Season of giving back

The PBA unwraps its 40th season, and it looks like this year will be the year of giving back. The league, and in particular chairman Patrick Gregorio and commissioner Chito Salud have impressed upon the PBA community the need to give back, acknowledge and reward the fans, pioneers and business partners who have helped the association reassert itself as the dominant sports entertainment platform in the country. The league’s plans have included sharing its blessings with its stakeholders, and even building for the future.

In his address at the PBA’s Chairman’s Ball at Resorts World Manila earlier this week, Gregorio rallied all the players and got their commitment for each and every one of them to return to their home towns and conduct basketball clinics for the youth there. Gregorio the PBA Board Governor of Talk n Text, emphasized that the players are larger-than-life heroes to their provincemates, and it is only fitting that they recognize their roots and bring them joy and inspiration. 

The point was further stressed when the entire PBA community was given a sneak preview of the documentary “PBA: A Nation’s Passion,” which featured interviews with over 60 PBA pioneers, legends, All-Stars, current players, pats and present team owners, league officials, and media. The film recalls the circumstances which led to the birth of Asia’s first professional basketball league, the start of its long-term relationship with Araneta Coliseum, and the people who have shaped its legacy as it enters its fifth decade. It was an early Christmas gift to the players. As some of the league veterans told this writer at the Chairman’s Ball, the younger players and especially those who grew up abroad, were not aware of the history they were now adding to. It gave everyone in the Newport Performing Arts Center the feeling that they had a strong tradition to uphold and honor.

A unifying thread throughout the full-length feature is how each previous generation inspires the next. Without giving away too much, an example would be SanMig/Purefoods team manager Alvin Patrimonio. Patrimonio was a very tall chess player until he first saw a PBA game in 1975. Thirteen years later, he was directly recruited by expansion team Purefoods, where he played for close to 17 years, and has never left. In that span, Patrimonio represented the country in international competition repeatedly, won several championships, and became only the second player in league history to win four Most Valuable Player Awards.

The significance of this continuity is that it was actually an idea of Com. Salud in an early pre-production meeting for the documentary, which was first conceptualized by this writer three years ago. The league realizes how its intimacy with its fans, particularly the next generation of youth, go a long way in strengthening its image, and reinforcing its belief in showing appreciation for its continued growth. The PBA continues to find ways to reach out to its fans wherever in the world they may be, whether it be through its interactive online promotions, or by actually playing in the countries served by Overseas Filipino Workers. Each team and many players have their own charity programs, as well. Corporate Social responsibility is precisely that, a responsibility to the nation at large.

Also in his address, Gregorio revealed his true intention for the ball: to honor the wives of the players, coaches and league officials who were steadfastly supportive in the background all these years. After all, they are the ones who have to cheer, scream, pray and worry each time their loved ones go into battle. They are the ones who also have to live with them and shore up their emotions when they taste painful defeat. The night was for them, a token of gratitude for being there all this time. It was a touching sight to see all the men of the PBA rise as one and give their spouses, parents and girlfriends a standing ovation. It was definitely a unique moment in all of Philippine sports. 

The league is also giving back to its players by way of putting together the list of its 40 greatest players in April. Fifteen years ago, the league created a panel that named the most indelible players from its first quarter of a century. There will be a new group of experts that will carry on the daunting and painful task of who deserves to be on the updated honor roll. It will be painful because there have been so many outstanding and consistent performers through the years, that inevitably, somebody will be left out for sheer lack of room on the list. In a conversation with fellow sports media, it appears that there will be over 20 strong candidates for inclusion, but only 15 spots to be added. Talk about a moral dilemma. And there are no ties to justify two players sharing one spot.

Even on opening day, the league is giving back to more of its fans. Last year, the league broke its all-time attendance record twice, after eclipsing the previous record once the year before, in fact, last season’s annual featured not just any personality or championship moment, but a wide shot of its new record crowd from the year before. By playing at the Philippine Arena in Bulacan on opening day, the league is allowing more fans the chance to see the games live. 

This season, the PBA reveals how it has grown from strength to strength, as evidenced by its record number of 12 teams on one end, and growing response to natural disasters on the other. As Salud has said, all the positive values we can espouse as a people can be exhibited in the PBA.