This goes beyond hoops. It goes past scoreboards and highlights. It’s an incredible tapestry of who we are, what we are and what we can be. Gary David’s horrid shooting at the start of the tourney is our daily commute: tiring, frustrating, seemingly never-ending. June Mar Fajardo’s bench-riding is how we react everytime they say we’re the Next Tigers of Asia: “Will our time ever come or will all this potential be for naught?” Marcus Douthit and Ranidel De Ocampo’s injuries are our nagging disappointments: all these dreams, hamstrung by limitations and hurdles. The loss to Chinese Taipei is the equivalent of all our broken hearts, being so close to happiness, yet not knowing what you had and letting it slip away, never to be had again. Japeth Aguilar’s ascend from punchline to knockout punch is that day in the office when you save the day. Marc Pingris’ toughness and scrappiness is our diskarte. The book can tell you how to do it. But we’ve all written our own chapters on how to do it when the situation isn’t even in the book to begin with. Every Jayson Castro layup, every LA Tenorio jumper, every Jimmy Alapag three, all symbols of how we find ways to make the impossible, possible. Whether it’s overtime at the office, cramming for the exam or taking that shortcut to avoid EDSA. The odds may not be in our favor, but sometimes a 5’9″ solution to a 7-foot problem is even sweeter. Jeff Chan and Larry Fonacier’s shooting? Only comparable to The One, lying down next to you, her eyes and fingers locked with yours, in the silence, knowing full well you wouldn’t rather be anywhere else. Yup. That and a Larry/Jeff three. Tied for sweetest thing in the world. And then there’s Gabe Norwood’s excellence on both ends, every single game. A testament to how we, as individuals and as a country, keep at it day in and day out. The daily grind rarely gets easier. We hurt, we bleed, we cry and we fall. But we wake up the next day, body tired, mind weary. And we do it all over again. Because we must. Because there is no other recourse. Because we would rather run into a hundred screens, take a thousand elbows to the chest and get called for a million phantom fouls, than quit.
Posted on: Sun, 11 Aug 2013 15:19:28 +0000
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