The Araneta Chronicles: Game 4

I originally posted it here

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Before I begin, I would like to clear things out. Yes, I'm a big big Barangay Ginebra fan. Second, I promise I'll try not to sound biased or something in this entry and third, please avoid the "why are you letting this guy do write ups, he's freakin' biased" comments. With that being said let's begin.

The Araneta Chronicles: Game 4

This is the part where I am that damn thankful to my parents that I was raised a Ginebra fan.

Following the sour back to back defeats in the hands of my second favorite PBA team, the Air 21 Express, I thought to myself.. the crowd's going to get rowdier and rowdier come Game 4. And they didn't disappoint.

I told my friends to come early because I didn't want to spend the game standing (like I did with my younger brother in Game 3) and knowing that we only have tickets for Upper Box B, a section that gets filled 10 mins after the Araneta gates open.. we really had to hurry. So there, we reached Araneta at about 6 pm, just in time for the annual awards and my God, I was surprised at the number of people who were already there. Well, atleast we got ourselves some seats to enjoy the game.

Midway through the awardings, I was bothered by a couple who was arguing at my back. Since they're only about a foot away from my back I can hear what they're talking about and you'll be surprised if you heard it too. Apparently, the wife was angry to his husband for spending the money on the tickets where in they could've spent it on the pambaons of their children. He goes to tell him that he'll be selling some scrap metals as soon as they got home just to give money to their children.

That goes to show you how hardcore the fans of the Kings are. And you know what? Midway through the game, the wife was leading the chants of GI-NE-BRA. And I thought she didn't want to watch?

Anyway, warm up time and the crowd is getting rowdier by the minute. Air 21 goes out first and of course, they were showered by boos. Thank God Ginebra came out a minute after Air 21 went out so the boos were halted and were changed into cheers.

Jayjay went straight to the bench and the guy on my left began talking to me like we were good ol' buddies. You know, the casual basketball talk. Pare di yata maglalaro si Helterbrand, badtrip pre.. pero kaya yan. And I was like, syempre naman, kailangan lang magstep up si Artadi tsaka si Pacana para mapunuan yung absence ni Jayjay. And the talk went on up to the last buzzer.

Game time and Ginebra went off to a blazing start. Crowd were into it early, but was hashed when Gary David converted a three pointer. Then some guy about three rows behind me started shouting Pakyu Dabid! Which drew laughters from the Ginebra crowd.

The biggest applaud of the night was awarded to Ronald Tubid. The moment he got up from the Ginebra bench, everybody was murmuring si Tubid maglalaro yata, oo nga oo nga. And by the time he was checking in the officials table, everybody went crazy. Everybody went crazier when Ronald converted his first basket which extended the Ginebra lead to 12, I think.

Another guy that caught my eye is a guy in his mid 40s wearing an Eric Menk jersey and was acting like the cheerleader of the Ginebra crowd. I dont think he ever sat down. He was reacting to every call, every non-call, every freethrow and time outs. He was just there, dancing, shouting, clapping and jeering, getting lots of attention and laughters to the Ginebra crowd.

Here's an interesting story. Anyone know the Tug and Shoot contest which is being held in timeouts and mid quarters in the PBA? Well, if you've been to a live event before, I guess you know it. After the buzzer sounded and their game stopped, the yellow guy (who was still strapped to the blue guy) began to walk towards the dug out. The blue guy was unaware the yellow guy began walking out, resulting to the yellow guy pulling him out and him falling awkwardly into the Araneta floor, garnering some laughters on the Air 21 and Ginebra crowd. What's funny (or not) is that when the blue guy was walking, we noticed that he was limping. And we were like, pucha napilayan yata

In other news, the winner of the most booed Express player award today goes to Nino Canaleta. After burning Ginebra with a stellar clutch performance in Game 3, we all know Canaleta's going to receive heat from the Ginebra crowd. And that's what exactly happened. Right after Canaleta threw an airball, the crowd started booing him straight into the bench (since Coach Bo called him out) and he stayed there for good.

Anyway, it was a fun fun night. Everybody in Barangay Ginebra can sleep well tonight. Forget the Ateneo-La Salle rivalry or the Letran-San Beda matches.. this is where true basketball fans show up. People who only has 30 pesos on their pockets (Read: Me) but still went on to watch the game anyway. People who will live and die and live to die again only to support a team who was supported by their fathers. People who will neglect heavy rains and will befriend anyone on their side and wouldn't care about the personal status of that guy. This is PBA basketball ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Barangay Ginebra.