(Title comes from Yoda’s popular line: Do or do not, there is no try.)

He’s like Severus Snape in a San Miguel jersey sans greasy hair. He’s dribbling the ball, getting booed, passing the ball, getting booed, shooting the ball, and yeah, you guessed right – getting booed. He’s running on the court, making play signals, hair flopping every way just like when Snape glides through the hallways of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. But one stark similarity you can’t deny between Snape and this man is their Harry Potter, or in this guy’s case, his Harry Potters.

Snape is one of the most loathed anatgonist our era has ever had the displeasure of meeting. He’s hated by the Gryffindors, Ron and Hermione, and of course by the boy who lived. But if you’ve had read the last installment of the successful Harry Potter series, you’d know how he has been hurting since Lily Potter died, how brave he was as a spy for Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix, and how he gave up his life for the benefit of the light side.

The semifinal series between my favorite Brgy. Ginebra Kings and my hated San Miguel Beermen of the Philippine Basketball Association might not have reached the apex of a game seven showdown, unlike the seven part best-seller of J.K. Rowling, the Harry Potters - the hundreds of thousands of die hard Ginebra fans, met their very own version of Severus Snape in the form of one Alex Cabagnot.

Last January 16, around twelve thousand strong flocked the big dome to watch the pulsating game 6 of the semis between sister teams, BGK and SMB. However, not everyone in attendance was there for the perennial crowd darlings, Ginebra. More or less, there were four thousand screaming fans for San Miguel scattered here and there. It was loud, very loud. You can hear shouts, chants, wolf whistles, and even the sound similar to a South African vuvuzela horn popularly used in the FIFA world cup 2010. But despite the deafening noise, one terrifyingly loud cheer jeer stood out through the enitre game.

Boo.

And one man shouldered it. No, scratch that.

One man had to shoulder it. He had to accept it. He had to face it. He had to man up for it.

And boy, he did. Yes, Alex Cabagnot did.

But I’m not here to discuss his brilliance in the series, or his savy floater against the H-Bomb, or his sweet assist to Danny I, or his cold three-point dagger in the dying seconds of game 6.

No, I won’t. That’s already pushing the limits of a Ginebra fanatic. What I’m here for is to recount my hair-raising experience of Brgy. Big Dome’s combined efforts in booing Alex Cabagnot.

As he checked in as a substitute for, ignore me if I’m wrong, Paul Artadi, he was already being booed. I mean booed, really booed.  He hasn’t even touched the ball yet! That’s when I realized there’s a far worse fate one basketballer could face other than getting ejected from an important game. Hearing and seeing how the crowd jeered for him was mad. It was terrible. Oh, don’t think for a second that i did not enjoy it. I did, thank you very much. He’s from the opposing team, so that’s fine by me. But if i’m truly honest with myself, I was really bothered. Every time he touched the leather, an overwhelming boo was echoing inside araneta. It was surreal, unbelievable, frightening.

Cabagnot is not the first player to experience cariño brutal from Ginebra fans. Who can ever forget Mac Cardona? There is no way in hell or high water could you forget his confident hook shots and replying smirk every time he was booed by the Ginebra crowd. Could you forget his face? Could you forget his irksome face that glows with pride every time his shots make Brgy. Big Dome quiet? If you ask me, I can’t.

But that’s another story for another day.

Let’s go back to Cabagnot. One thing I noticed as the people booed him was his poker face. Mike Cortez poker face. No reaction. Zero. Zilch. Nada. And don’t give me that “I’m focused” crap. Even a single booing person can distract you. What more when there were thousands? I believe its human nature to get disturbed by jeering. That’s why I got irked to no end. It’s as if he can’t hear anything. I mean, seriously. It’s impossible to not hear the crowd. His long hair can’t even stifle the loud boos. At this point, I present the nagging question I have for him.

How does it truly feel being booed by thousands of passionate die hards?

I know, i know. I could just go and ask Cardona about that. But Cardona showed emotion through the ups and many downs of playing against ginebra. Cabagnot never showed anything.

Oh, yeah he did. He did show emotion when he punched his chest after that killer trey, as if to say, “I’m invincible, you can’t stop me, you can’t.” But that doesn’t count for me because that’s a normal reaction if you clinch a game winner. He can boast all he wants. He can say Ginebra is nothing but shit. He can claim that he’s the king of the world. Heck, he can even say he now owns Mark Caguioa, years after the Eagle Rock high school score record feud between them.

I. Don’t. Care.

I just want to sit down with him, ask him how he prepared for it, ask him what it took to control his emotions, ask him how he handled it, and ask him if he thinks he handled it.

I just want to ask him how it feels. Not before the booing, hell, not even after it, but during it. How did it feel?

If you ask me, I think he felt it. It could’ve rocked his core. There could’ve been goosebumps on his skin.

But I could be wrong.

Maybe it really didn’t matter to him.

Maybe all he saw was his team mates, the opposing team, the ball, and the basket.

Maybe his hair was just enough to muffle the voracious crowd.

After all, an upper A seat is far from the hard court.

But if I ever get the chance to speak with him, I don’t want to hear “the booing motivates me” bullshit. I want to know the real thing. I want to know his raw feelings.

Why? Because in all honesty, even as a die hard Ginebra fanatic, I can say I felt bad for him. Just a little bit. You know that feeling, that little pull at your heart string. I felt that for him. But just a tad bit, not much that I’d renounce my alliance and be his # 1 fan. No, that won’t happen. Not in this lifetime.

Right now all i can truly admit is that aside from hatred, I feel respect for him. Just like with Snape, after knowing his true intentions, I respect him. I still hate Cabagnot for his good skills that propelled SMB to the finals, but I respect him for his gallant stand amidst the stunning boos showered upon him that night by thousands of hateful Harry Potters, who after mourning the game 6 loss, might start to recognize their new found respect for him.

Maybe. If he gets moved to Ginebra.

(Disclaimer: This article is based from my own observations, and my own observations alone. So don’t shoot me if i annoy you. You shouldn’t have read it. And yeah, yeah. I’m a die hard Ginebra fan. Yada, yada, yada.)