F&G: March Madness in Marikina

Grace’s parents just left on Sunday night so we’re trying to get back into our regular routines (which will be interrupted for several days as the whole city shuts down for Holy Week). We think they had a nice trip.

One of the evenings they were here we took them to hang out at our neighborhood basketball court, the Barangka community court. For the past few weeks, there have actually been formal games going on, complete with organized teams, announcers, referees, and audience. Normally, there are just lots of children out and about shooting the ball. Since Michael and Grace had just finished reading Pacific Rims, a really fun book about basketball in the Philippines, they were interested in watching a game. We were having trouble scheduling a time to attend a professional game so we opted to just show Michael what we normally see (the shortcut from our apartment to Ateneo campus goes right through the basketball court, so we literally have to walk through a game every time we come and go).

When Grace’s parents came down the game going on was Mabolo versus Tuazon, teams probably named after the street/neighborhood where they lived. Unlike most of the games we watch, the players were all adults, and many had children and families watching from the stands. While the game was really entertaining, lots of very fast play and lots of turnovers, we also really enjoyed listening to the announcer, who regularly had the crowd in stiches. I took several videos of this game, as well as some from other games we’ve walked past over the last week. More pictures are below.

Video 1

This was from the first game of the night, as we were walking over to go get Grace’s parents.

Video 2

This was the game that we actually stayed and watched for a while. Mabolo was a little outclassed by Tuazon, but it was still fun to watch.

Video 3

Halftime was fun, since lots of the neighborhood kids came out to play. Here’s a fun video of one of the players playing with the children.

Video 4

Again, we loved listening to the announcer, so I captured a little bit of his schtick here. One of our favorite lines that he had was “Traveling! No passport, no license!”

Video 5

The next day, Grace and I were walking back and say an organized game featuring two young teams from our neighborhood. The style of play is actually very similar, but the shots don’t go in quite as often.