Wednesday, September 26, 2007

1st SIM Inter Collegiate Soccer Tournament Finals - UB vs UOL

Well, UOL won.
That's not the point I guess. But then I also guess we wouldn't really be thinking of saying that if we had won. To think I had had so much faith in UB (read: Akash).

I hope you don't misconstrue, I'm not expressing disappointment in Team Buffalo. Nor the goalie, nor Akash, nor whoever missed that last penalty shot (Leon? Dunno, don't care). If anything it's probably lack of battlefield experience. I don't see how anyone can blame any player or goalie for missing or not catching during shootouts. The pressure is immense to perform, and as we all have experienced in some form of another, that's prime formula for a spectacular fuck-up. It's a vicious cycle.

The real thing I took away from yesterday's match? Camaraderie. All coming together, watching together, cheering laughing wailing together. It transported me right back to my days in VS, where we'd yell the hell out of ourselves, and one guy would start a cheer and we'd all follow and recite the rest of it by heart. Any VS boy would tell you that sense of pride we felt when people asked which school we were from. We'd reply VS, and they'd laugh and go "Oho. The cheering bumblebees." Priceless.

We all watch world-class matches, World Cup and Euro, so we all expect lightning passes and triple combo hyper kung fu goals. Honestly, even S-League matches can only interest me for so long. And yesterday, obviously there were times when the whole damn game seemed so pointless, people plopping the ball around here and there, out of court, all that. But when the whole UB was screaming the hell out of themselves, I felt back home in VS again. And with girls this time. Loud girls.


Hans. What can I say? A few solos, some embarrassing, but where the Buffalos needed it most, this guy was no compromise. See how Celest and Ryan are leaning away from our direction? They apparently find Hans's drumming too loud. I chided Ryan and told him to go listen to more loud music. But when Hans turned back and yelled at the crowd to shout louder, even I winced. His drumming (poor tom-tom. The skin was terribly abused by the time the match was over) was responsible for starting like 75% of the cheers. Jane Anna and gang on top, some big lungs there. and Melissa and company one row lower with the pom-poms. Human loudhailers haha.

If there was one thing that I took away from my 4 years in VS, it was not to jeer. So I was obviously abit uncomfortable when they started poking UOL. SPEAKING OF WHICH! Shame on you UOL supporters! Leaving halfway during the match, what kind of supporters are you? Only ONE FUCKING LINE of supporters to celebrate their victory with them at the end of the game. That is sadness epitomized.

Ain't the end Buffalos. It was a fantastic match, with or without the crazy crowd, and you proved your dedication to the sport and to excelling. We'll sure as hell be there next year.

Because we rock. Horns up Buffalos. \m/ My hair looks like shit.

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