Talent & time

By Al S. Mendoza

WE have the talent but, unfortunately, not the time to produce wonders on the world stage.

Talent alone is not enough.  Time is talent’s twin brother always.

The San Miguel-Pilipinas Team was oozing with talent but, alas, it didn’t have time to make talent produce clockwork-precision.

You don’t have time, talent becomes useless.

Players were even absorbing injuries left and right-one reason being that cramming for battles imposes unnecessary pressure on muscle and mind.

Danny Seigle and James Yap were injured before the Tokushima tiff.

Yap was cut from the team but not Seigle. 

When Seigle was dispatched for action, he wasn’t 100 percent well. Expectedly, therefore, he suffered cramps in the game against Iran.

Several others got injured. Tragically, the injuries came when we were fighting Iran, the most dangerous team in our group.  Expectedly, we lost-and Iran went on to top our bracket unbeaten.

You can’t win a battle with hurting men-not to mention aging soldiers like Asi Taulava who, at 34, has seen better days.

We had others to pinch-hit for Taulava–even Seigle. Alas, they weren’t conditioned enough to go long distance.

We’ve been away so long from international competition and we suffered from the nuances of international amateur officiating.

The FIBA-imposed suspension on us lasting nearly three years has taken its toll.

Absence erases cordialities with game officials.

Officially, the dream to return to Olympic basketball in Beijing 2008 is dead.

Very sad, indeed.

And we never learn.

There’s no short cut to success.

No success is ever achieved overnight. 

The lotto jackpot is God-sent.

The hole-in-one feat in golf is God-made.

In basketball, talent becomes useless if time isn’t given equal import.

Our players in Tokushima were guilty of cramming and they had to pay the price.

We prepared four months for Tokushima.

China started preparing for the 2008 Beijing Olympics the very next day the 2004 Olympics ended in Athens.

China sent not a second team but a third team to Tokushima and it went 0-for-3 in the eliminations.

Fine. China had no need for Tokushima. Tokushima was but a second-class scrimmage for its upcoming players.

Times have changed. 

We considered Tokushima our passport to Olympic basketball.

Fine. But we crammed to achieve that dream. Naturally, we lost. You rarely win a game of chance.

Do we still yearn for a return to Olympic basketball? 

If the answer is yes, then the PBA should re-chart its reason for existence.

For a start, the league should embrace a sustained support for the formation of a pool of players to train for the 2010 Asian Games preparatory for the 2012 London Olympics.

Anything less than that would again be suicidal.

The Asian Games is three years away but, again, three years isn’t an eternity.

Time flies–as always.

(For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/general-admission/)

Share your Comments or Reactions

comments

Powered by Facebook Comments