From From PBA-Online.Net
Every Philippine National Team fan would like to hold on
to the thought the Philippines once “dominated” Asia by consistently
participating in the Olympics from 1936 to the early 70s. We also boast that we placed the highest ranking among Asian teams in a World Championship as
we won Bronze in the 1954 Rio de Janiero World Championship.
And if you are a real fan-boy, you would know that way before
Wang Zhizhi or Yao Ming or Yuta Tabuse, there was a Filipino playing in the NBA by the name of Raymond Townsend drafted by the Golden State Warriors in 1978.
(Others would argue that he is more American as he grew up in the States and
his father was American. If that’s your argument then most of our players in
the National Team are not Filipinos.)
But we know the “glory days” are over. We all know
what’s been happening lately. We all experience heartbreak-after-heartbreak in
every FIBA Asia-sanctioned tournament (with the exception of the recent Jones Cup, but that does not really qualify us for anything) mostly in the hands of a South Korean
team.
With every heartbreak, fellow Filipinos would be quick to
judge every fan and every National Team speaking as if they are the “reality
check”. They would say that we should give up Basketball as we have no chance
in that sport pointing out genetics and our height limitations. We should focus on billiards or boxing. And in 2011, the “Azkals bandwagon” grew with some “fans”
bashing basketball. No disrespect, as a fan, I am happy with our success in
other sports, but succeeding in one sport does not translate to forgetting
about one sport that we truly love. And although we have not been winning a significant Asian
tournament recently, let me point out that we’re always one of the top contenders
finishing 4th in the last two FIBA Asia tournaments.
The thing is, we love basketball. That’s that. We are
crazy about it. Almost every Filipino would have an analysis of a basketball game
(and sometimes that could be a disadvantage). Rafe Bartholomew wrote a whole
book on our passion and love for the game. I do not know if it’s the offense-orientedness
of the sport translating to more action or the
team-game-but-with-a-chance-to-showcase-individual-talent-every-time nature of
it but we just love the game! And you can’t tell people to hate what they love.
Love, after all, could be irrational. So even if physically, we are not as
gifted as the other countries, we should not give up on the sport because we
love it. It’s what makes us happy. And besides, although length has a lot to do with the sport, there are other facets of the game that we are great at.
Besides, not every Filipino need to be tall for us to
win. We only need a handful of tall players to represent us. With the
athleticism of the 6’10” Japeth Aguilar, Norman Black’s tutelage of the 7’0”
Greg Slaughter, and the honed moves of the 6’10” June Mar Fajardo all in their
early 20s, pair that with a Naturalized big man, we have a chance to showcase a
tall National team. Let’s just hope that
we would get the breaks and every player needed by the National Team would be
available.
From Smart Gilas
I believe going for something we love is worth all the risks and consequences. Bilog ang bola.
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