Ok since it seems like whatever efforts put in to steer away from the unwarranted topic – and which has no relevance to this story – has been futile I’m going to close this thread of discussion for now.

I wholeheartedly appreciate the efforts of readers like lrangels and jerby to steer everyone towards a meaningful discussion though. I too thank all those who liked this story and engaged in good discussion.

For the record, to be fair to both Rob and coach Fictor, who are both incredibly nice people, I’ll just make it clear that coach Alas mentioned Rob is born in the Philippines. He has been playing in the PBA for years and is right now really hoping to be drafted back into PBA but he has yet to get called up.

Unlike Singapore and Malaysia law, Philippines law permits the possession of dual-citizenship so it is not in any of our position to contest this, or is there any point to do so. If you want a Singapore or Malaysia citizenship, you MUST give up whatever citizenship you hold at birth and vice versa.

Foreign athletes typically represent Singapore under the Permanent Residency status, which suffices for them to compete for Singapore. It is a complex issue as to why Singapore can’t afford to pass the dual-citizenship law, but in essence, it will further encourage Singaporeans to migrate overseas (ala the “brain drain syndrome”) of which a human resource-dependent country like Singapore can’t afford.

In the end, “import” or “local” has been a term rather loosely used by especially ABL players and coaches to categorise the ability ala physique of a player (which of course Rob had genetically inherited from his American parent and that’s just the way it is) – it is in no way suggestive of a complain or an insult so why do we even start it?

This story was focused on highlighting the contest between Miller-Hartman and Freeman-Dixon in the finals, since the hot topic at the post-C’hip press conference was whether the coaches will keep the four of them in the league, and the coaches and players responding to such a position. It’s regrettable the discussion departed from this.

Cheers all.

I, on the other hand, went to George Mason University. Unlike you, I didn’t play for the (other) Patriots.

@tabinge..i am from dlsu-d .. i also played for STRAA in palawan for cavite patriots(coincidentaly with the same black/red color uniform).. year 2000.. that means i played for 2 patriots team.

De La Salle University – Dasmarinas Patriots (UCAA & NCRAA)
Nueva Ecija Patriots (defunct Metropolitan Basketball Association)

As far as I know, there are three teams that carry the name Patriots — need to do more research on this should there be more. Namely: George Mason University Patriots (NCAA) (GO MASON!), New England Patriots (NFL), and the Philippine Patriots (ABL).

not that the ABL games promote dirty play (and i’m sure there are still people who don’t know the difference between that and being physical), but physical players like Freeman prefer a more free-flowing game with lesser stoppages.