Here I go again with the basketball fanatic inside of me. I can’t help it. This has something to with the team that captured my heart, the De La Salle Green Archers. To those who don’t what I’m talking about let me give you the shortened version of the whole story.

Last Thursday, September 1, 2005, DLSU and UE played an intense game at the Blue Eagle Gym. It was a very close game down to the last minute. The game was ending then UE made a basket that tied the game. Then it was La Salle ball, due to an errant pass, UE got the ball and made another basket. There was 1.8 seconds left in the game clock and La Salle called a timeout but due to the noise and frenzy in the BEG, the players and people in the venue didn’t hear it. But then the officials reset the game clock to 1.8 seconds and gave DLSU the timeout. TY, inbounding from the UE side, issued a baseball pass but landed to the hands of a UE player which eventually went out of bounds. Again it was La Salle ball and it will be inbounded at the La Salle side with exactly 1 second left. TY Tang passed the ball to the open Cholo Villanueva who made the basket that sent the game to overtime. To make the short story even shorter, La Salle won the game 86-83. Or so we thought. . . Last Saturday, before the UAAP games began, the UAAP Technical Committee announced that UE won that game. Why? Because UE filed a protest saying that La Salle’s timeout during the last 1.8 seconds of the regulation should not have been awarded to them because according to them, FIBA rules state that once the ball is in the hands of a player for inbound, no timeout should be called. Yeah, right. This is where the rage comes in.

First of all, if that is in the International FIBA rules that they have been following for a long, long, long time, why the heck did they still allow the game to go to overtime? Why did they have to bring everything to the boardroom? Isn’t it that the referee’s decision is final in the game? The ref awarded the La Salle team a timeout so let it be. And if the ref made a mistake, WHY THE HECK DID THEY NOT MAKE THE CORRECTION DURING THE GAME? What’s the use of them being in every single game? Isn’t it to make sure that the rules are followed? This just shows that they’re not doing their jobs. And they had to rely on game replays just to make a simple decision on whether the timeout is valid or not. What’s the use of playing the game live? Gosh!!

You know what I think? Those who made the decision against La Salle are downright scared of them. It shows. They can’t beat them in the hardcourt so they beat them in the boardroom. If that’s the case then why are there still players playing on the court? And isn’t it that it’s the basketball players themselves who decide if they will win the game by playing it?

To those who are trying to put the Archers down, there’s one thing you don’t know. In this team lies the heart of a true champion. The more you try to put them down, the more they keep standing and fighting. Keep that in mind.