HOMEGROWN or native talents in showbiz and sports cannot compete with their foreign counterparts. Thus it has become the practice to "import" American basketball players to excite PBA fans.
That being a fact of life, our basketball associations should take a futuristic vision of their enterprises. In undertaking a mix-breeding program to produce superior mongrels the concerned groups will help in nation building by having Pinoy talents that are globally competitive.
Unless a program of this kind becomes a reality, the dream of Manuel V. Pangilinan of a world championship in basketball remains a wishful thought. Even with the kind of Marcos Douthit and Andre Blatchey inserted in our national team, the best we could have was a top finish in the regional level.
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At the expense of national pride, we import and naturalize US cage players just to be competitive in Asian contests. We become a laughing stock of fiercely proud nations as our national team displays Caucasian players like the blonde-hair Asi Taulava and Mick Pennisi who looks like a deserting Roman centurion.
Sometime ago I suggested that we entice, court, and recruit American black players to form the core players of the national team. This is the only way to have a fair chance in international competitions. As the basketball bodies allow it, and after getting married to our local women, the American blacks in our Team Pilipinas can scramble and rumble with their taller and heftier rivals. The brising brawling kind of global competition dwarfs native talents Terence Romeo, Paul Lee, and LA Tenorio.
The future of Philippine basketball in the world competitions looks bleak even if Fil-American prospects like Jordan Clarkson and Ray-ray Parks will join our Team. Two decades ago, we expect US expatriates Norman Black and Tim Cone to produce sons with their Filipino wives who are star material. Nothing doing.
Years ago, black servicemen of the US military in Angeles-Subic area sired two current basketball greats- Willie Miller and Calvin Abueva. The duo still fall short of the height standards in international games. It's our misfortune that while the Americans stayed with us for long- and after shacking our women for fun or for life- the system had not produced children who would grow up to be tall, strong and talented athletes. What they left us are talents in entertainment like the late Elizabeth Ramsey, Whitney Tyson, Apl.d.Ap., Redford White and other derivatives.
The US military had sown countless villages with half-breed bambinos who are invariably known as "Boy Negro". These offspring neither like basketball nor baseball. They were famous in the underworld enterprises like gambling, prostitution, illegal recruitment, gun for hire except vote buying.
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Now comes the news that superstar Kobe Bryant was intending to revisit and vacation in the Philippines. He referred to the country as "being like a home away from home."
Boxing icon Manny Pacquiao and other intimate friends of Kobe can craft a tactical plan for the future of national basketball. The conspirators, for instance, can procure willing Filipino girls at least six feet in height and arrange a love tryst with the superstar for a cause. The system will be like the GMO experiment in eggplants (e-talong). If the arrangement will result in Kobe's siring a son or two with his genetic traits, our MVP's dream for a globally competitive cage shall have been assured.
Local girls who are qualified and willing to participate in the cross-breeding program for basketball shall be amply rewarded through an upgraded conditional cash transfer program minus the VAT.