My beloved San Beda Red Lions got beaten, 68-63 in the first game of the best-of-three title series against the MIT Cardinals for the NCAA Season 99 Men’s Basketball championship.
The Cardinals sprung a surprise against the Lions, who went cold and colder in crucial stages of the game, missing point blank shots that could have turned the result of the game in their favor. But then again, we won’t take away the win from the Cardinals. They really did a good job against the boys in Red and White.
Despite the loss, my classmates from Philosophy and Letters Batch ‘92 remain positive that the Red Lions will come back stronger in Game 2 this coming Sunday, December 10, 2 p.m. at the Mall of Asia Arena and force a rubber match on December 17, Sunday, 2 p.m. at the Big Dome.
For someone who saw the Red Lions lose the NCAA title in 1991 to the Cardinals in the dying seconds of the game was very painful. So it is just fitting that after more than three decades, the Red Lions and Cardinals would meet again in the finals.
And the Boys of Mendiola are obviously thinking of getting that payback not only because of their desire to end a “drought” of championship in the last several years but also to honor Boybits Victoria and Vince Largo, who were part of that Red Lions team and may their souls rest in peace, for getting the job done this time around.
The Cardinals, however, have different things in mind. Foremost is to end their 32-year title drought with head coach Randy Alcantara leading the charge, and who is incidentally part of the last team that won the title for the Muralla-based school.
Nonetheless, here is hoping that the Red Lions will play a more consistent, error-less and probably their best game yet to extend the season to another.
Go San Beda Fight!
By this time, much has been said about the first press conference of John Gutierrez, the newly-elected president of the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) and his team.
We loved Gutierrez’s vow to breach the great divide between local football players and Filipinos playing in football leagues all over the world. We also would like to commend him for his passion to support local football players, the so-called homegrown talents. His preference for transparency in the Federation and his appeal for those who love football, especially the private sector, to help the PFF are also welcome. The Designated Kit Man wishes him all the luck, the patience and the determination to overcome all obstacles to give Philippine football the kick it deserves to grow bigger and to reach success in the next four years that he will be at the helm.
There is just one little hiccup that bothers me though.
“The experience that we have from recruiting Fil-Foreigners, it served its purpose,” said Vincent Santos, a key member of Gutierrez’s transition team.
Santos reiterated, too, that “there is more than enough talent we have locally. We just have to nourish and develop them further and given the opportunity, and by the end of President John’s term, we hope to have a lot more of these homegrown talents for senior national teams. It is very much doable. I think the Philippines is the sleeping giant in football and we have a chance now in the next four years.”
You can’t go wrong in boosting the capabilities of our homegrown football talents, this has been the battle cry of purists calling for an “all-Filipino” national team for many years.
But can we afford to do this now? Can we just set aside the contributions of the many Filipino football icons in the last decade and more to bring the quality of football in the country? Can’t we just get the best of our footballers playing abroad and the best there is in the Philippines to create a stronger national football team, not only for the Azkas or the Filipinas, but for all national youth teams as well?
Lately, several strong teams coming from football powerhouse countries have been recruiting players that are the sons or daughters of their citizens, but were born somewhere else. A look at the lineup of the lineup of the German team that won the recent U-17 World Cup would show that at least 11 of them are half-Germans including Justin von der Hitz, who is half Filipino. Several countries too have been naturalizing foreigners who can help improve their national football teams. Good example would be the recent World Cup in Qatar.
What’s the point one would ask? This stance should be considered with utmost care, scrutiny and consideration. We might be missing something here and it is not hard to see. In fact it is very obvious. Sometimes in our desire to do something noble and praiseworthy, we fail to see what is ahead. That in our wanting to make the big step, we might be actually doing the opposite. Like one step forward, but five steps backward.
Shoutout to the Don Bosco Technical College-Cebu for winning the High School Football Division of the 2023 Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Incorporated. The Grey Wolves swept the two-round tournament in a very overwhelming fashion to complete a rare back-to-back-to back title romp. Good job, lads!
And as always, please join us at Larong Pilipino, your favorite weekly sports fix aired live over at DZME 1530 Khz from 2-3.30 p.m. this coming Sunday, December 10, 2023 with The Designated Kitman, Chino Trinidad and Cong. Butch Pichay. We promise another exciting and heart-warming episode on the show. See you mga Kalaro!
Stay safe. Stay happy peeps!
For comments or questions, you can reach The Designated Kit Man at [email protected] or follow his account at Twitter: @erelcabatbat