WE LOST again. After dragging Croatia into overtime last Saturday, we were beaten by Greece in our second game in the Fiba Basketball World Cup yesterday by a bigger margin.
It doesn’t matter. Yes, it would have been sweeter if we had stolen one game against those two European basketball powerhouses but that we made them sweat for 48 full minutes is good enough for us and Philippine basketball. We’re no longer the favorite whipping boys in international basketball.
Just to give you an insight on the strides that we have made: Croatia, the team that we left teetering on the brink of defeat for 48 full minutes in our first game, won against Argentina in regulation time yesterday. You will recall that the Argentines were Fiba world and Olympic champions not too long ago.
There was no shame in losing to Greece, 82-70 either. Exactly eight years ago yesterday, Greece dealt a humiliating 101-95 defeat on the United States in the semifinals of the World Cup (then known as the Fiba World Championship) in Saitama, Japan.
That embarrassed US team was manned by NBA superstars including Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Chris Bosh, Dwayne Wade, Dwight Howard and a certain Lebron James. Jun Mar Fajardo can now claim that he’s in the same boat as Mr. James.
We will not win the World Cup. We probably will not even win a single game. (At dawn today, we will be facing an Argentine team that is looking for blood to earn a measure of redemption from the shocking loss to Croatia). But we have made our point in those two glorious games. Any won or closely lost game will just be icing on the cake.
Why am I writing about basketball and the World Cup? Because it has provided us a welcome respite from all the negativism that we have been treated to during the past
many months.
Just like in the Manny Pacquiao fights, we set aside everything, even if temporarily to cheer for our own. For some glorious moments, we found and enjoyed unity. Oh, if only it could last.
***
Anyway, back to reality.
In Pinamungahan, almost half a million pesos intended as salaries for the town’s employees to burglars at dawn Sunday. The police said it was a “copycat burglary”.
They also said they cannot provide 24/7 security to municipal halls. Even if they’re spitting distance away from the town police headquarters.
Oh, well. The responsibility of safekeeping government money rests with their custodians as the police have pointed out. Heads will have to roll if it is established that they have been remiss in this duty.
An investigation has to be made. Questions will have to be asked, some of them embarrassing ones such as whether the money was there in the first place. And all angles will have to be considered, including that the burglary was an inside job.
Will we ever know the truth? There is no assurance but that doesn’t mean we should not try.
Which reminds me, whatever happened to that burglary at the Cebu City Sports Center a day or two after the Sinulog two or three years ago? The Sinulog Foundation lost almost a million pesos of what was supposed to be prize money for the winning dance contingents.
They accused a security guard of taking the money from a poorly secured cabinet. The poor fellow spent some time in jail until the police said he was not the culprit. But that was after his reputation and that of the security agency he worked for were ruined.
I wonder if anyone has apologized to the guard for the false accusation against him and the agony that he and his family suffered as a result. That would have been the decent thing to do. Most of all, I wonder if the robber has been caught and the money recovered. Anyone who knows?
(frank.otherside@yahoo.com)