Should we give up on Basketball?
By shattered
@shattered (1728)
Philippines
December 6, 2010 9:16pm CST
Lets face it, we are not as tall as we like to be. As a nation we have very few agile big men. In fact we rely on fil-somethings to fill in our National Team roster for basketball.
The recent victory of the Phil. Soccer Team against defending champion Vietnam and the recent victories of Manny Pacquiao and Nonito Donaire in boxing made me think that maybe we should realign are athletic funds tosport where we could make more impact.
We have tried to hold on to our former basketball glory when we were one of the best in asia. The times have changed. We have the skill but in basketball, height is might just ask the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers. And honestly we just don't have the height.
Should we focus on other sport rather than basketball?
4 responses
@eileenleyva (27560)
• Philippines
8 Dec 10
I have long given up on basketball. The last time I truly enjoyed the game was when the UST Growling Tigers was dominating the UAAP for four consecutive years. Basketball is good as a college sport. But professional, leave it to the Spaniards, the Chinese, the Russians, and yes, the good old NBA superstars.
The Filipinos could begin enhancing team sports in soccer, softball, and perhaps volleyball. We could also be good in canoeing, gymnastics, badminton and marathon.
@shattered (1728)
• Philippines
8 Dec 10
Wow growling tigers... that was along time ago, the time of Dennis Espino and Ray Evangelista... 
We really should know our limits and know our strengths, work on what we can regarding our weakness and fortify our strengths. But height really is just something we don't have. PBA can also be enjoyable as long as no non-filipino ciitzens are allowed to play. I have long held the belief that the influx of fil-foreign players have degraded the quality of play in the PBA and the following as well. Fil-foreign players who are not Filipino citizens should only be allowed to play as imports not local players.
Though as a collegiate sport it is still fun to watch, especially when your school wins!
We really should know our limits and know our strengths, work on what we can regarding our weakness and fortify our strengths. But height really is just something we don't have. PBA can also be enjoyable as long as no non-filipino ciitzens are allowed to play. I have long held the belief that the influx of fil-foreign players have degraded the quality of play in the PBA and the following as well. Fil-foreign players who are not Filipino citizens should only be allowed to play as imports not local players.
Though as a collegiate sport it is still fun to watch, especially when your school wins! 1 person likes this
@romzz05 (572)
• Philippines
7 Dec 10
I remember back in elementary I really thought basketball is our national sport. I really want to see Pinoys to excel on a team sport but unfortunately since we are not tall enough its quite impossible to compete internationally. I was hoping soccer will be given attention. You don't have to be tall you just need to be athletic and its a big sport worldwide. Wish we could join the World Cup.
1 person likes this
@shattered (1728)
• Philippines
8 Dec 10
I agree with you, the World Cup is a dream but the popularity of soccer in the Philippines has not taken off, we have to wait for some time in order for us to gather and train enough talented athletes to qualify for the world cup, we are getting there, but unless there is national and commercial support, athletes can't survive playing soccer alone
@louievill (28851)
• Philippines
7 Dec 10
Maybe not give up completely, I think we should diversify and set priorities when it comes to sports, I agree with you that too much attention is being given to basketball and not to mention the money and effort we pour into something we have a very small chance of making big internationally, basketball is the big man's game and that is something we just do not have. Besides soccer and boxing that you mentioned, maybe we should also concentrate on billards and chess since we have an abundant supply of "tambays" (idle people )that we can develop, the government and Ngos can sponsor more tournaments to discover more talents, besides equipment on said sports are not very expensive. 
@shattered (1728)
• Philippines
7 Dec 10
Yeah its just hard for Filipinos to swallow I guess. We have always been proud of having the first professional basketball league in asia, but that was in the past, china has its own league now and they have bigger players.
Diversifying is good, and we should not totally neglect basketball but we should not spend too much on it.
I neglected billiards because we already have enough great billiard players, we do not need to train them like they do in Taiwan, they are just sprouting everywhere in the philippines! But you're right we should have more tournaments around the country to find the best of the best to represent our country in international competitions.
But you're right we should have more tournaments around the country to find the best of the best to represent our country in international competitions.
@zoeandrea (47)
•
7 Dec 10
Thats a very good idea. As they said previously we shouldn't just focus on another sport and leave basketball but at least explore all our options, develop our strengths and work more on our weak points. I would suggest to the government to exert more funds for our athletes because thats one of the reasons we don't have the most fit athletes now.
@shattered (1728)
• Philippines
7 Dec 10
Yeah I guess you are right, but we should spend most of our "budget" on the sport that we can excel and assist our athletes to become better to compete well in international competitions. It is also a good point to work on our weaknesses, but when our weakness is height... I don't think we can work on that easily though!
