Throwback Years, NU-isance No More

MANILA, Philippines - Whatever happens today in the UAAP sudden death between FEU and NU, the Bulldogs shall have come a long way from being the “whipping dogs” of the league, its laughing stock and comic relief.

Until the Sy Family took over some four years ago, the Bulldogs were the doormat, the cellar-dweller, an automatic source of a W for the contending teams.

They were the pre-season “also-ran” if there’s any with no facilities to speak of.

“When it rains, the court gets flooded then,” recalled NU exec Junel Baculi of the campus in an odd spot in Jhocson street in Sampaloc district. It’s stuck out like a sore thumb in the university belt.

And yet the school is steeped in history as one of the founding members of the NCAA in 1938 and finally the UAAP with one title to show in 77 years, gaining the feat in 1954. It made the finals one more time before slipping back into mediocrity, obscurity.

Ironically, the Bulldogs seemed to flourish instead of languish in their misery.

This was one lovable loser. Everybody simply loved the Bulldogs. They perk up the usually drab opening ceremonies with their comedy skit in the 1960s up to the 80s. In fact, fans then looked forward to their opening day show than cared for the results of the games.

Long before the “Cheer Dance” troupe came along there’s the NU ensemble.

They would deliberately deviate from the season’s theme and brought the house down with their skits.

In fact one memorable number came in 1972 when they spoofed the Fischer/Spassky world chess match.

They brought in two tennis judges stands where they seated the two archrivals opposite each other, covered the court with a huge checkered chess board, brought the human pieces in, led by the pawns. They were actually grade school kids bare chested with kundiman red pants rolled to the knees. There was an arsenal of deadly weapons, from toilet sink pumps, to bamboo spears and crude wooden axes.

When “Fischer”called for pawn takes pawn,