Tuesday, June 17, 2008 Malilong: Thanking Tiger, Kobe By Frank Malilong The Other Side
SOME of the good things in life are still free.
Like watching Tiger Woods drain a 12-foot birdie putt in the 18th hole to extend the search for the 2008 US Open champion to another day or Kobe Bryant dunk emphatically in the final minute of the fifth game and keep the Lakers’ flickering NBA championship hopes alive.
I don’t play golf. The last time I went to the driving range had me struggling to rise from bed the following morning because of a very painful lower back.
But I love the sport and enjoy watching it, especially when Tiger is playing.
I played basketball when I was younger, which was two decades ago, but had more success as team manager probably because I had more experience on the bench, having spent most of my playing years warming it. As most Filipinos are, I am a basketball fan.
Tiger converts his birdie putts as regularly as, if you will please allow this poor attempt at metaphor, a traffic policeman blows his whistle but the last one was special. He was not 100 percent physically fit, was trailing fellow American Rocco Mediate by one stroke after another horrendous start and needed a birdie to forget a playoff.
He had eagled the hole the day before but on the fourth day his tee shot landed in the bunker and a poor second shot found his ball in the rough.
When Tiger threw his club in disgust, my heart sunk. He however found the green on his third stroke and when his ball rolled into the cup of the par 5 18th, I screamed. I later heard the shuffling of feet outside my room; it must have been my housemates checking if I was okay.
I didn’t scream when the horn sounded for the last time in the fifth game of the Lakers-Celtics series. The final score was anti-climatic; Kobe’s emphatic breakaway dunk was, to me, the game’s defining moment.
By the time you read this, the playoff between Tiger and Mediate may be over and Tiger may have lost his bid for a 14th major title.
The next game between the Lakers and the Celtics isn’t on until Wednesday in Boston where the home team is almost invincible. We’d probably be seeing Doc Rivers presiding in a champagne celebration to mark the franchise’s 17th NBA championship.
It doesn’t matter. Regardless of what happens, the image of Tiger pumping his fists in the air and of Kobe flashing a defiant look after the monstrous jam will blur whatever disappointment that comes with running short of the ultimate goal.
Thank you, Tiger; thank you, Kobe for those moments when we forgot even if so briefly, the food is scarce; the price of oil is shooting sky-high; and we couldn’t walk the streets without the risk of getting mugged.
