In this basketball-crazed country, there is no better place to be but at the Araneta Coliseum where collegiate teams the De La Salle University Green Archers and the Ateneo Blue Eagles face-off against each other. Also called “The Big Dome”, the 20,000 seater Araneta Coliseum is known to be the largest indoor facility in Southeast Asia. It is a very popular venue for concerts (foreign and locals alike), sports events, contests, speaking engagements and the like.
No other event can pack this place quite like when these two teams face-off. The place is flooded in a sea of green and blue:
The UAAP had 2 special guests during this occasion. The first one being Filipino boxing sports icon Manny Pacquiao (coming of a fresh victory and winning the title against David Diaz) and the other being NBA superstar Gilbert Arenas (not pictured).
The two teams warming up:
The tip-off:
Halftime cheer:
Huddle:
The game was close all throughout and like any basketball game there can only be one winner… the Ateneo Blue Eagles. Sadly, I root for the DLSU Green Archers. No worries though. It’s just the start of the season and I’m pretty sure my team will bounce back. The teams will face each other again in the second round and hopefully by then the team has improved and be able to make the adjustments to win the next time around.
Two schools. Two teams. Two sides; a green and a blue. A storied rivalry. Fierce and intense but at the end of each game, sportsmanship and gamesmanship always prevails.
We are one.
July 16th, 2008 at 12:23 am
[...] may recall that I briefly mentioned in my recent post that Gilbert Arenas was in the Philippines for a [...]