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Green Journal: Jason Perkins v.5

In this penultimate Green Journal, Jason Perkins talks about basking in the euphoria of the UAAP championship they won this season among other things. Heading over to Bacolod to celebrate the Maskara Festival, Perkins also talks about the local crowd and the native food, particularly their famous Chicken Inasal. He also talks about how the feeling of winning a championship is like and how words are not enough to describe it. It’s been a whirlwind two weeks for Perkins and with the UAAP basketball season over, he is looking forward to visiting his family in the United States. 

Bacolod was really fun. My favorite food there was the Chicken Inasal, I probably had like nine or ten while we were there over the weekend.

The first time I went to the street, there was a ton of people. They were congratulating us and they were taking pictures.  We met up with the mayor and he gave us security, so we had security guards and all. I didn’t know the UAAP would be that big all the way in Bacolod, but with the way they’d cheer for us, it was really cool. Going down the bus, they just kept chanting “La Salle Champions” many times.

It’s been a lot of fun these past two weeks. I’ve been hanging out with my friends, eating a lot and today’s the first day I’ve gone back to the gym since the championship. It’s been tiring with all the TV appearances but they’re all fun. I remember hanging out with friends till late at night and we’d have to wake up at 4:30 am but it was cool too cause I didn’t expect to be on TV. It was tiring going around but I’d rather wake up knowing that I won the championship rather than waking up feeling tired knowing I lost the game.

The thing I’ll miss the most from the UAAP I guess is the environment, the atmosphere. It’s hard to explain or even describe. During Game Three, I wasn’t scared at all, I wasn’t nervous. I didn’t think that we would lose at all, when we were down 15. Like what Coach Juno [Sauler] said, basketball is a game of possessions. We took it one possession at a time. There was one point though, when I thought about the chance of losing, being down 15 and all, but you’re not supposed to think negatively about it. During the game, I remember sitting down when we were down 15 points thinking, “Man, I’d much rather be up by 15 than down 15.” Our last game was also the second game I didn’t eat a Belgian Waffle before a game. The first time was during Game One, when we lost, but I guess it didn’t matter in Game Three.

When the buzzer sounded, it was surreal. I really wanted to do this for my mom. When Karim [Abdul] missed that shot, I sprinted down the floor, and I hugged Kib [Montalbo]. I just started slapping the floor for like ten seconds because, in the words of Coach Juno, it was my choice! At that time, I didn’t know why I was doing it but I guess it was just my choice!

The best moment though was when I was hugging my mom after winning. Like she said, “You did it, you did it for your dad,” so it felt like a big wave was lifted off my back because I put in all this work. I really sacrificed a lot for this so I felt really blessed especially with everything that happened going to the championship, from Jeron [Teng] making that winning shot [against Ateneo], Almond making his [winning shot in the third game of the finals] and [Roi] Sumang [of UE] missing that free throw [forcing overtime, one that the Green Archers would win]. So yeah, I really felt blessed.

Actually, during Animo Night, after the event, I turned around and the Jollibee Mascot was there so I just gave him a hug. They took the Aloha Burger off the menu so they gave me their new burger, the bacon mushroom one. The craziest part was walking out and seeing the crowd. All I could see was just black, it was all flashing lights, and it was crazy. I wasn’t expecting to dance, but it was fun, seeing all the Lasallians old and new. They take their basketball really seriously. That’s why I’m really happy I came to school here, because of the alumni, all the students, the teachers, it’s like one big family. They’re really supportive. Even when I’m out they’ll go out and say “Congratulations, good job.”
LA [Revilla] is a big part of our squad. No one will be able to fill in LA’s shoes, to do what he did. He’s a really good player, a really smart one. But most of all, he’s a great leader and everyone looks up to him.
This offseason, I’m working on my shot, because I want my shot to be more consistent. I want to work on my midrange shot and maybe even lose a few pounds. I got to around 260 pounds right now, and I actually went to the gym today and after 10 minutes I got tired so I’m going back soon and I promised myself I’d lose around 40 pounds so that I can get better. I wanna be more athletic, grab more rebounds, gain more conditioning so next year, I’ll come back a lot better than this year.
I don’t really shoot threes but I guess the ones that go in are pretty tsamba. I only shoot like twice a game and when I miss my first shot, I don’t bother shooting again. When I shoot I don’t really think about it. Coach Juno just tells me to shoot whenever I’m open and I guess I got lucky shooting a high percentage.
I wanna see my family and I wanna travel so I’m going to head home to Minnesota. And then, maybe I’ll head on over to Vegas, maybe New York or California, cause I’ve got family over there. I’m really excited for the [Minnesota] Timberwolves, I hope they make it this year. Aside from them, I’m also rooting for the Brooklyn Nets this year.
The PCCL (Philippine Collegiate Champions League) is gonna be a good experience. When I first got to play here, we played against some NCAA teams and they were physical teams, so it’s going to be exciting playing them. It should be fun.
I just wanna shout out and my say thanks to my teammates, my coaches, my managers, my classmates, the alumni, my professors, my family, the students. They were all behind us in this one and were with us all the way. Without them, we wouldn’t be where we are right now.

***

Who exactly is Jason Perkins? Find out about the Green Archers’ recruit at this link:http://thelasallian.com/2013/06/11/green-gallery-jason-perkins-the-hefty-lefty/

Read the first release of Perkins’ journal here:

http://thelasallian.com/2013/07/10/green-journal-jason-perkins-v-1/

The second part of Perkins’ journal follows here:

http://thelasallian.com/2013/08/02/green-journal-jason-perkins-v-2/

The third installment of Perkins’ journal:

http://thelasallian.com/2013/09/12/green-journal-jason-perkins-v-3/

The fourth edition of Perkins’ journal:

http://thelasallian.com/2013/09/30/green-journal-jason-perkins-v-4/

And a few words from the mother of the standout Green Archer in her version of the Green Journal:

http://thelasallian.com/2013/10/14/green-journal-jennifer-perkins/

Perkins will continue writing his journal for The LaSallian. You can follow the rest of his journey at http://thelasallian.com

Gio Gloria

By Gio Gloria

10 replies on “Green Journal: Jason Perkins v.5”

With all your hard work and perseverance, you definitely deserve that victory. Kudos to you for wanting to improve and be an even better player next year! We all support you and the rest of the team. Thank you for a wonderful season. Animo! 🙂

You are BIG help to the team Jason.Thank you for choosing La Salle as your school. Stay humble and I believe you could get better and better.God Bless.

Bud, your 18 rebounds during game 3 was the unsung catalyst for the comeback. I was watching you in particular and you almost single-handedly brought the team back with your hustle. We owe you a lot! Thank you for bringing back the championship to La Salle.

Dear TLS, I expected better from you. (To the Perkins fans, I’m not talking about him so relax). I’m talking about TLS itself and TLS should know exactly what I’m talking about. The truth behind these green journals… SMH. I’m surprised you haven’t been sued.

Hello anonymous!

I’m sorry I can’t address you by your name because you didn’t indicate, but we’d like to continue this discussion with you to clarify whatever might be troubling you. Feel free to send us an email at [email protected] or you can also send us a message through our Facebook page here https://www.facebook.com/TheLasallian if that suits you. For your information, we meet up with Mr. Jason Perkins monthly to discuss what’s written in these journals. We can provide you with screen caps of text messages, voice recordings and we even took this picture (http://instagram.com/p/fzRBsLq0ai/) yesterday. The entire organization would appreciate an email or a message from you to help us understand whats troubling you.

Cheers!

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