Dear SBP,
Before anything else, let me introduce myself. I am a Senior High School student from the Ateneo, and at the same time, I am an avid supporter of Gilas Pilipinas.
I only started to religiously follow the Philippine National Team during the 2011 FIBA Asia stint of Smart Gilas in China. Based on how I saw the team, they weren't exactly expected to succeed during that tourney. After all, the Philippine National Basketball Team had been experiencing some sort of slump during that time. Despite the circumstances of having a team with primarily Collegiate Basketball players (That team was led by Chris Tiu, take note), they still reached 4th place. After that stint, I've been following them religiously ever since. In the 3 years I have followed them, it's pretty evident what their battle cry is.
LABAN PILIPINAS, PUSO.
One time during an outreach program that our school has, I happened to wear a Kiefer Ravena Pilipinas jersey. When they kids saw me wearing the jersey, they excitedly excalimed, "Laban Pilipinas! Puso!" It's become a battle cry not only for Gilas Pilipinas. Whether it be Filipinos playing basketball in the streets for a bottle of RC, or OFWs working as hard as they can for there families, it has become their motto of sorts. The jist of it is; "Laban lang ng laban, wag tayong susuko."
Gilas Pilipinas exemplifies LABAN PILIPINAS, PUSO. They exemplify that Never Give Up attitude. Nope, not John Cena. Gilas Pilipinas.
Yet, here we are, on the brink of elimination from the Asian Games all because we want to pull out. Why, SBP? Why pull out in the first place?
Chances are, if my classmates are reading this, they must be thinking, "Nako po, heto na naman si Karlo sa Kraken niya" I won't hide it. I'm a HUGE Junemar Fajardo fan. As a Fajantard, it sucked when he didn't get minutes during the FIBA World Cup. As a Gilas Pilipinas fan, it sucked as well, because it's for his, and the country's development anyway. Sure, Coach Chot had his reasons regarding the "benching", I understood that. It was a matter of playing the match ups. Despite the benching, however, lots of Filipino basketball fans were hopeful of Junemar's emergence.
Lots of us started to picture Junemar making Hamed Haddadi look like trash. Lots of us started to picture Junemar ruling the Asian Basketball scene. Lots of us pictured Junemar bringing us Asian Games gold.
Yet, here we are. SBP is mulling a boycott.
Question is, why? Why the boycott?
Is it because we have too much pride to accept that there is such a rule that is in place?
Or.. is it because SBP has no faith in Junemar?
If you were to ask me, it's probably both. The SBP wants to fight for the Philippines' pride, yet at the same time, they're scared Junemar might do a redux of his FIBA Asia flops.
Well, if you were to ask me, this isn't the same Junemar that we saw in FIBA Asia. He's no longer hesitant of his moves. He's no longer scared to battling it out with bigger center. He's ready to play with the big boys. Most importantly, he's ready to fight for the Philippines' pride on the Basketball Court.
If you're to go on with the boycott, you just took away the Kraken's chance to fight for the Philippines' pride on the Basketball court. That's an insult, not only to Junemar, but also to the team. If you were to ask me, if SBP goes on with the boycott, there would be one person who would be the most livid... even though he's already retired.
Jimmy Alapag breathes and lives Philippine Basketball. He doesn't know what the terms "concede", "quit", and "never give up" are. He doesn't do those things. What he does, is, he brings his teams back from the dead with his timely three point shots and his amazing play making ability. Most importantly, he brings so much damn heart to the team.
This boycotting that you're planning on doing, SBP, it's pretty heartless. Maybe we can insert Jimmy Alapag to the roster again so he can bring some heart into the foray.
So SBP, I ask you this. Don't remove that opportunity from these players. They have worked too hard to have this opportunity taken away from them. You know the best way to battle for the Philippines' pride? To give Gilas Pilipinas the chance to shock the world once again, by living up to their battle cry. We need you, the SBP, as well, to live up to OUR COUNTRY'S battle cry,
LABAN PILIPINAS, PUSO!
Yours Truly,
Karlo Lovenia
Ateneo High School Student
Philippine Basketball Fan
Before anything else, let me introduce myself. I am a Senior High School student from the Ateneo, and at the same time, I am an avid supporter of Gilas Pilipinas.
I only started to religiously follow the Philippine National Team during the 2011 FIBA Asia stint of Smart Gilas in China. Based on how I saw the team, they weren't exactly expected to succeed during that tourney. After all, the Philippine National Basketball Team had been experiencing some sort of slump during that time. Despite the circumstances of having a team with primarily Collegiate Basketball players (That team was led by Chris Tiu, take note), they still reached 4th place. After that stint, I've been following them religiously ever since. In the 3 years I have followed them, it's pretty evident what their battle cry is.
LABAN PILIPINAS, PUSO.
 |
| It's become the battle cry of Filipinos out there. |
One time during an outreach program that our school has, I happened to wear a Kiefer Ravena Pilipinas jersey. When they kids saw me wearing the jersey, they excitedly excalimed, "Laban Pilipinas! Puso!" It's become a battle cry not only for Gilas Pilipinas. Whether it be Filipinos playing basketball in the streets for a bottle of RC, or OFWs working as hard as they can for there families, it has become their motto of sorts. The jist of it is; "Laban lang ng laban, wag tayong susuko."
Gilas Pilipinas exemplifies LABAN PILIPINAS, PUSO. They exemplify that Never Give Up attitude. Nope, not John Cena. Gilas Pilipinas.
Yet, here we are, on the brink of elimination from the Asian Games all because we want to pull out. Why, SBP? Why pull out in the first place?
Unleash the Kraken
 |
| It's time to introduce Hamed to the new Kraken. |
Lots of us started to picture Junemar making Hamed Haddadi look like trash. Lots of us started to picture Junemar ruling the Asian Basketball scene. Lots of us pictured Junemar bringing us Asian Games gold.
Yet, here we are. SBP is mulling a boycott.
Question is, why? Why the boycott?
Is it because we have too much pride to accept that there is such a rule that is in place?
Or.. is it because SBP has no faith in Junemar?
If you were to ask me, it's probably both. The SBP wants to fight for the Philippines' pride, yet at the same time, they're scared Junemar might do a redux of his FIBA Asia flops.
Well, if you were to ask me, this isn't the same Junemar that we saw in FIBA Asia. He's no longer hesitant of his moves. He's no longer scared to battling it out with bigger center. He's ready to play with the big boys. Most importantly, he's ready to fight for the Philippines' pride on the Basketball Court.
If you're to go on with the boycott, you just took away the Kraken's chance to fight for the Philippines' pride on the Basketball court. That's an insult, not only to Junemar, but also to the team. If you were to ask me, if SBP goes on with the boycott, there would be one person who would be the most livid... even though he's already retired.
One Last Hurrah For the Mighty Mouse
 |
| Will it be an encore for the Mighty Mouse? |
Jimmy Alapag has been El Kapitan of Gilas Pilipinas ever since. He's basically how Kobe Bryant is to the LA Lakers. When you lose the guy, you lose such a big part of the team.When I found out that Jimmy wouldn't be part of the Asian Games roster, I was pretty sad. When I saw him burn Argentina and Senegal, I became even more sad. Yet, I'm pretty sure, when he finds out that the SBP is considering a boycott of the Asian Games, he'll be even more heartbroken than I was when Gilas lost against Puerto Rico.
Jimmy Alapag breathes and lives Philippine Basketball. He doesn't know what the terms "concede", "quit", and "never give up" are. He doesn't do those things. What he does, is, he brings his teams back from the dead with his timely three point shots and his amazing play making ability. Most importantly, he brings so much damn heart to the team.
This boycotting that you're planning on doing, SBP, it's pretty heartless. Maybe we can insert Jimmy Alapag to the roster again so he can bring some heart into the foray.
TEAM Pilipinas for a reason
This was the same header I used for my article in Humblebola regarding Batang Gilas Pilipinas. In the end, it's true. I may have talked about Junemar and Jimmy almost exclusively in this letter, but in the end, we can't do it with only the two of them doing work. Gilas Pilipinas is a TEAM. It's a group of individuals, with one goal; to bring pride and honor for our country.So SBP, I ask you this. Don't remove that opportunity from these players. They have worked too hard to have this opportunity taken away from them. You know the best way to battle for the Philippines' pride? To give Gilas Pilipinas the chance to shock the world once again, by living up to their battle cry. We need you, the SBP, as well, to live up to OUR COUNTRY'S battle cry,
LABAN PILIPINAS, PUSO!
Yours Truly,
Karlo Lovenia
Ateneo High School Student
Philippine Basketball Fan
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