Powerade governor Jose Bayani “JB” Baylon is not known to be a religious man.
That’s why when I heard PBA insiders talking about how he had gotten down on his knees at Our Mother of Perpetual Help Church in Baclaran last Dec. 19, I was incredulous.
More so when one of his fellow PBA governors related that JB had actually walked on his knees from the entrance of the church all the way to the altar.
Two days after I heard that talk, I still mulled if JB had actually done it and why. But I wasn’t really surprised since he had done so many “unusual” things before, like listen to the radio inside his car parked outside the Araneta Coliseum while his team played.
JB is very superstitious. He believes that his presence inside the coliseum brought bad luck to his team.
On New Year’s Eve, I felt prompted to get some answers straight from the horse’s mouth.
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“Yes, everything you heard is true. I walked on my knees from the first pew to the last pew of the Baclaran Church. And I did it in only ten minutes,” bragged JB, just a few hours before the stroke of midnight yesterday.
According to the PBA governor, it all started with a conversation he had with fellow University of the Philippines alumnus Pato Gregorio of Maynilad.
“UP talk, you know. It sounded like a challenge. Pato said that with our present lineup, he won’t be surprised if we make it to the semifinal round,” JB said.
To qualify for the semis, Powerade would have to beat the highly favored Derby Ace twice, a tall order for a team that always finds itself somewhere down below at the end of a conference.
The Tigers had achieved the reputation of being an underachieving team over the stretch.
“I told Pato that if Powerade makes it to the semis I will walk on bended knees along the aisle of the Baclaran Church,” JB said.
A gentleman and a man of his word, JB found himself motoring towards Baclaran church at midnight of Dec. 19.
What he said could have been a joke but now he was compelled to fulfill his promise. Powerade had beaten the James Yap-led Llamados twice, in the process gaining unexpected entry to the semis.
So now it was time for me to challenge him in the next phase, this time against the Rain Or Shine Elasto Painters, their opponents in the best-of-7 semifinal series.
From a UP alumna to a UP alumnus.
JB said he will have to look for a bigger church with a longer aisle and more pews. “Rain or Shine is much stronger and they have been together longer,” he said.