The President’s three-point shot
We will not win the gold, but by just being in the thick of things, we’ve captured bundles of joy already and delivered right at the doorstep of our basketball-crazed people.
If you think President Duterte had a hand in making us participate in the Asiad basketball, you could be right.
One, the President loves basketball like you and me. Who doesn’t?
The game has been our national pastime for the longest time. Show me a Pinoy who hates basketball and I’ll tell you that dude detests adobo as well.
Two, the President is a certified pro-people and he knows that the masses of Filipinos will die for basketball as much as they’d die for rice to go with their fish.
And three, the President, for all his tough-talking stance, is ultra-sensitive to the sentiments of the people so that he’d feel guilty seeing them sad and lonely should our basketball stint in the Asiad gets scrapped.
Of course, Bong Go, the special assistant to the President, did the main rescue job by telling Mr. Duterte about the negative effects of our non-participation in Asiad basketball.
That’s the beauty in Bong Go. He loves basketball that much he’d go out of his way to save the sport from being removed from the Philippine contingent to Indonesia Aug. 18-Sept. 2.
And so, after having gotten the President’s imprimatur, Bong G. proceeded to relay Mr. Duterte’s wish to the three main decision-makers in Philippine basketball: SBP president Al Panlilio, PBA Commissioner Willy Marcial and Olympic president Ricky Vargas.
If it’s the President knocking at your door, will you not relent?
Your wish is my command, Boss.
But the change of heart on the part of Panlilio, Marcial and Vargas is not totally expected.
I’m sure that the people’s general sentiment was also taken into serious consideration: The people would be grief-stricken had the decision to scrap our basketball trip to the Asiad was not reversed.
This is one time when flip-flopping, if it can be called that, is very much appreciated.
Never mind that we would not be sending the best of our players.
Ten of them had been suspended by the Fiba, remember?
That was when they figured in that infamous July 2 “basketbrawl” between Gilas Pilipinas and Australia at the Philippine Arena in Bulacan.
But that’s all water under the bridge now, so to speak.
Let’s move on. And moving on means let’s play in the Asiad, with or without our marquee players in the squad.
We will not win the gold, but by just being in the thick of things, we’ve captured bundles of joy already and delivered right at the doorstep of our basketball-crazed people.