Goodbye, Season 73 :(

It ended all too soon. The UAAP season is over for our beloved DLSU Green Archers. It feels strange not being in the finals. Modesty aside and excluding the time DLSU was suspended, we've always seen ourselves through the entire season. I miss watching the championships and cheering for the team to win that much coveted UAAP championship title. But we entered this season knowing fully well that this is not our year. A lot of us were almost sure we weren't going to be in the final four. Not for anything else, but because this year's team is made up mostly of rookies and sophomores : 7 rookies, 4 sophomores, 3 juniors, 2 seniors to be exact. Arch rival, Ateneo still had Kirk Long and Eric Salamat.

I have lots of observations gathered from the past weeks since the season opened in July. The biggest surprise? The Adamson Falcons. Who would've thought?! Each time I watched them play, I just got awed no end. Shooters everywhere, from a team who was a relative "unknown" all these years. Never really paid any attention to them until now. They'll still be a force to reckon with next year, I'm sure.

I'm glad I was able to watch 99% of DLSU's games this year. It's been a while since I've done that. I owe it all to my new-found status as stay at home Mom (but that's a whole different story). It really pays to watch even the small games. You get to see more, and therefore, understand more.

I've been a UAAP fan since my college years ... I started watching the games live sometime in the late 80's. Been cheering for the Archers since then. Which is why I'm extremely passionate about how they do year after year. Which brings me back to my original point. My heart bleeds for the team right now, as well as for all of its loyal supporters. But I hope the boys know and the fans remember that the team far exceeded our initial expectations. We totally under estimated them. With such a raw and inexperienced lot (compared to our huge opponents), we nevertheless managed to get into the Final Four...we beat a more mature Ateneo team in round 1 (I still remember how great that felt), we brought the FEU Tamaraws into a double overtime and beat them in the next face off, and again despite our loss yesterday, we scared the hell out of them with another overtime.

All in all, it was a good season. Save for the fact that our boys have so much more to learn (they seriously need to get a free throw coach), they put up a truly good fight this year.

To Team Captain Simon, Joshua, Maui, Joel, Luigi, Yutien, Jovet, Papot, Sam, Nico, Gab, Martin, Almond, Oda, Ikey and Ferdinand ... Take a bow, my dear Green Archers. You all did well. Coach Dindo, salamat! See you next year!!!

ANIMO LA SALLE!!!