the Olympics, SEA Games and the like only as a spectator of men’s swimming and men’s diving.
That’s why the opening of the 71st season of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines wasn’t a matter of great consequence to me, notwithstanding the deluge of testosterone in the much-ballyhooed basketball event. If only for the cheering competition I will watch it, what with the expected fantastic performance of the University of the Philippines Pep Squad. However, the idea of sitting through the so-called men’s soap opera doesn’t appeal much to me.
I couldn’t help glancing at this weekend’s games, though, when Jel had to inspire herself in reviewing for the midterm examinations by cheering for the De La Salle University Green Archers. We were content at viewing the unfolding court drama between my school’s varsity players and National University’s on the muted television, when the familiar face of Manny Pacquaio loomed onscreen. Jel and I looked at each other, broken only by a text message to her that said, “Manny Manny Manny Manny Manny Manny Manny Manny Manny Manny Manny Manny Manny Manny Manny Manny Manny Manny Manny Manny Manny Manny Manny Manny Manny Manny Manny Manny…”
After the miraculous win of the UP Maroons, the epic battle between Jel’s schoolmates and the Ateneo De Manila University Blue Eagles ushered in. Camera shots around the Araneta Coliseum showed enthusiasts in predominantly green and blue in support of the Taft-based and the Katipunan-homing teams, respectively. I concentrated in reading my student’s Global Society handouts, and when I got on the part wherein Marie Antoinette’s royal family was guillotined by the French, the first three quarters already flew by like a breeze.
It was on the final quarter that I discovered Jel’s motive for hoping a La Sallian win: the possibility of the professor’s postponing the midterms should the Green Archers shoot down the Blue Eagles. Given the complexity of the lessons on the birth of the modern international society, the French Revolution, the Napoleonic Era, the Industrial Revolution, the World Wars and the Cold War, I understood her point. Nonetheless, the universe has other things in its mystical scheme: the DLSU basketeers already trailed many points behind during the last two minutes and the moment Jel returned from the teasing of her senator father, the feverish chant “Go! Ateneo!” already subsided.
My student felt so devastated about her school’s loss that upon stepping on a green Care Bear, she picked up the cute and cuddly toy and angrily hurled it among the neat pile of other innocent stuffed animals.