All fired up

Ateneo de Manila University AY 2010–2011 first semester sports championships:
• Blue Eagles (men's college basketball), 3-peat
• Blue Eaglets (high school basketball), 3-peat
• High School Swimming Team, 6-peat
• Grade School Small Basketeers, 4-peat




At the "Three for History" bonfire last night.

Touché

We had lunch with my husband's family at The Podium mall yesterday, where a fencing competition was going on. Sponsored by the mall and the Philippine Fencing Association, the competition was also meant to raise awareness about the sport, promote the association and, hopefully, excite enough interest from young mall-goers so they will take up fencing. The little girl in the pink shirt was watching the competition with complete attention (though her older sister wasn't)—think she'll ask her parents for epee, foil or sabre lessons some time soon?

Fore!

Capitol Hills Golf & Country Club is one of the most popular golf courses in Quezon City. It is located beside three of the richest residential subdivisions on this side of the city: Capitol Hills Subdivision, Ayala Heights and Ayala Hillside Estates. I can understand wanting to be near a golf course if one were a golf enthusiast, but choosing a lot within striking distance of a golf ball does not look like a very smart decision.

In my barangay

Last year, I showed the entrance to our barangay center, which includes our local government unit's offices and meeting hall, a senior citizen center, playground and sports facilities. The covered basketball court gets transformed into our voting precinct during elections. The small yellow building on the right is a gym which, for a small fee which goes into its maintenance, any resident can use.

The dome

Finally, I managed a photo of the Araneta Coliseum which actually shows its dome. Previously, I've shown photos of one of its entrances and the curved footbridge which connects it to several malls in the area. Nicknamed "The Big Dome," this multipurpose stadium in Cubao, Quezon City is one of the biggest indoor stadiums in Metro Manila. Its biggest claim to fame is the 1975 Thrilla in Manila, the final boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier for the Heavyweight Boxing Championship of the World. The glass building on the left is the part of Gateway Mall which stretches across a public road.

Raise the roof

Though I root for the Blue Eagles when it's basketball season, I have to confess that I'm not really much of a basketball fan. The only reason why I was at the Back 2 the Bonfire program last week was because our office was involved in organizing the event. In other words, it was just work for me—fun work, but work nevertheless. Anyway, we were at the parking lot early so we saw the stage being set up. We arrived while they were hanging flood lights and speakers from the ceiling frame and we wondered why the ceiling of the stage was so low. It looked kind of claustrophobic. Then these guys grabbed chains at the four corners and started pulling them to raise the ceiling. Oh!



But what happens when a chain gets stuck? Then someone has to climb up to untangle it by hand.

Fan-atics

On Thursday, October 8, I announced that the Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles won the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) men's basketball championship and the Blue Eaglets won the juniors' title. On Saturday, October 10, their fans gathered at the grade school parking lot to honor them at a program called "Back 2 the Bonfire." The title celebrates the fact that this is also a back-to-back championship for the Blue Eagles so this is the second year in a row that we've had a bonfire. Other teams were also honored for winning championships during the first semester: the grade school basketball team, high school swimming team, high school judokas, men's judokas and men's golf team. The program ended with the lighting of the big bonfire, only the top of which I could see because we could no longer move from where we were. University administrators estimate that there were eight thousand people crammed into the parking lot that night.

Training grounds

The Moro Lorenzo Sports Center (MLSC) of the Ateneo de Manila University was constructed in 2001, and has multi-purpose courts which can be used for basketball, volleyball and badminton. It has an indoor track oval, a gym and a sports medicine clinic, aside from a chapel and a café. It is named after Luis F. "Moro" Lorenzo, Sr., an alumnus of the university, a former basketball player, and, before his death in 1997, a very successful businessman. The MLSC is where the Ateneo Blue Eagles, the university's men's basketball team, practices everyday. This afternoon is the third and final game of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) men's basketball championship between the Ateneo Blue Eagles and the University of the East (UE) Red Warriors. Last year, we won against the De La Salle Green Archers. I'm keeping all my fingers and toes crossed today! Go Blue Eagles! One big fight!!

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6:06 P.M. update: The Ateneo Blue Eagles beat the UE Red Warriors 71–58! Woohoo!!! And the Ateneo High School's Blue Eaglets also beat De La Salle-Zobel 61–51! A double championship! Congratulations, boys! And thank you.

The way to the palace

Postigo del Palacio (postern of the palace) was one of the main entrances into the walled city of Intramuros during the Spanish colonial era. It was built in 1662 and took its name from the fact that it was the way closest to the palaces of the Governor-General and the Archbishop. This was the path that Philippine National Hero Jose Rizal took when he walked from his prison cell inside Fort Santiago to Bagumbayan (Luneta or Rizal Park), where he was executed in 1896. It was damaged during the Battle of Manila in 1945 and restored in 1968. The gate is usually closed nowadays but if it were open, it would just lead to the Club Intramuros Golf Course, an 18-hole golf course built around the beautiful and historic stone walls of the old city.

Urban or rural, natural or man-made, take a sightseeing tour of our world's diverse scenery!

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