"Tagay na!"

CEBU, Philippines - Ice cold, that golden brew in a brown bottle born in 1890 is delicious.  Fifty six years earlier, the first ever Philippine made gin in a four-sided bottle was introduced and is likewise a pleasant alcoholic beverage mixed with whatever you fancy.  San Miguel Beer and Ginebra San Miguel.  Both are offsprings of parent company San Miguel Corporation and both are among the favorite leisure drinks of the land. 

In a potent mix, the San Miguel Beermen and the Ginebra San Miguel Gin Kings will be in a best-of-seven title fight for the Philippine Cup of the PBA beginning today.  The last time the sister teams battled for the All-Filipino trophy was in 2007.

In that series a decade ago, Ginebra was down 0-2 but won the next four games for the championship.  It starred PBA’s version of “The Fast and the Furious”, Jayjay Helterbrand and Mark Caguiao.  Ginebra point guard LA Tenorio and assistant coach Olsen Racela were with the Beermen at that time.

The Gin Kings are in their second straight finals appearance following their Governor’s Cup title run last season.  The Beermen are hoping for a third straight All-Filipino championship that would enable them to take home the Perpetual Trophy.  Only Talk N’ Text has done the feat.

San Miguel is the overwhelming favorite if only the absence of Greg Slaughter is to be considered.  Joe Devance reportedly has foot issues and is questionable for today’s game.  Japeth Aguilar, although quick and agile, will have a heavy load on his shoulders as he’s relatively weak compared to the bulkier Junmar Fajardo.  Dave Marcelo plays tough but he is much slower than Junmar.  It would be interesting to see how coach Tim Cone will neutralize the Cebuano giant.

After Ginebra won an emotional series against another sister team Purefoods Star Hotshots, social media was flooded with “home cooked” analogies.  Some players were fined because of their comments and gestures related to cooking.  Some are calling this series as the “Manila Classi-cooked”.  There will always be miscues, no matter how professional leagues are and commissioners, like it or not, will be the high and mighty of the league.   Whiners will always whine, bashers will do nothing but bash.  In the end, it’s still the PBA who will be coming out smiling.

San Miguel is a popular team and Ginebra is a crowd favorite.  I will be favoring the Beermen to grab their third consecutive Philippine Cup crown.  The least that this series would go would be six games.  Coach Leo Austria said it best when asked by reporters, “The shortest is four games, the longest is seven games.”

I’m drunk, and it’s not about that movie advertised. (FREEMAN)