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Saturday, September 03, 2005
Oyson: RP national basketball team in limbo
By Manuel N. Oyson, Jr.
Counter Punch
I do not see ecstatic crowds or nationwide euphoria over the triumph by the Philippine national basketball team in the so-called 5th Shell Rimula Cup in Brunei. Whom did the RP nationals beat in the championship in the first place? Why, their fellow PBA ball-club, Alaska Milk, 70-67. It was Philippines in 1-2 order. Did you notice that in my column last Tuesday, I purposely termed it a “mini-PBA.”
There were only six clubs from four nations who were entered such as Toshiba Brave Thunders-Japan, SK Knights-South Korea. Shangdong-Lions-China and Warriors-Brunei. The Philippines, including its national squad, made up the rest.
Is that a cause for war whoops, breast-beating and chest-thumping? It was a hollow championship, to put it bluntly. The RP Nationals is the team that has been prepared and pampered since last year presumably to do battle in the Fiba-Asia championships in Qatar, the world basketball championships in Saitama, Japan and even up to the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008.
RATHER LATE. It could not even make it in the Global Hoops Summit in Las Vegas and the R. William Jones Cup in Taipei.
To reverse the lyrics of a song, if it could not make it there, can it also make it anywhere? After capturing what is considered his first international basketball title, and proving his point, Nationals coach Vincent “Chot” Reyes promptly appealed to the warring basketball officials back home to heal their fractured relationship so that the ban on the country from participating in major basketball tournaments internationally can be lifted. It’s rather late in the day.
He urged BAP president Joey Lina to allow the team to play “because they work hard, play together and will make us proud.”
Working hard and playing together, I buy that. But making the country proud? We missed already missed the opportunity to prove ourselves when team was barred from competing in the Southeast Asian Basketball Association tournament in Malaysia last July and the Fiba-Asia tournament in Doha, Qatar this month. It is even frightening to consider that the Philippines may not even be allowed to defend its Men’s basketball championship in the SEA Games this year in Manila.
SPORT-POLITICAL. The furor that has been raised regarding RP’s forfeiture of its basketball crown is now fading. The clamor is now sputtering. The Fiba affirmed in a letter dated Aug. 30, that it still recognizes the BAP which has been expelled from the POC. The world basketball governing body branded as “impossible” Philippine Basketball Federation’s request for recognition. It also called the ouster of BAP as “political.” Fiba Secretary-General Patrick Baumann explained that it is inappropriate to use basketball as a sport-political game between opposing sides.
And to think that the irritant started when POC president Peping Cojuangco expressed alarm over the loss of the Cebuana Lhuillier-backed BAP-recognized national team under Boyzie Zamar to the Paranaque Jets, 63-56, in a low-level commercial league in April this year. RP cagedom is now reaping the whirlwind for expelling the BAP. A headline in Thursday’s sports section of the PDI plainly said it: “RP five nowhere to go.”
GUEST TEAM. Its disbandment has been recommended by Lito Alvarez, representative of Air21 to the PBA board and a trusted aide of BAP president Lina. The national team is subsidized by a multi-million-peso budget by the PBA to prepare for international stints, leading to the next Olympic Games. The POC is now paying for its near-unanimous indiscretion when it ousted the BAP last June 30. Cojuangco remained adamant when he told a Senate committee hearing last Thursday that the expulsion of BAP “will improve the state of basketball in the country,” adding that the BAP is not getting the best of the best in the country. Asa ka, improve?
Either way, this scenario is what I foresee in the 2005 Seag: Basketball will be scrapped altogether. Or, the Philippines may be allowed to play as a “guest” team in order not to completely embarrass the host Filipinos. Of course, the news that came out yesterday is that the POC has not yet given up the ghost.
OBIT. A cousin, Franklin T. Benjamin, a retired election assistant in the Cebu City Comelec office, died in his sleep at age 61 last Aug. 31. He is survived by wife, Nanita, children and brothers. His body lies in state at their residence at 44 San Miguel-Lorega this city. He will be buried on Sept. 7 (Wednesday) after a requiem mass at the San Miguel-Lorega chapel.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Not even a public clamor will make us turn our backs on the POC.” – PBF president Mauricio Martelino
(sports@sunstar.com.ph)
(September 3, 2005 issue)
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