Top 5 things we learned from the FIBA Asia Championship

After straight days of intense competition, Gilas Pilipinas successfully advanced to the next level of the FIBA World Championships. LA Tenorio, Jason William (or is that Castro?), and the rest of the team headed by Coach Chot Reyes not only played some of the best basketball the Philippines has ever seen but were also able to unite a country in something other than our nationwide hatred of the Napoles family. Here are five other things we learned from the recent FIBA Asia Championships.

5 Chot Reyes puts as much effort into his style as he does his coaching.

In the most recent FIBA tournament, most if not all the coaches seemed to be buying all their clothes from an oversized short-sleeved polo tiangge. Reyes apparently didn’t get the memo because in each and every game, coach Chot brought his fashion A-game with fitted polos one night to a slimming track-jacket that looks like it just came fresh from the runway, the next. His hair didn’t fall short either. Slick to a “T” and always looking like he just came from Jing Monis Salon. Unlike the other coaches with hair seemingly stolen from that tito no one knows the name of. We’re guessing the man must be following the style philosophy: if you plan on winning, you first better look like a winner. Because, natch, win he did.

4 Jimmy Alapag is 35 but plays like a 25-year-old.

We’ll be honest here. We’ve never been big on Talk-N-Text but we’ve always respected Jimmy Alapag’s game. So finally being able to cheer for him was a long time coming. His second-half performance in Gilas’ game against Korea was nothing short of Tony Parker-esque greatness. And that breathtaking three-pointer by Alapag with under a minute left made us all realize that age really is but a number. Even in the Finals, he fought till the very end and proved that being at the top does not a champion make. Forget his “Mighty Mouse” nickname because what Alapag truly is, is a basketball beast.

3 FIBA’s British sportscaster could never pronounce “Aguilar” right.

As fans of everything BBC, the British sportscaster’s commentary was music to our ears. It was a refreshing change from the sometimes overly-dramatic/know-it-all Pinoy sportscasters and the snarky tone of those from America. Despite his sweet afternoon-tea accent, the man just couldn’t get over the hill that was pronouncing “Aguilar.” He pronounced Gilas’ big man, Japeth’s last name as “Ag-wa-ler” or the lesser-syllabled but much weirder “Egg-lair.” While we understand being lost in translation, it just made us all completely “Aguirritated.”

2 We’ve never seen so many grown men cry at the same time. It was amazing.

Even with five seconds still left in the semi-final, the cameras already captured the victorious tears of everyone at the Mall of Asia Arena. In that brief moment, men of all manner and T-shirt sizes went from beer and fist-bumps to tears and hugs. One small step for man, one giant leap for emotions. It was an epidemic of feelings with Larry Fonacier, Marc Pingris, and even MVP, Manuel V. Pangilinan himself, powerless against it. At the sports bar we watched the game in, we saw an insane amount of testosterone give way to extreme hagulgulan. Either that or everyone really did just have something in their eyes.

1 Korea’s Lee Seung Jun is our new life peg.

While Gilas Pilipinas celebrated advancing to the FIBA World Championships, the real winner of the whole series was South Korea’s Lee Seung Jun. Genders of all ages went gaga for Lee or as he is easier called Eric Lee Sandrin. Last we checked, there is already a petition over at change.org asking the powers-that-be to give Lee a Bench Body billboard in Guadalupe. Talk about people power. What made Lee Seung Jun even cooler (or hotter depending on how you feel about him) was that he was the only one from the Korean team who congratulated Gilas Pilipinas after their game. Ryan Gosling  bad boy looks with the heart of Pope Francis? How soon can we get this guy to be naturalized a Filipino?

Jokes aside, congratulations to everyone from Gilas Pilipinas for all their blood, sweat, and tears, and making us all proud to be Filipinos. Good luck in Spain and we can’t wait to see you show the rest of the world what Philippine basketball is all about!