INQUIRER Sports

TIANJIN, China -- The fan lustily cheering for the RP-Powerade team in the game against Jordan was some rows up behind me.

His voice distinctly stood out from the other rooters. It was louder, higher-pitched, and it had a sort of metallic quality about it.

I was sure I had heard that voice before. I just couldn?t place where.

?One hundred percent!? he would yell in approval every time Asi Taulava converted from the free throw line.

Maligned for his poor free throw shooting in the PBA, Asi shot three of three from the charity lane against Jordan.

?Dalhin mo sa kaliwa [Take it to the left],? he would direct Willie Miller against an opponent whose moves he was obviously familiar with.

?Defense! Defense!? he would shout to the players every time the opponent had the ball.

I was impressed. The fan not only knew his basketball, but the PBA as well. Most of the time, he was actually armchair coaching from the sidelines or, more appropriately, from ringside.

I just had to find out who was doing all that shouting. All I had to do was turn my head a hundred and eighty degrees.

* * *

Commissioner Sonny Barrios?! The cool, mild-mannered, rather soft-spoken Sonny Barrios?!

I caught him in action. He was actually on his toes, arms akimbo as he tried to scrutinize what was going on inside the court after a referee had called a foul against one of our players.

Sonny B?s adrenalin rush was contagious.

* * *

According to Sonny, it was actually Sta. Lucia governor Buddy Encarnado who had counseled him to let himself go.

?To let my hair down so to speak and express my passion for the game, which I cannot do as PBA commissioner because we?re not allowed to cheer for any team,? Sonny said.

?This is one of my happiest moments, if not my happiest, as commissioner of the PBA.?

Sonny said he had taken the rare role of fan to the hilt since Game 1 of the RP-Powerade team in the ongoing Fiba Asia men?s championship.

?You just didn?t hear me because I was in the other section. I always sit behind the RP bench.?

Understandably, Sonny fell quiet near the end of the second quarter when Jordan started to lead in double figures.

Towards the end of the game, he was totally hushed.

I looked back, Sonny was slumped in his seat, looking like he was drained of all adrenalin and emotions, as the scoreboard flashed, 81-70, in favor of the Jordanians, who beat us by 31 points in the Jones Cup.

* * *

The day after over breakfast, I asked Sonny if he still subscribed to the traditional dictum created by former PBA commissioner Rudy Salud about the PBA: ?The best brand of basketball played by the best cagers in the Philippines.?

Sonny said that his eyes have been opened the way coach Yeng Guiao?s have been after the PBA?s recent international stints in the Seaba, the Jones Cup, and now the Fiba Asia.

?Yeng went to the extent of going through the souvenir program where he found out that the average age of the players (from all countries) participating in the most prestigious Asian basketball competition is between 26 to 28. Now tell me, in the Philippines, where do you find the 26 to 28 players??

?In the PBA??

?Right. That?s why Yeng is proposing that we continue this same program, if we want to be a contender. Yeng?s idea is not for himself but for Philippine basketball.?

* * *

In case you don?t know it yet, Yeng is running for Pampanga governor in the 2010 elections against Lito Lapid and possibly Ed Panlilio.

The PBA will lose Yeng to politics if he becomes governor next year.

To show their support for their candidate, a delegation of 20 composed of board members and town officials from Pampanga flew in from Manila with Yeng?s wife Jenny, Mrs. Karen Abanilla and Benita Chua last week.

The stage is set for the next chapter of Yeng?s career.