At the 25th Anniversary Celebration of the Alaska Aces @ the Dusit Thani Hotel

With Johnny Abarrientos, Roel Gomez, and Boy Cabahug. When Johnny played it was an era of great point guards. You had Ateneo’s Jun Reyes, La Salle’s Dindo Pumaren, San Sebastian’s Eugene Quilban, and the Flying A out of FEU. Johnny was exciting to watch and was very shifty. Unlike Quilban who was a little more showtime, what made Johnny special how he seemed to get a shot off against pretty much anyone in the league (UAAP and PBA). Incidentally, Pumaren was the only one who didn’t play for Alaska as Johnny, Jun, and Eugene donned the Milkmen’s colors.

Roel Gomez recognized me from covering the Philippine Collegiate Champions League. But for Elmer Cabahug, I used to cover him when he was playing for Swifts in the PABL under Yeng Guiao. He was one heck of a shooter in a team of superstars. In his Swift team then, the big local story was Ric Ric Marata going to play for the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds in Canada. Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out the way he envisioned as he soon left for home and the PBA.

With Manila Standard’s Ruel Vidal, and former Sta. Lucia and Alaska center Nani Demegilio, and Alaska superfan Ray Tan.

With Sean Chambers who is now working as a vice principal for a middle school in Sacramento. He learned to speak Filipino by watching Batibot! Seriously. Seriously.

Thanks Coach Tim! I was here not as a media person but as a guest of coach. But duty calls! Sat in Table 16 with Larry Fonacier, Zaldy Perez, Ruel Vidal, Beth Celis, and Waylon Galvez. Nice catching up with Larry as always. The first time I ever spoke with Larry was following his final season as a Blue Eagle. We had lunch at his place and I remember he opened up about that disappointing final year in the UAAP. His mom was shocked because that was the first time he really opened up about that year. I never wrote about what we talked about then and I never will. I guess he appreciated that because we’ve become good friends since. We’ve done adidas and Samsung shoots and I’ve always enjoyed the downtime talking about hoops and small stuff.

During the UAAP Finals of Season 71, former DLSU guard Dino Aldeguer went to visit me inside the television room. He said that he was impressed with the game analysis and that (former La Salle head coach) Franz Pumaren should listen to what I said. Since then, we’ve been friends and with that I’ve struck up a friendship with his older bro Boris who I helped with the Perpetual Help case in the NCAA. His stories about his La Salle days are simply hilarious.

I’ve watched EJ Fiehl from his high school days with UST to college days with Adamson and to his stint with Ginebra and Purefoods in the PBA. I used to have a backstage pass for the PBA where I mostly sat behind the Ginebra bench. It was a thrill to be up close to all the action in the league. It’s nice to see EJ remember me from those days.