Building on the best

One of the hot buttons in the coming elections is the alleged issue of political dynasty. The unthinking, knee-jerk response to the false alarm being raised is to not vote for candidates who are related to currently active public servants. Let’s see if that theory holds water, at least in the sporting world.

Could you possibly imagine a world wherein our greatest sports heroes did not allow their children to continue their legacy of excellence simply to "give chance to others" who didn’t earn it? Think about how ridiculous it sounds. It’s like saying you can’t use your best players because they’ve given more than their share, and others should be given a crack.

Think about it this way: Michael Jordan’s sons, Marcus and Jeffrey, are close to graduating from high school, and are definitely blessed with their father’s talent. Jeff, a 6’2" senior and Marcus, a 6’3" sophomore, are left-handed stalwarts of Loyola Academy in Chicago. USA Today published a report on them when their team went undefeated after 20 games recently.

"Our parents did a good job of preparing us for what it was going to be like in high school and the media," Jeff said.

Now, imagine telling these boys that they can’t play in college, or in the NBA, because their father already did. Doesn’t make sense, does it?

What if Yao Ming’s parents, Yao Zhiyuan and Fang Fengdi, decided to exclude their son from all basketball activities because they had already played for the national team? Well, first of all, China would never do that, even if a so-called "dynasty" would be created. On the contrary, when Da Yao and Da Fang (Big Yao and Big Fang) were told by government doctors that their son was projected to be around 7’3" in height, they readily agreed to have him adopted by the government’s sports program. From the onset, it gave him an advantage. In fact, the only reason that the Yao family was not given a special exemption from the "one-child" policy was that Fang’s former coach stood in the way of allowing the additional resources in retribution for what was done to him during Mao Zedong’s time. Imagine a whole platoon of Yao brethren.

For decades, Muhammad Ali was the most identifiable athlete on the planet, and is still respected the world over. It was because of his talent, loquaciousness and most of all, his principles. He stood up for what he believed was right, and thus caused boxing to dramatically rise in popularity, to the point that Howard Cosell featured him on ABC’s Wide World of Sports almost 40 times over the years. Now his daughter Leila is doing the same thing for women’s boxing. If she were Filipino, would anybody tell her that she can’t box? It would just become another issue for her (and probably her father) to stand up against.

I look forward to the day (and it will come soon) when we see the children of Alvin Patrimonio become household names in international tennis, and perhaps Paeng Nepomuceno’s kids excel in whatever sports they dedicate themselves to. My own sons are good basketball players because I love the sport so much, even though I never pushed them into it.

Having a parent who stands out in a certain field gives you a genetic predisposition to outperform your peers in that field, and being exposed to it earlier adds a dimension of confidence that is often the hardest to acquire. This can be said of doctors, engineers, lawyers, bankers, soldiers, practically anybody. If it isn’t enforced and the child chooses it, what family would not pour its resources into backing up that youthful passion to encourage him or her?

When someone mentions the word "dynasty" in sports, you think of Crispa and Toyota, the 1980’s in Philippine sports, and even Flash Elorde. Why, then, when it comes to politics, people instinctively react like it’s a bad thing? Are we to snuff out excellence after only one generation, regardless of what field? Isn’t it actually a form of discrimination that punishes excellence and rewards mediocrity? Even if all the offspring of great sports legends are doing well now, it’s also because they’ve earned it. If they aren’t good enough, they won’t last, and no amount of breeding will change that. And it applies anywhere, perhaps more so in politics, because people don’t just give their opinion, they vote on it.

So, when you think about it, it’s not really an issue of dynasties, but building on the best, after all. Isn’t it?