i once promised somebody that i used to know that i will never watch a basketball game at the mall of asia arena unless she tags along with me. i wanted my inaugural visit at the state of the art stadium to be extra special so it's just apt that she would be my date when that moment arrives. she loves the game as much as i do and she has this some kind of infatuation towards my almost-namesake players that i cheerfully abused. that is the main reason why i never cared to attend the october 10 NBA pre-season game between the rockets and the pacers at the one year old coliseum. okay, that would be excuse 1A. excuse 1B: the ticket is worth a decent makeshift house here in our country.
i soon found out that that somebody i used to know has other plans. but still, i kept my promise, and never lose hope. that's how sacred basketball related vows are to me.
untill...
last friday, october 18, 2013 bernie, a friend, informed me that he has two-(2) patron PBA Governor's Cup Finals game four tickets between my revered petron plaze boosters and his san mig coffee mixers. i was torned. it's the blaze boosters, we will be seating on one of the best seats in the house and it's game four of the PBA finals, with my team leading the best-of-seven series two games to one. will i keep my promise or grab the opportunity to cheer and watch the game just a few feet away? the closest that i watched the PBA live is a lower box seat at the araneta coliseum. i let my stupid self took over and decide over my real one for a few minutes. should have been a no-brainer. she broke her promise, it's about time to brake mine and have a glimpse of erika padilla and/or sel guevarra up close and personal. time to get even, on basketball terms at least.
and so we went.
we arrived at the arena 20 minutes before tip-off, the annual PBA LEO awards had just concluded and arwind santos is the only player on the court, embracing the elusive MVP trophy that he has been chasing since he joined the league. it was a good sign for my team. june mar fajardo failed to grab the rookie of the year award though. it would have been better. with excitement still washing all over my body, i scanned the court, looking for erika or sel, hoping that either one of them will be the courtside reporter for tonight's game. it was the stunning rizza diaz instead. not bad. now, if you guys don't know what i'm talking about, you've been missing a lot lately, i mean, a lot.
a quick scan to my left, lewis alfred tenorio and his gilrfriend, to my right, air force ellis too busy interacting with some fans, four seats to my right, the injured alex cabagnot on street clothes, right in front of me, one of PBA's 25 greatest players of all time, the great hector calma. ronny nathanielsz on courtside, kume chito salud relaxing on his throne at the commisioner's row, his ever loyal media bureau chief willie marcial alongside him. cheska garcia and the rest of the petron blaze boosters wives/girlfriends and their kids all over patron 118 blue section. just an ordinary day by PBA standard, not for me. ginger conijero arrived just on time to witness the game four demise of our team and to console her boyfriend, that lucky alex cabagnot.
it was a great game. running on all cylinders, the san mig coffee mixers built a huge lead that went as high as 28 points before settling for 25 at half time. my companion, bernie was all smiles, while clapping silently and discreetly, during the course of the first half, jokingly liking the petron team to the up maroons. i said no, they are like the mapua cardinals. that's how poorly my team played for the first 24 minutes of the ballgame. (no disrespect to the fighting maroons and the cardinals, so don't take it personally).
petron had a furious rally halfway through the third quarter and trimmed san mig's lead to just four at the end of it. from there, it was a see-saw battle. my team even manged to grab a four point lead only to squander it and eventually lose the game.
it was a surreal experience for me. playing basketball or simply watching a close game is one of only few things that makes me feel high, without thc running through my bloodstream.
filipinos' love for basketball is simply undeniable and indisputable. the past few months has been basketball heaven here in our country. we have witnessed the cinderella run of our gilas pilipinas, finally, after years of trying, punching a ticket again at the 2014 fiba worlds in spain by beating the ghost of korea last august, right here in our homesoil, followed by the epic UAAP Finals three game series between the green archers and the growling tigers, then the historic first ever NBA pre-season games pitting the rockets and the pacers at the MOA arena, and now, the on-going PBA Governor's Cup Finals.
there's more. the basketball gods have more gifts for us. they seem to know that we filipinos celebrate the christmas season the longest so they decided to pour on their presents this early.
pinoy hoops.
it's the icing on the cake of some sort.
the first ever documentary about pinoy's passion for basketball by rafe bartholomew, the author of the best-selling book, "pacific rim" (not the sci-fi movie). this guy is interesting. he knows so much about pinoy hoops. when i read this article, i thought it was the dean, quinito henson or bill velasco who wrote it. he knows the players by name, their characters and even their color preferences. i just hope he translates his knowledge to the documentary.
premiers monday, october 21 @ 9pm, on the national geographic channel.
must see tv.
