When I used to play inter school ball in high school, I relished going to the free throw line. I loved the feeling of an opposing team’s mob jeering me on as the referee hands me the ball, up until the ball leaves my fingertips. There was never a feeling of doubt after every shot. In my mind, the ball was always going to go in.

A decade hence, I found myself in a different situation.

As preparations for the last day of the company sportsfest had kicked into full gear, everyone was brimming with anticipation. If there’s one sport that draws so much attention in company sportsfests, baranggay leagues, or interschool tournaments, it’s always basketball. It’s where elbows are thrown, arms entangled, trash spoken, and a team’s pride can go from hero to zero level in a matter of seconds (in our case, free throw attempts).

Not to take anything away from our opponents (because they deserve it), but our team lost at the free throw line. With your truly shooting an unforgivable 2-10, and the whole team missing as many as 23-25 UNGUARDED shots, we just had no chance when things got close. We were throwing bricks at the hoop like there was no tomorrow. Worst of all we failed to deliver when it mattered the most.

It’s things like this that make you think, where exactly do we go from here?

As I type away my frustrations, an overachieving Robert “Superman” Gomez has just lost his 15-12 lead to Daryl Peach in the grand finals of the 2007 World Pool Championships. The game was tied at 15 racks apiece when Gomez missed a few golden opportunities to take home the 100K grand prize. With the Englishman’s mastery of the soft break, Peach went on to finish the match and win his first every major championship. Things could have gone either way. I guess it’s a consolation that we can look forward to another familiar face on the world stage.

Disappointments happen to the dumbest athletes on the planet. It can happen to me (unfortunately it happened last night :P ). It happened to Robert Gomez on the pool table today. It can happen to Kobe Bryant tomorrow. Even the seemingly invincible Boston Celtics will lose a basketball game this year. I just think the worst thing we can do right now is stop playing the game that we all love. Given another chance, I would not hesitate to take all those shots again.

Again guys, congratulations. If we keep our heads up, we will get another chance to shine.

Go Diablos!

*Thanks to Sasha for the pictures!

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