The SBP chairman emeritus didn't hold back.
The Southeast Asian (SEA) Games redemption tour of Gilas Pilipinas is not off to a good start.
Losing a game in the group stage is one thing, but hearing the big boss talk about your loss is a whole another level of (insert your preferred word here).
That’s right. Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) chairman emeritus Manny V. Pangilinan took to Twitter to air his frustrations about the national team’s sorry 79-68 loss at the hands of Cambodia.
“What a disgraceful game for Gilas,” Pangilinan wrote, with his emotions seemingly piercing through the screens of our devices.
It’s hard to blame him. This is Gilas’ first loss in the preliminaries since 1997.
In the Vietnam SEA Games just last year, where the nationals went undefeated before losing to Indonesia in the finale to settle for silver, it seemed that the entire Philippines lashed on SBP and the basketball program.
That was a colossal failure, and on Thursday, they managed to one-up that.
“An ignominious defeat which will be etched deeply in infamy” is how Pangilinan described it.
Yes, Cambodia is laden with naturalized players. And yes, the playing conditions are less than ideal.
But the godfather of national team hoops doesn’t want to hear any of that.
“SBP, what happened?”