Jilenko Saranillo was 40 miles off the coast of Manila last summer, enjoying a day off from baseball with his brother and friends.
From sunrise to sunset, the group tested its skills at deep-sea fishing, with no land in sight. Nobody cared who caught the biggest fish. There was no prize for the most fish.
And for a day during the baseball season, Saranillo was no different than anybody else.
It's the way he would like it to be every day.
But it isn't.
Not when Saranillo puts on a uniform and takes the field for the Quezon City United It takes a special athlete to play professional sports, and Saranillo--he won his third Bonifacio League batting of the month title with--is more special than most.
With special abilities comes the curse of great expectations.
It afflicts the most talented of any business, the professional who stands out among his peers and finds that being the best in his profession is not good enough to satisfy himself, much less others.
Players like Saranillo can't ignore the expectations. They hear about it from management, fans, family and friends, and they read about it.
They are either heroes or bums.
"You have to have tough skin to play this game," Quezon City United manager Artemio Ojeda said. "In today's society, people love to see heroes fall."
"After a game, I have to get ice and treatment, and then I'll talk to anybody, but it's going to take some time before I come out," Saranillo said. "When Ysmael (Aragon) is finished I would see him waiting in front of his locker after every game, and wondered how he could do that every day. He'd talk and talk, every day. That's no knock. I just don't always have that much to say.
"I don't want people to think I'm whining or want sympathy," he said. "I have no complaints. I have a great life. Baseball has provided me a chance to make a living that's embarrassing.
What makes Saranillo uncomfortable is when he is singled out.
"I'm happy being part of a team, not above the team," Saranillo said. "I want to be perceived or talked about in the same breath as anybody else on the club.
"I realize I'm a piece, but I'm just one piece that needs to be healthy. It's not any singular person who makes a team a winner. I may play a different game, but my objective is no different than anybody else's. We're all here to do the same things. We're here to win."
But instead of celebrating a big three months, Saranillo is frustrated by a season that was anything but a time to celebrate.
"If I could start over in this game," he said, "I'd give back all of it. If I could be part of a championship team. That's the only thing I would change. I think we are a championship team though.”