Simon and the Azkals

OF all my years as a sportswriter---and they are but brief compared to the legends like Al Mendoza, Quinito Henson and Recah Trinidad (Yes, that Recah Trinidad)---I've seen the best and worst of sports figures and sportswriters.

That latest column of Recah Trinidad, which wasn't really a column but a translation of one's work, had to be
a new low point.

What was Trinidad's point? To raise a discourse? Well, he more than succeeded and he, and Danny Simon, have earned a lot of new nicknames. And why would a self-respecting columnist dedicate an entire column translating someone's work?

No one does that. And even the most slanted of columnists would let their own words do the talking.
Simon got so many points wrong I don't know where to start. He also added more proof to the belief that mainstream writers (except for a few) know shit about football.

But Trinidad and Simon gave me a starting point. In his commentary before his translation, Trinidad wrote, "Contrary to what was popularly projected, not everybody went home happy..."

He's right, of course, it's wrong to generalize that everybody went home happy because there's always that discontented soul (even in Manny Pacquiao fights). But why did he let Simon get away with that sweeping statement… "When no one gave a damn about football.."

That's wrong, in the time when Simon, Trinidad and most of the media didn't give a damn about football, there were a stadium-full of fans who cared in Bacolod, there were those few hundreds who watched the Azkals rout the Cebu selection, 6-0. (A small point, yes. But the two writers are picking on everything. They deserve a dose of their own medicine.)

Aside from showing his ignorance in saying that the lowest priced tickets were P1,000 (There were no P1,000 tickets and P200 was the lowest prize), he showed his lack of understanding of the game by saying the Azkals had "so-so wins" over "worthless foreign teams."

Vietnam a so-so team? A Southeast Asian powerhouse a so-so team? Sri Lanka, the 2006 Challenge Cup runner-up, a so-so team? That's just like saying the Smart Gilas is a bunch of overpaid amateurs who have accomplished nothing. A simplistic take that pushes an agenda, not one that describes a team and theme.

Luck of lucks? You could say luck played a factor---a small one---in that draw against Singapore, and even a smaller one, in that win against Vietnam.

But was it luck that led to the Azkals’ presence in the Suzuki Championships? Was it luck that led them to draw Laos, 2-2, in the qualifiers?

Luck may have led to the discovery of the Younghusbands (For story, click here) but was it luck that got them to play for the Philippines in 2005? Was it luck that got Chris Greatwich in 2004? And was it luck that led Aly Borromeo, Chieffy Caligdong, Aris Caslib and the rest of the 2004 team---the one that started this success---together?

I agree, the name of the game of the Sri Lanka vs. Philippines match was arrogance, media's arrogance.

How dare Simon claim that the Azkals' success was a product of media promotion. It isn't. The Azkals are the current darling because they toiled hard for six years, earning a breakthrough campaign in the 2010 Suzuki Cup under media's radar. UNDER media’s radar, and Simon dare say media patronage led to tremendous support? Facebook and fan blogs helped generate it!

How arrogant for Simon to claim that, just because he is a mediaman. And curiously, I never heard of any complaint from the real mediamen who helped promote the Azkal match.

This reminds me of one time when I was in the basketball beat and I wrote tons of articles for the PBA All-Star game in Cebu in 2004.

After covering all the hooplah, the press conferences and the pre-All-Star festivities, I went to the designated media seat for the All-Star game but couldn't find a seat.

Why? They were all occupied by that strange creature, the "haoshiao" sportswriters. These guys are only sportswriters when there are big events and they want freebies, or brown envelopes. They use the power of the press card to get what they want, and threaten all kinds of hell if they don't get it.

I'm also glad that Simon took the liberty of exposing the maltreatment of the Philippine national athletes, who were shooed away. It was mistake that should not be repeated.

But Simon is barking at the wrong tree.

I believe all he has to do, is get up from his seat in that "Exclusive Headquarters" of his, where everything is paid for by the PSC, go to office where the PSC Chairman stays and ask him, "Why did you throw out our athletes?" (By the way, what the hell were they doing in their “Exclusive Quarters” on a Sunday?)

Why didn't he do that? Question his boss…er…I mean the PSC chair? (Any enterprising soul out there who wants to learn how much the PSC spends for the media vis-à-vis the athletes?).

Lastly, Simon tried to highlight the rough treatment between the "pure-bred" national athletes and the "mongrels of doubtful pedigree." Fil-foreigners whom he earlier called, “Highly-paid.”

I don’t know if it was just lost in translation but for me, it showed the extent of Simon’s ignorance. The Pinoys based abroad take a risk when they play for the Azkals, they are not like the Fil-Foreigners in the PBA, who are sometimes resented because they take away a high-paying job in the pro league that would have gone to a local.

And most of all, there are no doubts with their lineages. That Simon questions that is an insult to the millions of OFWs who save our economy and whose children are like some of the members of the Azkals—born in a different country but trying to touch base with home.

Simon also issued a threat, that a loss against Kuwait will mean the PFF will be begging for ever Juan’s attention.

Of course, like many things, he got it wrong. He underestimates the fan.

He also failed to understand why the team is called the Azkals—the askal.

It was never meant as a play about the team composition, that some players are “half and half.”

What is an askal? Is it not a resilient animal, who despite not having any home, an owner who regular feeds it, and despite getting shooed away, kicked and generally maltreated, still survives?

An askal stares at the face of adversity and spits on it. That was why the fans took to calling the team, the Azkals.

Simon had an adverse Sunday, and….