what i miss about the pba

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before i became a fan of the nba, i'm an avid supporter of the pba or the philippine basketball association. today, i no longer know what teams are playing in the league or the players. well, i know alaska is still alaska and their coach is still tim cone. i don't know what happened but i guess it has something to do with the influx of foreign-born player playing in the league.

i do not have anything against them as they do have filipino blood in them. but there's something missing about the league when the ten best players are all born outside the country (just kidding). but really, looking back, the last time a true-blue filipino was named the mvp was way back in 2001 when danny ildenfonso took home that honor. sure, willie miller is a homegrown talent but he is of american descent.

with these players coming into the league, slots for filipino players declined as teams prefer fil-foreign players known for their athleticism and of course, the height factor is very much against the filipinos.

so now, while i enjoy following the nba, i miss the good old days when i religiously follow the pba. here are things i miss most about those days:

1. the three conferences. it's not like the eastern or western conference in the nba. it's more like a whole season divided into three sub-seasons (?) (hehehe). first is the all-filipino cup. then there's the commisioner's cup where teams can bring in an import. the third conference is the governor's cup where imports are allowed too. if a team takes the chip for the three conferences, they call it a grand slam.

2. the imports playing only for one team. i grew up with imports like sean chambers and lamont strothers. unfortunately, i wasn't able to see tony harris in action in the pba. what i like about these imports is that they stay with only one team. sean chambers brought two championships to alaska in that fateful 1996 run. lamont strothers on the other hand played only for san miguel.

3. the monikers/monickers. i so miss them that i made a list of pba players and their monickers. hahaha.. and here it is:

4th quarter man- jojo lastimosa
aerial voyager- vergel meneses
atom bomb- ato agustin
the captain- alvin patrimonio
captain marbel- kenneth duremdes
defense minister- jerry codiñera
fortune cookie- atoy co
robocop- alvin teng
flying a- johnny abarrientos
the hawk- bong hawkins
the destroyer- rudy distrito
triggerman- allan caidic

4. the whole idea of watching the pba. i really miss the league. maybe one of these days, i'd start reacquainting myself with the pba. hopefully this will not be my last post about the local league.

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