#labapilipinas

I drop almost everything each time Gilas Pilipinas plays. And no less than a World Cup stage can excite me more from following the team. Of course, I make concessions at home. I announce ahead of time before my commander-in-chief the schedule of the games. And we make adjustments with chores and parental duties.

But lately my 9-year-old son noticed something different from our experience following Gilas. Wrapping up tonight’s game versus Tunisia, my anak was calm yet bold enough to ask me, “Why do we always lose games? Aren’t we that good anymore?”

It hit me like a dagger. Took me a while to gather my emotions. I felt like I dwelt too much longer on the words “aren’t we that good anymore”.
We are good. Won’t be here if we weren’t. These men are professional players. And we know what they can do. We see they have skills and talent. We’ve seen them make impossible shots. Drained threes with almost no time left. Powered their way inside the paint and still make a shot, and one. Win lots and…

The names are out. These are the names that represent us all. Like them or not, they carry on their chest our identity as a nation—complicated by different issues that affect us as a country. But as Gilas Pilipinas march on to the FIBA World Cup in China, their names bring with them this one resounding message:

First and foremost, our apologies for the desecration of the esteemed wordmark. It was never the intention to ruin the name. But after the blatant and outright trashing of no less than the President of the Republic of the Philippines, this one doesn’t even come close to, or fare as against the magnitude of demoralizing words he had uttered to our beloved Gilas Pilipinas as we head on to the #FIBAWC.

He's one of those fish who found their way into Philippine waters. Yeah right. The Senate President knows that. And we're glad to witness one of Philippine basketball's biggest catch.

EHEM!Are we really #FIBAWC bound? Because it seems we're not. While most teams gather and prepare, doing tune-ups already, adding notable stars to their pool, even a couple of National Teams joining the NBA Summer League—our Gilas pool is struggling with attendance as they begin to call the weekly practice. What used to be a "small ball" handicap for Gilas Pilipinas has now become "small attendance" obstacle!

Remember Batang Gilas? Well, they're now called "Gilas Youth." And boy, they're up for some thirst-quenching journey come FIBA-U19 World Cup in Greece.

This isn’t about that famous fashion brand. “‘Clined” in fact is a contraction of a word. Much as we really wanted it to mean an increase, an improvement, an upward trajectory like—“inclined”. But, it’s the otherwise. And sadly, he really has “declined”. Of course the other part of the title, “Calvin”—we know who we are referring to here. And he’s been all over our timelines lately. Hugging the global spotlights for the wrong reason. Sadly, not the best of news we all wanted to hear.