THE INTERNET DIARY

Here’s what I found out…Hope this will connect the dots from the first part of this entry.

Tricia has always been a fan of the UAAP ever since her grade school years… which I thought was a natural thing given that her mom is from UP and her dad is from La Salle, and that the parents will naturally influence their kids as it was the occasional talk of the household. But it was her sisters―one of them an Atenean―who got her into the UAAP craze, and she eventually got convinced to study there because of the college spirit that it brought, especially when it comes to sports. Once she planned to get there, however, she was undecided with what to take. Her mother then convinced her to become a doctor, so that’s what she took up.

Suddenly, there came the news about the auditions for the courtside reporter position. Her sisters ended up watching one of these reporters during a televised event, then quipped: “Hindi mo yan kayang gawin, no?”

Turns out… #challengeaccepted.

She thought it would be a way for her to get close to her dad… and it would also be a way for her to forge a close bond with the basketball team. But she never expected anything. In fact, she almost ditched the application process, but she did it anyway because it would be a waste given that she had already printed her application forms…

Lo and behold, after a few grueling callbacks, she got the spot. Her fam was so surprised when they heard the news. Even the netizens caught the buzz:

But there is another problem: There was already another courtside reporter for Ateneo. She had to be assigned somewhere else. Guess where she got placed…

National University.

It was Season 76.

At that time, National University was just forging their path to greatness, with the very hurdle being the men’s basketball tournaments, as they haven’t had any recent wins to their belt. She did admit that getting assigned there wasn’t really easy, as it will tear anyone into pieces having their loyalties tested. She also needed to build trust with the Bulldogs, given that she’s a fan of her Alma Mater’s basketball team.

It took a painful while. She nearly got embarrassed when she sometimes mixed up the names, mistaking the Bulldogs with the Blue Eagles, and ended up with a few crying fits because she just wants to deliver but she felt like it wasn’t working out or she couldn’t perform at her best…

She made efforts nonetheless. It took fruit.

And a few mild teases and inside jokes be damned…the whole NU community appreciated her for it. Suddenly, they began to treat her as one of their own.

She gave her all in every report; they gave her the support she needed…and not just any support: it was something that she will carry beyond the courts for the rest of her life.

But that mutual forge didn’t gain them any wins…yet. It only made them a step closer to the goal. They still made it to the final four of the men’s basketball team, only to lose in the semis. The ladies got to the basketball finals, only to lose to the Lady Archers. They still got the men’s volleyball championship, though…and then the CDC title.

There came the talks for Season 77. She almost quitted, not because she thought bad of her performance but because she was about to start Med School, which may mess up her priorities. The NU coach, however, wanted her to stay. He wanted her to witness the win…when it happens.

There really is something about her...there must be.

She did stay… making sure to keep getting better for the next season...

It turned out to be one of the best decisions of her life.

In spite of the huge changes, and with the team losing some of their stars, the men’s basketball team finally got the championship title that season. Some of the NU students and fans eventually believed that her staying once again for this season―the last season of her UAAP courtside career―helped them win the championship title, (as mentioned) the first in 60 years…

They finally gave her the monicker: “Lucky Charm.”

This is just one of the many spectators... Lemme add another one:

HALA: May nalungkot pa nung malaman na last day na niya... :(

Suddenly... The NU Memes page began to make do with this caption of her... (may comment pa si Tricia, in fair! Find her verified account from the sea of 13 comments...)

...and finally... the National University FB page made it official...starting on my brother's birthday.

Three days later...

And even a year later, may pa-flashback pa ang NU Memes... but the original link from ABS-CBN sports is broken already. I'll give you the backup link in the end.

Three years later...and it's still felt.

And BTW, who wouldn’t forget her CDC Crowd Check?

DAYUMN. She looked SOOOOOOOO cool. (Fun Fact: I think I watched this video several times and I just can’t unsee it again everytime it appears on my feed... because so far, this was the only video proof of her on-court action on YT... so would I thought.)

Is it also safe to say that she also made them a two-peater…even if she ain’t part of that CDC team and that she only was there to report courtside?

But that would be up to the spectators of that time to judge. I digressed.

Save the best for her last, I guess...

Pero teka, may mga pahabol pa: While she will no longer report courtside, she eventually ended up interviewing the newest batch of courtside reporters for the next season, with…who is that guy? (No offense: I really don’t know him. Fill me in.*)

I was hoping that these series of posts will be able to get me out of this near-obsession and get this thing over with, but I know that my thirst for her on-courtside adventures won’t be quenched that easily, given that some of the media that was supposed to be available―especially the videos―weren’t there. Like I said, all I have are some articles, social media posts, and a few blogs that had featured her...

Or I may have yet to find them. (Just realized I need to step out of Youtube to find the gold― they have the whole game videos on Dailymotion… and I realized that I need to listen to that Pod Prospects episode… maybe I can get a little more info and some clarifications, as I wanted to dig further.)

But any final words?

I’ll probably leave you with her so-called CSR valedictory address (initially featured on the ABS-CBN website, which may summarize her entire journey…) and after this, I’ll try to put the whole darn thing to rest.

Still, I hope that I’ve bled everything there is to bleed in this entry…

Kahit na sobrang huli na ako sa balita.

Fingers crossed.

This is actually a very long post, so I'll divide the whole thing into a few parts. Here is the first.

Make no mistake about it: this whole thing isn’t supposed to be about politics.

Then again, I won’t be able to write about it―let alone discover this whole thing―had it not been for the upcoming 2022 elections in the Philippines.

I may have to tell a bit about my life back then―and the events associated with it―before I get to the main subject of this feature. So bear with me, please.

Considering the timelines and the circumstances surrounding our lives back then, it’s safe to say that we ain’t relatable…at first.

First of all, I went to college from 2008 to 2012. Also, coming from Philippine Normal University―which is a state university―our collegiate sports has a different name: The State Universities and Colleges Athletics Association (SCUAA). SCUAA ain’t as hyped as, say, NCAA…or, in this case, the UAAP (more about this later), but don’t get me wrong: the college spirit in each SCUAA season can be just as intense. While I may not remember the exact time when these things happened, I do have some fond memories of my own:

I wasn’t able to join the field demonstration due to dengue fever, which caused me to be out of action for at least a week. Yes, folks: we do have field demonstrations during the start of the SCUAA season (if I remember it correctly), wherein all of us students are supposed to dance at the field in coordinated fashion. It was my first year as a BS Biology* major. Still, how I wish I was able to―long hot days, hotheaded instructors and other priorities be damned, because it was still fun. Our school was able to win the field demonstration that year. (*Back then, PNU offered two types of science courses apart from the usual ones under Bachelor in Secondary Education (BSE). These were categorized as BS (Science) for Teachers―BS Biology, BS Mathematics, BS Physics, and BS Chemistry, to name a few. The courses were usually composed of purely field-related subjects, but later on, education units were also added for those who also wanted to pursue teaching. Because of the changes brought about by the K to 12 system, PNU no longer offers these courses.)

A few years later when I finally get to warm up with my classmates (considering how introverted and [a bit] immature I was), some of us managed to explore Sta. Mesa to check out school events during another SCUAA season. I think we went to both EARIST and PUP for two separate events, with the more notable being that basketball event at PUP. Our alma mater wasn’t competing in that basketball event; it was PUP in their home court vs. RTU. I can remember this clearly, because we were sitting in one corner to watch the games, and it was a few minutes leading up to the finish. The next thing we knew, many of us in the audience hurriedly went outside the court; some of us―myself included―got clumped into the restrooms. “What was happening?” I asked the fellow spectators. From the mild screams and the looks on their faces, it seemed like a commotion had taken place. I walked a little forward. I heard some jeers in the court. Next came glimpses of chairs and large water bottles being thrown to the other side of the court. My goodness: may bardagulan palang nagaganap...

Fortunately, it only lasted a few seconds until someone from the PUP camp had to appease the enraged crowd. No injuries were reported as far as I can recall, but I’m not that sure who won the game. Would that even matter in this case?

So there you have it: my own SCUAA moments. Still, that doesn’t mean I have no idea what the UAAP is. I should have some idea, because the UAAP is often seen on television, especially when the three major events are concerned: basketball, volleyball, and the cheerdance competitions (CDCs). Truth be told, though, I wasn’t really interested in the UAAP, even up ‘till now. Still, the news surrounding each and every season is everywhere from the television sets to the online world and even through some of my classmates’ conversations that even I cannot deny it. During my college years, however, the topic always falls on the same banana: The La Salle Green Archers vs. the Ateneo Blue Eagles. It didn’t even matter if I know the latest UAAP standing, if one of them clinches the title or even make it to the final four: it’s always been chaos everytime these two teams collide.

Flash forward to 2013–2015. I was now working as an editorial staff for at least two educational publishing companies, including the current one. I’m still not interested in the whole UAAP thing, but I caught news that the tides have changed. While the presence of the Blue Eagles and the Green Archers still permeates the major events of the season, a few other names have been hyped up. UST, also a UAAP favorite, managed to come to the finals roster of men’s basketball once again, much to the obvious delight of the Thomasians. They fell short to the Archers, nonetheless.

The surprise in all of this? The emergence of the National University Bulldogs. (Because of my lack of interest in the UAAP, I knew writing this article needs a little research on my part, and so far, Wikipedia is the nearest accurate source that I have as far as the stats are concerned. Fill me in if you must.)

I knew that National University had already existed way back, but I had no idea of their presence in the UAAP until that time, so I wasn’t able to witness how they progressed starting from Season 75, as they managed to make it to the men’s basketball top 4. The volleyball events were a bit more impressive, as they managed to clinch the men’s championship title while they managed to make it to the women’s semis.

Turns out, I haven’t seen nothing yet.

That’s just the beginning.

Enter Season 76, and they suddenly become an emerging name in all three televised events. While they only managed to make it to the men’s basketball semis, they made it through the women's finals, only to lose to the Lady Archers. Volleyball events were still a repeat of the Season 75 result. But the CDCs were a breakthrough, as they managed to dethrone the UP Maroons and get the championship title... If that means anything, it's that they may not be the dominant ones for now, but their presence can no longer be denied.

The taste of victory came during Season 77. They finally managed to bag both men’s and women’s basketball titles, with the men’s title being the first in 60 years. They fell short of the volleyball events, though, as they lost in the men’s events to the Blue Eagles. But they managed to keep the Maroons at bay and make a bark-to back finish in the CDCs…

Then again, also as a result of my lack of interest in the UAAP, I have no idea that, in the NU’s beginning rise to prominence, among those lucky witnesses is this courtside reporter who’s also undergoing some life-changing events of her own... as far as her family life is concerned.

Her name? Janine Patricia Robredo… Tricia, for short.

Once upon a time, I did try to create a blog based on my own IG account.

I realized, tho, that Tumblr isn't a very good place to dump it all in. So I made a Blogger account for that.

And while I am trying to record some of my adventures in that blog, I also realized that I wanted to optimize it by learning content writing (which I wanted to pursue part-time, at least)---and give the blog a revamp. I'll show you the improved version of this blog someday soon, posting the link here.

Meanwhile, as I was writing a few journal entries (a welcome, refreshing habit since the COVID-19 pandemic began), I also found out that I've been fond of researching for a few subjects on the internet --- some of them random stuff; others involve a few persons of interest, much to the point of borderline virtual stalking... and it can really drive me nuts.

Then I remembered that Internet Diary that I once made when I transferred to another school.

Blogging wasn't a thing yet, as the world wide web was transitioning to Web 2.0 and our internet access (at least here in the Philippines back then) needs a dial-up connection. I started learning how to use the internet after I watched The Wonder Years through cable television (only three seasons were played on Disney Channel Asia, and then repeated again). I fell in love with the show, that when my mom eventually told me that one of the actors was a math whiz, she told me to search on the computer.

Was that even possible? She told me to search on the Internet Explorer, type the name of each actor, and then when the results come, click some links to find out... (BTW, Yahoo! was my site of choice until years later when Google stepped up.)

And that, my folks, was my crash course on using the internet. The whole thing blew my mind...so much so that I got obsessed and overwhelmed with millions of information, I can get crazy just by looking at these.

Thankfully, I discovered the power of writing... and my ability to harness it. That's when I thought of getting a blank notebook and write whatever the hell I discovered in these search sites. It also became my safe space to write what I learned about the show and its actors...

But it's all in my mind's Recycle Bin now. If I ever restore the whole thing down to each byte, I can just cringe at what my 10- or 11-year-old self was writing. I'll just save it tho, if I ever need to write the good parts. I'll try.

So...what's with the throwback? Well, like I said, I've been researching out of my personal interest about a few recurring themes lately. I need to find a (nearly) safe space to share it. Thus, I'm revamping my Internet Diary, turn a new page, and give it a virtual look.

This will be my space for writing whatever gets me on the net: current events, a few personalities here and there...and expect a few funny or mind-boggling stuff.