ANOTHER YEAR, another missed opportunity for the UST Golden Tigresses.
The saying “nice guys finish last” sometimes holds true for sports, and the Tigresses, nice as they are, once again practically finished last after failing to enter the Final Four of the UAAP women’s volleyball tournament for the third straight season.
The Tigresses, with a championship-caliber lineup on paper, proved one of the more disappointing UST teams in recent memory.
This is not a dig at the team, that sparked a mid-season outburst that put them as high as third place, regaining the Thomasians’ attention and excitement. But as the UAAP season progress, for unknown reasons, the Tigresses faltered.
A crippling five-set loss to the University of the Philippines in the penultimate regular season game last Feb. 14 was a critical blow. A victory could have assured the Tigresses an automatic Final Four slot, considering their last game was against the winless University of the East.
Another five-set defeat eleven days later in the semifinal playoff against an FEU team the Tigresses handily beat not once, but twice in the season, was the final nail in the coffin.
Outgoing head coach Odjie Mamon, in all his infinite wisdom, couldn’t figure out a way to get into his player’s heads.
In the aftermath of the crucial loss to the Lady Maroons, the embattled coach, who turned the Tiger Spikers into instant title contenders in the men’s division, finally ran out of words to say.
“Masakit sa bangs,” he told sports website Spin.ph.
Mozzy Ravena, who, like Mamon, was a three-time UAAP champion in her days of donning the black and gold, said the current batch of Tigresses lacked fighting spirit.
In an exclusive interview with the Varsitarian, Ravena said that the girls might have lacked heart and the will to win, as cliché as that might sound.
Maybe she was right. Maybe the Tigresses did have shortage in strong will and fighting spirit. Maybe the Tigresses were too nice for their own good.
Don’t get me wrong, being nice is not a bad thing. Connecting with fans and supporters is always a pleasant touch. It shows that players genuinely care. However, come game time, all the attention and focus should be centered at the task at hand.
And that task is to win.
LeBron James, arguably the best basketball player on Earth today, is also perhaps one of the biggest villains in sports. He won back-to-back championships in the last four years after leaving his hometown to form a super team in Miami.
Kobe Bryant, a five-time NBA champion, has been very vocal on how he thrives in playing the villain role, saying he prefers to play on-the-road so he can hush an entire arena. He won three titles in enemy territory.
Christian Laettner of Duke University, one of the greatest collegiate players in U.S. National Collegiate Athletic Association history and the face of evil for everyone except for the students in Durham, perhaps said it best in the ESPN 30 for 30 film aptly titled I Hate Christian Laettner: “I’m sorry if people think sports is this goody-goody like we’re sitting in church, it’s not. It’s competitiveness, it’s intensity, it’s passion.”
Sometimes in sports, one must embrace being a villain to be successful for it is not a fairy tale anyway. No good team in their right state of mind would hand over a victory so the other side could have a feel good moment and live happily ever after.
Probably the best local collegiate example I can think of is the Ateneo de Manila University Lady Eagles, the now back-to-back UAAP women’s volleyball champions.
Their villainous and relentless approach allowed them to score a sensational sweep of this year’s tournament. They show no signs of slowing down for Season 78.
The Tigresses need to have that same fire and intensity to finally go over the hump. Ironically, the team needs to start emulating its rookie, Cherry Rondina.
In an otherwise painful and forgettable season, Rondina stood out for UST with her immense amount of passion inside the court, serving as an effective spark off-the-bench.
At the very least, that is what the Tigresses lacked and that is what they sorely need.
The UST Golden Tigresses need to let go of their inhibitions and embrace the dark side.
As Greg Popovich famously said to his world champion San Antonio Spurs in the playoffs a couple of years back, “I need to see some nasty.”
I was extremely nervous when UST’s lead in the overall title race evaporated into thin air. I thought, like my two predecessors, I was a jinx.
The UAAP coverage for Season 77 had a lot of highs and lows. When we go to arenas for free to witness the greatness of our fellow Thomasians, we were also witnesses when they are at their most vulnerable after a crushing defeat.
UST finally capturing that elusive 40th title validated that all the crazy weekends of an insane amount of breaking news and the missed time with family, friends and loved ones was all worth it.
