Well, we had our breakfast, lunch dinner and a couple of snacks handed to us by Italy in the country’s debut in the Fiba World Cup 2019. It was painful to watch as the deficit got bigger and bigger.
There were a slew of reasons offerred; from the lack of preparation to our game being not suited to the international version. While football, volleyball and most of the other sports only have one set of rules, in basketball it’s different. There’s the PBA version (which closely resembles the NBA version) and the Fiba version. In Europe, there’s no distinction I think since Fiba runs the Euro League.
It’s a whole lot different during our first game in the 2014 Fiba World Cup, when Gilas Pilipinas lost in overtime to Greece and the country was united in lauding the team’s efforts.
Now, it’s different.
One of the things that wasn’t present in 2014 was the political undertone. Some of the people I followed on social media were turned off when pictures of Gilas Pilipinas doing the famous fist bump came out, vowing they’ll stop supporting the team. Others, too, said sports and politics shouldn’t mix.
That’s their belief and you can’t really blame them in this politically divisive time of ours where even the country’s most beloved team can no longer unite us. But for me, it’s simple. It’s the national team, regardless of the players political stand, they will have my support come game time and they’re wearing the country’s colors.
Up next for Gilas is Serbia on Sept. 2, 2019, and the Serbians just buried Angola alive by 46 points too and I hope our offense, which conked out from beyond the arc against Italy, will be up to speed if don’t want another 46-point beatdown.
Andray Blatche, who I once scoffed at when it was first reported he was a candidate for naturalization, shouldered all the blame for the loss against Italy and I hope he and the rest of the team will perform better. I doubted Blatche before, I no longer doubt his heart when he says he will try to do better.
As for the rest of the country, I hope for 40 minutes at least, we will forget our divisions and just cheer as one for Gilas.