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Sunday, December 19, 2004
Malilong: Handling loss
By Frank Malilong
The Other Side
One game does not a championship make. There is no denying however that the Los Angeles Lakers’ methodical dismantling of Western Conference powerhouse Sacramento last Friday has restored some sheen on LA’s armor. It was, as the Associated Press so aptly described it, a signature victory.
Not a few have consigned the Lakers to the dustbin after Shaquille O‘Neal left in a huff. Without the dominant man-mountain, LA was like a donut: with a big hole in the middle. O‘Neal was irreplaceable: substitutes Vlade Divac was too old and Christ Mihm too inexperienced.
LA’s sputtering start seemed to justify the mad rush to write the Lakers’ epitaph. I was tempted to do a Cardinal Vidal (who retired as basketball fan when Michael Jordan hung up his sneakers) especially after I watched the Utah Jazz, led by a gunslinger from the old USSR named Andrei Kirilenko, slaughter Kobe Bryant and company.
And what strange company! Imagine a team that paraded such household names as Robert Horry, Ric Fox, Derek Fisher and O‘Neal appearing this NBA season with, among others, a Cook (Brian) and a Butler (Carom)?
It’s difficult losing someone and this is true in basketball as anywhere else.
LA misses O‘Neal’s imposing presence and I, the team’s glorious years. But life has to go on and I (and Nong Gene Labella, Edgar’s father) will go on rooting for the Lakers.
LA will certainly suffer defeats as badly as they did in the hands of the Jazz and will probably have an early vacation in the post-season. But who cares? Life is too short to waste on grief. We will be back next year!
Speaking of grief, I am amazed at how graciously House Speaker Jose de Venecia has taken his. The loss of his “light of my life” must have been a particularly devastating one. KC de Venecia was only 16 years old and for her to die under such circumstances must be truly painful for her parents who could only watch as fire slowly ate their daughter away.
I would have understood if de Venecia went into histrionics because he had reason to. But he accepted his loss calmly and chose to keep his pain private.
As I watched him on television comforting family members even as he himself was being comforted by friends, I saw a truly decent human being underneath the veneer of the quintessential traditional politician.
(December 19, 2004 issue)
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