A nice gesture

When the basketball competition begins at the upcoming Southeast Asian Games, it will have been 18 years since our players had last played on their home soil, in front of their countrymen. If you will recall the Philippines was suspended by FIBA in 2005 for having two national federations in the sport, the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) and the Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP). Thus, there were no men’s or women’s basketball games at all then. The last time SEA Games basketball was played in the Philippines was in 1991. A team coached by Francis Rodriguez and composed of team captain Nonoy Chuatico, Johnny Abarrientos, Marlou Aquino, Vergel Meneses, Jun Limpot, Vic Pablo and Bong Ravena to name a few, recaptured the gold medal. The Philippines had been repeatedly cheated in the 1989 SEA Games basketball tournament. 

With that in mind, it would be a nice gesture on the part of Phisgoc to recognize the country’s greatest amateur athletes of all time – beginning with basketball – at their sports’ events in this year’s SEA Games. Given the rumored strong challenge from Indonesia and its US NCAA players, this would be an appropriate time to do it to bring them back into public consciousness, and inspire the Filipino athletes of this generation. 

It also brings to mind an indelibly emotional moment from the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.It was the last day of the men’s basketball tournament at the 70,000-seat Georgia Dome. The Philippine contingent had been working with an overwhelming schedule of events. Nine of us commentators would be talking for 12 to 16 hours a day. There were at times 16 events going on simultaneously. We were either covering events live or off-tube, or anchoring in the makeshift main studio. We were exhausted.

I was covering the basketball games solo. Team USA (Dream Team III) and Yugoslavia were playing in the gold medal game. It was announced that International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch would be making a special presentation at halftime. This struck me as odd, since the game wouldn’t have been over yet. 

At halftime, Samaranch’s presence was announced. The public address announcer explained the ceremony. When Muhammad Ali (then Cassius Clay) won the Olympic light heavyweight gold medal in boxing in Rome in 1960, he claims to have thrown it into a river in disgust at the racism that impacted him upon his return to the US. Sanaranch presented The Greatest with a replacement medal. The crowd started chanting “Ali! Ali! Ali!”. The players all hugged him. Many of us were in tears.

Can you imagine the reception and the surge in energy if the members of our 1972 Olympic basketball team were presented fo the public at a Philippine game at the SEA Games in the country? This team not only qualified for Munich, but won two games, beating African champion Senegal and Asian rival Japan. If they were acknowledged, let’s say, at the gold medal game, the players would concretely have an idea of what they were shooting for. And the stories they would hear would surely blow their minds. 

And what of other Filipino greats? Imagine if before final matches, the ailing Olympic medalist Pol Serrantes or Onyok and Roel Velasco appeared? Not only would it intimidate the opponents, but strengthen the resolve of the Philippine boxers. Same thing in athletics, if legends like Lydia de Vega and Elma Muros were introduced to the crowds. What a boost it would be for the home athletes. In swimming, Olympian Akiko Thomson and fellow SEA Games Outstanding Athlete Eric Buhain would recall the deafening cheers at Rizal Memorial back in 1991. 

Filipinos are not known for their sense of history. And with all the bad news about delays in arrival of equipment, preparation of venues and so on, the country has essentially lost its home court advantage. More pressure is one the athletes to make up for the oversight and incompetence of their federation officials. They need all the inspiration they can get. 

And it would make for a really nice gesture.