Going retro, Beermen relive PBA glorious past

It sure was strange watching Gameboys Olsen Racela, Danny Ildefonso, Dondon Hontiveros and the rest of the San Miguel Beermen in their opening game in the Philippine Cup.

Instead of their traditional red and black uniforms, the Beermen paraded in shimmering green, a throwback to their pioneer season in the Philippine Basketball Association in 1975.

Yep, the Beermen went retro.

Going retro is not, well, something new.

In the National Basketball Association, teams usually reserve a certain playdate of the week to wear throwback uniforms. The Los Angeles Lakers wear their old white jerseys and shorts during Sunday home games. Golden State uses its yellow uniforms from a different era. And the Sacramento Kings once walked into Arco Arena wearing the old Kansas City Royals costumes.

So it was quite refreshing to see the retro style invading the PBA. And fitting as well.

After all, with all the talk of entering into a new chapter of the league’s history, what better symbol that it is rooted still to its glorious past than having teams use throwback uniforms.

Word from the Beermen camp has it that San Miguel only used the green uniforms–which some players paired off with 1975 headbands–for its opening game.

And with that opening game turning out to be a sorry defeat to Talk ‘N Text, the Beermen are unlikely to go back to their shining green again.

But several fans are hoping that San Miguel coach Jong Uichico reserves certain playdates where the team will don the retro sets.

Like Sundays, perhaps.

Several fans commented that showing something as drastically new as retro uniforms add a more visual treat to the action-packed matches.

And, it provides them with a little game of trivia to toss about.

Watching the game against the Phone Pals was Norman Black, an ABC-5 analyst of the television coverage of the PBA games.

And Black once played for the San Miguel squad in the early 80’s. And guess what uniform Black first wore as a member of the storied franchise?

The answer is retro.