moving on to season 71.. i remembered that this was the entry of Nico Salva and Ryan Buenafe in the line up of the Blue Eagles, the two most talked about rookies. Again this was another season when the Blue Eagles became champions. i was so eager in watching every game of the team even if i was just at home watching. i would really be screaming and cheering. i remembered that my mom suddenly went out of the room to check on me because she thought something bad happened to me while i was in the living room because she heard me scream. every now and then during the games, she would asked my younger to check on me because of my screams. there was even a time when dad told me, "hindi ka naman kilala ng mga yan, kung makasigaw ka kala mo magkakilala kayo".. i didn't mind him. i was happy watching and cheering for my favorite team. plus seeing Chris Tiu play is giving me such a high and kilig! LOL :))
season 72 and 73... every season the Blue Eagles will have a different story. the graduation of the most popular Atenean/ player, Chris Tiu. I remembered Norman Black saying that its not his scoring that we are going to miss but his leadership. But even when Chris Tiu graduated, the Blue Eagles still became Champions, back to back cahmpions it is.. the next season, same story, graduation of Noy Baclao and Rabeh Al-hussaini, two of the starters and main men of the Eagles' offense and defense. What i like most about the Eagles is that even after the graduation of their main players, someone would definitely step up for the team. on season 73, they still were the Champions, back to back to back. three-peat as they say.. this was also the last year of Eric Salamat. so for the next season, who would step up?
season 74.. okay, this is the main reason why i'm blogging right now. i'm still on a championship high. i still could not get over the feeling of watching a championship game live. after three years of supremacy on the court, much was expected of the Blue Eagles. they were the favorites, always! and with entry of the most talked about about rookie, Kiefer Ravena and another rookie whom i'm familiar with because he played for Smart Gilas, Greg Slaughter, expectations became even higher. in my mind i know they're still the best team! and the 4-peat word was becoming popular. i also started following some of the Ateneo Blue Eagles on Twitter, just so i would know what's happening with my favorite team. all season long, the Blue Eagles were dominating the court. their record for the season, 13-1.. fell short on their last game against Adamson. everybody was already expecting a sweep and an automatic finals appearance. but it didn't happen. still they were the number 1 and have the twice to beat advantage against UST. after beating UST in the final four, the Eagles are back in the championships.
This was the season when i first watched live games of the eagles. the very first one was during their Second round meeting with FEU. the game that almost gave me a heart attack, the eagles were the ones who were trailing behind FEU all game long until the last few minutes of the game, Kiefer Ravena sending the game to overtime! i love this kid! LOL :)) This is the first time i watched a game live with my friend who is not really a fan of basketball. she refused to cheer at the beginning of the game and to my surprised at the middle of the game, just like me she was already cheering her heart out, jumping and screaming for every point made by the Eagles. my biggest accomplishment for that day? turning her into an instant Ateneo fan, and she already had her favorite player, Greg Slaughter. Ateneo won this game and i felt that all the screaming and jumping and cheering for them was all worth it! another game that we watched live was against NU and it was another win by the Eagles and won with a big margin. it was also a day when we were from a graveyard shift and chose to watch live instead of sleeping and again with a win by the Eagles, it was all worth it.
THE TICKETS TO THE FINALS
After watching two live games, i now know that it's a lot more better to watch live. the hype, the environment, the crowd, the noise, the drums, these things add a lot of excitement to the games! So after Ateneo won the game in the Final Four, i told myself i should watch a Finals game. So i frantically began texting my friends whom i know are from Ateneo and asked if the could help me get tickets to the finals. Then suddenly my friend called me up said he called Ticketnet and that tickets would be released Wednesday. He also wanted to watch live so we agreed that he would sleep here in my condo and we'll go to Araneta early the next day to get us tickets to the finals. Wednesday morning, we left early and reached Araneta before 7am. To our surprise, there were already people waiting in there. we did not realize that there was already a line and spent a few minutes being idle until a parent asked someone else if where the line was and pointed the end of the line, duh! it was already a long line. so we stood up and hurried to the line. that was just 7am and tickets would be released at 9am. 2 more hours, we were standing, my legs were already hurting. good thing i have a friend with me, and we met some parents from Ateneo and we just chatted with them while waiting for the time. Finally it was 9 am and tickets were released. as early as we were, we only got Upper B tickets. i was atleast expecting to get Upper A tickets but were sold very fast. Voila! i got tickets to the finals! i felt too much excitement since that this would be the very first time that i would watch a finals game! i even ordered an Ateneo shirt online, i would wear this to the finals! the night before the finals, i could not sleep, maybe i was really excited. went to gateway early that day, and i saw the long line of people who are still waiting to get tickets. a sea of blue and green outside the coliseum and that made me more excited. after eating lunch, we had to line up outside the coliseum already to make sure we get good seats. finally the game started! omg! this was crazy! the environment was so surreal! i love it! i enjoyed it! and the best part of it was that the Blue Eagles won game 1! the hardship we experienced to get tickets paid off! and after the game, we saw some Ateneo players and had pictures taken with them. after game 1, i was already decided that i will watch game 2. so we went to the ticket booth and asked when tickets will be released. they said that tickets will be released the next day so again i went early to the coliseum to get tickets. i had my friend to follow in there. so after waiting for 3 hours, again we had tickets for game 2! it was suppose to be scheduled tuesday, but due to the typhoon it was moved saturday. i was already on my to the coliseum when i learned that game was suspended. meaning we have to wait for 4 more days for game 2. after all it was all worth the wait. Ateneo continued its reign. Again my favorite team won the championship again for the 4th straight year! in the last few minutes of the game, the dominating blue side already began its celebration! the Blue Eagles are flying again! 4peat it is! :)) i could not explain the happiness i was feeling yesterday! this was the first time that i watched a live finals game and they won! i'm never gonna forget this experience!
i'm not from Ateneo, i don't know why i came to love the basketball team so much. some may laugh at me for being so crazy about this team and i would not care. i'm a die hard Ateneo fan, i'm proud of it and I BLEED BLUE!
For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.
