Alaska, ito ang beer!

Almost 24,000 fans packed the MOA Arena and witnessed basketball history being made.  Millions more saw it on TV, filling drinking joints, bars and cafes.  Café Racer at the North Reclamation Area was packed the other night that had me and my high school batchmates Titing, Roger, Bebot, Sonny, Butch, Gilbert and Nigel settling for the tables outside, our drinks and pulutan made crispier by the dust coming from the speeding vehicles a few meters away.

It shall be written, it shall be said over and over and over again and forever will be in the annals of sporting history.  San Miguel Beer, with their “beer-acle” of a comeback did what no other team from the PBA and NBA had ever done.  Likewise, Alaska will have their own unenviable place in history as the first team to give up a 3-0 series lead and expire to infamy.

San Miguel eclipsed their sister team Ginebra’s record when, with Robert Jaworski as their playing-coach, came back from a 1-3 series deficit and won the last three games over Shell Rimula-X for the 1991 PBA First Conference title. 

The Aces, before the game even started, did some moves that surprised everyone.  Reportedly, team owner Fred Uytensu raised his eyebrows on the actions before the actual action.  Only coach Alex Compton knew the story and wisdom behind it but in my limited coaching opinion, you just don’t consecutively use up three time-outs before the game even started.  The Alaska camp said the deed was tactical.  It could be mysteriously puzzling, to say the least.  From the viewers’ perspective, Alaska players were seen just stretching and limbering on the court, no instructions were noticed given.  Maybe they were whispered?

Adding to the strangeness is the curious case of pulling out four of their regular starters and subbing them with the bench mob.  Goodness freaking gracious, the anomaly could have added to the tragedy Alaska went thru.  We truly live in a mad, mad world.  It was not exactly a bad first quarter for the Aces though.

Alaska lost their touch and picked the wrong time to curdle and become lactose-intolerant.  All they needed was one game to wrap the series up but they folded and let the Beermen, in their state of beer overload, annihilate them.  SMB, with nothing to lose and all to gain, was all pumped from coming back from the dump.  They were waiting for the final nail on the coffin but Alaska went on a downspin, giving San Miguel four straight wins.

SMB and Alaska are well coached, well managed and has the full support of their respective franchises.  Both have noisy and rabid fans but they still have to outshout and surpass the boisterous congregation known as Barangay Ginebra.  But only one will prevail.

Winning San Miguel bets had been collected, bragging rights, well, being bragged.  Many will be several thousand pesos richer with sarcastic smiles up to their napes and happily swimming in beer.  Losers will try to drown their sorrows in milk and manufacture the most believably ridiculous excuses to their spouses for the money lost in betting.  In case you haven’t known yet, it is better to try your luck with an MMA fighter gone berserk than suffer the scorn of an irate wife.  People, you will never, ever triumph.

A series going thru the full seven-game distance is a good series.  It is physically and emotionally draining to players and coaches alike.  To fans, excitement mounts every playing day.  No one’s complaining especially the league, as gate receipts are also going to the record books. Win or lose, teams will get bonuses just for getting into the finals.  The big pay-out comes with the title and the Beermenis it. 

Combining both their slogans, wala pa ring tatalo sa mahabang inuman.  San Miguel Beer, for this conference is truly “Walang Katapat”.  Just don’t experiment and mix beer with milk then call it beelk.  Well, who cares, it’s your choice, it’s your tummy.