I Beg To Differ

From my Manila Standard column Oct. 22

Last October 13, the Rain or Shine Elastopainters put up a gallant stand against the pesky Air 21 Express and with a last second play drawn up by coach Caloy Garcia, Sol Mercado drew the defense, fed the ball to an open Jeff Chan who knocked down a buzzer-beating 3 pointer for the win!

Then a week after that, Rain or Shine did pretty much the same thing which neutralized the previously undefeated Talk and Text Tropang Texters. The Elastopainters led by as much as 11 but squandered the lead. End game poise came to play again with Mercado showing finesse and grace under pressure. With time winding down, he took on the defense from top of the key and pulled up for a jumper which he drilled that gave them a 2 point advantage with only 1.5 seconds left. Talk and Text failed in their attempt to tie or win the game.

I anchored both games, and both times I had Alex Compton as my partner. He’s a great analyst and the fact that he was the former assistant coach for Rain or Shine made his color commentary all the more interesting.

Now after the 2nd Elastopainter win, I had so many tweets that I was the lady luck for the team. It was funny seeing the first few comments about that, and I laughed them off… Then I got a tweet from Paolo Buguia saying the same thing and then more tweets were coming in, and I got a bit worried. I didn’t want to be branded as the lady luck for any team (save for Team HIZON, hehe).

I honestly think any one of us from the commentary or courtside reporting pool should NEVER be labelled as a good luck charm or a bad luck omen for any of the teams. We’re just doing our work, and doing it to the best of our abilities to add excitement to the games.

Ofcourse it’s part of being Filipino, and it’s in our culture to be somewhat superstitious. But really, seriously, we have nothing to do with it. Absolutely zilch. Nada. Zero.

It’s unfair for Rain or Shine to say they had luck on their side, which is why they won against Air21 and a talented team like Talk and Text. It was their defense, teamwork, and highly reliable shooting that gave them the win. More than anything, it was faith in their system, the game plan and in each other.

IN OTHER NEWS, I’d personally like to thank Commissioner Chito Salud for his great program of giving tickets to the less fortunate every Wednesday. The past few weeks, we’ve been bringing hundreds of people – street kids, orphans, social workers, church groups, etc. – to experience the PBA live! Now they’re the lucky ones. They also get the chance to interact with some of the players who go up to the stands to take photos and sign autographs. It’s a great way to give back to the community. The PBA has always been about the fans, and this is a great way of reinforcing that notion.

Last Wednesday we had the kids from the High Five Hope basketball and volleyball tournament watch the game live and they absolutely enjoyed! For the 300 streetkids that were there, they were inspired to some day be like the stars on the hard court.

They’re moved to stay away from drugs, stay in school, show up for practice instead of beg on the streets. They see that they too can be great. It’s a life-altering experience. The PBA made it possible.