About La Salle
But not really.
Let me preface this by saying this isn’t a basketball recap article, not a thinkpiece on why UAAP basketball is awesome, not a deep dive on how La Salle beat UP. This isn’t even one of those addictively entertaining, fan-POV ramblings that gratuitously inject pop culture references in an attempt to cross the intersection between, say, a captivating movie scene and an equally captivating basketball moment.
What this is, is a bloodletting activity.
A few days ago, the De La Salle Green Archers won the UAAP championship. The bullet points of La Salle’s feat is from a movie:
First title after seven years
Avenged the Final Four loss to UP two seasons ago
Bounced back from missing the Final Four completely last season
A 180 from their embarrassing 30-point loss in Game 1
Trophy is back in Taft
Joaqui Manuel will get a championship ring - suck it, haters
It was great for them and all things green. As someone who grew up in a La Sallian household (which by Filipino patriarchy definition means the dad went to La Salle), it should’ve been great for me. I went to La Salle too, after all, from kinder to a Taft-adjacent college. But it wasn’t, and it had nothing to do with anything basketball-related.
These images: the sea of green gurgling in triumph, the Green Archers drenched in battle-salted sweat and tears, families locked in hugs. That scene should’ve evoked the same feelings as the ones in 2016, when it was Jeron Teng who answered to the call of King Archer. That scene should’ve been been as fulfilling as it was in 2013, when La Salle and winning were almost synonymous. It wasn’t for me.
Perhaps because it was a different time then - the pre-Thirdy era, before the Tab Baldwin-led Ateneo put the entire league on a chokehold.
Now is now, times have changed. For non-Ateneans, the seatbelt sign has been turned off. It’s safe (for now), the Blue Eagles aren’t a threat. The UP Fighting Maroons are now the ones doing damage.
UP’s got that finals slot locked in for the last three seasons and with the way the maroon multiverse is branching out, it looks like they can keep it that way for at least three more.
But Season 86 was snatched by La Salle.
Amid all the doubt and Season 84 PTSD, No. 10 and heartbreaks, La Salle believed - like how kids believe in Santa and how your titas believe in essential oils. It started being roundhouse kicked to the face in Game 1, then ended with Kevin Quiambao ugly crying after the Game 3 win. I’m so happy for him.
I’m happier for my dad, the biggest and longest Green Archer fan I know. I would’ve loved watching those precarious fourth quarter minutes with him, when La Salle looked like they were about to do La Salle things and UP was embracing their destiny. In his room, he was either standing up, mere inches away from his TV screen or sitting down, mere inches away from his TV screen.
I would’ve treasured watching with him those unbelievably magical KQ moments towards the end - when he finally accepted his fate as savior, as superhero. The UP drought they can never get back. Those crucial KQ free throws, that wayward Malick 3. The celebration. Brothers and high-fives. Friends and fist bumps. Fathers hugging sons. Tears and regret for UP. Tears and relief for La Salle.
Times are different now. We didn’t get to celebrate, my dad and I, the way we did in better times. We both watched in separate rooms, now both living in different timelines. Someday I’ll find the correct words to profoundly describe why that is, but for now - La Salle are champions again.
And I miss my dad.