Thrilla from Manilla...

Nevada and I were in Kaohsiung this weekend. Again? Yes. When we lived there before I had the honor of playing on a pretty good foreigner basketball team. I was asked by my friend Keith...the coach...to come play with the team this weekend in a game against a Filipino team. We've played Filipino teams before and it was a lot of fun so I said why not....a little excercise, a weekend away, some time with my buddies. What I found out is that this game was a big deal. On Saturday I was informed that there would be fans...just to watch us....nope....the Filipino team was bringing in 3 pros from the Philipines. WOW!! So we show up at this gym...on a government import/export factory compound....walk in the gym and there are like 1000 people there. They are all yelling and screaming...so intimidating but all in good spirits. We begin our warm-ups...a guy on our team throws down some dunks and I do a joke trick shot...the crowd is buzzing. Then all of a sudden some guy jumps on a microphone and starts announcing something in Filipino...then the building erupts...the Filipino pros walk out and are literally mobbed. People want to touch them, get their autographs and take pics with them. No one cares about our warm ups anymore. There's about a 10 minute delay and then the game tips off...by the looks of it there are 4 pros not 3. They are big and talented but in this game we can hold our own. The game goes back and forth with great plays by both teams...some dunks, some 3's and the odd defensive play. No matter what...the score favors them by about 10. At every break in play people are rushing the court to get their minute of fame with these pros...the crowd maintains the big buzz throughout and it's an electrifying experience. In the end we lost by 4 but it really wasn't about us....it was about this amazing Filipino community. These are mostly people who work for peanuts and send most of it home to their families in the Philipines....they don't get to be a part of many high profile events and this was something special for them. It was so fun to be there and it was a experience I will always remember. I won't however care to remember my game...I went 0 for 6...no points...a couple nice passes but nothing special. I guess I'll get'em next time.