bola-bola

Filipinos always ask themselves why such a vertically-challenged nation decided to go gaga over basketball — a sport dominated by seven-footers. The answer is simple: Filipinos were once very dominant in basketball!

The Philippine national basketball team was always considered the best in Asia, winning numerous gold medals in the Far Eastern Games, Asian Games and Asian Basketball Championships. It constantly qualified for the Olympics, including its 1936 run during the first Olympic basketball tournament, when it won 4 of its 5 games, narrowly missing a podium finish due to the bad luck of facing Team USA in the qualifying game to enter the final four. And of course, its greatest achievement was when Caloy "the Big Difference" Loyzaga brought the national team to a bronze medal finish at the 1954 FIBA World Championship.

This trajectory changed in 1975 upon the creation of the PBA — the only professional basketball league outside the NBA. The 'professional' categorization of the PBA made these newly-professional players ineligible to play in any FIBA-sanctioned events. Without our best players, the stature of the Philippine team immediately crashed, and we have not set foot in an Olympic stadium since Munich '72.

Despite the lifting of FIBA restrictions against pros in 1989, Philippine basketball has not been able to regain its past glory. The isolation of Philippine basketball kept the teams from playing beyond drive-and-draw and isolation plays from the 1960s. More importantly, the institutional problems that plague Philippine basketball remain.

While the PBA has finally welcomed the entry of Fil-foreigners, the use of naturalized players, the invitation of foreign teams, the recruitment of tall imports, and the hiring of foreign coaches are all still prohibited. The constant battles between the SBP and PBA on the use of players for the national team remains problematic, now made worse by the oligopolistic structure of the pro-league that is owned by two feuding corporations.

In the end, our love for basketball should be seen as an illustration of the Filipino nation: Once great and world-beating, but has gone down the drain because of political infighting, protectionism and a selfish oligarchy. #Puso