MANILA, Philippines – For a change, it was Dan Palami, the fan of basketball and not the football lover, who showed up at the Big Dome and sat on the bench of the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons in the opening of the UAAP Season 77 hoop wars.
"I've always been watching basketball. I'm a basketball fan except that my first love is football," Palami told The STAR in front of the Fighting Maroons dugout.
His new team got blown away by host University of the East, 59-87, accounting for the Maroons' 22nd consecutive loss since Season 75.
"I love my school so I have to support it and if taking the bitter pill of a huge first game loss is one of the things you have to do, you have to take it," he said.
"I'm sure we'll learn from this, we'll bounce back from this and we just have to get up and do something better next time," he added.
Palami, though, had to excuse himself in the middle of the fourth period as he had to rush to Emperador Stadium for a previous football commitment.
The Azkals boss, a State U alum, came on board in a bid to revive the Maroons' fortunes in UAAP basketball. His new team suffered a rout on its maiden outing.
"It's not the way we wanted it, not the result we wanted but it's the first game so lot's of learning to be learned. In the first quarter we were able to go toe-to-toe with them but somehow, starting the second quarter, the team was unable to adjust, they were taking low percentage shots and therefore, UE was able to pull away by almost 19 points," he said.
"I think we have to go back to the drawing board, the coaches as well as the players. Well, there are 13 more games to be played, we have to make sure, we get wins in some of them," he added.
The fact they rammed into a powerhouse host team also made the defeat more acceptable to Palami.
"You're up against the host team and I'm sure as hosts, they've prepared really well. You can see the disparity in the size of players but that shouldn't be an excuse, players are out there and I'm just glad they're coming out fighting, even with a 30-point disparity," he said.