On Losing the Finals

It happens to the best of us. I had this feeling it would happen seeing how half-hearted the support was for this game. UST weren't the underdogs Ateneo had a +3.5 in the betting odds. +3.5 barely cuts it for game 2. >_<

I decided to watch thinking, what if? We could've won two championships last Saturday. But I guess, masyadong nang garapal 'yun. And so we went back to do POM and OR for two straight nights. We started Saturday evening and ended Monday morning (save for a few breaks to go home and remind our family that they still had a son/daughter). We had no sleep except for some powernaps that barely counted. @_@

Monday was game day. Sleep or no sleep I had to watch. I decided to cut Philo but I remembered I had to pass our paper which still lacked a conclusion, by the way. >_< So I went to school at 3 to finally finish my paper. All I needed was a couple of paragraphs but since my brain has long since lost its capacity to think profoundly, I finished at 3:30. I passed my paper personally, thinking Sir Mariano would understand how important this day was, and besides, I barely cut philo. ^_^

Non and I ran to the LRT to try and catch the game live. I hadn't planned on watching the game live, but Non had bleacher seats and the prospect of a championship on a game 3 was just too inviting. ^_^

We arrived to what looked like a good game. We were up, and you suddenly had that feeling that "Yeah, this should be worth it."

We all know what happened next. :-|

It was the most devastating moment in my college life: to see the last 3 seconds go by without a fight. UST won by 2 points. If I had bet on the Ateneo, I would have still won, but that would be a consuelo de bobo. I had to give it to them, they had their fairytale season. I just feel bad that I would never get a genuine big bonfire in my college life. Oh well, that's that. T_T

I noticed how Ateneans can still proudly sing the alma mater song despite losing and voices strained from shouting. I admired that pride. And so the lines, "Win or lose, it's the school we choose," are always sung emphatically as if to say, "I'm still an Atenean. How about you?" ^_^

It's really awkward going out of the Araneta, meeting all those yellow-clad fans along the way. You never really know how to respond seeing how they are so happy and festive, and you so down and empty. It's the worst feeling. I suggest that on these days, Araneta should provide separate exits for both fans. T_T

I guess it just wasn't our time. It wouldn't have been as bad had the game been a blowout. A close game just brought me expectations. I hate expecting because my entire history of expectations always came to a disappointing conclusion. This one is no different. I just feel sorry for Macky's good game.