Basketball is not for Filipinos!!!

Do you believe this crap?

Basketball is not for Filipinos


By Manolo Iñigo
Inquirer
Last updated 05:25am (Mla time) 07/18/2006

Published on page A22 of the July 18, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

THE STIRRING victories of Filipino jungolfers Dottie Ardina, Cyna Rodriguez and Mia Legaspi in last week’s Callaway Junior World Golf Championships in San Diego, California, and the euphoria over the just-ended FIFA World Cup in Germany should open the eyes of sports officials to encourage the development of non-basketball sports where height is not an advantage.

I have no quarrel with the fact that basketball is the country’s No. 1 sport, but sports officials should be reminded that the importance they are giving to the dash-and-dribble game has become too exaggerated. In fact, even the legendary Carlos Loyzaga, the greatest Filipino basketball player of all time, once noted that in the Philippines basketball has top priority over the other sports. “This is wrong,” said Mr. Loyzaga, who is now based in Australia, “because there are other sporting disciplines where the Filipino athletes can excel.”

Basketball is simply not the sport for Filipinos. Take the 2006 William Jones Cup in Taiwan, for example. Even though sports officials formed a well-funded Philippine team composed mostly of PBA players and a few pro-bound college stars, SMC-Pilipinas still failed to make the round of four after losing four games in five starts during the qualifying series. It’s a pity because in the past the Philippines was always assured of making an impact and, in most cases, bringing home a medal from a regional tournament of this level.

Many say that the huge budget earmarked for the national cage team would have been spent more wisely if it was used to promote and develop non-basketball sports like golf, football, tennis, boxing, bowling, billiards and chess, to cite a few.

In the mid-1980s, then jungolfers Ramon Brobio and Carito Villaroman put the Philippines on the world map when they won the World Junior Golf Championships. Frankie Miñoza, Dorothy Delasin and Jennifer Rosales also did the country proud by making their presence felt on the international golf scene. In football, Filipinos can perform better because of their speed and raw courage. As retired Col. Julian Malonso, a former Philippine Olympic Committee president, said: “Basketball is not the sport for the Filipinos because height counts much. We should concentrate more on football mainly because the ball is on the ground.”

The late Felicisimo “Mighty Mite” Ampon, the first Philippine Sportswriters Association Athlete of the Year in 1950, was the toast of the tennis world during his prime; Gabriel “Flash” Elorde was pro boxing’s hero before Manny Pacquiao, while Olympic silver medal winners Anthony Villanueva and Mansueto “Onyok” Velasco were the country’s top simonpures. Paeng Nepomuceno gave us our proudest moments in tenpin bowling, winning a record four World Cup titles; simple and humble Efren “Bata” Reyes is the planet’s “greatest billiards player” while Eugene Torre, Asia’s first grandmaster, and, most recently, Mark Paragua, are the brightest stars in the world of chess.

The Philippines was unable to participate in three international basketball tournaments last year, including the Asian Basketball Confederation championship and the RP-hosted 23rd Southeast Asian Games after the country was suspended by FIBA, the international basketball federation. FIBA banned the country after the Philippine Olympic Committee expelled the Basketball Association of the Philippines. Now both the POC headed by Jose “Peping” Cojuangco and the BAP led by Joey Lina are racing against time to convince FIBA honchos to lift the suspension so that the Philippines may again compete in the Asian Games set in Doha, Qatar, on Dec. 1-15.

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