And you call yourself a UPian.

My throat hurts, my head is really throbbing in pain, but I stop and write this blog entry.

I just came home from the UAAP season 70 opening, and I have to admit I am very tired. But I need to write this. I need to write this.

To all you UPians out there: Do not call yourselves UPians if YOU do not have faith in the basketball team (or for any team for that matter), if YOU do not believe in them. You do not deserve that name.

I came to Araneta this day with every shred of me believing that UP will win. UP will beat La Salle and win. Even if I sat there, looking at the 16- or 20-point deficit, I did not doubt the Maroons.

Yes, for others I may be dreaming. You should tell me that I should be a little bit realistic, but no. That I should have entered Araneta and not give myself false hope na "Ay, mananalo ang UP." I should have thought that they would lose, but at a closer margin. Obviously, I didn't. And yes, maybe I am disappointed. But still, I know that every single one of those guys donning the UP Fighting Maroons jersey is capable of lifting the team up and making them win.

Think about this: Every single one of those players wearing that UP jersey and playing for what YOU call your alma mater isn’t getting compensated or getting even a third of what the players of La Salle or Ateneo or UST gets every semester, much more in a month. Every single one of those players wearing that UP jersey and playing for what YOU call your alma mater don’t eat in a lavish restaurant after practices, some of them hang out and eat dinner at Lutong Bahay. Every single one of those players wearing that UP jersey and playing for what YOU call your alma mater sometimes eat nothing after practice, do not have the luxury of having any “scientific” training (unlike other schools), and maybe do not have a dietician who watches what they eat.

Every single one of those players wearing that UP jersey and playing for what YOU call your alma mater is there on the floor on sheer determination, sheer dedication… and YOU—YOU who call yourself a UPian—put them down with your words and actions.

(I even heard that there are some UPians who took off their shirts because of the loss.)

You know what frustrates me and hurts me?

These guys are just simple people who love basketball. These are talented guys, and they are already being put down by other people. Don’t you think it hurts them much more kung mismong sa mga kapwa nila taga-UP naririnig ang mga masasakit na salita? Wag ka nalang manood kaya nung game kung ang mindset mo naman pagpunta mo dun eh: “Ilang points kaya ang talo nila?”

Sinasabi ko na sayo, hindi kailangan ng Maroons ang cheer mo kung sa loob-loob mo rin naman eh hindi ka rin naniniwala sa kanila. Hindi nila kailangan ng isang taong hindi naman pala naniniwala sa kanila. Kung ganyan ang pag-iisip mo, sa kabilang side ka nalang kaya umupo para lagi kang natutuwa na nanalo sila? Tapos pag nanalo sila, ikaw ang pinakaunang andyan to brag about it.

Bravo.

Ika nga ni Wendy: Best Actress (Actor) in a Pretending Role.

Yes. They may not be playing well. We don’t have imports or “foreign-born” players unlike La Salle or Ateneo. We do not have a nicer gym or facilities that may help our players improve. We may not have funds to make these players go to Canada and play only two games just to lose (at least we didn’t go all the way there just to lose. Haha.). We do not have all the luxuries other teams may have. And for a team who lacks funds to give them a better athletic system and the resources to entice those ‘foreign-born players’ to play for us, our guys are holding up pretty well.

I love the UP Fighting Maroons, and even if they lose to whoever team or whatever team by ten or twenty or thirty, I’d still wear my UP shirt, carry around my UP Number One styro hand (courtesy of Samsung) or wave my UP bandanna (courtesy of Astring-O-Sol) and proud to be a UPian. Proud to be a Maroon.

And to every single UP Fighting Maroon—Migs de Asis, Mike Gamboa, Vicmel Epres, Martin Reyes, Dexter Rosales, Mark Lopez, Soc Rivera, Dioboy Hipolito, Magi Sison, Woody Co, Jayfelson Agbayani, VJ Serios, Julius Wong, and to whoever else I may have forgotten (and for that I am deeply sorry)—PROVE THEM WRONG.

This coming Thursday, even if I won’t be there to watch, I’d still believe that the UP Fighting Maroons will beat Ateneo Blue Eagles. I don’t care if Chris Tiu’s there or if Kirk Long’s playing.

Ika nga naman ng Ateneo: Win or lose, it’s the school we choose.

Win or lose, nasa likuran pa rin ako ng mga Fighting Maroons.

Eh ikaw?

*I wrote this entry because I am very angry, and I am crying because of it. Hindi ko malabas kung gaano kasakit for me to see and hear people—UPians at that—put the team down. (A voice inside you will say: “Eh sila naman eh. They’re putting UPians down.”) No. And what’s more is that walang depensa ung team sa mga pinagsasasabi ng mga tao. Magalit na kayo kung magalit sa akin, I don’t care.