I WOULD recall my dad and lolo or uncle would say that we can lose in any other sport except that of basketball, not women nor high school but that of the men.
UB may win all others but if it wasn’t basketball then we just won. That was how it was and still is. We were of course happiest when it was basketball men that wins the championship.
Not to downgrade the other athletes but it was unlike any other when alumni and students with faculty all come out to watch a game. We will take the gold in Taekwondo anytime or even Arnis and Volleyballl especially women division which is now the “in” sport but the attraction and hype of the men’s basketball is different.
Our high school boys basketball are also champions in their own division and in various cases have gone nationals for winning and still if it were not the men’s championship then it is just another championship.
I however have to be there every time. I just had to. In many occasions even when I was still in government I was always asked to be with the UB Teams where ever and when ever.
I was asked at one time to be a charter team representing Baguio in the Liga Pilipinas which is now the MPL and indeed we couldn’t say no to the organizers. We managed to organize the first team with a selection of Intramural All Stars who were also Cardinals from the different colleges then. The team was called the Baguio Lions and eventually Victory Liner saw some talent in the team and asked that they be called Baguio Victory.
Recently the UB boys and girls basketball dominated the regional championships with the girls reaching the quarter finals in the national championships in 3X3 in Manila.
Exactly some 35 years ago the UB Cardinals bested all other teams to become the National UAAP Champions! After which most Metro Manila teams decided to just do it themselves. Still, a basketball crazy school like UB did something many other big basketball schools couldn’t do.
To name a few of those who played basketball in UB are Robert Jaworski, Tony dela Cerna and Jun Marzan whom every Juan knows and many others too have followed in the PBA. Guess who plays for NLEX from UB and some others. It was fun too when olympians Lydia de Vega and Elma Muros played basketball intrams in UB too. At times I would find World Boxing Gold Medalist Nestea Petecio play for her college in basketball and that’s UBASKETBALL.