Alex Compton. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Alex Compton is a jolly fellow, always with a joke to crack in English or in Filipino.
And conversation with the Alaska coach will never end without a hearty laugh.
But as he talked on that fateful Wednesday night inside the Mall of Asia Arena press room—minutes after San Miguel Beer completed its incredible rally from 0-3 down to win the PBA Philippine Cup title series—one could “feel” the real Alex Compton.
There wasn’t a trace of anguish in the way he spoke. He was just being himself, a genuine human being who just wanted to have a shoulder to cry on but couldn’t find one at that numbing moment.
So who says basketball is just a sport?
“You’ve known me for so long,” Compton said, his head bowed, making everyone wonder what he was trying to say. “I won an MVP and a championship [while playing] in the MBA. I’ve had so many girlfriends [during that time] but I won’t mention them.”
He wasn’t joking this time.
“I’ve done commercials, had my billboards,” he went on, his voice barely audible. “But I have never felt more empty in my life.”
By this time, the Beermen and their faithful were whooping it up on the floor, basking in the glory of completing the most magnificent comeback the league has ever seen.
That night belonged to the Beermen, and the conquered were left alone in their dugout wondering what went wrong; the battle-hardened men of Alaska crying like babies inside.
Very few, it seemed, really cared what happened to the Aces.
“I’d like to thank the Lord for He is good,” Compton said in tones that sounded like he was the one who won. “He is good because He took us here and there is not another group of guys I’d rather coach. The Lord gave me these players and I am blessed.”
The coach conceded one thing: “This is not the way I would want us to be part of [PBA] history.”
Alaska tried so very hard to win it all but lost Games 4 and 5 by the skin of its teeth. The Aces fought hardest in the last two games only to fall short.
In any game, even in life, there are winners and there are losers. And Compton, with all humility, admitted to bungling this one.
Alaska lost the war on the floor in those two grueling weeks with the battling Beermen, but the class act in Compton and the Aces will forever be remembered.
And that’s the part in history Alaska’s coach will want his men to occupy.