The Philippines is basketball country.
Makeshift courts exist in busy streets, parking lots, barangay halls, and neighborhoods both of the rich and poor. Everyone knows how the game is played.
Basketball players are local heroes. They get elected into various government posts. They sign movie and TV deals. They appear in advertisements. Play good basketball, and you're almost sure you'll make it to stardom.
Basketball is the subject of prime time news and is undoubtedly the unofficial national sport.
"But why do you enjoy it so much?" I would ask my friends who are basketball fans. I simply couldn't understand all the fuss. I felt that the sport bordered on being barbaric, as opposed perhaps to tennis, which I found quiet, elegant, and serene. Pushing and shoving people to get your way into the ring didn't appeal to me. On tv, basketball games tend to look rowdy and noisy. It wasn't my thing.