Watching Argentina versus Brazil made me think about Filipinos’ collective envy and apathy for world basketball. On one hand, we envy other national teams while they play at such high levels for such high stakes. Nakaka-inggit talaga. On the other hand, we can shrug and say, “Who needs a FIBA World Championship anyway?"
Argentina and Brazil; they’re football countries! Their national players probably ended up shooting basketballs because they were too tall to kick soccer balls. Perhaps they all wanted to be Maradona or Pele, but when you’re Scola or Varejao, football becomes the elusive and basketball turns into the inevitable.
Surely, compared to Argentina and Brazil, the Philippines’ heart beats thrice as fast for basketball. Yet it’s painful to see how teams from soccer-mad countries play “our game" so well. In the first half of their FIBA knockout game, both teams shot over 50% from three-point distance: Argentina 64% (7/11), Brazil 54% (7/13). They made outside shots like they were kicking goals in empty nets. Even if Argentina didn’t have Manu Ginobili, even if Leandro Barbosa didn’t have Steve Nash, the two teams still played like the world’ best.
Argentina and Brazil produce high-caliber NBA veterans. Maradona and Pele stand no taller than Olsen Racela, yet their countries produce NBA-regulation-size big men. Argentina and Brazil, where kids first learn to dribble with their feet than with their hands, inspire more and more sports fans to follow world basketball as well. It’s unfair to hoop zealots like us.
Then again, as a basketball-insane archipelago, we have Ginebra and the barangay that follows the team’s every move. We have Ateneo-La Salle. We have San Beda-Baste. We have Caloy Loyzaga. We have Robert Jaworski. We have our summer neighborhood tournaments. We have our rich basketball history. We have Manny Pacquiao (he plays basketball too). We have our Tuesday night weekly “pampa-pawis" 5-on-5’s. We have courts at every corner. We hear basketballs dribbled even in our sleep. Who needs international validation when the game is already ours?
I can think of several reasons not to pursue global success. It could be cowardice for not wanting to try even harder than we’ve already have. It takes emotional, financial guts to run into possible heartbreak again and again. It could also be contentment. Our century-long relationship with the sport keeps us warm at night.
However, when we witness Luis Scola, who reminds me of Rudy Hatfield if he had Asi Taulava’s height, James Yap’s shooting touch and Lawrence Chongson’s long hair, lead Argentina to victory with 37 points and 9 rebounds (as if having the world’s best footballer in Lionel Messi wasn’t enough) and watch Brazil’s Marcelo Huertas dazzle for 32 points, yes their non-NBA guys are just as good, it seems Filipino basketball fans are left with two choices. We either continue our hunt for the elusive prize, more emboldened than ever, and see how far our ambitions can take us or stay happy, to be at perfect peace, with what we already have.
- Mico Halili
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