LIFE IS A GINEBRA GAME-WINNING PLAY

“DAD, can we watch this Ginebra game again in Araneta next week?” my teenage son Nathaniel asked me one night. I was working on my laptop for my article to a local literary magazine. He knew I don’t like to be disturbed when I was doing that in my room but, hey, it’s about basketball. And I love basketball.

Nathaniel is as crazy as some boys of his age about the sports. He loves to play hustle games with his neighbor friends at an uncovered court in our subdivision, trying the best way he can to play like his idol Rajon Rondo and Paul Pierce of the Boston Celtics. And he is also a fan of Philippine basketball, the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) and even the collegiate leagues.

His love for the game heightened when his aunt bought him his own basketball, and I think it was in the same year when I brought him to a PBA rookie draft at Robinson’s Place in Ermita, Manila and he got the chance to meet in person some of his favorite PBA players. I’m sure he enjoyed the experience so much that in the rookie draft the following year, he went by himself (I had a busy schedule at work then) to the same venue and watched how some of his favorite collegiate playmakers, such as Calvin Abueva and Chris Tiu, were drafted to the professional league.

And last month, I brought Nathaniel and his younger brother Dudoy to the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao, Quezon City and have them watched for the first time PBA games straight from the venue. They were as excited to enter the Big Dome as when they were younger kids going with their Mom to watch some kiddie shows here.

There were wild cheers when players from the first game’s opposing teams, Petron Blaze and Red Bull Barako, entered the arena; and Nathaniel twisted about from our place in the upper box as he looked for every player he could recognize.

It was the same experience in the second game, the venue still bustling with life. But the crowd turned more boisterous, the cheers wilder, when the popular Ginebra team entered the hardcourt. The Gin Kings’ trademark run-and-gun play, even without their injured star Mark Caguioa, against the Meralco Bolts, were indeed an electrifying source of loud cheers from the dominating pro-Ginebra crowd.

I was as excited as the boys at that moment, because it has been a long time since I watched a live game here. That was a long 15 years ago, when my favorite team San Miguel Beermen got clobbered by the Alaska Milkmen, then powered by Jojo Lastimosa and Johnny Abarrientos, in a memorable Game 7 of their championship matchup. Suddenly I found myself transported to my younger and wilder self, screaming, clapping, from the edge of my seat, and jumping as my young boys now and the rest of the Ginebra fans. By the end of the show, the kids were completely dazed by their wonderful experience, seeing my favorite team, Petron (formerly San Miguel Beermen) and Nathaniel's favorite Ginebra, won their respective opponents.  

And here is Nathaniel now asking if we can watch another game of Ginebra at the Big Dome in any of the possible last two games of the Gin Kings in the semifinals against Talk ‘n Text. I readily agreed. The last time I checked with a ticketing outlet at a mall, however, tickets for the lower box for the next game were already sold out.

“Let’s just wish that they can play in the finals, then we have lots of time to buy tickets for that,” I promised Nathaniel.

Well, I am happy for my basketball-crazy son. He still loves his FB games and other computer games on his laptop, but basketball, he playing with his friends or alone watching a game on TV, is always a good respite from his studies and other youthful activities. And basketball is a good topic for our bonding moments, as we talked about our favorite teams, from PBA to NBA, UAAP and NCAA, and discuss about the games and some of his hardcourt heroes.

Ah, when ever did I start getting hooked in watching basketball games?

My first time to watch a basketball game was when I was too young to fully comprehend what it’s all about. I was about 8 or 10 and it was the peak of the Toyota and Crispa rivalry and my father was ever glued to our black and white television. It was something about adult men on screen in short shorts as if they were automated to have the leather at all cost, zipping down the court, their fast-paced action culminating in the score to the basket.

I remember I picked Toyota over the fabled Crispa team, because Toyota, with Robert Jaworski, then playing alongside Mon Fernandez, won a couple of championships that year. And rooting for a winning team was so damned good. Toyota disbanded a few years later, but that didn’t stop me from watching more PBA games. It was my brother Milton who unknowingly dragged me into the sports as an avid fan. He used to buy a popular sports magazine that I also had the chance to read when he’s through reading them. He filled his room with glossy posters of his favorite players, and even cutouts of black and white newsprint images of these players, plastered like a collage on almost all spaces of the wall of his room. He was a pro when it comes to telling stories about the PBA and NBA and he also played the game well. Having known those players, their stats and all, I started to enjoy watching basketball games on TV. Soon my brother, who is also a die-hard Ginebra fan, and I became our own self-made commentators as we talked about hardcourt actions and players worth discussing after every game.

It was the year when the Great Taste Coffeemakers beat Crispa Redmanizers twice in a row for the championship. And I knew right then that any team that could beat my old team’s fiercest rival would be my next favorite team. It was the height of the popularity of Coffeemakers Ricardo Brown and Manny Victorino. I was never aware that in those years Ginebra, with Jaworski at the helm, was beginning its crowd-darling status.  

When Ricardo Brown transferred to San Miguel Beer and played alongside my earlier idol Fernandez, SMB became my one and only favorite team. And when Brown left basketball for good because of a serious injury, his young teammate, the sweet-shooting guard Allan Caidic, became my favorite player. Caidic was also a former teammate of Brown in the then disbanded Great Taste team. I remained as a San Miguel fan, and until now even the team has changed its name to Petron Blaze Boosters. And because of Caidic’s transfer to the La Tondeña franchise, Ginebra became my second favorite team.

I was just an avid fan, and I never played a competitive basketball like my brother because I am too short for a player. I totally stopped attempting dribbling and shooting the ball after I fractured my collarbone in a vehicular accident during college, which resulted in searing pain that struck whenever I tried to jump for the ball.

Before long, my job and my new family took over my life, and I found myself having less of watching basketball games. But I still root for my favorite players when I had the chance to watch my favorite teams play on TV.  

When before I had my Kuya Milton whom I can talk about the games, now my son is having me for a watching buddy. And instead of sports magazines, Nathaniel has the Internet and the social media on his fingertips if he wants learn more about the games and his favorite players. Instead of magazine posters, he has his own wallpaper photos of his hardcourt idols.

Nathaniel practically brought me back to my olden days as an avid basketball fan. And, lately, watching Ginebra on a winning run with its fabled never-say-die attitude gave me an added thrill to really get into the basketball again like the fiercely loyal fans of the team. And like their previous championship runs, the present batch of Gin Kings had an exciting ride as well going to the semifinal round in this conference. They lost their first four games, and at the end of the elimination round, they dropped to seventh place. But again, they endured and pummeled the Rain or Shine Elastopainters in two grueling games, thus erasing their twice-to-beat disadvantage against a formidable team.

Like the Gin Kings, I seem to live in a bruising roller-coaster game, a constant struggle in life and some family tragedies, like the death of my wife two years ago, her older brother a year after, then the sudden death of my three-year-old nephew whom I am very fond of, and depressing situations like flunking the bar and quitting my regular job. But, like the Gin Kings in early part of the current tournament who were almost battered and beat-up, I am not giving up. I know that with a lot of persistence and hard work, that formula of conquering the odds that they have mastered in the court, I can recover. 

Watching basketball games turns out to be a good diversion for me, a sort of a pain reliever, to ward off any negative thoughts about my future. As I watch come-from-behind victories, especially those from Ginebra as they subdue their stronger opponents, I am also contemplating for the best move I could muster in this game of life I am having now, thinking what my next “opponents” will be and how I overcome them.

That's what this is all about—the reason why I am here still rooting for my favorite PBA team and enjoying the game with my sons.

Ah, I love basketball games!