Philippine Basketball is DEAD

It's Sunday! It's summer! Knockout game is scheduled today at the Araneta Coliseum. Featuring the Ginebra San Miguel, no less. But why I am not excited? Why I have not adjusted my schedule to have the time to watch the game like I use when I was younger. Maybe because the NBA playoffs is heating up. In fact the finals is set.

But more than that, I just feel the PBA, despite claimed good attendance and TV ratings, is not as exiting nowadays. There's just no marquee player for the PBA to market. No Alvin Patrimonio, no Jojo Lastimosa, No Samboy Lim, No Magsanoc and Paras, No Caidic, No Calma, and the list will go on. And, ultimately, no Robert Jaworski to carry the league. The closest thing we have now is Mark Caguiao, but this guy is so inconsistent. Sometimes, he fires up 35pts, the next game he goes for 8 pints. You just can't have a franchise player and PBA torch bearer perfoming like that.

Back in the mid-80s up to the late 90s, I think I only missed a handful of Ginebra games. But now and today, K.O. games and all, I am not just interested with the P.B.A. anymore. Maybe I have grown up. But I have already dismissed this growing up as the reason why I watch fewer P.B.A. games now. One reason, I think is having been exposed to the NBA now, with the advent of TV Cable and the Internet, I just see higher level of basketball elsewhere. Namely the NBA and the far and between Worlds Championships.

With the NBA, you see faster plays, better markmanships, stronger players and all. Bundled with the entertainment marketing of David Stern, the National Basketball association is just an spectacle.

On the other hand (the left I suppose), the World Championships is another stage for basketball exellence. Different pride is at stake, your fighting for your countries' basketball heritage. Thus, pure basketball is what you get.

Therefore, up until the Eala and the PBA Board can come with something innovative rather than this 2 conference (All Filipino and Import flavored tour) set-up, I'll be standing by for something better.