Reds Vs White

On 30th this month we had THE GAME of the semester: Basketball between Redemptorist and Remase. Our brothers really poured their hearts and souls into the preparation for the match. I have never seen such enthusiasm and passion. The brothers literally skipped meals, and rushed through prayers just to have their practices. I was all ready in my mind to write this article with wonderful quotes like “It is not all about winning, but it feels darn good to win!”, but sadly, sister reality had a mind of her own.

Anyway, firstly I would just like to touch on this whole thing about the term “friendly match”. I am really starting to wonder why we always call these matches “friendly”, when the atmosphere of game is anything but! Ignorantly I did a stupid thing of trying a crack a joke with one of our brothers who was in the game, he turned and looked at me with a stare that reminded me of a lion who is all ready to pound on a helpless antelope. Even now when I think back of the stare it gives me the shivers.

So back to the game… We started off pretty well, both parties were ‘friendly’ enough and the Reds were gaining some initial potential. With our “cheering squad” and “pom pom girls” we were pretty positive of our victory (even our dear Br RJ was all well and played with optimum shape, praise the Lord for that). However, somewhere through the game the Whites (Remase students) started utilizing their deadly shooter who kept scoring three pointers and forced the score apart.

Our brothers fought back courageously, with varying tactics and change of players, even Fr Cruz joined in and gave some valuable strategy advice. However, it seemed like lady luck was not on our side that day. We managed to draw the score very close towards the end of the game, closing to 3 points different, and while Br Shawn was attempting a three point shot, he was tackled, and was thus given 3 penalty shots. Our hearts stopped and all eyes were glued to Shawn. Sadly, Shawn did not make the shots (but no worries Br Shawn, ITCHSsss OK!  a little internal joke :P)

There was about 6 seconds left after the penalty shots, and our drama king, Br Ryan attempted a shot almost from half court. Normally in a Disney fairy tale, this would be the time when the ball miraculously got into the ring and everyone hailed in ecstasy, but, unfortunately, we were not in a fairy tale, so we gracefully lost the game with 3 points difference.

Well, don’t worry brothers, there’s always another game. Maybe next time we should concentrate more in style, have everyone smile and play extra courteous, and then maybe we can call it the friendliest game of the year. Even if we lose then, we will lose extremely gracefully, but if we win, boy oh boy, we will feel DARN GOOD :P

(-Terence)