No Losses Just Lessons

"Kasalanan ng coach" 

"Ang pangit ng rotation" 

"Walang chemistry" 

"Parang ang tamlay ng players" 

"Walang puso maglaro" 

"Kulang kasi sila sa big man e"

Throw in all the reasons you can think of. Point your fingers at every person you think should be blamed: the head coach, the coaching staff, the team captain, the players, the refs and even the water boy, if you want. 

Reasons, reasons, reasons, I've heard enough of those reasons. 

I'm no basketball or sports analyst. I'm just a fan. Wait, hold up. Some people might say 'Just a fan?' Fine, I'm a die-hard fan.  

A fan. An enthusiastic devotee of sports, an ardent follower and admirer.

I'm not gonna throw in stats or even my own point-of-view. Cause clearly, they've said it all. We're not critics. Well, if you are, by all means, please talk, we're all ears. But from a fan's point-of-view, I have nothing to say about how they played and how they should have played. Sure, I was dismayed. I'd be a hypocrite if I said I wasn't disappointed. But I'm no critic. My job, as a fan, is to keep on cheering for my team. Let's not forget the meaning of the word fan, an ardent follower and admirer. Besides, what's the use of my 'Never Say Die' spirit if I don't show it, if I leave my team just because they had a 4-game losing streak? 

I only have 4 words for our team: 

I know what you're gonna say "They've already been through three losses before this, haven't they learned from that 3-game losing streak?" I share your sentiments on that but why don't you give them time? Do you think it's easy for a kid to write his/her name right away? Of course not, he/she had to have many mistakes of writing a as e or jumbling the letters. But in the end, he/she learned what was wrong and corrected it, heck, perfected it even. And besides, you heard it from Jayjay Helterbrand himself, they're still in the transition phase. They're still in the process of shifting gears and giving the floor to the young guns to create the new era of Ginebra. They're in the process of perfecting the team, like what my favorite Chinese proverb says, “A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials.” That suits this topic well. (Pat on the back for me and for whoever said that lol)

Yeah, there are problems. Obviously there are, we wouldn't have lost 4 straight games if there was none. You're free to point it out, but it's not ours to solve. We're fans, we're allowed to give our opinions and give suggestions, if you may. But I don't get those fans who go berserk on social media about how the team played and how the coach was doing it wrong. Don't you think you're just adding insult to injury? Like what I said on my twitter account, "In the end,we'll never know the real reason. Only the team will know and will be able to solve the problem. We can only show our support."

Sidenote: I'd like to commend those people who stuck through the final buzzer and cheered the ever-famous GI-NEB-RA chant like we were winning. Because that's what we do, we keep them alive, we keep them fighting. We are their fuel. And at that time, we were their oxygen. The oxygen that they needed for them to combust and explode. It just so happened that that night, the oxygen wasn't enough. I encourage everyone to watch their upcoming games, they need us now more than ever. Never get tired of cheering for them. Tweet them encouraging words. You may give them your insights about how they played but don't even think of putting them down. I've seen players who tweet about blaming themselves and putting the loss on their shoulders, when in fact, they were the reason why their team even had a fighting chance.  

Yeah, we lost the past 4 games but we have more games to come. Remember fall seven times, stand up eight? Same rule applies to this. 

Yeah, we lost but that's life. Call it unfair, but things happen for reasons only God knows why. Deal with it. Learn and move on. Pray that things will get better. Our best weapon now is neither The Gineral nor The Spark, it's prayer. There's nowhere to go but up and there's no other direction but forward. 

Bottom line: NEVER. SAY. DIE. 

Laters,

G

FIVES

I've always had this thought that the starting five are the guys who should make the team happy. The last five guys on the floor are the ones who're supposed to make the fans happy. And the ones in-between? Their job is to make the other team cry. 

The Starting Five

Admit it, don't you have this little thrill of joy whenever your team scores first in the game? The first blood in the game. Even if it's just a jump shot or a simple lay-up, cause you know that that first basket will start the team's bid for a thrilling game. That's the job of the first five, to build the momentum for the team. They will be the fuel to the fire. I've always thought that they're supposed to make the team happy because they'll be the reason for the team to have a big lead in the early minutes of the game. Whatever they've started will be continued by the rest of the guys who'll be in the rotation. It's crucial for the first five to start the game right, so that it would be, sorry for the lack of a better word, easy for their teammates to play the rest of the game. 

The Last Five

You're down by 2, 3, 5 or 10 and you have a minute or two in the clock. Of course, you will turn to your best 5. Your best shooters and your best defenders. The guys who live and breathe "crunch time". They should make the fans happy, by giving them a win. A come-from-behind win is always the best. The exhilarating feeling that you get when you know your team can still make it. It could be something that you didn't expect or something that you half-expected, but for sure, it's something that you hoped for and something that you badly wanted. An overtime, for me, is a bonus. But it's the same, your best five and your best luck. At the last ticks of the clock, you will see every person, every fan, standing and cheering their hearts out for their team to win, to show their team that they are there. And it's the last five on the floor's job to reward those cheers with a win. To give back, to show them that it was worth watching the game, that it was worth cheering them on 'til the end.

The In-betweens

The in-betweens are the ones who play in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th quarter, obviously. They're the guys who want just want to be part of the rotation. And once they get that chance, they would want to, and they should, make the opponent cry. They're the guys who you never expected to blow up (Oh, I remember those days when Sunday Salvacion and Mark Macapagal became big names coming out of the bench and making those unexpected triples for Ginebra. Man, the good old days. Sorry, been under a rock for 4-5 years, that's as far as I can remember lol) The guys who are just waiting for their time to be ripe, and their talents to be seen. They are the ones who every person on the opposing team should be afraid of. It shouldn't be the best shooter known or the best defender known to mankind, because those people are expected to show exemplary work. It should be those guys who patiently warm the bench and themselves. Waiting, just waiting to pounce. 


But whether a player is part of the starting five, the in-betweens or the last five, what matters is that each and everyone of them know their role while they're on the floor. That way, the team, the fans and the players are all happy with the outcome of the game. Another thing, whatever sport you're playing, the most important thing is for you to offer everything to Him, make Him happy, and have fun. And most of all, you should be happy because you know that you were able to give it your all. If you win, then hooray and good job for you. If you lose, remember, there are no losses just lessons. High-five!
(How weird, my blog entry ended this way. LOL!)

Laters,

G

H O P E

I had this patient who I had a really interesting conversation with. He was a male, a tall one, about 6’5” in height, but lying in his bed he looks only about 5’8”. I entered the room and greeted him good morning. After a long conversation, he suddenly blurted out something that I never would have thought I'd hear in my existence. 

“I want to die.”

I was speechless for a moment, trying to gather my thoughts and my composure. Then I suddenly had the confidence to cheer him up.

“Don’t say that, there is still time.”

“There’s none, 6 months? 3 years? They’re not even sure if I will last that long. That’s not even enough to make me happy. How could I think of living if all the hope in me is already sucked out?”

I sat beside him feeling like I was setting aside the therapeutic communication.

“Let me share with you a theory that I have. Do you know the story of Pandora’s box?” He looked up and nodded once. “In my point of view each and every one of us is a Pandora, do you know why?” He didn’t remove his eyes from me and his face turned puzzled. “Because Pandora has let out all of the bad things, negativity, evil, etc., but there is something left inside, hope.” I smiled as I said the last word. “Hold on to it, for it is the only thing that separates you from death. If I let you die without me doing anything then that would totally violate my duty as a nurse, to care for my patient in every way possible, to assure his safety and make sure that he is living his life well no matter how short or long it is. Think of the present, the future, what you have and what you want to achieve. I know that there are a lot, hold on to those for those will make you think of tomorrow, will make you think of living another day. And your family? They never lost hope, for they know that you are strong, that you can withstand this storm. They need you just as much as you need them. As long as you’re breathing there is no reason to die, just be thankful for every day that passes by, for life is a gift from God that you shall not refuse.” All along the small speech that I made he was looking at me, teary-eyed and without a word he gave me a hug and said, “You made me strong, thank you. I never would have imagined life as that way. I never would have thought. I will hang on to those words.” He said with a smile that lit up his whole face. His relatives came in and he gave each of them a hug and thanked them for being strong for him.

I see life through other people, their circumstances, their heartaches, their achievements. Some people think of life as one dimension, just the present. How about the future? Isn't that part of life? Because someday it will be your present and that is inevitable. As long as you have hope that nothing will go wrong and that you have faith in yourself, you will surpass every circumstance. We will die in the end, but that doesn't mean that we should end it now, that doesn’t mean that all your hard work will, in the end, go into waste. No, for there is no such thing as wasted hard work. We will die in the end but we will rise again for we all know that God is just waiting for us in our second life. 

Hope, hold on to it.

*Story is fabricated*

Rainy season must-haves

Rainy season must-haves by mgmpangilinan featuring a clear umbrella

Free People lace coat / Union jack shoes, $200 / Black shoulder bag, $360 / Beanie hat, $235 / Felix Rey clear umbrella / Lancôme lip makeup / Bare Escentuals waterproof eyeliner, $21 / Rimmel


Whoever said that you can't be fashionable when it's the rainy season? A lot of fashionable waterproof apparels are coming out of nowhere these days: raincoats, boots, bags, even umbrellas tend to be in style with different designs. Another must-have would be waterproof make-up. Products like eyeliners and mascaras are on top of the list because, come on, you don't wanna look like a raccoon, right? I tend to wear head gears (bonnets or beanies, however you wanna call them) when it's raining,  especially whenever I bring a jacket without a hood. If you don't have raincoats at home and you're not an umbrella type of person, like me, try bringing a heavy duty jacket, or jackets that are quite waterproof. Jackets made of leather or polyester, so that you'll still keep yourself dry and fashionable at the same time. And then, add a head gear, make sure that it will somehow protect you from the rain. Now, for the shoes, I don't really wear boots like the one on the picture but I wear my fleece boots whenever it's raining cause out of all my footwear, it's the one that can actually withstand the rain and flood. You can opt to wear rubber shoes as well, just make sure that they're not made out of canvas or of the same type of material as that. Now, for the bag, I tend to use backpacks cause they're made out of waterproof material but you can opt to use leather totes or shoulder bags. For good measure if you have documents inside your bag, put them in a  plastic envelope, not really a fashion tip, I'm just a concerned citizen. LOL! 


Laters,

G

Punked-up Kicks

Punked-up Kicks by mgmpangilinan featuring a spike necklace

Floral top, $9.54 / Biker jacket / Black pleated skirt / Jeffrey Campbell platform boots, $250 / Juicy Couture leather shoulder bag / Marc by Marc Jacobs chain ring / Fantasy Jewelry Box bangle bracelet / ASOS spike necklace / Black earrings, $4.80


The title is obviously a wordplay of Foster the People's song "Pumped Up Kicks." Yep, that's where boredom leads me. Kidding! I thoroughly thought of the title of this set, not! I'm currently hooked to that song by FTP (If you haven't heard Mackenzie Bourg's version of this song, you should check it out on Youtube. You can thank me later. LOL) but my mind is wandering that's why I ended up making a punk-inspired set instead of a 'pumped-up kicks'-inspired set. Maybe next time, when I'm already in the right mind, I'll be able to put that song's title to good use. 


Laters,

G