Embracing the hate and loving it

by **MR. FAST** Tue Mar 13, 2012 2:32 pm

Tuesday, 13 March 2012

Embracing the hate and loving it

There are stories that make you
cringe.

There are a few who think they
are better than you. They are the aristocrats, rich kids, monsters, obnoxious
snobs, and even those guys you just love to hate.

In WWE, they are called heels.

Long before these guys joined
the country’s most popular ballclub, Ginebra
fans hated Ronald Tubid, Junthy
Valenzuela, Alex Crisano, and Enrico Villanueva. Tubid is cocky especially
when he hits three-point bomb. People hate him though because he gets to the
head of his opponent to the point that he throws them off from their game. Alex
Crisano? He’s just a warfreak. A slight nudge is enough to garner his attention
and he’ll try to elbow the shit out of you when you let your guard down.
Nowadays he has mellowed but the colorful enforcer will stop at nothing to
produce the best results. Junthy Valenzuela came from the anti-establishment Red Bull team where hard fouls are
necessary to keep Yeng Guiao happy.
Valenzuela would either try to hit a clutch trey or hit a designated opponent.

Enrico Villanueva? I like the
guy’s game but he gets too emotional and the reactions he produced are enough
to piss off the crowd.

However these guys felt
Ginebra’s love when they joined the squad. These guys will do their game but the
level they’ll pull it is different because instead of the whole arena booing
the shit of you, they are there to applaud you every move… regardless the
evilness of their action.

This is why Mark Caguioa can get away from the
cockiness of his game. When he plays really well and drains those troikas, the
crowd goes nuts for him. Caguioa is beloved by the Gins and hated by the rest
of the league.

The same can be said to Macmac
Cardona… the moment he dons the Ginebra jersey.

It’s not like booing the Captain Hook is new to him. He learned
a lot from his UAAP experience
playing for the De La Salle Green
Archers. The Archers are one of the most hated collegiate schools in all of
college and I am not instigating a fight here. Ask the guys from Ateneo and they will tell you how
pissed they are at the sight of a smiling Macmac Cardona messing up their game
with his heady gameplay. But admittedly, an Ateneo-DLSU affair is pretty much
normal. Most of the U-Belt squads
hate Cardona because he is the guy you love to hate. Just ask the FEU community who all got pissed after
some DLSU official struck their beloved Arwind
Santos!

But there is no question…
Macmac Cardona has talent.

The guy is a GOLDMINE of
talent.

So due to his crazy mannerisms
he is getting the flak from the Ginebra faithful. What’s odd is that it looks
like almost all of the teams’ fans hate Cardona. The guy can ignite an Air21 crowd to frenzy with his antics.
Is Air21 the league’s least favorite squad? I have no idea…

But what if Cardona is feeding
of the hate? Borrowing from a recent WWE storyline where John Cena is being urged by Kane
to “embrace the hate”, maybe Mr. Cardona here has already embraced it and he is
using this to his advantage? For people saying that Cardona is one-dimensional,
you don’t know your basketball. The fact that he can score in the 20’s and gets
rebounds, assists, and steals makes him a very dangerous performer. In fact,
when Ryan Gregorio moved from B-Meg to Meralco, Team MVP basically gave Cardona to the Bolts in order for
Gregorio to quickly incorporate his coaching beliefs with their version of James Yap.

If Cardona keeps on feeding on
the hate and the chorus of boos he garners affects his Meralco teammates in a
positive manner, then you can probably see the Bolts to strengthen their lineup.

Yes, Barangay Ginebra fans and
the rest of the chorus of boos that meet and greet Macmac Cardona every time he
steps on the court – the more affected you are with the mere presence of the
Captain Hook, the more he’ll do well.

But
here’s a question: will the
Barangay welcome Cardona IF and WHEN he gets acquired by the Kings? I
doubt if
the Piltel franchise will agree to throw their talent to the “other
side” but
Cardona should be happy to where he is right now. He is too young to
have his career destroyed. From the names I wrote earlier, who is
enjoying their career? Tubid left the Gins averaging
career lows in points and minutes and Alex Crisano was sent away to
free a spot
to the team’s (and the league’s) Grade A acquisitions. Junthy
Valenzuela also
suffered the fate of Crisano but unlike Alex, he never recovered and
was
unceremoniously pink slipped from the PBA.

And now due to the new
acquisitions, Enrico Villanueva is probably wishing that he can play for any
squad that will give him minutes.

Hell, maybe Enrico can follow Roger Yap to the ABL!

If Pido Jarencio’s favorite place where he downright explodes is the Araneta Coliseum, then Macmac’s
favorite way of going through his game is feuding with a bunch of hecklers and
haters.

So let’s hear it for Captain
Hook…

And may everyone jeer you every
time you hold the ball… because it gives you power!

Game over!
Source: Sydrified.org