The Final Score: Pinoy basketball on the high seas

 

One by one they emerge from the lower deck. It’s close to midnight, the end of another long working day. Surely exhausted from doing two five-hour shifts (with a two-hour break in-between), they trot with surprising glee. Like they have 12 more hours of energy to spare. The promise of basketball can do that to Filipinos who make up the culinary crew of the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Mariner of the Seas. Time, location, and situation all become irrelevant. If there’s a game, it’s the game that matters.

 

Welcome to the all-Filipino Mariner Basketball Culinary League. Tonight, the number one seed Lightning faces the fourth seed Rush of Fire in Game One of their best-of-three semifinals. 

 

Chris Agbaga, 28, from Guagua, Pampanga, is taking warm-up shots for the Lightning. It’s his first year to work inside the Mariner of the Seas, but it’s not his first time to play on a moving, occasionally tilting, open-air, open-sea, basketball court. 

 

“Yan na yung buhay ng mga Pinoy eh,” says Chris, who used to play on the PCCR varsity team team alongside Mac Baracael and Brian Ilad. “Kahit pagod sa trabaho, laro pa rin.”

 

In minutes, players from the Lightning, Rush of Fire, Air Pressure and D’Wings fill the court. All smiles. All excited. All ready. 

 

Guys playing in various weight categories are wearing various NBA jerseys: Rubio/Timberwolves, James/Cavs, James/Heat, Rose/Bulls, Nowitzki/Mavericks. Chris is playing in a Durant/Thunder jersey. Expectedly, someone arrives in a Jordan/Bulls No. 23jersey. Of course. 

 

And of course, someone is ready to play in an Alapag/Talk 'N Text jersey. Siyempre naman. 

 

One guy is warming up in a Francis M "3 Stars and a Sun" shirt with the sleeves cut off. Another guy is wearing an imitation retro-tri-color Wizards jersey with CULINARY instead of WASHINGTON printed on the chest. 

 

Even sneakers are well represented here: Nike LeBrons, Under Armour, adidas DRose, Hyperdunks alongside New Balance, Asics and Reebok running shoes.

 

While many of them are covered in NBA-caliber battle gear — Chris is playing with a white compression arm sleeve while another player has a red compression sleeve — some are good to go wearing cotton crew neck t-shirts, cotton shorts and low-cut Chuck Taylor sneakers. Ready to go. Basta laro lang. 

 

The game starts. Moments later, Chris drives and scores. He justifies all the flashy gear: Red Hyperdunks, KD OKC jersey, black KD shorts, white arm sleeve, black Nike socks, black compression tights, and big tattoos on his arms. I can see why looks up to Rajon Rondo. 

 

Chris and the Lightning are too much for the Rush of Fire. The Lightning win, 64-44.

 

I could say basketball helps them to reconnect to home that, most often, is oceans away. I could say basketball transforms a cruise ship into a home-court of sorts. I could say basketball makes homesickness less more evident. I could say basketball allows them to wear their Filipino pride on their sleeves... or their shooting sleeves. I could all these things and make sense.

 

However, I prefer to say that they play simply for the joy of playing. No context necessary. No underlying principle needed. Basta laro lang. You just need two teams, ten players, one basketball, and a basketball court that’s actually moving on water somewhere between Port Klang, Malaysia and Phuket, Thailand.

 

The game between Air Pressure and D’Wings begins.

 

“Yung semifinal ng Air Pressure and D’Wings parang Rain or Shine versus Alaska,” declares Chris, who's already resting on the sideline. 

 

The ship is cruising at 17 nautical miles per hour. The sea wind is an active game participant so outside shots are discouraged. I mean, Kevin Love-type full-court passes could send the ball out of the court and into the sea. Lost forever. That means, everything has to happen inside. That also means players who drive must know that they’ll be challenged, for sure. 

 

 

“Kahit yung mga kasama namin dito na Croatian, sinasabi nila ang mga Pilipino maliliit pero ang lalakas ng loob,” says Chris, who sees his family every every eight months because of his job. “Natatakot sila ‘pag pisikal na laro natin. Nawawala laro nila.”

 

True enough, a player nicknamed Pizza Man – because his job to make pizza, naturally – drives hard later that night and goes down. Pizza Man, however, isn’t the only one who’s out there playing hard, unmindful of the subtle and not-so-subtle hits. Players nicknamed Poging Bagsik, The Bull, Belly Man, The Fast, Hustle King, Drama King, Boy Ratrat, Boy Patalo, Boy Reklamo, Ginobili (because of his receding hairline), Boybits (because he looks like Boybits Victoria), and Willie Miller (because he looks like Willie Miller) are on the court attacking like they’re Calvin Abueva in a Game Seven.

 

You know the saying: If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen. But they work in the kitchen. All day. So they can take the heat like no one else can. Chris says they play hard on the court, but after games, they joke about all the tough fouls. Play hard. Laugh harder. 

 

“Pagbalik namin mamaya sa mess hall, magkikita-kita kami, kwentuhan, asaran after the game,” says Chris, who idolizes fellow-Cabalen Jayson Castro. “Hindi kasi kami makatulog agad pagkatapos ng laro.”

 

Pizza Man is unfazed. He does a sweet crossover move sending his defender back to Port Klang, Malaysia. Jumper. Basket. Swish. Air Pressure, led by former UV Lancer Nestor Aranas, defeat D’Wings, 58-50.

 

But in this kind of league, on this special kind of court, thrilling moves, winning teams and final scores are beside the point, right?

 

Popular television host Anthony Bourdain, reflecting on Filipino identity while shooting an episode of No Reservations in the Philippines said, “We are wherever we are.” 

 

A game can start in the waters of Malaysia and can end in the waters of Thailand. This is truly basketball without borders. Literally, all players on the court, even the court itself, are guilty of travelling. Work, and whatever work affects, takes a huge side-step to the periphery. The chance to win brand new jerseys and sneakers prepared by Chef Ramil Buhian – the de facto league commish – for the champion team is obviously nice. But the chance to play trumps all.

 

“Minsan yung mga kasama namin na matatangkad na foreigner nagugulat pag nakikita kami maglaro,” shares Chris, whose workday begins at 10 in the morning. “Sinasabi ko sa kanila, ‘My friend, even if we’re small, we love to play.’”

 

Chris prepares for another game. He slips into his Hyperdunks again. It’s 1:34 a.m. Nestor and Jeffrey Jamorol – star player of D’Wings, the best players from the game that just finished, grab the whistles and prepare to act as referees for the next game. 

 

On a ship that doesn’t sleep, with crew members that love this one sport the way they love their hometowns, the morning is young, and there is so much basketball to play. Game Two between the Lightning and the Rush of Fire is about to start. —JST, GMA News