Why I love basketball

You can say whatever you want to say but I love basketball more than anything else! It's my greatest passion in life!

No, I'm not a basketball player for my height wouldn't allow me to. I admit, with the numerous times I played with my brother and my friends way back in college, I had a pretty good stroke. If only I was 10 inches taller,I would've tried out for the varsity. Hey, San Sebastian Cavite has a sound basketball program for men and women. I'll be willing to suit up for them if only I had the chance.

You cannot blame a girl who grew up in a basketball-crazed family. My father is an avid fan of the sports. When I was younger, about 5 or 6, he would come home early from work and turn on the TV to watch the Big J and Añejo. At first, I hated it when he switched channel and leave me feeling sorry for I cannot watch my favorite channel back in the day. But he wouldn't give way. He had to cheer for the Big J. I started to watch the PBA and appreciate the game when I was in high school. During that time, my mother (who, like me, was once a basketball-hater), my sister and my brother became a solid fan of Ginebra. They never missed any of their games and usually spend the watching spree with ear smashing cheers: "Ginebra! Ginebra!" Everyone thought I'm going to be a Ginebra fan but my heart belonged to another team: Purefoods Hotdogs. Yes, I was a huge, and until now, a huge huge fan of Alvin Patrimonio and the Hotdogs. Like my folks, I always made it a point to catch their games on TV. I feel bad whenever they lost and felt jubillant when they won. From then on, I became a self-confessed, basketball addict!

But why do I love basketball? Tough question. Perhaps I love basketball because it gives me the high. Don't get me wrong, I get high on everything: food, friends and good grades. But the high I get from basketball is something that really makes me extremely happy. You've got to be a fan of something to understand me. Some of my friends find it really weird. I tried to explain but they won't understand and they just laugh at me. I even missed out on several barkada escapade because "I have a game to catch. It's some sort of an addiction. So far, an honest to goodness, positive addiction. Besides, it's entertaining. Knowing they conquer another team always lightens up my day. Right now, I cannot give you concrete explanation about this high because the meaning hasn't really occured to me yet. But one thing is clear though, I can do everything if my team wins. Yeah, even washing the dishes.

It's not unconditional love because as a fan, you always want them to win. When something is not going right, you scream, you curse the coach or curse the player who's made the error. That's normal for passionate fan like me. That's what I do and that makes me more involved.

If only the teams in the PBA, NBA or any other league for that matter knew how much they have influenced alot of people, I don't think we'll ever see uncompetitive games no more. If they only knew how many people won't sleep at night after a lopsided game, I don't think they'll ever want to get drubbed again. If they only knew how much loyalty we have in them, I don't think they'll ever want to lose.

That's the hardest thing to accept: see them lose without even fighting. That's every fanatics nightmare. I don't want to dream like that. A team can drub my favorite team with 30 for three quarters but if I see them plug away at the pay-off period and give the other team a scare, I'll still love them for that. Fans always give importance to the effort. We solicit loud cheers whenever a guy dive for loose balls or swat the other guys shot. We get extremely excited on alleyoops dunks or back-to-back three points. We say, "that guy is smart" whenever we see players call a timeout in the midst of scrambling for the ball. That's what the fans paid to see. That's what they are supposed to get, aren't they?

I love basketball. I love my favorite team. I love the sport. One time my mother asked me and my father did they (our team) ever love us back. I said, "Yes... they did not only when they win, but, when they played hard."