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OPINIONS
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(September
15 – September 21, 2008) Riknakem Herdy La.
Yumul Attn: Ilocano Bedans and
Red Lions fans Let’s cheer and drink
beer “When I would approach
the coliseum, my foolish heart would thump wildly. A loss could mean the campus would be in
mourning. The heroes got to the
mountain top.” -Rene
A.V. Saguisag Former
Senator, San Beda alumnus Umpa! Umpa! Umpa!
Umpa! Beda Beda Beda
Beda Fight Fight Fight! Hey U Kim Kum
Kawa! I KNOW SO LITTLE ABOUT
BASKETBALL. All my life, I have played
hoops but once, and that was in freshman high school physical education. It was a fifty-second stint briefly punctuated
by a traveling violation. I never
tried again. But then, in the
past ten years, since I stepped in the hallowed grounds of San Beda, I have
always been an ardent supporter of the Red Lions and the National Collegiate
Athletic Association (NCAA). Even now that I am
working, I would not think twice of taking a leave from work so I won’t miss
an important game, the same is true with many of our alumni; PLDT/SMART Chair
Manny Pangilinan would certainly agree.
And, why not? Some people go to
spa parlors to regain spent energy. We
go to the NCAA games. I still know so
little about fouls, violations, and the rudiments of basketball. I usually wait for other Bedans to clap
before I do. (Sometimes I cheer, by
mistake, for the opposing team), but I have mastered the art of shouting
“defense!”, have memorized every letter and note of our cheers and yells, and
have also gotten used to going home with a
heavy heart after watching the
Red Lions lose in games that they could have handily won. For twenty eight
years since their victory over Ateneo in 1978, the Lions never won a
championship. Those were decades of
heartbreak and despair. But even the
darkest of sagas do end. The story
changed two years ago when lady luck smiled and the opposing team’s
buzzer-beater shot failed. We won the
do-or-die match by a balding man’s hair strand. We grabbed the championship. Our battle cry, End 28 at 82!,
was prophetic. We ended 28 years of
defeat in Season 82. I was lucky to be at
the Araneta Coliseum when it happened.
For a while, I could not believe that we had actually ended nearly
three decades of title drought. I only
realized that we made it won when a stranger embraced me tightly and we both
wept. Indeed, it was a night when you
could embrace anybody in red. From the coliseum,
Bedans trooped to the Mendiola campus where a glorious feast was to
happen. Food and spirits were flowing
like manna and rain from the heavens.
Now proudly hangs in my bedroom is the 2006 championship shirt signed
that historic night by our heroic cagers, including the gentle giant from
Nigeria—Sam “The Ekwelizer”
Ekwe, King Lion Yousif Aljamal, Alex Angeles, Pong Escobal, Borgie
Hermida, and fellow Ilocano Ogie Menor, who decided to play for San Beda,
turning down (and rightly so) the tempting offers of La Salle. This experience is one of the most ecstatic
in my life, and this I will keep on retelling until I fade in the sunset (not
so soon, I pray, so I can cheer for many more seasons). Last year, the San
Beda Red Lions duplicated the same feat and, in this 84th season of the country’s oldest collegiate
league, are gunning for a third-straight basketball title. With either the Letran Knights or the Jose
Rizal University Heavy Bombers (who are still battling it out in the
semifinals as of press time) at the other side of the bench, the road to a
glorious three-peat will not be a cakewalk.
Letran, the league’s most winningest, boasts of 16 championship
victories against San Beda’s 13. JRU,
for its part, is the league’s hungriest, having won their last championship
36 years ago, in 1972. So, the Lions can
never be complacent, and neither should we, fellow supporters, if we really
want to fortify our basketball dynasty. Now based in the
province, I can no longer see the Lions see action in flesh and blood. I will have to be content with watching the
games live on television. But I need
folks who will join me in believing. I
do not want to commit the same mistake when, in a recent San Beda-Letran
game, I turned-off the boob tube when there was less than a minute remaining
in the fourth quarter and Letran was up by 6 points. Forgetting the Animo! spirit,
I was resigned to a defeat, only to find out in the news later on that San
Beda had won by 2 points by virtue of a Hail Mary shot in overtime. San Beda’s neighbor in Mendiola, St. Jude,
the patron saint of desperate cases, must have done his part as well. And so I invite
fellow Bedans and their families, Bedan-lovers, supporters of the Red Lions,
and anybody whose life has been touched by San Beda, including our lawyers
here who took the bar review in Mendiola (like my cousin Erme Labayog): Let’s gather together, cheer together,
drink together, and, if we lose (God forbid!), weep together. Even if you are not from San Beda if you
love good, intense, passionate basketball, please come… and don’t forget to
wear red. Once a Bedan, always
a Bedan. Right now, I only have the
following names: former Laoag City
Councilor and Ilocos Publishing Corporation President Jay Ramos, National
Youth Commission Chairman Richard Alvin Nalupta, K. Reyno, D.A. Bitancor,
Badoc’s Atty. Philjer Noel Inovejas, Richard Co, Christianne Flores, Mr.
Felipe of NCC, and my nephew Jerome Geronimo.
I know that a young Fariñas, a son of former City Mayor Cesar Ventura,
and a gorgeous varsity debater also attended San Beda but, alas, their names
escape me. I am sure Manong Pepoc
(Pastor) would also be glad to come had he not gone to the great beyond. He will be our prayer warrior up there,
together with Raul Roco whose composition, the “Bedan Hymn”, we shall sing
with pride, win or lose. It will just be the
beginning of a rediscovered brotherhood.
I hope Ilocano Bedans can organize a group similar to UP Namnama,
and contribute to the development of our locality. In the same breath, I hope our universities
and colleges in the province can also fortify their sports programs and
create an honest-to-goodness league where stars are born, and where school
loyalties run deep. The powwow can be
held in my place or yours. It does not
matter the venue for as long as we’re together (and there’s beer… and
television, of course!). 09274085123
is the number to text or call. Animo San Beda! Fight Team FIGHT! *** KNOWN WRITER Mitch
Albom posits that “strangers are family just waiting to be known”. My biggest push and best reward in writing this
column is the opportunity to meet more of my family. For instance, I now
have new relatives in Herdy’s rikna
ken nakem: I learned that
although Uncle Orly and Auntie Tess’ plans for retirement won’t happen in the
next five years or more, they are already helping their future
community. They allowed part of their
newly-purchased land in Ayoyo, Pagudpud to be used as a community fishpond.
This is in close coordination with the barangay chairman. In addition, they are supporting YCAP
volunteers assigned in the barangay. Sensing that the
couple prefers to work silently and without fanfare in “giving back” to their
adoptive community, I am crossing my fingers that they won’t mind my
mentioning in this space their noble efforts.
I just want you, dear readers, to feel inspired by their generosity of
soul in the same way I was moved.
Thrilled I always am to hear of folks who, blessed
enough, are drawn to pay it forward... people who do good for goodness’
sake, unlike politicians. Their act—a modern-day, borderless
bayanihan—exemplifies the best traits of the human spirit. Mabuhay! e-mail:
herdiology@yahoo.com, visit http://riknakem.blogspot.com Ilocos Times copyright 2008 |
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