My name is Mark Dandan. I am a basketball coach by trade (for the UP Fighting Maroons), but I am also a travel junkie by fault. My passion for sports is only rivaled by my insane desire to travel.
And I also collect sneakers, in case you were wondering.
Beginner’s luck? Hopefully not.
Yesterday was the first time I’ve watched Powerade play live. Yes, I know I should have watched more games. The thing about watching games, especially of this magnitude, it’s so frustrating not being involved or being helpless to the fact that you’re just watching idly as a team you root for plays inside the court. As a coach, I’d rather be coaching right there in that situation than watching in the stands and reduced to yapping at the ref from a distance. It really is very frustrating.
I’m glad Powerade won this game, albeit the (almost) costly mistakes they committed at the end (that’s on you Sean Anthony). People were ready to see a TnT sweep, but like the title says Powerade lives on to die another day. I know that this is such a big coaching cliche, but the key to winning this game was composure. This was something the team did not have the past 2 games. Closing out a Finals game is tough enough, closing out a team like TnT in a Finals game is nigh impossible. Of course, a little luck is always good; Alapag missing that last three point shot, Castro choking at the line are just some breaks that Powerade finally caught. It was about time really.
One more crucial factor for victory was the play of Rommel Adducul. His stats (11 points, 9 rebs, 3 blocks) show it, but the fact that he was aggressive and being a threat to the TnT bigs gave the Powerade guards some room to operate outside. That was a vintage performance turned in by Mr. Adducul.
Sidenotes: TnT’s bench depth is crazy scary. Their second unit is good enough to start on another team. They’re like a poker player who has all the chips and keeps on going all in to scare off the opposing player. That team is literally ten guys deep.
Anybody else notice that Kelly Williams’ is just a shell of his former MVP self? Reduced to being a role player on a team filled with stars; it saddens me to see one of the best Filipino American basketball players I have ever seen reduced to scrapping for lose balls and not developing into the player we all know he could have been. It might be because of the sickness that took him out for a year, it could be something else. But hopefully NEXT CONFERENCE, he finds his form again.
Another thing, what’s that 6 foot 9 athletic freak of a man doing riding the pine??? I know Japheth is maddeningly inconsistent, or maybe he as another problem we don’t know about, or maybe because TnT is where careers go to dry up and die in exchange for money and championships, at this point I don’t really know anymore.
GAME FIVE! It’s gonna be a wild Sunday night at the Dome!
Being the doormat team in any basketball league is never fun. Called by many names (Easy win, sure win, stats game, etc.) a weak team is almost always looked over. For the Powerade Tigers, it was not any different.
The situation we have in UP is eerily similar to Powerade; a team that’s rebuilding coming off a terrible season with low expectations. Powerade’s sudden rise to the top of the PBA surprised a lot of people, including me. Who would have thought that a team looked over so many times that you forget when they last won something meaningful would make it to the semis much less the finals?
Of course I want Powerade to win. That’s my dad’s team. It’s an easy and obvious decision. Buoyed by the addition of two crack rookies, this team surpassed expectations and made it all the way to the top of the heap. Some might say they would just be happy to be there. BUT POWERADE HAS TO WIN.
Why? Because Powerade by being the Cinderella story they are has captured and allured the Filipinos like only a true underdog can. Now they actually play for Juan Dela Cruz on every corner, working hard to make an honest living. Going up against a market giant like Talk N Text with their plethora of basketball stars and limitless resources, the Filipino basketball fan has finally found someone to root for (aside from Ginebra of course). They are doing this for the common man. The person who people thought would not amount to anything but made something out of himself.
I might be over thinking this, what I say might not be true to everyone. But dammit, a true underdog story like this only comes once every God knows when. We love this, we are all underdogs. Call me a dreamer, call it a fantasy, but in a world where Powerade wins a championship, all would be OK. People will see that the common man’s team can be something, make something out of themselves. That you don’t need gross amounts of money and talent to be someone.
This series represents more than just companies and sports, it’s the mindset that’s ingrained in us everyday; underdogs never win. This is why Powerade HAS to win. Show people that they can do it; be whatever they want to be and not give a fuck about what other people think they should be.
Root for the underdog, will them to win. It’s history, it’s destiny, it’s a once in a lifetime story that will be in the hearts of every Juan Dela Cruz in this country. The day little old Powerade stunned the world.
FIGHT THE POWER!
So I haven’t posted in a while, promise to post a lot of pictures of places I’ve been to this year. The travel ninja is back!
