The Games That Play Us: Glory Hand in Hand with Doom

JP Erram -- out for the season. That's all
you need to know.

AdMU BLUE EAGLES over AdU SOARING FALCONS, 79-72

For this week’s English class, my students and I are watching the 2004 film Troy as a doorway to the world of Greek Mythology. Yes, this particular adaptation of Homer’s The Iliad is grossly inaccurate (to say the least) in terms of characterization, but its high production value makes it an engaging first taste of the world populated by heroes, tragic flaws, gods, and goddesses.

In that movie, Thetis advises her son, Achilles, to NOT go to war against the Trojans. She says that though Achilles will find victory and that his name will be remembered, he will also certainly die and never come back home.

In particular, this is what she says, “Your glory walks hand in hand with your doom.”

That paradox is as beautiful as it is apt, for Achilles does find glory in killing many soldiers and slaying Hector, Troy’s greatest hero, but he also finds doom as he dies before the war comes to its end.

In quite a profound way, that particular paradox also currently applies to the Ateneo Blue Eagles.

They won a great, bounce-back victory over the Adamson Soaring Falcons a few days after getting the rug pulled from under them by the UE Red Warriors. The Eagles recovered rather well, albeit a little later than their fans expected.

For a little over 36 minutes, the Falcons, behind the scorching-hot shooting of Eric Camson (SIX threes) and the daredevil exploits of Jericho Cruz, controlled the game. They dictated the tempo and held the lead with as little as 3:44 to go, 71-70.

It seemed like the Eagles were in a bit of a slump, and that no matter what they tried, the Falcons had a suitable counter-punch.

Like they’ve done so many times for Ateneo, however, both Nico Salva and Kiefer Ravena came to the rescue.

The powerful pair combined for the Blues’ last 9 points, while helping limit Adamson to just 1 marker in the last three minutes of the game, as the Katipunan quintet orchestrated a stirring windup.

Salva was the one who really came up big, scoring half of his 24-point output in the fourth quarter. He was commended by Coach Norman Black in the postgame presscon as the multi-titled mentor said that, unlike in the UE game, Nico was able to hit his open jumpers this time around. Coach Norman also mentioned the contributions of substitute PG Nico Elorde, who ended up with 10 points on a perfect 4-of-4 shooting from the field, and he actually rued his decision not to have played Nico much more in the UE game. Based on the five-peat seeking bench tactician, Nico’s toughness would have been very helpful in deflating the Reds’ quick, end-to-end play. All that, of course, was in hindsight.

Despite this Final Four-clinching win, though, not all is well in Loyola. JP Erram fell awkwardly in the second half against Adamson, and reports have confirmed that he has torn his ACL. Needless to say, the former Pilgrim Christian College big man is out for the season, and the Eagles’ five-peat chances nosedive significantly.

This is the doom that goes hand in hand with the glory of win #10. This is the doom that might throw a wrench in all the fifth-straight bonfire plans of many an Ateneo alum.

We’ve all seen how effective Erram has been in both spelling Greg Slaugter and playing alongside the seven-footer. Heck, both of Ateneo’s wins against FEU in the elims happened in no small part because Erram is such a difficutl match-up for the Tams’ burly frontliners. Without his length and athleticism, the Eagles’ frontcourt depth and versatility take a big hit. Justin Chua and Frank Golla will definitely have to raise their games (back to 2010 levels, please), and Salva can ill-afford another ice cold shooting day like the one against UE.

The prospects of the very first five-peat in the Final Four era is still alive and well for Ateneans all over, but the road to glory just got much much tougher.