Saturday afternoon, the Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles became the first team this season to barge into the Final Four of the UAAP Season 81 Men’s Basketball Tournament.
Though third-year Blue Eagles head coach Tab Baldwin had a task at hand – steering his team past the National University Bulldogs at the SMART Araneta Coliseum – he was also monitoring another game some 11,736 km away.
Over at the Dodgers Stadium, Baldwin’s favorite baseball team the Boston Red Sox were figuring in the longest World Series game against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
And when the Blue Eagles’ game against the Bulldogs tipped off at around 2:10pm, the Red Sox and the Dodgers were locked at 2-all in the 13th inning.
The game ended with a walk-off home run by Max Muncy in the 18th inning. The game winner happened around the eight-minute mark of Ateneo’s tilt versus NU.
“They lost. Saw the score,” Baldwin lamented after Ateneo’s 79-64 victory.
Baldwin, who resides in Massachusetts, is a fan of almost every Boston-based squad except for the New England Patriots.
But even if the Red Sox just figured in a game that lasted over seven hours, the decorated tactician remains confident that his team is still in good shape entering Sunday’s Game 4.
“It was an eighteen-inning game. They don’t feel jetlagged in the States because they don’t travel around the world very much. By the eighteenth inning, it was probably six in the morning in Boston, maybe even seven,” Baldwin shared.
“They probably feel fatigued but they’re pros and that’s their job. I know they’ll be disappointed. Hopefully tomorrow, they bring their bats because they didn’t today.”
For sure, Baldwin will be up early on Sunday morning to cheer his heart out for them.
“Tomorrow, I’ll be cheering on the Sox.”
