By Jan Vicente B. Pekas
Rooting for professional sports teams, one can be always entertained any day of the week. So long as that team wins, then so too will their fans and supporters no matter how far away they might be. In our own country, where basketball remains as the top dog of sports, we look across the Pacific Ocean to further satisfy this craving of ours for the sport. The land where it originated, the United States.
Many of us already have a team or two they already support over in the land of the free.
Walk across our neighborhoods and we see different jerseys of different colors and patterns showing the influence of America in our country, especially concerning sports.
But, victory is never guaranteed when rooting for teams. And that is made worse when family members do not necessarily support your team. Filipinos like to talk, and talk they will when they see an opportunity, when your team loses, then it is procedure for family members to talk a little bit of smack, and vice versa if the reverse were to happen.
In any day good or bad, a victory for the team we support will lift any worries that lingers around our soul. For a brief moment, we can absorb the feeling of victory even in times when we start to forget just what it feels. Through their ups and downs we have the ability to make connections toward the teams we support. And in their victory or loss we share that same feeling, no matter how sweet or bitter it may taste.
As humans, our ability to make connections and empathize with others is a vital part of our character as human beings. Whether it be a stray cat on the road or some foreign team far away, to connect with others is something we have in all of us.
For emphasis, to empathize with others, strangers they may be, is natural for us as a specie. We can understand what others may be feeling and share in what they are going through.
Support and cheer each other up, especially when they’re down, is what we do best. We all work towards reaching the same place, even if we take different paths. We wear different colors but in the long run we all play for the same thing. And no matter what opponent lies in the opposite court, a great team always sticks together.**
