Pinoys who believe there is robust sports scene in the Philippines are the same as people who live in a country where the Internet is heavily censored and those people believe they really are experiencing full breadth of the Internet.
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One of my main themes since I first joined this site back in 2012 is that Pinoy Pride is so unique. Pinoy Pride sees the world through its own unique lens. This lens conveniently omits merit, history , accomplishment, vocabulary, organic growth, and context. I have enjoyed the intricacies of some sports for decades. Those sports have had zero pinoys among their ranks and their audience did not miss a thing. Back in 2018 the final of the World Cup of Football and the All Star Game of Major League played in the span of 4 days. This confluence of two of the top three international team sports had zero pinoys. I have no idea why this country latched its sense of self worth to Jessica Sanchez as I plainly stated in my first contribution to Get Real Post:
If the Pinoy was truly da best, why does a “win” in an American show mean so much? Can’t you be satisfied with what you have in your own local shows since you have such a high opinion of pinoy talent? At least the contestants there tend to be born here. Forget the fact that Jessica has truly little to do with the country.You also can’t have it both ways. You can’t have your cake and eat it too. You value the stage of another country but if victory does not come accuse them of all sorts of things like racism and sexism. I will also argue that Jessica is more theirs than yours. She did not grow up on love teams, Kris Aquino and Wow Wow Wee.
It is not just the world of music where Pinoys beat their chest like King Kong. Pinoys celebrated a 1-4 record when I wrote this back in September of 2014. Basketball is the only team sport that moves the meter in the Philippines as I have said many times before. The people want basketball and only basketball as a spectator sport. That is what the people want. All this proud to be Pinoy BS and my detractors can never show me attendance figures or TV ratings of sporting events regularly held here without an orange ball with indigenous people as participants. Pinoys won’t watch pinoys in sports but are proud to be pinoy. To reach the mountain top in any endeavor including sports you have to want it. Local athletes might want it less when the domestic audience does not seem to want to see them. The Pinoy media knows that the National Basketball Association carries even more weight with pinoys than the local PBA so they engage in some coercion of their own in a feeble attempt to get noticed.
“Well, I haven’t been in show business as long as you have, Killian. But I’m a quick learner. So I’m going to give the audience what *I* think they want.”
Ben Richards ( Ben Grimm/ Reed Richards?) in the Running Man 1987
I have said this before and I will continue to say this until the sports organizations of this country prove different. The Philippines is a lousy place for sports. Sports plural. Team sports in particular. Basketball is a sport. This is a lousy place to be a competitor , a viewer and a coach. Put all that together and there is no achievement in high profile team sports . I got news for you , the world does not care about the PBA or any team comprised of native pinoys. The Philippines is so inferior when it comes to culture , discipline , facilities , appreciation, internal competition that blaming your failures on genetics is only for coaches who are inconspicious on the world stage. Pinoys have this common belief that only focusing on basketball is the gateway to being significant in global team sports. Unfortunately they have no idea that every country who wipes the court using Gilas as a mop does not even have basketball as a dominant sport.
The sure fire formula to avoid any kind of excellence in elite team sports is 1) make sure you are born in the Philippines. 2) make sure your coaches are Filipino 3) make sure the bulk of your amateur career is spent competing against other Filipinos. That formula is undefeated. If Filipinos do not care about sports plural then why should the elite sports in the world care about Filipinos? There is always talk about “Filipino blood “ when it comes to KSPs. Why don’t any of them point out the obvious that blood only becomes an issue when the culture on its own can not be competitive with the world ? So Filipino blood pa more since you can’t point to Filipino work. Lots of Filipino blood in the PBA Philippine Cup. How is that working out? Is Filipino blood orange or green? Just admit that we live in a tambay culture so our lack of success where it counts is well earned. The irony is pinoys are so lousy at sports yet they are dying for attention that goes to the achievers in big time sports.
If the NBA final is the only international sporting event that basketball myopic pinoys care about annually then the NBA All Star Game is probably a close second. One day that game might adopt a format change where the best of the American born takes on the best from the rest of the world. Fox Sports generated a hypothetical “World” lineup. Among the countries mentioned : Canada, France, Greece, Slovenia and Lithuania. None of those countries exhibit the sense of entitlement pinoys have about basketball. It is a good thing in the NBA no one cares about what Joaquin Henson ( @thedeanquinito ) thinks since he will stuff the ballot with PBA players knowing his lack of objectivity when it comes to Pinoy basketball. Oh yes , he is one of the quick links in the sports section of Philstar. Pinoy basketball fans, you deserve Joaquin Henson and you deserve your insignificance on the world stage since you mistake his sugar coating for substance.
If you are truly Proud to be Pinoy then reconcile the statement of Coach Yeng . Should we give pinoy basketball players a high chair or trainer wheels because of “genetics “? Here is a guy who was in a leadership position of men who represented our country. He was supposed to get their bodies and minds to produce optimum results. What are his pearls of wisdom ? Reshuffle the zone and ignore geography because the proud to be Pinoys can not genetically compete. Pinoys don’t even have a track record of dominating Asia. The other countries all take their football more seriously. Its not like it hurt them against the team with “puso”. If you will blame geography and genetics then there is your built in excuse in a country that can only see a ball going through a circular hoop yet can not excel in it. Whatever happened to the mentality that if you want to be the best then you have to beat the best?? If there was a world competition on excuse making, pinoys have a natural advantage in genetics. If you want an excuse then ask Yeng Guiao.
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