Why Do We Do This To Ourselves?

Watching Gilas battle China for the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship was difficult, almost painful even.  From the pre game and in game shenanigans, partial officiating, to the unruly crowd, to the shots that went in and out, it was a nightmare.  It was the worst case scenario.  It was watching a time bomb count down and any wire you cut results in explosion anyway.  It was like watching your friend or your relative go after something or someone they want when it was clear to you and to them the odds would never be in their favor.  It was like that scene in the Matrix, when the character Switch realized she was going to die because they were betrayed.  “Not like this,” she lamented.

As Gabe Norwood crumpled to the floor from a finger to the eye and the referee just watching the ball go out of bounds, there was really only one question.  

Why do we do this to ourselves?

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The Head and the Heart

     A prominent "0" stands under the Win column of the Philippines' standings in the 2014 FIBA World Cup of Basketball.  As the group stages come to a close, however, it's prominence is overshadowed by something else.  The Philippine Men's Basketball Team, Gilas Pilipinas, has captured the world's attention.

     Oftentimes, we are warned that letting our hearts decide over our heads is a prescription for disaster.  Being too emotional leads to poor decision-making; it clouds judgement.  The head is stable; it protects you from being hurt by telling you to avoid any possible pain.  To live with your heart on your sleeve is to open yourself to tremendous hurt.  Yes, following your heart to pursue your passions, your childhood dream, your one great love, is a recipe for incomparable heartache.  

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Tiu Tiu Train (of Thought) Part 1

First of all, everyone is invited to follow me on Twitter.  http://twitter.com/fiftypesotweets     

     From the Fifty Peso Seats is honored to have an email conversation with Charles Tiu, one of Smart Gilas' insiders, who took time out to reveal news on Gilas, among other things.  In part one, Tiu finally details the real deal about Gilas, debunking some lies other newspapers have been concocting. (Note: The interview was conducted a week ago and all of the information has since been verified by the news)

From the Fifty Peso Seats: You've become an unofficial spokesperson of Smart Gilas, writing about them in the broadsheets and updating fans on twitter.  How did you get in this

position?  Did you volunteer or were you asked?

Charles Tiu: I don't think I am their unofficial spokesperson. I just happen to know a lot of stuff about the team, since I'm pretty close to coach and i follow them a lot, watch their practices and all that. And I really only update with things that i know are okay to be talked about already. Like (for) example Lassiter being AWOL. (Lassiter has since apologized to Gilas - FFPS) It came out only late last week in the papers but we knew about that a few weeks earlier. I didn't want any of those coming from me, because I am in no position to report that. I just also like to update people via twitter cause I feel that with the generation nowadays, they don't really bother reading newspapers much to get their news updates.

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