Punch Sabay Hug

Saturday's a rest day. No Gilas game. Some wives (or husbands perhaps) were smiling. Their diehard Gilas fan spouses were in their normal selves. Hindi na nagmamadali. At medyo nakakausap na ng mabuti pagkatapos ng huling dalawang tambak na panalo natin sa Hongkong at Kuwait. Sana natuloy na yung mga naunsyaming date nung Friday. And hopefully nag-resume momentarily yung mga lovelife ng ilan.

Medyo nahimasmasan tayo ng konti dun sa upset ng Palestine. Sayang, inaasahan pa naman tayong mag-top sa group natin pero wala eh, okay lang. Great things come in surprises. And many times not in the best of packaging. Sa exchange gift sa school noon pag Pasko, kung ano pa yung maliit at napakapangit na gift wrap, eh minsan siya yung may pinakamaganda at makabuluhang nilalaman. We hope the same thing for our team. We may not be in the best of packaging in terms of standings. May bahid na isang talo.

But we're a better team now. The last two wins, after having learned the lesson the hard way with Palestine, have somehow helped us and reminded us of what we can do. True the last games are against weaker opponents. But sometimes if not most of the time our real opponents are ourselves. Like the way we allowed ourselves to be defeated by Palestine. Now the last two wins rehearsed us of what we are. And that we can be tough. 

Yeah tougher actually , like RDO.

Which brings me back to what the title of this post: Punch Sabay Hug (if you know what I mean). Ohyeah, the "National Elbow" himself and that untoward event as the time waned down during the Kuwait game. Every PBA fan knows who Ranidel is. Yeah, when he plays he can be Ranidirk, according to the gospel of Mico Halili. And he can be what his infamous title says about him: Pambansang Siko! And boy did he not hit the jackpot! Apparently Alhumaidi didn't do his homework. He didn't see that coming. Even the referees didn't see it themselves as well, they just saw blood and were close to blaming the Kuwaiti player that he must've bitten his lip and flopped. The refs were all left in the dark. And no one among them saw how that happened. They didn't realize until some playback of the incident that RDO's elbow was in fact wearing an invisibility cloak. So it was pretty much a perfect execution (after the game we learned that De Ocampo's family jewel was an aggrieved party). Yeah, poor Kuwaiti guy. He must have have realized that he really should learn how to receive, and not just give most of the time. He was way too generous, "giving" our players so that it was just the right time to give back. And his gesture was amply reciprocated.

It was probably the talk of the weekend amongst players in this year's Fiba Asia joust. Malamang maraming kinabahan (pero mas madami yata nag-DM kay RDO at nagpapa-schedule ng tutorial). Malamang maraming nagtataka at nagtatanong pano gawing ganun kasimple at ka-swabe!

Sunday's gonna be war once again. Looking forward na naman tayo mga ka-fans sa laro ngayon. Now every game matters. And our team needs to be more than 100%. Gilas Pilipinas needs to bring the "punch" back in. And we fans need to send them all our "hugs" by way of unwavering support no matter what.

Laban Pilipinas. Punch! Este, PUSO!



... follow @labapilipinas on twitter for some sports laundering!