Live And Let Die: The MBA and PBA’s Dondons

Aug. 8, 2009

THE PBA, which found itself with a problem of possible extinction when it was about to celebrate its 25th anniversary, unearthed a gem (pun intended) of a solution with a batch of flashy and charismatic Filipino-Americans. Alleged. After the Asi Taulava and Sonny Earl Alvarado clashed with the Bureau of Immigration over questions of their Pinoy heritage, the PBA ironically encountered a dilemma – a direct product of the solution.

But that won’t stop the exodus of talented MBA crowd draws to the PBA. The MBA raids the CAAA, CBL and MICAA for players. Then the PBA, without so much as a by-your-leave, plunders the MBA of its superstars. Mercenaries in a mercenary world abound. Some are called agents, middlemen or managers. In a war of high stakes (as if there is another kind), big business and the military hire soldiers of fortune when the regular army does not suffice. In the economics of the professional Philippine basketball’s cannibalistic fraternity, it’s “dog eat dog” and “love me love my dog.”

LAME EXCUSES. So Donaldo Hontiveros goes to Tanduay for, we assume, big bucks. Damn lame excuses of wanting to finish an Engineering course, which is not possible in the traveling-circus format of the MBA. Last time we checked, Hontiveros was not an ID-carrying student of the University of the East. Wainwright signed up with Sta. Lucia to rejoin another ex-Gem Cris Tan. Rudy Hatfield from the Laguna Lakers also signed a deal with Tanduay.

Ronald Magtulis inked a deal with Ginebra San Miguel. His Iloilo teammate, Dale Singson, another prized Cebuano player, now plays for Shell. Bong Ravena and Gido Babilonia, two ex-PBA players, hitched with Mobiline and are now again active PBA players. The way things are going, the MBA might as well officially become a farm team of the PBA. The peso league is, after all, more financially stable than the regional-based Metropolitan Basketball League. Even the term is not very apt. As of last count, only Visayas archrivals Cebu Gems and Negros Slashers were based in the places their monikers are attached to.

The others languish in the invigorating urban decadence of “imperial” Manila. But a place that can produce the literary magic of Quijano de (Metro) Manila and the sexy fascination of nubile Patricia Javier should be able to stir the senses. And material longings. The bigger money the Manila-based Philippine Basketball Association (as their PR would love to remind us to death: “Asia’s first professional basketball league”) can offer, will eventually bleed the MBA of its superstars and the public’s interest.

The first season of the MBA was phenomenal. Usually sold-out venues and a “sound-o-meter” more dynamic than a radiation monitor in post-meltdown Three-Mile Island.

BASKETBALL COURTSHIP. But then it’s kill or be killed. The MBA supposedly came into being because the ego of media conglomerate ABS-CBN got hurt after it was jilted by the PBA in favor of Vintage Inc. and some other interested humongous financial entities. In a way, the MBA is a case of basketball courtship gone sour. And if “hell hath no fury like a woman scorned,” basketball has no fury like a spiteful basketball league born.

The players make professional basketball exciting, but it’s the financial wizardry and multi-million (billion?) investments that bring free fastbreaking, slam-dunking, three-point shooting, elbowing, slap-happy rebounding basketball games to your TV. With the UAAP games now snugly in the bosom of ABS-CBN, how long can we keep on spelling out in full this four-letter acronym the Universities Athletic Association of the Philippines and pretend that it abides with the spirit of amateur competition? The NCAA (National Colleges Athletic Association) is just as smart and carries not the dirty (amateur) word. The CAAA (Cebu Amateur Athletic Association) may be honest or did not foresee the financial rewards of TV coverage and gate receipts when it was founded decades ago.

If there’s any conflict with semantics, it won’t last. The UAAP and NCAA’s basketball shining stars may not even get to finish their courses before they make the big jump to the professional ranks. The PBA and MBA don’t pretend to be amateur organizations, although some plays and executive decisions owe more to kindergarten than business school. Still, it’s the scorched-earth intention that counts. In a cutthroat world, the guy with the sharpest blade cuts best. May best cutthroat win.