Tag: sports

Is #GilasPilipinas coach Chot Reyes cursed by his support for Leni Robredo?

August 26, 2023 benign0 2 Comments

Most basketball fans are a superstitious lot. Following an embarassing loss to the Dominican Republic in one of the first games of FIBA Basketball World Cup hosted in the Philippines this year, old questions regarding the competence of Gilas Pilipinas coach Chot Reyes are being raised again. Observes social media personality Mark Lopez, “it was…

Culture, Society

Miracle in Tokyo on the back of strong gov’t and private sector support for our national athletes

August 11, 2021 Benedict Exconde 3 Comments

A miracle in Tokyo. That is how I am going to describe the campaign of the Philippine delegation at the 2020 Summer Olympics that is currently being held in Tokyo, Japan. For the first time since it began participating at the Olympic Games, the Philippine delegation has scored a major medal haul. So far, Filipino…

Society

Hidilyn Diaz lifts not just weights. She lifts an entire people.

August 1, 2021August 11, 2021 benign0 17 Comments

After 97 years, the Philippines finally bags an Olympic gold medal thanks to Ms Hidilyn Diaz. Diaz is now a pillar of Pinoy Pride, the cornerstone of an entire national identity. If one could draw this national identity, it would look like an inverted pyramid with a tiny elite of excellent Filipinos at the pointy…

Culture, Society

SEA Games problems prove Filipinos still need a lot of work building an ethic of excellence

November 25, 2019November 25, 2019 benign0 12 Comments

Did we really expect a seamless, swimmingly-hosted Southeast Asian Games (SEAG)? This is, after all, the Philippines where nothing works. Filipinos cannot organise their way out of a paper bag and this is reflected in just about every failed system and ways of working borrowed from former colonial masters and sloppily-applied to their setting. It…

Government, Society

The Nationals Are Proof Something Works In Washington

November 5, 2019November 5, 2019 Gogs 27 Comments

Sports is the only real reality television. Or at least the only reality television dressed as pure entertainment. Still after over 130 years of big league champions, the baseball gods show they are still capable of rewarding us with something we have never seen and a journey that most Hollywood producers would throw out for…

Glitz and Glamour

Defeating other Nations is a False Hope of Filipinos

September 4, 2019 ChinoF 12 Comments

The Gilas basketball team lost again. Fans and pridists are up in arms and awash with salty tears over it. As some observers said, Gilas seems dependent on their import and use very little teamwork, and even after many defeats, continue to use the same failed methods (you could sum it up as “bahala na…

Culture, Lifestyle

Four Days Of World Class Sports That Further Showcase Pinoy Sports Futility

July 19, 2018July 19, 2018 Gogs 26 Comments

Two things happened this week that helped put in perspective the impact of pinoys in team sport. The MLB All Star Game and the FIFA Final . Oh sure some people still chest beat about Manny winning over Lucas Martin Matthysse . My thoughts have not changed about Manny since I last devoted a blog…

Glitz and Glamour, Media, Society

Resbak Mentality Keeps the Philippines backward

July 5, 2018 ChinoF 7 Comments

I wrote before about how the culture of retribution contributes to more violence in the world. It is one of the things keeping our own society backward as well. Not only in life, but in sports. People who are pro-Gilas brawl in Facebook keep raising up resbak as the justification. They say that because one…

Culture