Despite the sleepless nights spent watching the enthralling FIFA World Cup 2010 which football fans in the country have the privilege of watching on ABS-CBN SkyCable’s “Balls” Channel with selected replays on Studio 23, we did find time after several months of deliberately not watching the PBA games,  to catch the finals of the MVP Invitational Cup at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium on Sunday evening.

It was an added privilege that the host, eminent businessman-sportsman Manny Pangilinan decided to abandon the seat provided for him and to sit next two us, knowing full well our passion for the sport and more so the national team.

Smart Gilas faced the national team of world-championship-bound Jordan who play a rugged game but are loaded with talent and honed to near perfection by playing together as a team for some four years. This is basically the thrust of MVP and the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas in putting together a national pool with the hope of being able to make it to the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

Most basketball people would consider qualifying for the Olympics an impossible task but if the sense of grim determination and the fighting heart Smart Gilas demonstrated against Jordan is a yardstick of our chances then, despite the doubts,  we realize that we will never find out whether we can unless we try,  and that perhaps is the philosophy that drives the gentleman they fondly refer to as MVP and those who embrace his vision for Philippine basketball, sports in its various disciplines and national society at large.

A smiling POC president Jose “Peping” C ojuangco was seated next to MVP and shared in the joy of the fans who trekked to the Ninoy Aquino Stadium to watch a truly fine performance by Smart Gilas under coach Rajko Toroman whose undying love for the game and his fondness for the Philippine team are obvious.

Whenever Toroman speaks he always says “We” not “I” which essentially sends a message that he has embraced the Smart Gilas team, the concept behind it and the goals set by MVP and his team for our national team. Indeed the joy written on the faces of the fans after a sterling performance told us that while we may face tremendous odds against national teams of countries that grow bigger and stronger men and strengthen their line-ups with individuals who merely move from one country to  pick up a passport  from another through the simple expedient of some royal approval or signature,  we will enjoy the right to compete, fair and square.

That indeed underlines the essence of sports – fair play.

Congressman Cojuangco’s disposition was no doubt enhanced by the fact that since his nephew Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino will soon take his oath as President of our country, his endless differences with the chairman of the Philippine Sports Commission would be a thing of the past which at least would hopefully guarantee harmony in the top echelons of sports. This is devoutly to be wished not just in sports but in all facets of national life if we are to move forward in rather difficult if not challenging times.

This was demonstrated by the Smart Gilas team as the players on the bench applauded every good move by their teammates on the court and shouted at them to forget any errors and to get on with the task at hand. To them there was no “I” in the word team.

This is the fundamental philosophy that should guide us in sports and in national life in the challenging and difficult times ahead. We need to work together because like basketball, governance  and nation-building are anchored on a certain togetherness and unity for common goals.

Congressman Manny Pacquiao who took his oath, in a sense before a worldwide audience yesterday,  has dramatized the uncanny ability of an incredible sportsman to unite a nation even for a few hours whenever he fights. His personal wish is that he could fight every day if that would help bring about national unity.

What all of us need to do is to remember that we should not demand that the “Fighter of the Decade” fight every day but that all of us, collectively, fight together every day in the field of sports and in national society to achieve what we can and must achieve for the young men and women of our nation to whom we have an obligation to bequeath a future of peace, harmony and hearts filled with hope.

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