Azkals coach Michael Weiss responded rather immaturely to his critics when he was interviewed by Malaya just before the second leg of the Kuwait series.

What I dislike about coach Weiss’s statements is he singled out Filipino football fans as the bad guys and he, the victim. For something that happens in any sport around the world, his reaction is just very childish.

In Philippine basketball, coach Jong Uichico (who still holds the position) and former Purefoods coach Ryan Gregorio have been blamed for their team’s every loss.

And it’s not just here in the Philippines, you can go to just about every NBA team fan page and read about the fans criticizing the coach, the general manager or the superstar.

I once read this novel (a well-researched, historically accurate work by an established author) set in the ’50′s about a little boy whose family loved to listen to baseball games on the radio. The boy would often hear his grandpa rambling about wanting to fire the manager each time the Cardinals lose. Take note that this is American baseball in the 1950′s, when the first television sets were being produced. No Twitter. No Facebook. But still, the fans made it a point to lash out at some high official running their favorite teams.

What coach Weiss fails to realize is that this is not a personal matter. It’s part of the culture of sports fanaticism all over the world. And it happens through generations.

Moreover, the Filipinos’ crab mentality (as coach Weiss put it) has nothing to do with the fans criticizing him. I doubt it if blogger Fire Quinito was a crab wanting to pull down former Purefoods coach Ryan Gregorio when the former wrote about the latter’s underachievement.

Fire Quinito was simply stating the truth: that at that time, Gregorio fails to deliver results despite having a decent line-up, and that he loves to cover up his mediocre performance with his worn-out clichés. But when Gregorio finally won a championship in 2010, the blogger stayed true to his promise to be a defender of Gregorio for the next three years.

This isn’t even a story of crab mentality. It’s actually simple logic: You have to win in order to not get criticized.

In the case of the Azkals, the Filipino football fans are knowledgeable about their situation. Despite the loss to Kuwait that prevented the Azkals from advancing, fans appreciate that they have already overachieved by making it past the first round of the qualifiers.

Nonetheless, they remain losers until they win a major event like for example, the World Cup. The fans also understand that it could take years, maybe even decades, to achieve that. And coach Weiss whining about harsh criticisms this early? That’s counterproductive.

 

In other news, B-MEG’s loss to TNT last Friday practically erased their chances of making it to the Finals. At 5-6, the Llamados’ last two scheduled games will not matter.

Right after Friday’s loss, Noli Eala tweeted this:

It wasn’t made clear where the said changes would be done: Roster? coaching staff? Management?

As far as roster is concerned, B-MEG would have the strongest, best-balanced line-up once the injured players recuperate. Raymundo, James Yap, DeVance, Maierhofer, Jonas Villanueva, Urbiztondo, Reavis, Pingris and Simon would make up the core. That’s even stronger on paper than the grandslam-aspiring TNT. Should there be big changes in the offseason, don’t expect it done on the line-up.

Other teams’ chances:

TNT can advance tonight if they beat Ginebra. The Kings carved out a small breathing room when they defeated Alaska Friday night and held on to solo second. Tonight’s game against TNT is still crucial for the Kings, however, as the three other teams are still in the running. Rain or Shine, even with an inferior record, can still force a playoff with the second-placer if they sweep their remaining games. Alaska is likewise holding on to the hope of winning their remaining games to advance. Petron also has a solid chance if they win their last two scheduled games.

UPDATE:

Alaska beats B-MEG, 105-86

TNT beats Ginebra, 102-90