WINNING & LOSING....

GRRR......IT'S THE TIGERS!!!! LAST NIGHT, the HANSHIN TIGERS won.... They capped the BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP for the Central League this year. Oh yes, we knew that days [weeks?..no; months? oh yeah!] that the win is inevitable. Why,.... the Team has been leading way ahead of their opponents since the start of the season. THE GIANTS which, btw, is the Team I was rooting for since some years back, stays second to the last. Grrr.... * ALTHOUGH I am not a TIGERS fan, it never stop to amaze me whenever the HANSHIN TIGERS win. The same thing happened a couple of years ago. The river which is in the heart of the city makes for the focal point for fans and spectators alike. YOU SEE, these fans go to the streets and celebrate in wild frenzy. To cap the street celebration, they go and jump to the river. This has caused some death in the past as a result of the stampede. One drunk old manalso jumped and died. ** IN an effort to keep some semblance of order, the police imposed measures to keep law and order. They have threatened to arrest people who'll jump to the river. They have made steel contraptions and put up tall fences to ward off those who would try to jump. ALL THESE MEASURES proved inadequate to contain the wild celebration of HANSHIN fans. AGAIN...last night, fans went to the heart of OSAKA and celebrated. Shops closed early in preparation for the hullabaloo. The police came in full force. The color blue dominated the scene as early as 5:00 p.m. Yet when the game was over, the men in blue were helpless .....NUDE young men jumped from the roof of shops, ..men in boxer shorts jumped to the river, ...some men were dragged from the fence as they prepared to climb it; ....and more.... ALMOST ALL WERE FANS: Fans who were willing to shed some 16 lapad[translated to pesos: 80,000 PhP!!!] for one ticket for that one night game!I call that malaking ka-eng-engan! Why, that amount could feed the whole Barangay in some desperate neighborhood somewhere! *** I understand their joy and happiness of the moment. IMAGINE THE TIGERS wresting it all in homeground at the KOSHIEN [the place where all High School BaseballChampionships are played and where they are eyed for recruitment to become PROs; it is the HOME for Hanshin Tigers, too]. ....and from their long-standing rival: the GIANTS! That spelled double victory, eh? That must have sparked more daring frenzy among the fans. **** MY FRIEND NAOKO, who hails from KANSAI [that part where OSAKA, KOBE, KYOTO, HIMEJI-KEN, NARA are...] was naturally overjoyed and lost her voice shouting and cheering as she gulped cans of beer while watching the Games on TV. Since she is employed in Shizuoka, she has just to content herself with the tube. I doubt whether she feels good today as she tackles her job at the local SHIAKUSHO [CITY HALL]. Poor one, she must be reeling from the hangover... ***** AS FOR ME, I have accepted the fact that sometimes... we can't have everything in life served to us in a silver platter. Oftentimes we can have our cake and eat it, too. On lean days, we might as well be contented with what is on hand. GOD IS GREAT. I MAY NOT HAVE WON THIS TIME, BUT THERE IS ALWAYS TOMORROW TO LOOK UP TO. That much I know.... ****** OMEDETO [CONGRATULATIONS] HIROKO! YOUR TEAM WON! I know you are happy... CONGRATULATIONS HANSHIN!

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