Nobody loves a loser

By Alex P. Vidal

“If at first you don’t succeed, find out if the loser gets anything.”—William Lyon Phelps

THEY may be popular, over glamorized and overfed, but Gilas Pilipinas cagers aren’t supermen.

We shouldn’t expect them to perform beyond their capacity; we shouldn’t demand a performance or achievement they can’t deliver and attain.

We all have limitations. We all have weaknesses like Trojan War’s Achilles and Garden of Eden’s Adam.

Even the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers, with a large and dedicated fan base across the world known as “Laker Nation” and with players like Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar capturing imaginations and creating fans for life, suffers embarrassing defeat every now and then.

That’s normal. In basketball, they always say “bilog ang bola” (the ball is round).

But Manny Pangilinan, chairman emeritus of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP), called as “disgraceful” Gilas’ recent defeat in the ongoing Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Cambodia.

He tweeted at 9:04 AM on May 11, 2023: “What a disgraceful game for Gilas. An ignominious defeat which will be etched deeply in infamy. SBP – what happened?”

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The business mogul-turned-basketball patron known as MJ was referring to the Philippine men’s basketball team’s 79-68 loss to Cambodia in the 32nd SEA Games in Cambodia on May 11.

He was obviously unhappy and upset. But only because of the Gilas’ loss to host Cambodia? They are “graceful” if they win and sweep the tournament?

We respect MJ’s outburst. He is free to express his feelings. It’s his opinion and we must not suppress it. Indeed nobody loves a loser.

Actually, there’s nothing wrong with being a loser, and Billie Joe Armstrong once said “it just depends on how good you are at it.”

Speaking after the game to Olympics.com Philippines head coach Chot Reyes said: “I am not making any excuses. There were players who were affected by the conditions, Justin Brownlee one of them, and there were too many slip-ups here and there. We just have to get over this. Prepare better, look at the hydration of the players and move to the next match.

“We’re still in it and when we hit the knockout stages we have to be tighter. The conditions are one thing, but it is the same for everybody, so we just have to get over it.”

The Philippines, scheduled to collide versus Singapore in a must-win game on May 13, is on a mission to regain the basketball throne it lost when it finished only second to Indonesia in the last edition of the biennial meet in Vietnam in 2021.

MJ should also congratulate the RP cage team even if they will not win a medal which is next to impossible given the reputation of Gilas Pilipinas.

Former world 9-ball champion Efren “Bata” Reyes and chess Grand Master Rogelio Antonio never won a SEA Games gold medal but nobody called their performances as “disgraceful.”

They were even congratulated and celebrated by their respective NSAs (National Sports Association).

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CONTRACEPTIVE. The first known contraceptive was crocodile dung, used by the Egyptians in 2,000 B.C. It was replaced with elephant droppings when they realized it wouldn’t work.

CALORIES. The more intense the sex, the more calories are burnt: up to 10,000 calories annually. How? Having sex 3 times a week burns 7,500 calories per year. That’s the equivalent of jogging 75 miles (120.675 km).

ORGASM. If a woman experiences an orgasm during sex, she’s more likely to become pregnant, since orgasmic spasms in pelvic muscles can help move sperm up the vaginal canal to the uterus. (Source: Apple)

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two daily newspaper in Iloilo.—Ed)