Down with the Sickness

What do you do if you're down with a communicable, debilitating Tonsilitis? For me, I had the most productive recuperation: I had the opportunity to watch at least 5 videos and almost all locals shows from yesterday to early today. That's for not having a local cable provider. :)

I did not plan to watch the four UAAP games this weekend because they all were virtually no-bearing games (except of course for the UE-La Salle match up yesterday). Because I had nothing else to do, I watched all four. It turned out to be exciting games! The UP-FEU game (2pm, August 29) was okay, with UP giving their 110% to narrow down the double-digit deficit against the #2 team in the league. Their efforts were futile, giving FEU their 10th win of the season against 2 losses.

The second game of Saturday showdown also ended as gut-wrenching, after a controversial "not counted" call with Hyram Bagatsing's and one play. I think they should have given the "counted" call on that play. Even if how many times the tape was played, it was an obvious counted possession. La Salle ended up losing by two points after a turnover caused by no other than La Salle's "rising star," Joshua Webb. La Salle fell to 5th spot at 4-7 and UE took on solo-third place.

The Sunday Spectacle featured two seemingly lop-sided games, with NU taking on UST in the first game and Ateneo going up against their bird brothers, Adamson. As expected, UST gave a blowout loss to NU, with NU failing to keep up with UST's steam. At first, I thought this was another upset in the making with NU taking the lead in the early strages of the first quarter, but when I browsed to the Brian Viloria match and got back to the game, UST was already leading by double-figures. And the rest was history.

By the way, my congratulations to Brian Viloria for winning via unanimous decision over Jesus Iribe of Mexico. I still can't figure out if he's the Hawaiian or the Filipino punch. No matter what punch he carries, I hope he punches big.

The second game between the two high-flying mascots in Ateneo and Adamson turned out to be a nail-biter. Ateneo was struggling with offense, turning over the ball at least five times per quarter, with a miserable field goal shooting percentage. Meanwhile, Adamson thought it was never too late to bring in their A-game towards the season's homestretch. They rebounded and defended well against the Eagles, who could not penetrate the paint during the first half. Just like the other close games they fought against other teams, they lost steam in the final 2 minutes of the fourth quarter. They gave up useless fouls, executed sub-par plays (Lester Alvarez and that Cabrera should realize that they have teammates even in the final minutes of the quarter), overall played miserably. In a tightly contested game, the fourth quarter is all that matters. Even when you shot perfectly in the first three quarters, if you play dismally in the fourth, expect to get down. Ateneo took on the first twice-to-beat slot in the UAAP final four with that win.

I hope I get well soon. Looks like one tablet of Clarithromycin a day is not powerful enough for the virus I got.

Go Ateneo!