#labapilipinas

No disrespect to the Filipino hero-general. But perhaps his courage, resilience and more importantly — his long hair reminds us a lot about someone sporting a shampoo commercial-worthy hair style in the FIBA Asia Cup 2017 Gilas roster. 

The nights are dark. There's eerie silence as bodies lie flat on the dark murky pavements. We expected moments like this. A lot of this kind actually. A murder like no other. A rampage that leaves every countenance unidentified. Embarrassed but expecting something like this to happen. Every night leading to bleak mornings. Red letters written all over the storied walls. Blood...

Alien who?

Siya nga ba? Seaba talaga?! O, siya!

(Updated 091216 19:06H) We begin with the allegation that the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is the root that leads to the trunk, branches and leaves of this seemingly atrophying tree called Philippine Basketball.

Mas mabuti yatang tumigil nalang sa pagsuporta sa koponan ng bayan. Mas mainam yata na manisi nalang. Mangutya nang lubus-lubusan. Mang-asar at sabihing mali sila. Tanga si Coach Tab at tinanggal si Abueva. Dapat pinaglaro si ganito. Dapat ginawa yung ganyang play. Dapat tinira na ni Chan, bakit pinasa pa. Dapat sa ilalim lang si Blatche. Dapat hindi si Blatche yung naturalized player natin. Sana hindi tayo yung first game kahapon. Sana nagpahiram yung ibang team noong Fiba Asia nung nakaraang taon. Sana pwede si Clarkson. Sana nanalo tayo sa France. Sana hindi nalang natin ni-boo yung Haka ng Tall Blacks (malas daw kasi na i-boo). Sana nilakasan pa natin yung sigaw. Sana hindi lang "De-fense...De-fense" yung alam nating i-chant. Sana hindi nalang tayo naging fans. Sana'y pag-ibig nalang ang isipin... (Teka, anong linya 'to?)

Today is game day. The moment we've been waiting for is here. What seemed to be a stalled #RoadToRio last year is again opening a long shot opportunity for our Gilas Pilipinas. However this time we know this is the harder route. If not the most difficult path.

With few days before the FIBA Olympic Qualifiers, many of us still feel that this is just too daunting a task for our version 4.0 of our #Gilas12. If we were to make the Olympics it should’ve been much earlier. It’s a classic naiwan ng last trip syndrome. But that’s another #CryingJordan over spilled milk. Which just brings back a lot of hatred, if not animosity. All negativity of sorts. We can easily name it, bullet for bullet, tweet for tweet. Let’s just get over it and be mindful of what’s in the NOW.

Ilang tulog o gising nalang (depende kung mas madalas kang gising o tulog), bakbakan na. Oops, hindi nina Baron Geisler at Kiko Matos (lalung-lalu hindi rin nina Snow at Dennis, okay?). Balik tayo sa Gilas. Ohyeah, umpisa na ng FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament! 

And so we heard today. Finally. The news about the ticket. Not talking about the Liberal Party ticket. Or any other political ticket out there who are all busy beating the clock as the May 9 National Elections draw nearer and nearer each day.

It's been a while. Well, maybe a month. No, double that! Sobrang naging busy yung holidays. And as expected the laundries were as horrendous as the EDSA traffic. Perhaps as endless it seems as the queue in the MRT everyday. But nonetheless we're back to regular programming.

When we thought Gilas 3.0 has formally closed a chapter in Philippine basketball, here comes another: The 4.0 version! Ambilis ano? Parang software lang, o app na kama-kailan lang naglabas ng bug fixes, aba'y naglabas na naman agad ng update. Of course, if that's the case, there's really no reason to complain.

The Philippine Basketball Association was supposed to open on Sunday,  October 18th. But we all know it was cancelled. Is this the first time in the 41 years of the league to have an opening day festivity cancelled?