Author's note: This long-delayed post should have been published three weeks ago, but work and other personal concerns kept me out of commission once again. So, with a long vacation ahead, I'm back with a vengeance once more.
By now, every basketball fanatic in the Philippines would have been aware of the ill fate that befell our very own Batang Gilas Pilipinas under-17 team in the just-concluded 2014 FIBA Under-17 World Championship held in Dubai last August 8-16. To make a long story short, they lost all but one of their seven games by an average margin of around 26 points against taller, leaner opponents, with the highlight being the 64-124 annihilation they suffered at the hands of the mighty United States. This was something I for one expected, considering the fact that it was the team's maiden appearance on the under-17 world stage and their huge disparity in height compared to their opponents, who one could jokingly speculate for being players supposed to play in the upcoming FIBA World Cup in Spain but got stranded in Dubai instead. The small but gallant Pinoy kids saved their best for last though by walloping host United Arab Emirates, 115-51, to salvage a respectable 15th while relegating the latter to 16th and dead last.
The Pinoy kids losing their first six matches in a big way was painful enough. Even more painful though were the barrage of criticisms and bashing they received from Pinoy online netizens for their poor performance. As a patriot myself, I wouldn't elaborate further on what those comments contained as they are enough to make my blood boil. But in case you're wondering, most of them are highly personal attacks and plain libelous comments bordering on character assassination, something which no genuine Filipino would dare mention about his or her own country's national team, no matter how weak it is. They have been referred to by many names, but the one that caught my fancy the most was the term I myself formulated from the inner workings of my mind: "Crabbies," short for people with crab mentality. These so-called "Filipinos" (I use the term loosely) seemingly have got nothing better to do with their God-forsaken, meaningless lives than to bash their own compatriots fighting for national pride whenever they lose. And whenever their compatriots win, they will say something like, to give an example, that their beaten opponents were not that particularly strong or from a particularly basketball-crazy country. In cases of them beating strong opponents, they will say for example that they used steroids to boost their chances of winning.
The funny thing however is it seems that these mindless crabbies were born for a reason because, on the flipside, they are doing more for Filipino patriotism than genuine Filipino patriots like me could ever do. With every single bashing they make against any Filipino competitor, they have only succeeded in fanning the flames of nationalism in Filipino fans like me, leading to even stronger support for anyone from Team Pilipinas through victory and defeat. So to all the crabbies out there who dislike and mercilessly bash competitors for the Philippines, criticize and bash them all you want for as long as the devil himself desires, but you still got to
give it to them. Whether you believe it or not, they earned their laurels by going through a legitimate qualification process in accordance with their own respective fields of excellence. As the late US President John F. Kennedy once said, "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country." As far as all of these competitors are concerned, just a handful of them have already done far more for the Philippines in a short span of time than legions of you will ever get to achieve in your own lifetimes collected together. Just keep up with your bashing, for your actions keep the Filipino fighting spirit burning even brighter.
And to Batang Gilas, on behalf of the Filipino nation, I wholeheartedly thank you for making our beloved Philippines proud by
giving it its first-ever representation in this young
biennial tournament. Hold your heads up high, for you may not have been able to live up to much
higher expectations, but you certainly proved that we vertically-challenged Filipinos can compete with the world's best. As a frustrated basketball player myself, I pass on this cherished dream of bringing honor to our country through playing basketball not only to your Kuyas in Gilas Pilipinas but also to all of you as well, and the just-concluded FIBA Under-17 World Championship would be the start of
something positively big. May you carry the experiences and lessons you
have learned from this tournament to become even better professional and international
senior players in the years to come. Mabuhay kayong lahat and love lots from your Kuya Marlon.
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