EDITORIAL - Adult table of world basketball

Quinito Henson, writing about the ongoing FIBA World Cup in the Philippine Star last Sunday, quoted Marc Stein on espn.go.com as saying "Whether or not Blatche and company even win a game in Group B along the way, Filipinos everywhere will rejoice in the fact that their Gilas are back where they've longed to be. Back at the adult table of world basketball."

And amen we say to that. Not since many decades ago has the Philippines made it to the world stage of basketball that even to just make it to the FIBA World Cup this time is already a  big and stupendous achievement for this basketball-crazy, one-time world basketball third placer. To be in the big league once again is honor enough already in itself.

As Stein correctly said, as quoted by Henson, we are back in the adult table of basketball. Take note of the phrase "adult table." What that phrase signifies is that we are expected not just to play hard but to in fact be hard in everything that the game demands. In the adult table of basketball, a high sense of maturity is expected of everyone in and out of the court.

The reason why we are bringing this up, the reason why we are emphasizing the words of Stein, as quoted by Henson, is that whether in victory or in defeat, we are expected to conduct ourselves on the adult table of basketball with the utmost professionalism and dignity, the presence or lack of which are what separates the men from the boys.

We harp on this fact because right after our heartbreaking first game loss to Croatia, some of our compatriots just could not help themselves and began blaming spotty officiating for the loss. Frankly, this whining took the luster out of a great game. The sour-graping cheapened an otherwise momentous occasion. By taking a powerful team like Croatia to overtime and stretching it to the limits of its skills and wit, never has a loss seemed like a victory for Filipino basketball fans.

It was a loss every Filipino cannot help feeling proud of. It was a story that will remain a great point of interest at every retelling. What a big letdown that some would destroy the feeling by complaining. Look, we were not even supposed to be where we are now. But we clawed and fought our way back to the adult table of world basketball.

On our very first game on that table we very nearly upset one of the world basketball powers. It was a priceless feeling of pride to behold the anxious faces of Croatian fans focused on tv as they bit their lips in silent incomprehension at what was happening to their team at the hands of our never-say-die compatriots. We may have lost the game. But we won the heart and respect of everyone, including the Croatians. And then we have to become childish again by sour-graping.