new UP Fighting Maroons logo’s retrogressive design

the UP Fighting Maroons, University Of The Philippines’ senior basketball team in the UAAP recently announced a new logo.

when i saw it, i fell off my chair.

 

 

LOOK: UP Fighting Maroons unveil new logo in time for UAAP S78

Read more: http://sports.inquirer.net/184521/look-up-fighting-maroons-unveil-new-logo-in-time-for-uaap-s78#ixzz3dTMQd64p
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UP as a university is known for it’s fine arts and design (and architecture) graduates. if you are into fine arts or design, UP is the school for you to go to. it is popular for these courses. in other words UP is known for good taste.

but not this new logo of the UP Fighting Maroons – it is ugly. and yes, i call the design “retrogressive”.

we are guessing this is how the design process went and how it was sold to the UP officials.

the old logo they had was the image of the oblation. and we suppose the direction for the new logo was to have something more active and aggressive, to be more in keeping with the idea behind a “fighting maroon”. the old logo was not “fighting”, it was just standing, not to mention it is naked except for the fig leaf. the last one though is a digression.

the new logo is supposed to embody the “fighting” spirit – a native warrior holding a spear and a long shield. the spear is the “fighting” part but we think the long shield and the stance of the native can be argued as really more of defensive rather than offensive. it is not really as aggressive as you want it to be.

the added plus is that the man with the spear and shield is the most basic component of basketball – offense and defense. the spear is the offense and the shield the defense. it’s logical and it’s also cute. but for us being cute does not count much.

the other part of the logo that we really do not understand is the giant maroon shield with green lining behind the native. what is that for? a warrior with a spear and a shield in front of  a giant shield? really? we think the logo would have worked anyway if they removed the giant shield behind the native and let the native just stand on the “fighting maroon” text.  we even think the logo would be nicer and more manly without the giant shield behind the native. it will also give better focus on the native, which is the major change in the logo.

this can be minor, but why is the warrior wearing a bandana on his head? we do not see that in the oblation. we think this was an unnecessary component of the design.

the main changes in the new UP fighting maroon logo are : a maroon colored  warrior in a “fighting” (or defensive) stance  with a spear and a shield.

that leads us to the UE Red Warriors logo. oh yes, UE calls itself “warriors”. although we are very sure when the new UP logo was presented, the presenters were very careful not to use the term “warrior” but used “native” instead. never mind that the UP “native” is also wearing a bandana just like the UE warrior is. and let’s not even mention the color red of UE is very close to the maroon of UP.

the actual images may be different – UE has just  a head of the warrior while UP has the full body of the native but we think they are just too close for comfort. the new UP logo is like he full version of the UE logo which is just an abbreviation. it’s like if the UE warrior was shown with a full body, it will look like the UP native with or without the spear and shield.

the logo is the main identity of what they represent. it is best to be unique, to be unlike any other. that is the most basic. the other basic component of a logo is its meaning or meanings. the new UP logo is an obvious attempt to fill it up with meanings but it has forgotten the other component of uniqueness. we think the logo being too close to the UE Red Warriors is its biggest sin.

aside from those, the design elements do not make sense. the design appears to have been some kind of high school project where shapes and symmetry were put without a view for good aesthetics.

one key component of a new design is it is supposed to be better than the old one. this one does not do that. it looks bad versus the old one, a retrogression.

bring back the oblation, please.

this is a WAWAM!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

la salle and UST’s teng brothers very gay pic – topless shows a brand character failure

we saw this picture of the teng brothers jeron and jeric posted at  twitter by sportscaster TJ Manotoc (@tjmanotoc) that accompanied an article posted at the  PhilStar website (Philippine Star), Lifestyle section. my initial reaction was – omg, what is the point of that picture? then i tweeted (@wawam) this :

source of pic and the article here : http://www.philstar.com/supreme/2013/10/05/1241418/sibling-rivalry

we thought there are so many things wrong with that picture:

it is a very gay picture of the Teng brothers. we have never seen a much more gay picture of two basketball players in philippine sports. while we have not seen all the  pictures of US basketball players, of those that we have seen on the internet and in sports magazines, this is the first time we have seen a picture of this sort even in feature articles like the one posted at philippine star. and even in sports magazines and in sports pages of philippine newspapers.

what of the picture are we talking about? well two men who are topless, showing lots of manly muscles, hands held  together in an “embrace” that way, with their bodies so close to each other. plus the bottoms not being shown makes you wonder if they were completely naked. although i have to admit, maybe the last point is taking it too far.

basketball players are always shown in their uniforms and if not in uniforms with clothes on, tops and bottoms included. seeing them topless and in this way is unheard of, also unseen. basketball is a sport of skill and mental prowess, it is not about muscles or brawn. in fact the shorts that basketball players now are very long (started by michael jordan) showing very little leg muscles. even the tops that basketball players wear show very little muscles. showing shirtless basketball players is a shock and very much way off.

a follower of ours in twitter, @econcepcion asked “where are the school colors?”. that is a very good point. basketball and most specially college basketball in the philippines and UAAP is all about the team colors – green is for la salle and yellow for UST. we see that all the time during the games. in fact it is the colors that people wear to watch the games that separate and identify the audience as to what school one supports.

shirtless means the teng brothers are not showing the school colors.

the article is published at the “lifestyle” section of the Philippine Star, not at the sports section. so that also makes you wonder what this picture and article is all about. reading the article though is about what happens to the brothers during and after the game, its about sports.

from a communications standpoint, this picture is very much off strategy and off-brand character in several levels. it is a very confused set of communication material where the visuals do not match with the content of the article,  most certainly the sports of basketball and most specially the basketball skills and talents of the teng brothers.

just like in advertising, pictures even in newspaper articles also tell a lot of the story that you read. this topless pic of the teng brothers  is way off and does not contribute to the story being told in the article. there is no way one can actually rationalize or defend that that picture should accompany the article.

we saw a picture from rappler.com that is actually a perfect fit to this Philippine Star article. it is a picture of the teng brothers entangled in court during the first game with each of the teng brothers not allowing the other any room or advantage. we saw that play out on tv during the game and those few seconds on the court were totally intense but  it felt like it almost went on forever as each one fought the other for space and positioning. it was really beautiful basketball skills.

you appreciate the intensity and professionalism of the brothers even though they had their school colors on and not topless.

from what we know, writers and specially editors labor at choosing the pictures that accompany articles. they know that pictures that accompany articles does play an important role n the appreciation of the article. on this philippine star article, nothing of that sort happened.

aside from accompanying the article with a very gay picture of the teng brothers, this picture is way off strategy, way off brand character and does not make sense at all. it’s a WAWAM!

senator pia cayetano on new UAAP rule on residency : “unconstitutional; unjust and cruel to athletes”

we are posting in full statement by senator pia cayetano:

Dear UAAP Board,

Many athletes, former athletes, and parents of athletes are in an uproar over the recent decision of the UAAP board to require graduating high school students to sit out 2 years if they come from a UAAP high school and go to a different UAAP college.

Forgive my ignorance, but what is the 2-year residency requirement for other than to curtail the freedom of the young athlete to choose the college where he wants to study and play?

In the USA, transferring college athletes have a 1-year residency rest before they can play for their new school – only 1 year, and it doesn’t apply to high school students who choose to go to a different college. The 1-year residency rule requires an athlete to sit out one year of competition because transferring student-athletes suffer academically over time. The year-in-residence is meant to help the athlete acclimatize to the new school and adjust academics-wise. [1] So what’s your 2-year rule for?

A student-athlete’s choice of university is influenced not only by athletics, but also by academics, campus life, and personal situation [2], and the 2-year residency encumbers their freedom of choice.

In my humble opinion as an athlete, a parent of both a college and a high school athlete, and a lawyer, the 2-year residency that is currently applied to transferring college students, as well as any residency rule for high school students, deny athletes of their rights to develop their full potential. It goes against the Constitutional mandate to promote sports especially among our youth, and is an unreasonable limit on an athlete’s freedom of choice as well as academic freedom to choose which college to enter into.

Section 19, Article 14, of the 1987 Constitution states that:

“(1) The State shall promote physical education and encourage sports programs, league competitions, and amateur sports, including training for international competitions, to foster self-discipline, teamwork, and excellence for the development of a healthy and alert citizenry.”

Will the new rule help achieve this?

To excel in sports, one needs to be in constant training of both the body and the mind. Do you know what it’s like for an athlete to sit out two seasons? Athletes thrive on competition. That’s what gets us going. That’s what all the hard training is about. Its what makes it all worth while. To make an athlete sit out two seasons? That just kills the dream. Para sa isang atleta, para mo na ring sinabi na wag ka na lang maglaro. Is this what you want to achieve? Seriously?

I am against any kind of residency rule for graduating high school students. For transferring college students, the 1 year residency rule will suffice. Anything more than that is injustice to an athlete.

I will end this letter by citing a provision in our Bill of Rights against cruel and unjust punishment. For an athlete, this 2 year residency rule is cruel and unjust punishment!

source : http://www.mydailyrace.com/?p=2566

 

read : new UAAP rule on residency is unjust, unfair and harms high school athletes

new UAAP rule on residency is unjust, unfair and harms high school athletes

social media was ablaze in the last few days on this new rule of the UAAP on residency:

HIGH school players who will transfer to another UAAP school in college will now have to wait for two years before becoming eligible to play in the league.

The UAAP board on Tuesday approved the recommendation of its amendments committee to increase the residency requirements for transferring high school players from one year to two years.

The new rule, which got the vote of the board during its regular monthly, meeting will take effect immediately and will cover the current batch of graduating high school players in the UAAP.

source : http://www.spin.ph/sports/basketball/news/blow-to-pingoy-astransferees-required-to-undergo-two-year-residency-under-new-uaap-rule

apparently this rule was invented as a reaction to the recruitment war between the Ateneo and FEU on a star high school player of FEU, a two-time MVP in the high school league.

( read here :   http://www.spin.ph/sports/basketball/news/blow-to-pingoy-astransferees-required-to-undergo-two-year-residency-under-new-uaap-rule and here http://www.spin.ph/sports/basketball/news/new-residency-rule-wont-stop-pingoys-switch-to-ateneo-insists-dad)

we think the new rule is all wrong :

• this new rule benefits only the UAAP schools, not anyone else, not the high school athletes and not the league. and the benefit to the schools is just temporary, all it does is delay the playing time and does not totally protect the schools from losing their top high school players to other schools. the obvious intent of the new rule is to prevent or strongly discourage high school athletes from moving to another school for college.  it’s a selfish, misguided rule just for the benefit of the schools.
• it does the most harm to the high school athletes as they are unjustly deprived of playing the sport they love and have labored for for another year. the one year residency to begin with is wrong and extending it for another year makes it doubly wrong.  these high school athletes have been competing, honing and practicing their skills throughout high school and to many it started during their grade school days, this rule puts a two-year stop to that regimen, to that success formula. any athlete know that sustained and continued playing time, specially in competition play and training are key to sports greatness. all athletes know – you stop competitive playing and you don’t improve and to some lose some of your skills while others who continue progress more.
• putting in place rules that have the effect of barring or impeding a high school student from pursuing his college education in the school of his choice is wrong and immoral, specially if this is being done just to protect the school’s college sports program.  the fact is schools have differing quality of education, the same as having differing quality of sports programs. high school students, including athletes choose the best that they can have (and afford). putting in barriers for the students to choose the best or better education and sports program is wrong for the schools to do so.
• it does not make sense that the league is stopping high school students from pursuing greater things for their education and the sport they love.
• the new rule does not make the UAAP league any better nor does it do anything positive to sports, all it does is give the schools some kind of fake psychological benefit.
• the new rule is definitely discriminatory against universities who do not have coed high schools like la salle and ateneo. this will mean their women recruits for the women sports in the UAAP sill need to wait it out for two years. not having female students in their high schools automatically mean they will need to recruit from high school girls.

there is something very wrong with UAAP schools looking for ways to improve their chances at winning games in the league not by improving their sports programs but by imposing rules that discriminate other schools and do nothing but harm high school athletes.

winning UAAP games is best done by winning in the courts during games, not in meeting rooms by creating unfair, discriminatory, harmful and selfish self serving rules. this new UAAP rule does not help the league in any way, all it does is hurt the future and dreams of high school athletes.

read more here : Twitter ablaze as #NewUAAPRule stuns UAAP fans http://www.rappler.com/sports/23150-twitter-ablaze-as-newuaaprule-stuns-uaap-fans

sports photography – just one or two more seconds for the money picture shot!

the alternate title – damn it’s hard to take sports shots! sub-title – specially if you do not have the camera and lens for it.

those are things we knew before but got confirmed when we actually tried it.

the football match was between the juniors teams of Ateneo and FEU at the Ateneo football field for the UAAP. given that we did not have the right camera and lens for sports shots, the expectations for great pictures were intentionally set very low.

sports photography is probably one of the few types where you do need really specialized cameras and lenses. you need a fast camera, a fast and very long lens (telephoto or zoom)  and one that can take many multiple shots one after the other with each shot perfectly focused. these types of cameras and lenses will cost easily more than $100,000 versus the camera and lens we used which was a fraction of that cost.

but we took the pictures anyway.

we wanted to capture a a specific shot – one that an Ateneo striker kicking a ball past the  FEU goal keeper. i was hoping that the picture will show the ball just passing through the goal keeper.  the shots we got were multiple shots and resulted to some nice pictures of the ball getting kicked, sailing to the goal keeper and then passed the goal keeper down deep into the net for a goal.

but no shot where the ball just passing the goal keeper. we missed that shot by a mere one or two seconds!

nice try, better luck next time.

photo #1 : ateneo player prepares to kick the ball into the net. feu goal keeper prepares himself to defend

photo # 2: football sails through the air after the ateneo player kicks it

photo #3 : well in this space is supposed to be the shot we wanted to record – the ball sailing just past the goal keeper. but the camera motor failed me as it was unable to take the shot. we swear our finger was continuously pressing the shutter button!

photo #4: it’s a goalllllllll! football hits the net as FEU goal keeper looks at it and the Ateneo player runs back to his team mates to celebrate.

the other thing we experienced was the need to stalk the play of the game. we intended to take a goal shot and we needed to read the game and get ready to take the shot when the goal was supposed to be made. looking at the viewfinder the whole time to follow the flow of the game didn’t work. we needed to remove the camera from our eye to watch the game. and as soon as a developing goal was about to be made, that’s when you put the camera up to your eye.

these were lucky photo shots as we were able to read the play correctly and a goal was made. but, those one to two seconds delay didn’t allow us to achieve our goal.

oh well, that is what happens to amateur sports photographers with amateur cameras and lenses. (insert laughter here)

UAAP 75 finals Ateneo-UST game 2 : if Ateneo wins, referees are in to it, if UST wins, referees are fair

referees favoring Ateneo Blue Eagles in game 1 of the UAAP 75 finals was what made UST lose, that was according to UST growling tigers coach pido jarencio. coach pido also said something about the Ateneo players or was it the Blue Eagles’ coach Norman Black being able to speak good English and by implication UST growling tigers’ being poor at it had played a role in their loss. we did not understand how proficiency in speaking English mattered during the game, we hardly saw the Ateneo and UST players say anything during the game it being basketball and not a debate but that was how coach pido saw it.

no surprise to us since much of what coach pido said didn’t really make sense to us.

we didn’t think the Ateneo Blue Eagles won the game because of the referees or that they spoke better English, it was because coach pido did not adjust his team’s game play on the 3rd quarter of the game. the Ateneo Blue Eagles were down at the end of the 2nd half on account of too many unforced errors, poor defense and generally poor shooting. but the whole complexion of the game changed during he 3rd quarter as the Blue Eagles went on a shooting rampage and clamped the Growling Tigers on defense when it had a fantastic 17-0 ran in that quarter.

we think coach pido was unable to read the change in play employed by the blue eagles in the 3rd quarter both on offense and defense. unable to read the play meant he missed out on changing the play for his own team.

the UST growling tigers concentrated so much defense muscle on greg slaughter, often three players guarding him that other blue eagle players became free to score on the offense. one notable blue eagle was nico salva who shot his career best in that game. salva simply toyed around with the UST defense and took shots from his favorite spots, made his favorite shots plus others.

salva is the kind of player who is very low key – simple shots taken in a very muted way unlike kiefer ravena and greg slaughter. kiefer ravena is an explosive and impressive player. he makes these fantastic shots and fantastic moves that you can’t help but notice he is doing well in a game. slaughter because of his height and position is also as noticeable but in a different way. because slaughter is an imposing center, you will notice it if he is doing well in a game as he will always make his shots look easy under the ring and make you wonder why the defense can’t stop him.

salva just makes the regular jump shot and the occasional lay-up with very little fanfare and muted style. but the difference is that salva is one hell of an efficient player. his almost boring style makes him unnoticed by coaches and other players and coach pido and the growling tigers were no exception in game 1.

salva is the player that just creeps into the game unnoticed mostly. and when he gets into a scoring rhythm, he can carry that throughout the game.

but apparently coach pido did not notice these things. he did not change the game play on defense and continued to pour in effort and manpower on slaughter. slaughter on his part very smartly accepted it but looked for the open man when three UST players were on him.

if coach pido paid attention to the game, he would have realized the defense he put on salva was doing a bad job at it. salva was able to get away from his defense in almost any spot a few feet away from the ring.

coach pido was also obviously unable to find the correct player mix to get their offense going. UST is made up of great shooters but the combination coach pido put in simply didn’t click. the growling tigers tried but they were unsuccessful in putting shots in that they had zero points for a stretch of around 7 to 10 minutes during the 3rd quarter.

having zero points for that long a time may be a function of the defense put up by Ateneo. Ateneo is one of the best defensive teams in the league but we did not see any new plays put up by the Ateneo crew on defense. UST had zero points in that period not because Ateneo had put up a great defense, it was just that the combination of players in the court for UST did not work well. we think the UST players became shell shocked by the juggernaut offense of the Blue Eagles that they lost confidence and found themselves unable to shoot.

so what will happen in game 2? well we think coach pido will once again say after the game that the Ateneans were favored by the referees if UST loses the game tomorrow. it’s a very convenient and easy excuse to make for coach pido. of course if UST wins tomorrow, coach pido will conveniently forget his referees for Ateneo charge and just say his players did it all.

there is something about the blue eagles that we have noticed – they win most of their games due to their 3rd quarter performance. things simply change for the blue eagles on the 3rd quarter. they can be doing badly (as they did in game 1 with UST) in the 1st and 2nd quarters but when they come out of the half huddle, they make the adjustments in their play and recover in the 3rd quarter. the blue eagles are almost always a completely different team when they come out to the court during the 3rd quarter. it’s like a miracle happens in the dugout during the half time break that they discover the secret formula to win the game.

to us, that secret formula is coach norman black. black we think is the best coach in the league. he is to us the Great Adjuster. black is able to see things so well and is brilliant at making the adjustments he needs to make in offense and defense in the 3rd quarter to win the game. the Ateneo Blue Eagles is made up of very good players, both its first five and the bench crews. among his first five, we know ravena, salva and slaughter can win games plus add to that the bench like buenafe, golla and elorde and that makes a potent team.

but having great players is not enough. you need an even greater coach who can analyze games as they evolve and think up of changes in offense and defense plays and get the combination of players that work. many of the teams in the UAAP, like the UST growling tigers, have many great players just like Ateneo but the advantage of the blue eagles is that they have norman black to make it all work well and adjust to win games.

and as we have seen in game 1, coach pido jarencio is no coach norman black.

makes in offense or defense play and player combinations

macho theme for ateneo blue eagle’s quest for the One Big Five

 

they have t-shirts with the line proclaiming “we fight for the blue and the white”. it’s a provocative line but it is very aggressive and combative, perhaps too much? we have not seen lines like that for a very long time.

so maybe it’s appropriate now given that the ateneo blue eagles are fighting to make it 5 consecutive championships this UAAP 75 season. getting it 5 straight will make history if ateneo pulls it off this year. players do graduate after 4 or 5 years and that means a change in crew, a loss of power every year. winning the championship in consecutive years in college basketball is indeed very hard. losing your top players every year to be replaced by rookies mean you need to have a great coaching staff and equally important a well oiled and strategic recruitment program.

ateneo has won the UAAP championships 4 straight years. that means this year all the players it had the first time it won are all gone and others in between have been lost to graduation.

ateneo had their first game this season last sunday and they did very well beating adamson on a pile of many points – tambak in other words. that could be a good sign. the game with adamson started on shaky grounds for ateneo. the team lost it’s defensive skills, something they are known for in the league, during the first half of the game. the shooting prowess was still there, including the most feared fast-break shots made on transition but they allowed too many open shots for adamson and some errors.

norman black, ateneo’s legendary coach made the adjustments and the defense came back in the second half, enabling ateneo to comfortably pull away in the second half.

the usual suspects, actually stars were there – slaughter, salva and ravena killing adamson on defense and offense. it was also good to see buenafe back. buenafe’s presence was not yet felt as much as he was still recovering from an injury. but he played good minutes on the court so that can mean the injury is all healed and he just needs to get back on the groove. when he does, it can be very devastating to the opponents of the blue eagles.

slaughter has improved a lot. he has added new shots to his repertoire of shots. he was unstoppable when he was close to the ring and all he needed to do was to gently scoop or drop the ball inside the ring. the coaches has done very well to sharpen slaughter’s guns, exploiting his height to the max.

the ateneo blue eagles are known for two deadly things in the league – defense and the fast-break. no team has yet discovered a system to beat them on those.

ateneo will play UST today, a team seen as a top four contender. we will see how much prepared this new ateneo team is for a strong team like UST. coming from a four-peat championship win, ateneo’s top four players slaughter, salva, ravena and buenafe will pour it in to make one big five this season. UST can be ateneo’s 2nd victim in the league.

 

 

UAAP 74 basketball finals game 2 – ateneo vs feu and the silver bullet for the win

the epic finals game in the UAAP 74 basketball competition is set tomorrow at the Smart Araneta Coliseum at 3 pm.

it is epic for feu as this is a come from behind championship campaign for them, from a third place finish during the qualifying rounds, and overcoming the twice to beet challenge in the semi finals, needing to beat adamson twice before getting into the finals. feu already lost game 1 and in humiliating fashion with a high double digit loss to ateneo, the game was mostly dominated by ateneo. losing the game tomorrow means the championship goes to ateneo.

it is also epic for ateneo. not only are they the defending champion, they are 3peat champions and winning tomorrow will mean a historic back to back championship 4 times over. ateneo will only be the 3rd team to accomplish this feat.

what is ateneo supposed to do to win tomorrow?

• not much, they just need to play the kind of game they have been playing in all their games during the season – killer defense, a fast game, score on the errors and rebounds and play as a team.
• ateneo has been one of the most consistent teams during this season, always delivering the same way in every game.
• ateneo has at least 10 good players  – the starting 5 are all killers and the next 5 are equally competent.
• slaughter, ravena and salva are the top 3 players. if any two of them do well tomorrow, they have the championship. although of the three, salva is the most consistent, scoring double digits in almost all the games.
• any of the three having a gang bang game and that is it for FEU. all three players have done that before and to devastating effect on their opponent.
• monfort and long are also always there to boost the team. monfort has sparked scoring sprees while long has been the best defensive player of ateneo.
• and then ateneo’s bench. they are very, very reliable. they can take over the first five if they are having problems and has enough skill not only to maintain the lead but to increase and bring it back to the lead.
• final word – ateneo will attempt to erect a significant lead during the first quarter of  the game. they will start the game very aggressively. if feu collapses from this first quarter onslaught, it will be all over for feu’s title quest.

feu will not go that easy, or at least that is the expectation.

• they need to play as a team. they have failed to do this in many of their games.
• their top 3 players need to play as a crew, look for each other and give each other the ball for easy points. they have not done this much. feu’s top 3 players tend to play on their own.
• feu should stop using the 3 point shot as their winning formula. the chances of success are much lower on these types of shots. they need to bring the ball closer to take the 2 point shot instead. they don’t have much of a down to the ring game, but close jump shots are much better than 3 pointers.
• rr garcia need to find his groove back. he has been inconsistent in many of the game.
• above all, feu need to be tough and full of confidence. i think this factor will be the biggest challenged for feu. they lost big during the first game versus ateneo, it will not be easy to shake that off from their minds. it will be the mental conditioning that will make them win the game.

ateneo bonfire set on sunday, october 3

the traditional ateneo bonfire post-UAAP basketball games is scheduled on the evening of october 3, this sunday.

2010 UAAP Ateneo-FEU basketball championship – competent coaching made the difference

like everyone else, we were shocked at the outcome of the first game of the 2010 UAAP basketball championship between Ateneo and FEU over the weekend. we were more shocked than the FEU players themselves. we thought it would be tough and close, it was easy and wide.

we have to agree with the FEU sports official who described their teams loss like an animal  facing the headlights of  a car on a highway at night. – the FEU players froze, with eyes wide and stood there and waited for  the car to run them over.

we think it is the coaching that made the difference in that game and leading to the finals. norman black , the ateneo coach, is once again making the difference for ateneo.  the ateneo squad in the past few years and most specially this year usually starts cold and gets hotter as the season nears the end.

the ateneo team specially this one kept on improving game after game. the ateneo team had the same players now as the start of the season, the difference lie in the adjustments coach norman black makes game to game. it is these adjustments in play and strategy that allowed the ateneo team to win over FEU which had previously beat ateneo twice during regular play.

listen to the ateneo players after their games – all of them talk about practicing hard before the game. that tells us they do change their plans when they go into a new game and they practice it well.

ateneo’s team this season do not have the stars it used to have in the last two years.  they seem to be all even across the players. look at the games they have played and you will see that different players star in different games. that tells you this team operates on specific strategy of play rather than being central to one or  two players.  different players come out as the star of the game as the plays work and evolve during the game.

FEU on the other hand must have set their plays on their two stars – romeo and garcia as they have done in most previous games.  unfortunately, their coach did not adjust their plays and strategies when it did not work. either the coach failed to adjust the play or if the coach did, the players did not respond to the instructi0ns.

what is going to happen on game 2? ateneo for sure will adapt most of the game plan they had in game 1 and probably come up with a few new plays to anticipate adjustments that FEU will make on thursday.

we think its important for ateneo to employ the same strategy of piling up the points on fastbreaks very early on. it is important not just on the point building standpoint but more importantly on the psychology side.

FEU players seem to be psychologically vulnerable. they fold when ravaged in the mind and that is what ateneo’s play will be on game 2.

ateneo blue eagles win, UAAP back-to-back champions, see you at the bonfire on saturday!

we had no doubt the ateneo blue eagles will win back-to-back championships in the UAAP. it is a very disciplined team with fully set plays behind solid coaching and the league’s deepest bench. in many ways this year’s team is a dream team of any coach. it seem to have a limitless number of players that the coach can call to do a job or fill in a missing one.

that showed in every game they played. it showed clearly during the championship games, specially in the last one. ateneo is know to come in strong at the start, has the ability to maintain it and has the confidence and poise to handle problems.

we congratulate the ateneo blue eagles. the bonfire is on saturday, see you there.  

two in a row for the blue eagles

the blue eaglets also twice in a row champions

Eagles complete back-to-back title romp

MANILA, Philippines – Defense and deadly focus sparked a second straight title for the Blue Eagles that completed a second consecutive championship double for Ateneo in the UAAP basketball tournament at the Araneta Coliseum.

Aggressive on both ends of the court, the Blue Eagles pulled away in the second quarter and roared to a 71-58 rout of the University of the East Warriors in the finale of the best-of-three title series before a 19,000-strong crowd.

Rabeh Al-Hussaini, who scattered 28 points in Ateneo’s 78-71 Game 1 win, came out dominating Game 3 with 21 points and 14 rebounds to lead this batch of Blue Eagles in replicating Ateneo’s first back-to-back title romp in 1987 and 1988.

“We came out hungry right from the very start, we were on attack mode right from the very start,” said coach Norman Black.

The Eagles, blasted by the Warriors to smithereens in Game 2, 88-68, returned the compliment this time with Jai Reyes and Ryan Buenafe joining forces with Al-Hussaini in Ateneo’s second-half binge.

“The focus was much better,” said Black after the Eagles bagged their fifth overall crown since joining the league in 1978. “We played defense, something we didn’t do in Game 2.”

http://sports.inquirer.net/collegiate/collegiate/view/20091009-229105/Eagles-complete-back-to-back-title-romp

ateneo-la salle basketball game – time stops today at 4:00 pm for the uaap game 1

game 1 of the finals for the uaap seniors championship is today at 4:00 pm. time will stop then. brand “ateneo-la salle game” is one of the most enduring, most intense, most anticipated brands in the country. it does not matter if you don’t belong to any of those schools or you don’t like basketball. on the the ateneo-la salle game, you stop whatever you are doing and watch it.

they are no longer called “la sallites”, they call themselves now “la sallians”. WAWAM! offers a reason for the change. read about it here : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/