When will we ever learn?

By Jesus a. Garcia Jr.

BASKETBALL lovers who followed the stints of our national squad during the FIBA-Asia Olympic Qualifying Championship in Tokushima, Japan held recently saw how our Asian neighbors Iran and Jordan humiliated and ousted us from the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

        It was really ironic that these two teams, which we used to easily beat during the time of Carlos Loyzaga, Lauro Mumar and even up to the era of Carlos Badion, Robert Jaworski and Tembong Melencio are now trouncing us despite sending our best professional dribblers composed of PBA superstars. First step pa lang tayo, talo na, how much more if we faced the South Koreans, our mortal rival in Asia, then and until now.

        We had two Pangasinenses in the national squad, the seldom used three-point specialist RenRen Ritualo and razzle-dazzle point guard Mark Anthony Caguioa. RenRen is the son of former PBA Great Taste team center, Floreindo, from Pozorrubio while Caguioa, born in America, has his roots in San Carlos City.

        We clearly saw how small we are compared to our Middle Eastern opponents. These cagers obviously vastly improved physically and mentally especially their shooting prowess, and speed despite their tall height and heft. If I compare them to an aircraft, their take off is like the space ship Apollo while we are like the huge jumbo passenger jet, the 747. I guess you know what I mean.

        Why? Is it because they were American or European trained?

        Your answer is also my answer.

        Who were Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Japan, and Taiwan during the 60’s to the 90’s? We used to crush these squads in double digits.

        But look what’s happening now. The tables have been turned. They are moving like the deer while but we move like a goose where improvement is concerned.

        Yes, we beat the Chinese but it was their second string and the Chinese lost all their qualifying matches. Their real nationals skipped the qualifying tourney because they were already assured of a berth being the host of next year’s Olympics. Their team A, composed of composed of two former NBA players seven footers Wang Zhizhi and Yi Jianlian plus Houston Rockets star Yao Ming who is on the sideline recuperating from a foot injury, were sent to join the Stankovic Continental Champions Cup that’s being held at Guangzhou, China.

        I guess itinatago ng China ang pambato nilang koponan for the 2010 Asian Games. That’s how the Chinese are: furtive.

        I recall that it was only the South Koreans before who gave us the headaches for the Asian tiara until the mainland Chinese joined the 1990 Asian Games and Kazakhstan in the 1998 Asiad gave us more woes.

        And who knows, maybe in a few years from now, Syria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and even Kuwait will overtake us in this James Naismith-invented sport because they have the height and soon the speed and shooting skills. That’s a big probability. There is a saying in basketball that goes “height is might.”

        The one thing I observed about these PBA superstars was, the didn’t really want to bang their bodies, thinking that if they do so they could be injured and ruin their career, then mega bucks will then be gone.

        “Wrong sports for Filipinos because Filipinos lack the height,” Mangatarem-based British businessman Robert Dix says every time the RP five loses to a tall foreign team.

        We must believe him because he’s telling the truth.

        My question is, when will we ever learn not to give too much emphasis to this sport at the expense of taxpayers’ money?

        Maybe pagputi na ng uwak. Basketball is still our number one sport.

        We, Filipinos, are pretty weird because we love a game where we cannot universally triumph. To me, we should love basketball here as an entertainment, much like the way the Americans treat wrestling.

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

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