Sports Anyone?

It's the playoffs and I am in North Africa, Meknes, Morocco to be exact. If you're a Filipino reading this post you can easily relate to what I'm going thru now. Basketball, Philippines, Filipino, PBA,NBA, UAAP, NCAA, North Africa! Wengk-wengk-weeeennnnngggggkkkkk!

The last one just doesn't fit! Basketball and Filipinos sure is a good combo. PBA-NBA is of course a sure winner and UAAP=NCAA is synonymous with Basketball. Having coached the UPHS Juniors Chess Team last season in the NCAA, I know how these two leagues work their butts off around the basketball tournament. When I say work their butts off, I really mean it. They even would say that the sports is the centerpiece of the season, in lifetime mode.

North Africa? I'm sure they know basketball but not as much as Filipinos do. Anyways, have you ever met a Pinoy who doesn't know Jaworski? Norman Black? Johnny A? Of course his Airness Michael J. Nobody loves basketball the way Pinoys do!

Now here is my problem, ana mushkil! I just can't find an online live stream of the match between LA Lakers and Houston Rockets right now. Nope! Unlike JM Balboa, I always root for the underdogs and in this match and as always, Kobe Bryant and his show-off-turn-off attitude is the reason why I'm a big fan of Houston Rockets, Laker's opponent.

The series is tied at 3-3 and game seven it is now. Basketball anyone?

I've stayed here in Morocco for the past 100+ days and I have learned (really did!) to visit cafe's here and enjoy Morocco's coffee and mint tea. In between sips and peeps, I have come to notice that Moroccans watch basically 3 TV programs and these are Al Jazeera News, Animaux TV and Football Games.

This ain't an exaggeration guys, this is true!

Want proof?

I am beginning to understand why people go insane when their football team losses... exciting and non stop action it is.

In sports news?

No you won't find anything else except football leagues in the Arab world, European and African continents. I once caught a glimpse of NBA news in Al Jazeera and man oh man, how short it was.

And that's how my longing for the game came back.

My friends who knew me during my high school and college days would definitely know that I played ball everyday and that the game just overtook my life's existence. From the days of Dondon Ampalayo to the influx of Fil-Am players and a slap on their faces, courtesy of Benjie Paras who took the 1999 MVP awards amidst the great talents crowding the PBA like Danny Siegle, Andy Siegle and Asi Taulava.

Post college life saw my basketball crazy life go from highest to lowest. This allowed me to further my table tennis addiction which would most often be played in front of our house in Southern City, Imus Cavite. While the Tropang Sunog Baga (TSB) burn their precious lungs with Gin Bulag, me and my geeky tropas played from nine in the evening till the wee hours of the morning. Right after cleaning the dishes and before fixing the beds of the awakened neighbors!

Here is a twist though.

Because of the proximity of the "station" which TSB drank to their lung's content and our playing venue, there were times when we did exchange roles and I'm telling you, most of us learned both the art of drinking and the science of ping-pong! Insane moments would actually transpire when we used their "tunggaan" table for our game and vice versa.

Come settling time. Most of my friends who knew me this time only knows one game I play and it's the boring but violent board game called chess. Also, these friends of mine call me as Kiko and seldom Francis.

I have lost much of my basketball muscle and speed, my swing for my ping pong and all I have in me now is my all consuming passion in chess which I know I'll never ever reach a master level playing skills.

But you know what?

When I saw the tease-a-thug defense used by Ron Artest of Houston Rockets against Kobe Yabang Bryant of LA Lakers, all the days of my easily-get-excited years came back. Back in that coffee shop fronting the Catholic Church in Meknes, there I felt the need to play the game again.

How I'll do that I just don't know specially here in Morocco where streets are filled with football courts and not basketball courts.

I can start to jog again, get fit and embrace the game that I have loved since my dad put up a basketball court for me and my uncle Oliver.

Sports... anyone?