One day my Olympics posts are gonna end. But not when there are just easy targets for me to expose my unique brand of warped words. A fellow Multiply mate brought out his frustration at R.P.'s Olympic team bringing back the exact same thing they always bring back. Nothing. Heck I was vacationing here in 1984 when we had the exact same discussion. Back when local TV was way more relevant to me than it is now. Well you can read my two different responses to the two different posters below. My own words as usual are in red italics. Plus read everything I previously said on the topic. Medals rarely mean authentic victory or superiority. Marion Jones, mega medals, mega cheater . Previously worshipped now correctly vilified. I have come to my own particular paradigm on the topic from years of reading about sports, competition and politics. Heck in our country it is enough that the elected officials and the law enforcement community cheat. We all know that. I rather lose in the Olympics where winners often cheat than to win and have the other shoe drop. Filipinos only care about basketball as a sport to spend their time on. I deal with it by not caring about local TV or sports sections. They don't target people with slightly broader horizons. They target basketball fans and M.P. fans. Don't believe me , read the columns. Who is really really surprised? The best go to basketball and they rarely achieve international acclaim. Then the leftovers are the pool to which we somehow have to build a competitive Olympic team.What's funny is no country is myopic as the Philippines in terms of basketball so it's their leftovers that beat our best. Go chew on that one .
Excellence comes from competition. Somebody point to me if there are amateur programs like the NCAA that have serious competition to forge such "medalists" in the different Olympic disciplines? Oh yeah discipline, organization and Philippines all in the same sentence. Silly me. Before I get hate mail on that sentence please look at our law and order situation, or how many drunk drivers are imprisoned or our stupid corrupt Senators or try lining up for the MRT without getting cut off or the quality of our jeepney and bus drivers. If that's all perfect go ahead and lambaste me. If those things don't at least partially define our country and our mentality again take your shots.
Ed
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for chrissake!
rp athletes did us proud - cojuangco"Philippine Olympic Committee president Jose "Peping" Cojuangco said all the members of the 15-man Philippine contingent made a performance "we all can be proud of" despite their failure to win a single medal in the XXIX Olympic Games"
Can you fahking believe that?
be proud of the fact that the games exposed us amateurs? the reality of how much we now lag behind?
even before the games got underway, everyone accepted the fact that there was no way we could have won any medals. sports illustrated picking harry tanamor to win silver was a pleasant surprise. but one had to hope. you'd think they put up a better fight and at least come close to winning a medal.
i guess what was frustrating was once the games started, everyone just dropped like flies. with no semblance of a fight. it was like the athlete's went to beijing for a token participation. i mean how else can you interpret all of them being eliminated in the first round eliminations.
and then they tell us to be proud of that fact? they're telling is to be proud of mediocrity? why do we always have to sugar coat and massage the ego of athletes and officials?
no wonder.
michael phelps has won one more medals (of any color) participating in 3 olympics than onlindapilipins participating in 19 olympics.
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cornholiogogs wrote on Aug 24
It is very easy to reduce the evaluation of the Olympics to a one variable equation (medal count). My personal observation is we are drastic under achievers in terms of international sport because we are so myopic in focusing on basketball. We are the only country who's consciousness in terms of team sport is the game with the hoop is at about 95% when we are so genetically at a disadvantage. Our country's best athletes don't consider anything else. We truly deserve our obscurity .
As per relevance of medals you may read what I said previously:
http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/tag/olympics%20non%20event
(read reason #1)
http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/journal/item/260/My_thoughts_on_the_US_Medal_Count
Our country is not perfect but it helps to realize what lengths China went through for their dominance at these Games. Hope I make some sense. Peace!
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evildeathbeast wrote on Aug 25
Maybe this will be the wake-up call the country needs.
Govt should spend more on sports programs that we can excel in. Not the ones we suck at (basketball!). How can we expect to get any medals kung hindi naman tinutulungan NG SAPAT ang mga atleta natin? Pero, if you think about it, we're not really a sporty people. We don't take sports seriously. I don't remember any PE class that I took seriously. I don't remember a PE class that anyone took seriously. Kung bata ka pa lang hindi na naituro sa iyo ang halaga ng sports, how can we develop Olympic class athletes? To real Olympic class athletes, sports is not a job. Sports is not for recreation. Sports is their life! I bet si Phelps kahit sa bath tub nagba-butterfly yun! Pero sa Pinas, pano mo gagawing buhay ang sport mo kung wala kang pambili ng lunch??
Lagi na lang ang focus sa basketball. We like the sport not because we want to excel in it, but because it makes us feel more "American". I am not the sportiest person, but looking back, it was mostly because there weren't any options to choose from when I was a kid. Basketball lang! Eh di ko siya trip. Sorry na lang ako. Sorry na lang lahat ng hindi trip ang basketball. Nerd kaming lahat. Tapos. Kasi sa Pilipinas basketball=sports.
Our standing in the Olympics paints a pretty accurate picture of our standing as a country: kulelat.
We shouldn't be ashamed of the athletes that went to Beijing, they did their best. We should be ashamed of the system that did not support them while they went out there to fight for our country's honor.
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ev**********t said
We shouldn't be ashamed of the athletes that went to Beijing, they did their best. We should be ashamed of the system that did not support them while they went out there to fight for our country's honor.
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cornholiogogs wrote on Aug 25 (response to above purple paragraph)
That is so true. If they did the best with what they had and they carry our colors proudly that is all we can ask for. Look at some of the countries who did medal, in terms of chemicals, paper shuffling, massive financing. I still strongly recommend reading
http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news?slug=dw-medalcount082208&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
which even pokes holes at the American development system and they only got the most medals overall.
http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/medals;_ylt=AukpwftkGOjQf4GUJGvvbmi7KZt4
Besides why spend money on athletic development when it can be used to fuel corruption and the lifestyles and egos of senators , congressmen etc? gerwinco thanks for a thought provoking post that has different people all giving different points of view and supported. All you guys welcome to discuss topics in my page.
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