This appears in the Monday March 21, 2011 edition of the Business Mirror.
Iba ang may pinagsamahan
by rick olivares
I was talking about the current predicament of the San Miguel Beermen with some friends and former SMB players the other day and I realized that there are some things that bear much gleaning into and there are others that don’t.
Does that make sense?
Uh, let’s try to figure it out.
It’s a rebuilding phase. If it were truly that, then why not make the trade before the start of the current conference? That way, they would have a little more time to jell.
So I postulated to one former Beerman who was himself perplexed by the changes that this was done while they had some players with trade value. That player nodded in agreement as I pointed out that the same fate befell current head coach Ato Agustin who was traded to Sunkist for Nelson Asaytono after the title drought of the mid-90s. Alvin Teng, another regular on SMB’s rotation was likewise traded.
It is certainly also possible that management thought that this current team had run its course and they needed to reload because in the last two PBA conference championships, they fell respectively to the Alaska Aces and the Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters. One former Beerman thought that some players like Danny Seigle and Dorian Peña were slowing down, hence, the need for younger legs.
Agustin told me that that one factor was that opening day loss in the Commissioners Cup where the Beermen lost to Air21 92-87. It seems that management thought that there was no fight in the players and that forced their hand.
Maybe the Beermen didn’t want to experience what the Boston Celtics did when their 1980’s teams got old as some of their star players hung up their sneakers or passed away. Looking at their champion teams of old. San Miguel didn’t get anything following the retirement of Hec Calma, Samboy Lim and Allan Caidic. And the transition to their next gen champion teams wasn’t smooth.
It’s probable that this represents a changing of cultures. It’s still a business and they’d love for nothing more than to keep the wins and championships coming. But I am curious of many recent moves that include the jettisoning of former coach Siot Tanquingcen whose teams were always in the hunt for a title (he won one out of two title series for the Beermen) in the middle of a championship series no less.
I wondered to my SMB friends if the team is going to take a hit this conference for their future and they concurred since there was a slightly similar situation to what they went through in the 1990s when they reloaded with their third generation team that featured Olsen Racela, Danny Ildefonso, Dondon Hontiveros, Peña, Seigle, and others.
One player, who asked not to be named, said that with the recent trades and new faces – Nonoy Baclao, Rabeh Al-Hussaini, Rey Guevarra, and Paolo Hubalde – chemistry is a problem as players have yet to grasp their roles. To compound the problem, when players come in during games, rather than pass the ball, they look to score. However, in the same breath, that player also expressed belief that this is all temporary and that things will click soon.
If you ask me, the wheeling and dealing isn’t done. I’d say they’d make another trade before they go with a particular team for the long haul. And there's the new name change from San Miguel to Petron that sounds weird.
We like things to be perfect but they aren’t. Iba ang may pinagsamahan is just a snazzy tag line that that was cooked up two decades ago although they did brought some of those fabled players back in the fold in various capacities. In fact, Calma, Lim, Caidic, Arthur dela Cruz, and Freddie Abuda are on the coaching staffs of the various SMB teams in the PBA. Even Pido Jarencio, who burned a hole in a deep deep bench and was traded soon after is back as an assistant. So I wouldn’t be surprised if these former Beermen will find eventually their way back into the fold in one capacity or another. And you can bet that should they change to Petron, one day they'll be back to SMB. After all, iba ang may pinagsamahan.
On the subject of “iba ang may pinagsamahan”, last Saturday morning, I was informed by several friends that Atty. Jay Castro of the Judicial and Bar Council and team management of the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons basketball team, passed away after a vehicular accident along Ortigas Avenue.
Jay is not only my next door neighbor in Industrial Valley in Marikina but he was also my former teammate in the Ateneo Basketball League, a good friend and legal adviser.
When I joined the Sunday evening group at the Moro Lorenzo Sports Center in Ateneo to play hoops, Jay took me under his wing as I was the “bunso” of the lot. I was amazed with Jay who stayed remarkably fit despite his age as he would run up and down the court while playing the point. It sure was fun playing with him as he always passed that ball around.
The other day, he invited me over (as he oft does) for some fishballs while we swapped intel on the coming college hoops season. That was to be the last time I spoke with Jay.
The other day, he helped his ABL team (that included Bimbo Cerrudo, Jude Turcuato, Gene Afable, and former San Miguel Beerman Bobby Jose whose kids are in Ateneo) win another championship. In the semifinals, Jay hit two crucial triples in the fourth quarter to help his squad post a pulsating win at the buzzer. Then in the finals, they went on to beat another seeded team.
During the team celebration in Libis the other night, Jay was extremely joyous about the win. He went from table to table joking around with everyone. “Parang nagpapaalam,” was what Afable said at the wake. Within hours after that, he was gone.
On the day he was killed, the awarding ceremony for the ABL was held and the mood was somber as news of Jay’s death quickly spread. That evening, one of their teammates gave the medals (that are given to every team member) to Bert Mendoza, Jay’s best friend. Bert said that Jay would love to have that medal on his coffin.
You see, Jay loved the game of basketball a lot. He would oft tell me that his real profession was being a basketball player and a lawyer second. And when Ateneo (he went there for grade school and high school) and UP (he took his college and law school in Diliman) played, he didn’t feel too bad because he got to sing the alma mater twice.
When he began to managed the UP basketball team (along with Bert and Chitong Rivera), he gave me a lot of access to the team so I could write about them. In the last few months, I have been helping him and new Maroons head coach Ricky Dandan get some players.
Whenever I enter the gate of our subdivision, the first house I see is Jay’s. He oft hosts parties or get-togethers at the lanai of his home that provides a great view of the valley. We’d oft wave to one another or chat about a variety of things.
But I guess that’s not going to happen anymore.
Thanks, Jay! Thanks for taking me under your wing. I hear there’s a great game being played up in the sky.
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