Blonde2Back2Back

First time since I started watching THE UP PEP SQUAD at the UAAP Cheerdance Competition, I am sure that they have bagged the crown even if FEU and UST have yet to perform. It was mentioned before that if they deliver a flawless routine, God-willing, then they'll have it in the bag. And they did. The UP crowd went wild while those from the other schools fell into silence, awestruck perhaps? Nevertheless I think it was clear that the UP Pep meant business when they performed their Madonna-inspired routine. To the extent of dyeing their hair blonde. Again, "Ang PEP ng bayan" lived up to their monicker of being the pioneer of reinventions and creativity. New formations, tosses, partner stunts, and tumbles were introduced. One male pep was even lifted by another male pep, that's strength at its finest. Less gimmick, more athleticism. That's the secret formula of winning 1st place. Also, UP Pep Squad won the inaugural Group Stunts Competition beating out NU and FEU for the title. And to complete the Grand Slam, UP PEP Nesza Salvador won this year's Samsung Stunner. Way to go girl!

Here's the clearest video I've seen at youtube. Credit goes to the owner.

2011 UAAP Cheerdance Champions: UP PEP SQUAD. Watch it in HD!

As for the rest of the teams, here's my take. Please note that reviews are based on what I've seen LIVE! Order of the teams is based on their final rankings.

DLSU ANIMO SQUAD:  I was really surprised when Boom Gonzales called them 1st runner-up. And I believe all schools, except DLSU of course, were surprised too. But then again, maybe the judges saw something that we didn't. For me, their routine was just okay. No toss nor pyramid was really memorable, well except the one time a girl was thrown really far. Just saw it in replay. Costume was okay, ala Robin Hood nga daw. But still, I think their 2nd place finish was questionable. PERSONAL RANK: 6th

FEU CHEERING SQUAD: I always consider FEU as the closest competitor there is for UP. UST has long lost its cheerdance dominance. And before the cheerdance hype even started, FEU has made it clear that they're in it for the crown this year. The start of their routine was really really strong. They lived up to their Indian theme. Their tosses were good, partner stunts were solid. But towards the end of their routine, you can see minor errors until the left side of their last major pyramid fell. That really costed them points and later on the championship. Nevertheless, my respect for them is still there and I know that next year, they'll give UP a good fight.  PERSONAL RANK: 3rd

UST SALINGGAWI DANCE TROUPE: UST has been known for their dominance at the UAAP CDC having won 8 titles, 5 of which are consecutive. But lately, they've been showing less eagerness to win by displaying below par routines by Salinggawi standards. This year was no difference. Yes, they can still dance, tumble, fly. But the WOW factor was not anymore present. It's as if they've been sending their team B to compete. And having the same fate as two years ago, they've been booted out once again from the Top 3. I hope UST SDT go back to their drawing boards and reflect how they did it 5 years in a row during the early 2000.  PERSONAL RANK: 4th

ADAMSON PEP SQUAD:  Adamson was first to perform and they wasted 6 minutes of our time. I dunno whatever happened to the dark horse that is Adamson during the early 2000. They've been knocking on the Top 3 doors every so often and even managed to crack in one time. But the past 3 or 4 years, they've been giving us unimpressive routines. Yesterday's routine was completely forgettable. I just hope they've put back their signature carousel throw. That may bring back the glory days to their school.  PERSONAL RANK: 7th

NU PEP SQUAD:  Since Henry Sy bought this school, funds went in just to modernize everything including their Pep. Seeing their costumes, ala Rodeo, you know that they were there to win. But costumes are not everything there is to bag the crown. You need to have the skills. And they showed us skills. NU has improved tremendously by giving us a near flawless routine, fast transitions from one pyramid to another, and the skyhigh throws. That's why we were really surprised that they didn't even place. When FEU was called 3rd place, we were already shouting NU for 2nd. FEU even joined us in cheering for them. But we were wrong. I hope NU again show us next year that they are the dark horse to enter the Top 3.  PERSONAL RANK: 2nd

ATENEO BLUE BABBLE BATTALION:  Ateneo has shown us that they can beat anyone if they put their hearts into it. This year they had a good concept, even if they shared it with FEU. But they failed to sustain it all throughout their routine. But I really like two parts of it, one was the A formation. It was really cool. Then the magic carpet ride. It brought back memories to their 2009 routine when they did the moonwalk. Personally, I still think they were better than DLSU.  PERSONAL RANK: 5th

UE PEP SQUAD:  Completely forgettable.  PERSONAL RANK: 8th

Again, these are just my personal opinions based on what I've seen live. I just hope that next year all schools will level up one notch or more so that they can give us a really good show.

And I would just like to thank all the schools who cheered for UP after they were announced winners. Yes, even UST was cheering for us and even sang UNIBERSIDAD on our behalf. In return, UP cheered GO USTE. It was really heartwarming seeing all schools satisfied with the results. Thanks guys!

Back2Back2Black

In a few hours all roads will lead to Araneta Coliseum for the annual UAAP Cheerdance Competition. Squads from the 8 member schools will cheer, dance, tumble, and fly for the much coveted title. And this year, defending champions (and heavy favorites ehem!) UP pep Squad goes BLACK for Back2Back!

UP PEP SQUAD bagged 6th title

Ooohhh. Thanks to our workload I forgot to blog the 2010 UAAP Cheerdance results. Tsk tsk. Thanks to my trusted Lumix DMC-FZ35, was able to capture the routines in HIGH DEFINITION!!!

UP Pep Squad - Champion (Fiesta Theme - 440.9 points or 88.18%)





FEU Cheering Squad - 1st Runner-Up (Samurai Theme - 421.4 points or 84.28%)





UST Salinggawi Dance Troupe - 2nd Runner-Up (White Tiger Theme - 407.5 points or 81.50%)





Congrats again UP Pep Squad. I must say everything was worth it. Cheerdance over my supposedly Bohol trip. P1000 Patron seat tickets from scalpers. UP Pride! UP FIGHT!

For complete set of videos, visit my YOUTUBE site.

JB and UAAP

Just double go large any burger meal and get a free limited edition UAAP tumbler of your choice like this one...

UP Fight!

wear white, UP Fight! 2010

Exactly 7 days from now, all roads lead to Araneta Coliseum for this year's UAAP Cheerdance Competition. So can the FEU Cheering Squad successfully defend their title? Or will our UP Pep Squad bring back the crown to Diliman? Can the Ateneo Blue Babble Battalion prove us wrong that last year's 2nd Place finish was pure luck? And can the La Salle Animo Squad keep up with the competition given that their archrival have already placed last year? Or will UE, AdU, NU break all odds and win this year? Oh yeah, and will UST Salinggawi Dance Troupe continue their streak of being out of the winner's circle? How I wish. =)

My fearless forecast for this year's top 3: UP Pep Squad, FEU Cheering Squad. Last spot is a toss-up among Ateneo, La Salle, and UST. By the way, my top 3 is in no particular order. But I'm praying that it will be.

So if you wanna support our beloved UP Pep Squad...

UP fair 2010

 The U.P. Diliman 
University Student Council 
presents 

The UP FAIR 2010

MUSIKABATAAN 
para sa Pagbabago, 

Halalan Natin 'To!

This year, the USC is putting a different spin on the UP Fair,
as each night will feature a national issue as part of
the youth agenda in the 2010 national elections:
environment, good governance, gender equality,
genuine land reform, human rights and national sovereignty.

Be part of the biggest youth 
advocacy concert and campaign!

Tuesday February 9 - SISFIRE - Juan, Vote!

UP Sigma Beta Sorority and UP Economics Society bring you Sisfire7: Juan, Vote! Get ready to shout it out at the major advocacy concert of the year, SISFIRE7: JUAN VOTE!, a campaign to encourage citizens--particula rly the youth--to exercise their right to vote.

Wednesday, February 10 - WARFAIR - Alert The Armory

UP Alpha Sigma Fraternity presents Alert The Armory on February 10.

Thursday, February 11 YESTHURSDAY

UP Circle of Entrepreneurs presents a concert advocating peace and paying tribute to the 90's music.

Friday, February 12 - RAKESTRA - Harmony Amidst Chaos

UP Beta Epsilon presents Harmony Amidst Chaos on February 12.

Saturday, February 13 - YOUTHSTOCK - Rock, Role, Rights!

UP Diliman University Student Council along with the EMC² Fraternity presents Youthstock: Rock, Role, Rights on February 13. Rock for our Rights!

Sunday, February 14 - LOVERAGE - Illumine Nation

Adelfe Enu Crea Sorority, Pan Xenia Fraternity, UP Circuit, and UP 49ers presents Illumine Nation on February 14. Youth as agents of good governance: Imagine a brighter Nation.

2009 UAAP CDC: in a nutshell

For cheerdance fanatics, the second Sunday of September is always a red-letter day in their calendars. It's the time in the UAAP season when basketball takes a backseat and cheers alongside the whole studentry for their school's pep squads. Season 72 marked another year when the UP Pep will face their most notorious adversary, the UST Salingawi Dance Troupe. Just like the DLSU Green Archers to the ADMU Blue Eagles, UP and UST have been bitter enemies on the rubber mats for the longest time. Even their fans, students and alumni, share the same feelings towards one another.

So how did the schools perform?

The FEU Cheering Squad finally got hold of the championship after several years being in 3rd place. This was made more special since they were the hosts for Season 72. They got a score of a whopping 86.1%. The FEU Cheering Squad has been known for their consistency and fluidity of movements, as shown throughout their routine. I must say that their liftees (dunno what you call them) have been phenomenal while on air, having done different difficult tosses and turns, even perfecting the scorpion popularized by the UP Pep and adding complicated moves such as the famed toe-to-chin move. Nonetheless, this championship I give to the FEU Cheering Squad. One championship I wasn't even bitter to accept. They really deserved this spot this year. Can't wait to see how they'll be defending it next season.

I've always believed in the Ateneo Blue Babble Battalion eversince Coach Randell took over. They've been knocking on the Top 3's door for the past 2 years, even surprising myself that they weren't able to barge in two years ago (in a highly contested result). But this year was also Ateneo's year, what with their MBT leading the basketball tourney, the Blue Babble Battalion finally entered the elusive Top 3, even beating the the top contenders UP Pep and the UST SDT. They won first runner-up with a score of 83.4%. Their routine was clean, though a much simpler one compared to last year's top 3. But then again, their error-less routine gave them the judges' nods and the 2nd place. I really liked the moonwalk though.

A bitter-sweet season for the UP Pep Squad. A should-have-been 3-peat deligated them down to 3rd place with a score of 83.1% (yes, just .3% shy off the Ateneo's score). The UP Pep Squad has been known for innovating the sport, having introduced concept cheerdance with their synchronized swimming, taebo, philippine games, etc. But they left a much much bigger expectation that they will surpass their last two routines which gave them the championship the past two years. I say that the UP Rock concept is still their best routine ever, followed by their Tribu concept last year in time for the Centennial. This year's theme though was made especially for the whole UP community, reflecting the UP culture as known and experienced only by the true Iskolars. I say that the ikot-toki jeep slash UP seal has been phenomenal, didn't expect that it would transform into anything actually. The inclusion of the sablay gave me goosebumps ( and I will proudly say that I liked their costume this year, plaid shorts and all). Well, they chose difficulty over accuracy, a risk they clearly paid bigtime. A lot of errors were caught up by the judges and this clearly reflected in their final score. But still, I'm very proud of our UP Pep Squad. Even with so many errors, the judges still credited the difficulty in their routines. And I can't wait to see them perform next year and snatch that crown back to Diliman. Though next year's competition will surely be a match-up not only with FEU, UP, and UST. With Ateneo having placed this year, I'm pretty sure the other schools will put sweat and blood to their routines in trying their luck to take any place. I say, may the BEST squad win!

You can watch the other squads' routines by CLICKING HERE.

wear WHITE, UP FIGHT!

Finally, I got my ticket for the UAAP Cheerdance Competition Season 72! I'll be able to watch it upclose this year. Hopefully I won't jinx my beloved PEP! And as if it wasn't enough, I got my ticket from an FEU dancer. Well I said goodluck to them naman so ok na yun. But I'm feeling that the crown will stay in Diliman this year! LOL

WEAR WHITE, UP FIGHT!!!

win #3

NEWS ALERT! NEWS ALERT!


Headline bukas, ngayon ang blogcast!

The UP FIGHTING MAROONS just gave the DLSU GREEN ARCHERS and Coach Franz Pumaren their 4th consecutive loss, 83-78.

Correct my statistics if I'm mistaken, the last time UP beat La Salle was in 2004? And the last time UP beat DLSU and ADMU in one season was 14 years ago (1995). Now that's sweet!

Looking forward to watching at least one live game (hopefully against Ateneo!).

battle of katipunan

All the odds were against the Fighting Maroons:

... 3-0 vs. 0-3

... league leader vs. cellar dweller

... defending champs vs. 2nd from last

... even in the crowd, Ateneans outnumbered the Iskolars

Practically everything and everyone were against us. Even me. I was confident that were on our way to another 0-14 record. Not really a pleasant thing to expect but the way the Maroons were playing the past 3 games, it's as if history repeats itself.

Then luck knocked on UP MBT's dugouts. Like David vs. Goliath, the UP Fighting Maroons beat the Ateneo Blue Eagles 68-58. This win practically gave us renewed hope. Hey, maybe the boys can win after all. Just when everyone lost hope, they showed us that they're still here. Still fighting. Personally, I was proud (again) of our MBT. Sana lang wag maging 1-13 to. Itodo na natin sa 11-3!

Just like what the article from the inboundpass website said, KATIPUNAN HAS INDEED A NEW KING! Well at least for the first round. =)

By the way, I like the new black jersey. Para sakin maangas! Gotta get one of this...

2008 UP stat alumni homecoming

Last December 6, all roads (for Stat alumni that is) lead to the UP Bahay ng Alumni for the UP School of Statistics Alumni Homecoming. And as usual, we were late. Thanks to our addiction to Timezone and the movie Four Christmases. Personally, I was a bit disappointed that I wasn't able to watch UP Pep. I was literally running from the parking space of the venue towards the front steps of the Bahay ng Alumni. But to no avail, we were late. Really late. AARRRGGGHH!

Nonetheless, I enjoyed the night, Seeing familiar faces, even faces I'd rather not see. Nyahaha. Seriously, it was nice seeing people from the HIGHER BATCHES haha!

I just have a few angst, other than not seeing my beloved PEP. First, well we didn't win any prize from the raffle. Sayang yung SAS license worth 100k! Pwede na ding ibenta yun haha! The food was stale (even the iced tea na lasang gulaman), hindi pa nirefill so hindi nakatikim ng pasta yung iba. Pero masarap yung leche flan! At yang pledge na yan! Grrr! hahaha. Hindi kami prepared. Di sana nakapagwithdraw kami ng mas malaki. *joke lang *

And syempre, ang sakit pa din ng baba ko Rosalia! Para akong in-uppercut. Yun nga lang ulo ang ginamit! Waaah!

Here are some pichurs (especially with the higher batch hehe).

Pero ang pinaka-enjoy eh yung inuman session after. Thanks Carsh, Sab, and Char (not to be confused with Cher, the singer). Sobrang no-holds-barred Q&A sating lahat. Sa uulitin.

siglo

Uhmm...

It all started when Chummy emailed the pic of the latest UP Siglo jacket design. Dati ko pang gustong bumili pero Thursdays 4pm-6pm lang daw sila nagbebenta. USC kasi ang in-charge dito. Before, so-so lang kasi yung designs so ok lang kahit hindi pa ako makabili. Not until I saw the latest design and heard that the Eheads wore this during their concert prep.

Since the cats are away, nag-undertime na ako para lang umabot sa call time. From San Miguel Avenue, I hailed a cab papuntang Diliman. It's a good thing hindi masyadong traffic sa White Plains. Medyo natraffic lang ako sa Katips. Sabi ko na lang baka nagchampion na Arrrheneo! hehe. So ayun, after more than 30minutes and P160 sa fare, I was infront of the USC office sa Vinzon's Hall.... And then AAARGGGHHH!!! Sa CHK daw magbebenta today. Eh napaalis ko na yung taxi. And hindi ako sigurado kung yung Ikot jeep eh dumadaan pang CHK. At umuulan na!!! Takte talaga! For the love of UP!

Pagdating ko sa gym eh medyo mahaba na pila. Sila may payong...ako may hoodie! Ayun so nakipila na ako. Then nakiusap na lang ako dun sa matandang may kasamang taga UPIS na pipila ako sa likod nila pero sisilong lang ako since wala nga akong payong at ang hoodie ko eh hindi water resistant. Ayun buti na lang mabait at pumayag. 5 minutes... 10 minutes... 15 minutes... anakngtokwa! Bakit ang bagal. Bago pala bumili eh sukat sukat muna. Putek!

Eh walang pila sa lanyard so sabi ko bibili na ako. Buti na lang. Syempre ingles-inglesan ako kunwari. Sabi ko "Uhmm, where do I buy the lanyard?", "Do I need a UP ID to purchase the jaket?". Ayun nakabili na ako ng lanyard then tinry ko ulit charm ko. Haha. I asked kung same ba pila ng black and white jackets since 2 colors ang available. Ayun sabi nga yung mahabang pila eh for the black jacket na nagkataon na XS na lang ang size. So sabi ko white na lang ako. At ang swerte ko kasi walang pumupila sa white kaya ako na ang una. Ayun, I tried the white jacket na S. Medyo malaki so I tried the XS. Swak na swak! So medyo tyumempo ulit ako. I asked if there are sufficient stocks for the black jacket to cover the long line. Eh asa may likod pa yung pila ko. Sabi naman madami daw. So sabi ko pila na lang ulit ako sa black pero kung hindi ako aabot I'll be getting the white one. Pumayag naman so sabi ko pipila na ako ulit. Then sabi nya "Ayaw nyo po bang dito na bumili tutal andito na kayo sa harap?"

*TING*

At sino naman ako para tumanggi sa grasya! And so, after less than 30 minutes, and several English statements, I finally got my very own Siglo black and gold jacket! Samantalang si tatay na sinundan ko sa pila eh nasa likod pa. Nakaka-guilty pero ano ba naman yung isang jacket! Whehehe.