I hate to be a spoilsport, especially just days before the games begin November 30 for the 30th Southeast Asian Games which the Philippines is hosting. But I cannot help becoming one when some of my countrymen start counting the golds before they are won or feeling superior as champions before even a single point has gone up the tallyboards.
It is not that I do not have faith in our athletes, especially in our previous medal winners. And even if I didn't, I would still be rooting for them out of some deeply-felt sense of patriotism that just comes unbidden whenever our athletes compete in international competitions. But I hate it when that faith is measured by all the wrong standards or egged on by all the wrong expectations.
Take for example our men's basketball team. I have no doubt that we are always a powerhouse in this sport and in this region. But I am aghast at how the sports media have virtually awarded them the title just because they happen to be all pro and coached by the winningest in the PBA. The same with Hidilyn Diaz of women's weightlifting. For winning the silver in Rio in 2016, she is now being written as a sure gold winner.
It is almost automatic that all athletes pray to their god just prior to an event because no outcome is ever certain or known until the last hurdle is cleared, the finish line is crossed, the farthest distance measured, the final points counted, and the closing bell sounded. Then and only then can the victors be proclaimed. Then and only then will everyone, including primarily the athletes themselves, know whereof they stand.
But the Philippine sports media have this habit of counting chicks before any egg has hatched. Let me quote this lead paragraph from a sports article last Sunday: "Chalk up one sure gold for Team Philippines. With an all-pro roster and handled by the league's winningest coach, there should be no problem for the latest version of Gilas Pilipinas handling (sic) the regional rivals in the Southeast Asian Games."
I nearly puked reading that. Still, okay, everyone sometimes gets carried away. But listen to this: "Things are looking up indeed for the Pinoy sports heroes," the article said, because of the "Philippine Olympic Committee's latest incentive of doubling the Philippine Sports Commission's cash bonus for a gold medalist --P300,000 to P600,000. If I nearly puked initially, I am about to shit in my pants.
Wow. These writers talk as if money can buy sporting glory. If that were the case, there would be no need for truly dedicated sporting nations to train athletes their whole lives for that one brief moment on the world sporting stage. Rich nations would just dangle the highest incentives and that is that. The dollars or euros or pounds sterling or whatever money that inspires higher, faster, and stronger would take the place of real training.
And this has always been the weakness in Philippine sports. There is no real honest-to-goodness long-term training for athletes. For grassroots athletic meets, for example, athletes are identified and trained a week or two before competitions. Under such a scenario, not even Mark Zuckerberg donating all his billions can make a single athlete without proper training win in any competition of significance.