The Filipinos’ undying love for basketball

What makes basketball the nation’s No. 1 sport is its popularity from as far as Batanes to Tawi-Tawi and the universal appeal of the game to Pinoys, regardless of social status, economics, dialect or beliefs. Underscoring this fact that the Philippines is known as a “basketball-crazed country,” the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), together with its broadcast partner TV5, held a historic event last Nov. 17, when it simultaneously launched the 2014 PBA Season in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. Spanning the length of the archipelago, the new PBA season opened simultaneously at three different venues in the country: Smart Araneta Coliseum in Cubao, Quezon City, the New Cebu City Coliseum in Cebu and the University of Southeastern Philippines Gym in Davao City.

This momentous multi-venue opening ceremony was aired on TV5, now officially the new home of the PBA games and PLDT myDSL. PLDT myDSL has committed to broaden its support to the upcoming myDSL PBA Philippine Cup after the successful run of the recent PLDT Telpad PBA Governors’ Cup Finals, which posted record number in terms of crowd attendance and TV audiences. The PBA airs live on TV5 Wednesday and Friday nights at 8, with a delayed telecast of the first game at 11 p.m. TV5 airs all the games live on Saturdays and Sundays. The PBA games also have a live simulcast on AksyonTV, starting at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays, 3:30 p.m. on Saturdays; and 3 p.m. on Sundays. Radio listeners nationwide can also follow the action on DZSR Sports Radio 918AM. Viewers in Guam, North Africa, Middle East and Europe can catch the games on AksyonTV International. Kapatid from Quebec and Ontario can also watch the games via Bell Fibe.

All in all, the 2014 PLDT myDSL PBA Philippine Cup opened with a bang as it set a record audience of more than 30,000 fans attending the simultaneous games in the tri-cities representing the country’s three main island groupings. The unprecedented triple-header drew 20,298 fans to the Smart Araneta Coliseum where the thrilling Barangay Ginebra-San Mig Coffee Mixers match-up was played, while 7,000 trooped to Davao to catch the Rain or Shine-Alaska Aces duel, and 3,000 were in Cebu for Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters versus Meralco Bolts.

One defining moment in the opening ceremonies at the Smart Araneta Coliseum was the few minutes of silence offered for the victims of the recent super typhoon that struck the nation, with people in the three arenas in Quezon City, Cebu and Davao going silent and offering heartfelt prayers for our suffering Kapatid in the Visayas and Southern Luzon. In a sense, in both tragedy and triumph, the Filipino people remain bound as a nation — helping and caring for each other as the PBA contingent, which I was fortunate to join in Cebu, joined hands in repacking relief supplies for the victims of Typhoon Yolanda.

Basketball is more than a pastime for Filipinos. For them, it is a passion that reflects their ability to withstand all odds and work as a team or a community to achieve their goals. It is now, of all times, that basketball signifies something deeper and more poignant for the Filipino. A recent Associated Press report underscored this moving realization: “On one of the few stretches of road here that wasn’t overflowing with debris, they played basketball. I didn’t know what to think at first when I stumbled upon six teenagers shooting hoops over the weekend in a wrecked neighborhood of Tacloban, a city that Typhoon Haiyan reduced to rubble, bodies and uprooted trees when it slammed into the Philippines Nov. 8. As a foreign correspondent working in the middle of a horrendous disaster zone, I didn’t expect to see people having a good time — or asking me to play ball. I was even more stunned when I learned that the basketball goal was one of the first things this neighborhood rebuilt. It took a moment for me to realize that it made all the sense in the world.”