By: Butch Galicia
I asked a friend who works as a medical lab technician to check on my abs. I always thought that being athletic when I was younger would have made me a man of muscle.
After a quick look, he inquired: Did you just ask me to check on your flabs?
He turned away and murmured that I was likeable.
Okay! I heard it wrong and you read it wrong. I admit. I am like a ball.
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Being wrong, at times, may not be too bad after all if it inspires people to believe in achieving the best of things.
Take the case of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
After sweeping its National Basketball Association (NBA) playoff games against the Detroit Pistons and the Atlanta Hawks, the Cleveland Cavaliers were in high spirits and adapted the slogan “All In 16”, believing that they could also sweep their Eastern Conference playoff game against the Toronto Raptors and eventually sweep their games against defending champion Golden State Warriors.
“All In 16” might be wishful thinking, but it spurred the Cavaliers to pursue a dream and achieve a solid goal. The Cavaliers still won against the Raptors 4-2, and against the Warriors in a championship bid that went seven games, five games away from what they targeted to do.
Speaking too soon might have dented a bit the Cavaliers’ corporate and team image, but it surely sparked the mental and physical readiness and tenacity LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and the team showed to lift themselves to their first ever NBA championship.
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“Strength In Numbers” was the mantra of the Golden State Warriors, led by the Splash Brothers Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson.
During the 2015-2016 NBA season, Curry sank 286 three-pointers to break his own record for most beyond-the-arc-baskets made in a single season. He and Thompson combined for 525 three-pointers, the most by a duo in NBA history. They really made a splash, heaped a lot of winning points for the Warriors and were cited to have changed how basketball is played.
The Golden State also owned the NBA record for best regular season with 73 wins and nine losses; and most wins in the regular season and postseason with 88.
But whatever the Warriors meant by “Strength In Numbers,” all went to naught after the usually hot Splash Brothers and the team failed to step up and deliver in the Finals. The rest is history. The Cavaliers came from behind a three-game deficit to rule the rim and grab the ring from the defending champions.
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Figures and numbers can sometimes be a big joke.
Last year, during a comprehensive medical exam, the good doc told me bluntly: Your body is 33 percent fat.
I asked: Does that mean that I am 67 percent thin?
His stern and poker-faced reply: You wish.
Doc was right. Mirror or no mirror, my figure was a 6. But who cares? After all, 6 is just a figure and so is 1; and both are just numbers. Hay naku, Bastian! I am too old to shift from writing to acting or modeling.
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Figures and numbers can also sometimes be deceivingly interesting and seriously intimidating.
In the land of my birth and home of my forefathers, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte is well on his way serving as the President of the beautiful and great Republic of the Philippines.
Some 16.6 million Filipinos voted for President Duterte, and they expect that he would deliver on his campaign promises, particularly on his much-touted all-out war against illegal drugs, criminality and corruption. Let us hope and pray that they would root for President Duterte and his team to the end.
However, the other side of the fence showed that at least 25.8 million Filipino voters opted for candidates other than President Duterte. The Commission on Elections said the votes cast represented 80 or so percent of the number of registered voters in the country and abroad, meaning that some 20 percent – or about 10 million Filipinos — failed to cast their ballots for whatever reason. And to think that besides the voters, there are more than 45 million Filipinos who can’t vote for a president because they are 18 and below? Whew!
Let us just hope and pray that the 83 million or so Filipinos who did not or could not vote for Duterte will all see the logic and wisdom of President Duterte and his team, as the latter strive to make the Philippines the best place to live in, work in and play in … in the next six years.
The new administration is indeed facing a tough task, but undoubtedly a doable one.
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Will it be ‘All In for the 16th Philippine President’? The crystal ball says: Parang Pusoy … good, better, best.
I may as well caution President Duterte’s avid and sometimes rabid fans from using the figure 16 million to impress on all and sundry that they do wield the power and the strength to ward off perceived enemies. It is dangerous, as well as destructive and divisive. There are greater numbers out there.
Change is coming, I am sure; and it might be sooner than expected.
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In his first 15 days of ruling the country since his inauguration on June 30, President Duterte and his team, consciously or unwittingly, have done a lot to combat the lingering monsters called illegal drugs, crime and corruption that have been plaguing the country. Well and good.
Social media posts from his friends, allies and supporters show a lot of drug pushers and users owning up to their mistakes and vowing to amend their evil ways. This is great to know.
However, the administration’s critics and detractors have posted graphic images of gun-downed bloodied lifeless suspects of illegal drug use and abuse. This is quite disturbing and alarming to know.
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Filipino newspaper columnist and journalist Ellen Tordesillas, on July 13, wrote: Almost all of the more than a hundred killed in the campaign against illegal drugs since July 1 are poor, wearing slippers. A number were killed because they allegedly tried to grab the policemen’s pistols with their hands cuffed. Tordesillas added: More than 300 (were killed) since May 10, after the election which Duterte won.
Tordesillas said that President Duterte’s anti-drug campaign had even inspired three Filipino congressmen to propose House Bill No. 135 that would build crematoriums in every legislative district.
News reports quoted AKO Bicol party list Representatives Rodel Batocabe: “Should President Duterte stay true to his mission to eliminate drug pushers by hook or by crook, our cemeteries will definitely be filled to the brim and the crematories will greatly help in this regard.”
Congressman Alfredo Garbin added: “With a projected increase of deaths, congestion of our burial land will get worse so much so they are no longer conducive to the living and its dead residents.”
Rep. Christopher Co maintained: “Cremation is more environmentally friendly compared to traditional burial which could introduce contaminants from the coffin and the body.”
Just when I thought that it is 2016 and that governments are searching for ways to build a better world for their people, these three lawmakers make a joke out of the incidence and number of summary killings without due process. But come to think of it. Were they not just simply sarcastic about the situation?
This I say: Mga bossing, panibagong hanapbuhay po ba ninyo ‘yan? Sa mangyayari, mukhang hanap patay yata ang puntirya ninyo, ah.
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I, for one, believe in figures and numbers.
I know they exist for many reasons. Figures and numbers make people wish and hope for a lottery jackpot; as much as a wife goes ballistic when the spouse forgets her birthday or their wedding anniversary.
Ever heard of the Deck of Cards, a folk story that dates back to 1762 and written by Mary Bacon? It was made popular in the late 1940’s in a recitation song by country musician Tex Ritter. Yes, it is Tex Ritter, not Text Twitter!
Although quite religious and inspirational, why don’t you lend the song your ears and find out more about figures and numbers? butchgalicia@yahoo.com