Early Christmas for Marcial, PBA after ‘successful’ bubble

FILE – Barangay Ginebra is the PBA Philippine Cup champion. PBA IMAGES

MANILA, Philippines — Christmas came early for PBA Commissioner Willie Marcial.

It was in March when the PBA had to postpone its 2020 Philippine Cup due to the COVID-19 pandemic and it took until October for the league to resume its operations.

A lot of effort and sacrifices were made and the PBA finally made its return in a bubble environment in Clark, Pampanga that saw Barangay Ginebra rule the Philippine Cup last Wednesday.

“You know, this is my Christmas,” said Marcial in Filipino during a televised interview as the Gin Kings celebrated their first All-Filipino title in 13 years at Angeles University Foundation.

“The sacrifices of the players, the coaches, the PBA, were all for you, the fans. If the PBA did this, then so can you. Don’t worry, we will all bounce back after this pandemic.”

The resumption of the conference, however, did not go all that smoothly after the league postponed its games on October 31 until November 2 after a couple of COVID-19 cases were reported.

A referee and a Blackwater player turned out positive Antigen tests but were then claimed as false positives after RT-PCR tests.

Nevertheless, the conference pushed through albeit in a compressed manner.

The league had quadruple headers on some days before calming down during the playoffs when it reverted back to doubleheaders.

Marcial may be the one who oversaw everything inside the bubble, but he didn’t forget the sacrifices of the players and teams who made sure the setup would be successful.

“When I talked to them, I asked for their cooperation so communication between them was very important. That was what made this successful,” said Marcial.