Have we become a tribe of bashers? This is a growing concern in the sports community, as casual fans become more and more result-oriented than grateful for the time, effort and dedication shown by athletes. How did this happen? Is this a reflection of today’s society and its pressures? Or is this who we are now? It is a sentiment becoming more and more prevalent in sports, particularly basketball, where we are most spoiled.
Fans rained down criticism on Gilas Pilipinas after the unfavorable results of the last FIBA Asia Cup. The critics conveniently forgot that no other team has beaten Australia since they joined our region. The armchair experts questioned everything, from the selection of players to the triangle offense which Tim Cone has mastered for over three decades. Suddenly, the honeymoon was over. But this is not a new occurrence. Remember the unbelievable bile thrown at past national team coaches like Chot Reyes?
“Filipinos don’t really know the inside of basketball,” six-time PBA champion and perennial Gilas Pilipinas enforcer Ranidel de Ocampo told this writer. “Yes, they know how to play, how to bash or comment, to question. When the team loses, they’ll say many things. But we know that. When we started out with Coach Chot, we had no social media. The whole tournament, we had no social media, because many people still did not believe. We are the ones who know. We believed in Coach Chot. Those who didn’t don’t count.”
And it’s not just coaches who feel the viciousness. If players are not instantly successful, they’ll say many are dismissed offhand as hopeless.
“Filipinos are judgmental when it comes to basketball,” says former PBA player, 2005 NCAA champion and now actor Mark Andaya in an interview with The STAR and Basketball Universe PHL. “They used to say I was no good, that I was just a benchwarmer. I had to overcome that by proving myself.”
It appears that Filipino fans have a bad combination of needing instant gratification and possessing an attitude of “what have you done for me lately?” Maybe this is the reason why our young people have no sense of history. As the cliché goes, today’s news is tomorrow’s fish wrapper. Sad, but true. We need to re-educate the public. Success takes time and can often be impacted by circumstance. We often forget that the other teams prepared too. The Philippines is now at the level of battling for continental greatness. You don’t win basketball games just by showing up. We are all for having good faith, but it has to be tempered with the understanding of reality.
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You can watch the full interview with Ranidel de Ocampo on Basketball Universe PHL on YouTube and Facebook.