Crying time again

Fence Sitter

By A. R. Samson

THERE’S nothing like a disaster, man-made or natural, to make us cry and then start a round of the blame game. Why do we have floods? Where are the infrastructures? Who gave away the rotten rice? Why can’t we get past the Olympic heats, ending up in three-digit places? What about the gold? Maybe, next time. We didn’t even get to reach the round of 32. And don’t say that we’re a small country. I just have to mention "Jamaica."

It’s almost a quadrennial ritual to engage in national self-bashing when the Olympic flame is doused. Should we again lay the blame at the feet of government for not putting sports ahead of poverty eradication, disaster relief and rehabilitation, and schoolroom shortages?

What about the gimmick of publicizing big bucks months before the games for that elusive and improbable gold medal winner? Our famous boxer even doubled his declared reward had our contender not been yes, robbed by the scoring of his chance to get to the round of 16. Why does the PR stunt stop at a million pesos for each gold won? Why not go for P10 million, safe in the thought of the zero probability of such an eventuality -- P10M for 1G? A P10 million can be covered by a low premium based on winning statistics and players of specified events and still reap PR windfalls for the corporate cheerleader. It’s a safer bet than a hole in one in an amateur golf tournament.

The TV coverage which a network pays dearly for, even if it’s not exclusive, cannot hope to get the high viewership ratings which come routinely to countries with a haul of gold medals to expect in different sports like gymnastics and rowing. Following our own athletes as they get eliminated one by one (we still have to wait for the archery event, dear viewers) is not a booster of ratings. After the opening and closing ceremonies and maybe the basketball games of the dream team, what is there to watch? Even the local broadcasters are watching the same small screen we are for the running commentaries, out of hearing range of Big Ben. Besides, the games are competing for viewers with our own recent swimming and wading event. It’s more fun in the Philippines -- you don’t go to the pool; the pool comes to you.

Instead of feeling sorry for ourselves every four years, why don’t we lobby to include events where we can get medals?

Bowling was a demonstration sport in one Olympic and there were even gold medals won there, although they do not count as real Olympic achievements. We can try to push for billiards, another demonstration sport in the making. Okay, boxing is already in, but it automatically excludes the national champ due to some fluke in the rules.

Other possibilities include pole dancing, voice projection, turn-coating, blame-passing, hand-wringing, and ballroom dancing where we can surely beat the best in the world.

It is best to lower our expectations given the track record we have had of winning thus far -- just two silver medals in the 108 years of the games. When we send off our athletes, we should not put undue pressure on them to bring home medals. Let’s just concentrate on their attire and how they look in the parade of the flags at the opening ceremony when no medals have yet been given or lost by a technicality.

We can exhort them get into the spirit of the games but let’s leave the Olympic goal of "faster, higher, stronger" to other nations. It’s enough to be there in the Olympic village and enjoying the sights and maybe getting a picture taken with Pau Gasol in with the top of the head reaching his waist.

It is not always lack of government funding that is to blame for the medal drought. What about an athlete’s skill and dedication? Discipline and hard work are seldom invested on a part-time hobby. It requires passion to be the best in the world.

Thankfully, there is no call for a sports summit as before. The same whining can be expected in such an exercise followed by pinning the tail on some donkey. A self-appointed sports spokesman has said that stamina training is the key to a gold medal. Thankfully, in the hope department, we have stamina enough to last us four more years.

It’s never too early to hope again for a different result in Rio.