Too much of a good thing

(Part 2)

Last week, we posed the question: Is there too much basketball? Some readers from here and abroad e-mailed their responses, and it was, to be fair, a mixed bag. But four of those who corresponded with us have each touched on very important points.

Ryan Diaz ([email protected]) writes:

"I think there’s too much basketball. I remember back when I was in high school, the PBA was the biggest thing. Now, I don’t watch any basketball game, it has become so saturated and there’s not much excitement as there’s really no breakthrough, like a really new heir to MJ. Now, I stay up til the wee hours of the morning to watch European football games which are much more exciting. For the sponsors, give other sports a break! We pour all our money on basketball when we can’t prove ourselves champions of the sport, even just in Asia! Besides, I don’t like wearing basketball shoes."

Former varsity player Jasper Ocampo ([email protected]) says:

"Regards from the city of Detroit. I can relate to that story being a former player at Baste ’94-’98. If I can recall there was an instance where in a matter of one week we played in three leagues/tournaments. We played in the PBL, the Presidents Cup, don’t know what it is now, and then the Inter-collegiate. In one week. I can’t really complain because we did pretty well in all three, but the fact that there are 365 days in a year? I don’t know about the other players, but playing all year round kept me very sharp and in tip-top shape. Not to mention, before those three leagues/tournaments, we just got done with the NCAA. Practice makes perfect, and I may be a hypocrite to say that I am perfect, but things did work out (five NCAA championships).

Meanwhile, 19-year old Jeremy "Ippo" Elape ([email protected]) pipes up with the following:

"I do agree that there are way too many "amateur" basketball leagues in the country. It would have been okay had there been many professional teams available for them to play after college eligibility. But, sadly, only 10 pro teams exist.

"My point is simple, a lot of players shine in the amateurs but are yet to show their skills in the pros. That’s why I admire the systems of Air21 and Red Bull, who give their players relatively the same amount of playing time where they get to show what they have. But what about other teams?

"Boyet Bautista is a very explosive player in the amateurs, but he is earning a lot of minutes in the bench for Purefoods. Neil Rañeses was a pretty hot player back in University of the Visayas. But has an average PBA fan ever heard of him? I don’t think so.

"As long as the number of pro teams won’t rise, we will be seeing more of superstars in one team (e.g. Ginebra, San Miguel). And having so many amateur leagues would be useless, because players in those leagues won’t have a chance to show their skills against the big boys."

Lastly, Mariano "Bong" Aguilar, Jr. ([email protected]) lists the ills affecting the sport:

"I read most of sports but I have to agree, specially in the Philippines, basketball is just too much, to the point of being suffocating if not outright making one puke. I have a friend, neighbor and god-brother (rolled in to one) who once played for a college varsity and an amateur team. His schedule is so tied up to basketball that he became sick of it, figuratively. This we learned when we asked him to join us for a game. He said any sport but basketball. And that was more than 15 years ago!

"The other thing that bedevils the sport is that there’s no coherent national plan. I have lost track of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas but to be brutally frank, even without it, the BAP simply failed to gather every major stakeholder from Aparri to Jolo. True there is a program that BAP churns out year-in, year-out, but does it have a mid- and long-term plan?

"Lastly, there seems to be a crab mentality and a regionalistic attitude in tournaments. With the latter, I mean, everyone is trying to outdo each other on who has a better (bigger?) tourney. Similarly, abroad there are Ilocano Clubs, Visayan Associations, but no Filipino Town.

"Don’t get me wrong. Am not saying there shouldn’t be a Filipino-Indian Basketball Tournament nor an International Invitational of Chinese High Schools. The point is, someone with the will and the power should tack all these tourneys - amateur and even the PBA - into one nice scheduled program. The objective of which of course is to provide a real grassroots program from the barangay all the way to the Olympics. In my mind, Chot Reyes can design the plan. (I don’t know the guy personally. All I know he is intelligent. He is a very good coach. He is a very good planner. He is very good in teamwork. And he is a professional trainer in leadership)."

Anyone out there wanting to chip in his two cents’ worth? E-mail this writer at [email protected].