CHICAGO - I'm feeling red, white and blue patriotic on this night as I glanced at the scoreboard and saw our national team pull away from India after three quarters of their Fiba World Cup Asian qualifier, 68-47.
I'm happy for our boys and grateful for their effort, especially Thirdy Ravena and Dwight Ramos who honored their commitments to the national team by flying in from Japan where both are starring in the B.League.
I am also amused at all the exaggerated cheerleading.
Sorry to be the Friday night party pooper but this isn't a big deal. The real news would have been if we somehow lost to an inferior opponent from a country where basketball only ranks a distant third to cricket and football in passion and priority.
Coach Chot Reyes' salary is probably bigger than India's team budget. So is the per diem of Thirdy and Dwight.
So I'm reserving my energy and enthusiasm for New Zealand, a game that would really test our hastily assembled, haphazardly trained pool.
I spoke to an NBA scout who covered Australia in a previous life and he told me that just like the Aussies, New Zealand's scouting report on the Philippines carries these marching orders: Play physical. Be relentless from tip-off to final horn and you will blow them out.
He said PBA players donning the national colors are usually stars used to getting favorable whistles even at the slightest contact. They're not getting those calls in the Fiba courts.
HE AIN'T WRONG, IS HE?
After playing against the descendants of the peace-loving Mahatma Gandhi, Gilas will be in for a more touchy encounter with the Kiwis who haven't seen a wayward elbow they did not like.
Let me be clear, though, those guys are rough but not dirty.
But just the same, Gilas better bring some extra band-aids and ice packs to nurse the cuts, lumps and bruises that may enter the equation.
A lot of New Zealand regulars couldn't wiggle out of their NBL commitments so Gilas has a great chance to score a huge victory.
We shall see.
ANOMALY. Magnolia, as presently constituted, should have lost to a depleted NorthPort team that was 1-5 coming in.
But the reversal did happen yesterday, 103-101.
What happened there in Antipolo?
"We had a bad start," Hotshots coach Chito Victolero told me over the phone. "No defense in the first half, I think may kasama na rin na overconfidence at medyo relax din eh. Plus give credit to NorthPort who played hard and shot the lights out."
There you go.
The Hotshots got bored winning and apparently didn't feel they needed their A game against the Batang Pier.
Lesson learned.
I trust they will bounce back.
Blackwater, meanwhile, doesn't seem to get tired of losing. The Bossing streak is now at 27, courtesy of another black eye from Ginebra, 109-100.
But the funny story here is that coach Tim Cone and the Gin Kings needed a Backwater to end their own four-game misery.
Sad.
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