It all started with jokes. A modified campaign designed to meet the unreasonable demand for basketball success took off with punch lines. It would’ve been understandable if the Smart Gilas players went about their business with hardened faces. The goal was to perform well in the Jones Cup. No one found that funny. Yet the team’s victory was partly fueled by some comedians and a lot of laughs.
“In our practices, mayroon kaming tinatawag na joke time,” Gilas Head Coach Chot Reyes shared. “So guys like Ranidel [De Ocampo] and Gary [David] would share jokes. That helped in the chemistry of the team.”
It’s such a minor detail. The team won the Jones Cup. Not the Urdaneta Inter-Village League. Surely, there are other more relevant reasons. Other squads weren’t complete. Rivals were aging. We displayed clutch shooting. Why highlight moments of levity?
In revisiting the formula for success, Reyes took pride in the little things: rooming assignments, spur-of-the-moment shopping trips, one-on-one conversations between players or a practice session in the middle of “Habagat” (when players were determined to attend despite rising floods). Minor details with major effects. I tried to make Chot break down the emotional significance of each event. But the conversation inevitably went back to:
“We made Gabe [Norwood] and Gary roommates,” Reyes admitted. “Every now and then, I had to ask Gary kung na-no-nosebleed na siya sa kaka-ingles ni Gabe. Sabi naman ni Gary ‘Coach mas naiintindihan pa ni Gabe Tagalog ko kaysa sa English ko.’”
Championship memories last a lifetime. Apparently, some stories can last just as long. Gabe recalls a joke by Gary:
An MMDA officer catches a European driver on the road for a violation. The MMDA officer is set to write the ticket and asks for the driver’s name. The driver replies, “Skorovorosky Sovorozky.” The kind officer asks, “What? Can you please say that again?” The driver answers, “Skorovorsky Sovorozky.” The officer tries to say the name as he writes the ticket, “Skrovo, Skorvoky, Skovozky, never mind, you can go.”
(Ironically, the first hard-working government institution to congratulate the Gilas immediately after it won the Jones Cup was the MMDA through its Twitter account.)
“To be honest, it was just like being in Rain or Shine,” Norwood admitted. “You have guys keeping it light for everyone. In fact we had to tone it down after the Lebanon game (laughs). But after that, Ranidel and Gary were back to normal.”
I’m sure I bungled the joke. I can’t say it better than Gary the same way I can’t shoot jumpers better than Gary. I thank Marcus Douthit for calmly working through every double team. I thank Gabe for his consistency. I thank the jokesters of Gilas for always keeping the balance. The team tackled a major task by paying attention to the minor details, by never being too perplexed to forego the light moments. Sayang if you don’t find it funny. Because levity was part of what Gilas did. And we’re celebrating now because it worked.
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