Liga

When we were young, basketball is the barangay's opium. And when there is interbarangay tournament in our town, you cal tell all hell broke loose. Men and women, old and young, every citizen of our barangay overzealously awaited each game of our team. The tournament was always held at the town's Poblacion. And unfortunately our barangay lies on the periphery and Poblacion is a good 8 kilometers from ours. So someone thought a brilliant idea of borrowing open trucks used to haul tons of rice to carry us, the crowd cheerers of our barangay team. So every game, we would climb the tucks and since we would be standing there -- there were no seats for the utility trucks -- we would try to outdo each other to get the most preferred place in the truck. Some, i included, avoided the periphery because i was afraid that once i lose my balance, i would fall off the train. Every game was marvelous. Every game has a story of its own. Everyone has a version to tell. Particularly during those games that our team won. I never got the chance to see our team winning the championship. We were runner up always. That Martinez guy from Lumbac was always the thorn, the pain in the ass. But I noticed something was wrong in our team when i got older -- we used to "import" some good players -- a friend, relative or mere acquaintance -- to play for our team, even though they were not really living in our place. Elders used to tell us that that was a top secret and should not be talked about because once the officials know about this, our team would get disqualified. And i thought when we were young, they placed greater hopes on us, but their teaching sucks!!! But that's another story. And more so, that's the only sore during this time when i get nostalgic and remember the countless liga that i watched, the roaring cheers i extended to my Barangay, the fits of diappointment i harbored when we failed to win the chmpionship and the ever-repeating tales of prowess of our players and how the other team sucks. This part of my childhood, i am definetly grateful that i had. And i tell you, we did not have PC or PS2 or xbox during those times!