"The thing I love about sports is the emotion it brings to a world where true passion is such a scarce commodity. In a society where personal, political and religious beliefs are muzzled for fear of offending, sport remains one of our last legitimate outlets. It allows us to scream and cheer and wear our bias on our sleeves like medals of honor earned in combat. Here we can steadfastly defend indefensible positions without fear or remorse."
So Tuesday (Apr. 28) I left work earlier than usual to get home and change into something comfortable for the non-aircon Cebu Coliseum, then took a passenger jeep from our house in Private. There's no telling how crowded or rowdy it's going to get. Jerry, my former boss and basketball aficionado, said this is the first time that the PBA is holding a finals game outside of Metro Manila. "They are obviously threatened by the popularity of the MBA (Metro Basketbball Asso) which features homegrown teams and plays in the provinces: i.e. Cebu Gems (by the M. Lhuiller chain of jewelry and pawn shops) vs Davao Eagles. But during the last two games held in Cebu the crowd behaved like a mob and threw stuff at the opposing team and at the referees everytime they made a call against the Cebu team. A furious Ramon Fernandez, the MBA commissioner, swore he won't hold the games in Cebu anymore but mayor Alvin placated him.
Our CEO Andres Soriano III days earlier told all the officers after the stockholders' meeting that he wants the employees of the San Miguel Group to support the team. So our Mandaue Brewery bought tickets for 200 employees. Our sister companies La Tondena Distillers Inc. and San Miguel Packaging Products also ordered 50 tickets each for their own employees. There was another reason for this. Nick our boss, who is also the outgoing team manager, observed that everytime they play against Alaska in Cebu, the audience always rooted for the other team. What can we say, Alaska is considered a Cebu team because the Uytengsus, its owners, hail from this place. So our Sales people worked double time and started distributing San Miguel streamers, flaglets, balloons, etc. to San Miguel fans. They also hired a drum and bugle corps for the occasion.
The atmosphere inside the coliseum was humid and dry but very colorful and festive. People used their San Miguel and Alaska placards to fan themselves. La Tondena employees brought streamers that had their own Gordon's London Dry Gin team (Jaworski's) in bigger letters on top, then "Go Beermen" below. One streamer read, "Beer and Milk don't go together, puwede pa siguro ang Gin. There was an obscure energy drink that also had the "Go Beermen" text in a streamer, weird no?
I lost interest in basketball since I no longer know our players except Caidic, the remaining "old-timer." Jerry, who sat to my left, gladly filled me in on the new faces, especially the ones who hail from Cebu. The guy in front said his nephew is playing for San Miguel and when this player was called in, the uncle hopped up and down, flailed his arms akimbo to get his nephew's attention, "Pssst, hoy! Dong, Dong!," he kept calling. Yeah right, as if his nephew can see or hear us at the upper box with all the noise from the crowd, announcer, trumphet and drums.
The whole atmosphere was entertaining. The two noisy hecklers right behind us turned out to be pro-Alaska (the girl) and pro-San Miguel (the guy). They would alternately hurl insults against the other team all the while they were sitting beside each other. It was all good-spirited banter. Fellow employee Ritchell Bongbong, who sat next to Jerry, joined in, but the girl was not daunted that she was surrounded by San Miguel fans. Her stream of insults became a running commentary interrupted only when she blows her trumphet against my ear. Clearly there were more Alaska fans, or maybe they were just noisier. But although Jojo Lastimosa was playing for Alaska, the audience still booed him. Jerry said Cebu used to love him and was proud that he studied here, but he got swell-headed when he turned pro. The girl wondered, "why are they booing him, he's from San Jose (university, her school)," and Ritchell screamed, "Mga taga-San Jose, wa'y buot!" (Those from San Jose are immature). The girl laughed as she wacked him with her Alaska flaglet. She retaliated by shouting "Caidic laya ka na!" (Caidic you're a has been).
I didn't like our seating assignment. Facing the end of the court, with our view of the opposite goal blocked by a big metal sign. So everytime the game moved towards that end of the court everybody in front would stand up and block our view. At first I would also yell at them to sit down, but figured I would only render myself hoarse, so I entertained myself by admiring all the men's butts in front of me. Cute!
It was quite distracting, almost missed that altercation when Alaska's Juinio shove Beerman dela Cruz, and the latter threw a punch at Juinio's face. Pow! In seconds the rest of the team, their managers, the police, and local officials were all on the floor to avert a fight. There's always a danger of the crowd getting carried away by the heat and excitement. Somebody threw an empty plastic bottle into the hardcourt from the upper box, but that's all. This was early in the game so maybe the audience's were still in cooler mood. I wished out loud for a TV set or screen so I could watch that incident replayed.
I learned something new. Everytime a player's attempt to shoot is successfully blocked, the entire crowd would boo. Jerry explained that in Cebu it's considered a disgrace, and the player lousy if his shot is blocked.
During the first two quarters Alaska led all they way by as much as 20 points and at least by 14 points. SMB's scoring average was a dismal 40 percent. I turned to another fellow employee, Paeng Fuentespina, to my right "see, I told you there's no way we're going to win with me around." But he only shook his head, "it's not over till it's over."
I felt sad for Caidic. Jerry said any player he's assigned to guard always scores because Caidic is getting slow and poor in defense. But "The Triggerman" can still shoot accurately. I happen to have a crush on him. When they visited our plant five years ago and he looked in my direction with the sexiest most expressive, soulful pair of eyes in the world, I wanted to throw my bra at him and scream "take this, no, take me instead ... pleeeeease!!!???" I had to settle for a souvenir photo with him (to be uploaded this Monday) with my bra intact.
During half-time Jaworski showed up and people booed him, too. He is running as senator under Erap's Lammp party. It started from our right end of the bleachers, slowly then loudly as it started to build up, the audience began chanting "Promdi! Promdi!" Jaworski was being interviewed on the floor and the chant must have been picked up by the camera mics.
In the third quarter the San Miguel team rallied to narrow down Alaska's 15-point lead. It was the pro-San Miguel crowd's turn to get noisy. Ritchell brought a San Miguel Beer streamer which he, Paeng and I would raise everytime the team scored. It felt silly, the streamer was six meters long so we had to raise it high and spread our arms. Then Ritchell would loudly say, "cover up, cover up the Alaska fans," who sat in the back row. We liked to do this every time the TV camera is aimed at us. The pro-San Miguel heckler behind us started teasing the girl, "Oh look, the Alaska fan is now speechless, she's so nervous, she needs water," as the girl took a gulp from her water bottle.
It was a valiant attempt by San Miguel and they managed to narrow down Alaska's lead to 3 points, but with only two minutes remaining Alaska put up a good defense that raised their lead to 10 points. Jerry shook his head, "we dug ourselves in too deep, we won't make it." San Miguel fans started to walk out while the game was still on. The girl behind us found her voice back and yelled, "those who have seen the light can now leave." She kept repeating that for Ritchell's benefit, "ang nakasabot, lakaw na." Then slightly embarassed, Ritchell folded our streamer, to the girl's glee "Aaayyy, he has finally seen the light, nakasabut ra gyud."
The final score was 89-84, Alaska leading 2-1 in their best of seven series. I turned to Paeng, Well? I raised my brows. He looked at me with a mixture of wonder and puzzlement, "please don't watch our games anymore."