CHICAGO - This felt like the inevitable dying of a gravely ill person. No matter how much you brace yourself from the ravages of fate, the pain of finality still pierces through the emotional guardrails.
Crushed soul. Heart broken. Torn into a million basketball pieces.
Through three games in this FIBA World Cup 2023, our beloved Gilas Pilipinas arrived at the worst possible outcome: Winless and dead last in Group A.
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Just like that, our hopes for a 2024 Paris Olympics slot lay in critical condition; not quite dead but barely alive. Hanging on a thread called "mathematically in contention."
After squandering leads in losses to the Dominican Republic (87-81) and Angola (80-70), Italy delivered the coup de grace last night, 90-83, at the Araneta Coliseum.
Being relegated to the classification round sucks the oxygen out of this World Cup for the host Filipinos. The only meaningful competition left, it seems, is the blame game.
The social media temperature right now is a flat-out fever. In my own X feed, the site formerly known as Twitter, one tweet garnered 110,000 views and the comments are brutal.
FAIRLY OR UNFAIRLY, COACH CHOT REYES IS ALMOST EVERY GILAS FAN'S OBJECT OF REJECTION
Because public figures with high-profile, high-paying jobs need to be held accountable, I understand why fingers are being pointed squarely at Chot.
Seeking redress to a grievance is one of the hallmarks of a democracy, a tenet that also applies to the rules governing sportsmanship.
Here's my unsolicited advice to jilted Gilas fans: If you think you'll feel better by unloading a burden in your chest and call for the termination or resignation of coach Chot, do it by all means.
But know that your voices can still be heard without the insults and foul language.
Labeling and name-calling such as "Choke Reyes" are not just crimes against language, it's a verbal assault on decency that reflects poorly on us as the host country of this mega event.
Disrespect only drowns the dignity of a valid cause.
Sadly, the criticisms against Chot have become a symphony of hate that has traveled outside the basketball lines where many netizens harped on what he wore, his OOTD or Outfit Of The Day.
Look, I would never be caught dead in a Thom Browne suit. I can find a million more ways to spend my money than throwing roughly P200,000 on an apparel that seems to look like Adidas with an extra bar.
HIS MONEY HIS CLOTHES
The fact that we're talking about Reyes' get-up like it's Fashion Week in New York tells us that the attacks have turned petty, personal.
That needs to stop.
"Maybe after the tournament," Reyes told me via text message when I asked for an interview and offered to be a vessel he can use to respond to the flood of fan criticism out there.
Fair enough.
So, hold your tongues, guys. And stop abusing your phone and computer keyboards.
If you really love Gilas, let Chot finish his job at hand and not distract him from pursuing that flickering Olympic hope we still have left.
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