Mu vs Phi

I am a fanatic of my fraternity - the Mu Sigma Phi Fraternity of the UP College of Medicine. In fact my whole batch - Batch 98 - is very emphatic about the frat. (And I'm the Batch Leader)

During the recent PGH Centennial Celebrations, Dr. Armand Crisostomo, the over-all chair (who is also a Brod), decided to have a basketball game between our frat and the other frat, the Phi Kappa Mu.

It's not an ordinary game, the last time the 2 frats played against each other was more than 10 years ago. And for this game, not only the undergraduates can play, even the alumni. So the game was set on a Thursday afternoon.

All the brods wore red, the others wore yellow (chicken?). Our team was made up of the strong team mostly from the late 80's and the early 90's squad. The Others were mostly undergraduates.

Of course my role in the game is to heckle along with my brods in the sideline (and to be the waterboys for the team).

Jumpball - the Phi got the ball but was called on a backing violation. My cohort hecklers -Jotek, Archie and Nick rained down heckles to this poor Phi "May linya dyan, ta_ga!" "Bobo mo di marunong tumingin" "Patingin ka sa OPhtha" - This was just the first 2 seconds of the game. When the Mu team got the ball, the first shot went in - CHAOS ensued (in our court) - 20 seconds just elapsed.

Some of my undergrad brods were initially timid, and were quite surprised that our group, the Consultants, are the leaders in heckling. They were just not accustomed in a game like this.

At the baseline of the court of the Phis were Raffy Consunji, Ebang Evangelista, Dave Leal and 30 more brods, all heckling the lights out of the shooting free throw shooter from the Phi. Sometimes "Mu,mu,mu,mu..." endless until the shooter shoots the ball, othertimes just shouting "WALA!", sometimes Raffy would shout from the baseline, "Brods quiet! Sayang lang, di naman yan papasok!", and sometimes the old dirty fingers wagging before the shooter goes up for his shot.

Of course expect another round of heckling for every blocked shot, steal and acrobatic shot from Tony Perez (who would fix his sidehair after a shot in front of the Mu bench while running back for defense). Marlon Oclarence (Ocla) played the pointguard position. Because the young Phis don't know him, he would always be left open at the top of the keyhole area, for his first 2 open shots, no success. But when he was left open for the 3rd time, he connected a 3! While running backwards for defense, he pointed at the face of his defender while shouting "Bantayan mo ako!", for all to hear.

To their credit, the young Phis were really good. After the 1st quarter, we led by only 2 points, and at the end of half time it was tied. The young players from Phi were quick and athletic with good shooting. There was one poor Phi however with the name Pakks. He is a good player but quite hot on the collar, so he was one of the favorite of our group to heckle. There was even an altercation between him and the star player Tony Perez, so all the brods were shouting "Sandara, sandara, sandara! Then from behind one voice will shout "PAKKS!", of course that will be Jotek. Specially when he fouled out! Poor fellow.

After the 3rd quarter, they were leading by 2 points, of course c/o Maxie Escano's 3 point shot at the end of the quarter. Some of our players were getting tired, until Rodney Dofitas gave a pep talk during a time out, they were all rejuvenated, specially after seeing Rodney getting chunks of ice and icewater from the cooler and splashing it to his head and torso. The Mu players played it very smart. They drove the lane and fished for some fouls. Penalty became the enemy of the Phis, and every foul that they gave was a free throw. The lead balooned to 8 at one point and 2 of the Phis fouled out. Then came Iggy. Gar Eufemio's lips can be read as "Sumusuko na yata sila, pinasok na si Iggy"

In the waning seconds of the game, Jotek went inside the court during a time out and led the whole Mu supporters in shouting 'Walang iiyak, walang iiyak", of course with his trademark yosi on his hand.

When the final buzzer sounded off, the score was 57-50. Best Frat March singing in a long time, inside the court with the Phis in attendance.

I wasn't able to attend the post game inuman in Orchid until 10 PM, when me, rainier, Archie and Jotek arrived, most of the players were still there. Raffy was drunk but still kept on shouting "Pakks u" "Fuc_ing Phi sh_t" and the like. Bunny Valdez, Tony, Ocla, Gar, and the younger brods were still there along with Kups. It was a great day to finish the day.

I was hoarse for 3 days.