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Sunday, March 19, 2006
Pages: Story of Michael L. Rama
By John Pages
Matchpoint
It was a Sunday, the ninth of October last year. The venue: Bright Academy in Banilad. The clock ticked 3 p.m. when they arrived, around 15 men, muscular, many six-footers, all in uniform blue-and-white jersey.
The Rama Boys.
No less than the vice mayor of Cebu City, Mike Rama, strode in first. Behind him strutted his nephews and cousins – all Rama, all ready to go to war on the basketball court. Councilor Joy Pesquera, pretty in blue jeans and dark sunglasses, carried a smile. She led the ladies who comprised the Rama Boys’ cheering squad.
Minutes passed and the enemy landed. Who?
The Pages and Alcoseba Boys – my family.
No less than the most decorated coach in Cebu and now a city councilor, Raul “Yayoy” Alcoseba, led our team. With me, my dad Bunny and brothers Charlie, Randy and Michael, were cousins Kurt Famador and Ramon, Rocky and Ryan Alcoseba.
The battle?
A basketball game between two families who grew up together since the 1950s.
The Rama and Pages/Alcoseba clans lived as neighbors in Basak, Pardo. Many, at that time, finished at the Basak Elementary School (including the vice mayor who graduated class valedictorian).
The referee blew the whistle. Prrrrrt! He tossed the ball 12 feet high as both centers jumped. Game started! We scored. They scored. We ran a fastbreak.
They scored from the low post. Vice Mayor Mike dribbled, stood behind the arch, then hurled a 3-point shot. Councilor Yayoy penetrated down the center, pump-faked, then tossed a sky-hook.
After four quarters at 12 minutes each, we won. By eight points. Homecourt advantage? Maybe. A quicker, more practiced team against a taller, slower squad? Possible. Yayoy on the basketball court almost daily against Mike, the recreational player? Sure. Whatever the reason, we grabbed victory that afternoon.
What lesson did I learn?
That Mike Rama is a good sport.
He missed a barrage of 3-pointers. He wished his taller teammates scored more below the paint.
He lost. He smiled.
What lesson did I learn?
That Mike Rama is not a loser. He’s a winner in defeat.
That game over five months ago flash-backed in my mind’s eye yesterday when I read the headline news in all three local dailies. What news? The vice mayor uttered words he didn’t mean, which resulted to the mayor, the governor and the Provincial Board members screaming for his tongue and head.
The response of Mike Rama?
“I’m sorry.”
Sorry? A politician said sorry? Since when did that happen?
Since two days ago when the vice mayor apologized. “They (the governor and PB members) are not my enemies, neither are they my opponents,” he said. “I know all of them, we are all public officials. I’m apologizing because I’m a man of peace and goodwill.”
Humility. Good sport.
This season of Lent, what lessons in life.
(john@brightacademy.edu.ph)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (March 19, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
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