Toasting and listening to the champions

TOMORROW, the PBA Press Corps will not only toast the most outstanding performers of the past pro season.  In a rare opportunity, the scribes will pay tribute to the champion basketball teams of 1973, 1986 and the recent Fiba Asia silver medalists who won a slot in the 2014 World basketball championships.

The salute at the Wack Wack Golf Club should be a sterling basketball affair with heroes from the past and the present mingling to compare war stories and analyses of the Asian competition they faced.  Just as our heroes will swap tales of their exploits, the names of Korea’s Shin Dong-pa and Hur Jae, China’s Yao Ming and Adeljan, and Japan’s Abe and Taniguchi should surface and mix nicely with names of the players Gilas Pilipinas faced.

The occasion will be revealing for a number of reasons. First, it will show that the Philippines still figures prominently as an Asian basketball power.  We have had our institutional problems as well as our disagreements on how to best represent the country in basketball tournaments.  But when we are together, like in the last Fiba Asia, we can achieve great heights despite the obvious power shifts in Asian hoops.

Second, the older generation of champions will come face to face with the taller players of today.  Yoyong Martirez of the 1973 team will size up to LA Tenorio, Jimmy Alapag and Jason Castro of Gilas.  But Jimmy Mariano, Manny Paner and Mon Fernandez will find taller frontliners in Marc Pingris, JuneMar Fajardo and Japeth Aguilar.  For many unexplained scientific reasons, there are taller Filipinos today in the game.

Third, on that special occasion, the inevitable sports arguments about which team would be better than the other will surface. This is more of an American sports approach that feeds on fans’ discussions about teams from different generations battling even in their imaginations.

Being Filipinos and not particularly attuned to such imaginary discussions, there will be hardly any such ribbing or speculation although fans can surely engage in this in social media.

Instead, mutual respect will be the guiding principle.  I have seen this very often in exhibition games or in awards ceremonies when the younger players show respect to their elders in different ways.  They allow the older players to be the focus of attention and are willing to step aside from the spotlight.  They call them “Manong” or “Kuya” just as one would in a family.
So we who chronicle the feats of the greats will be on the sidelines listening to their stories.  What has always hooked me in these events is the endless stream of inside stories that can flow once the ball gets rolling.  You will hear former opponents ribbing each other, former teammates recalling coaches’ unforgettable and outrageous instructions or former coaches telling tales of the quirks of certain players.

There are also stories of how adversity was overhauled and how teamwork helped achieve their accomplishments.  We shall listen to all of them to find out what we can learn to improve our own future attempts at basketball greatness.