Thursday, March 22, 2012

Filipino Basketball Leagues


Let’s Play Basketball The Filipino Way
Although according to some survey soccer was the most popular sport around the globe. I wouldn’t contest that but for Filipino people they rather shoot the ball than to kick it. Indeed basketball was the most famous and well played sport in the country, if only basketball was not created by a foreigner maybe they will consider adopting it as their national sport. Their passion for the game was phenomenal as it is shown basketball courts can be find  everywhere, on streets, backyard, garage, on a tree, and even on little place that they can hang the hoop. Low economy doesn’t affect the fanatics from playing and they can even play with just their bare feet, that’s was enthusiast they are for the game of basketball.

The Excitement Of Collegiate Basketball
For international baller’s the hotness of NCAA March madness is one of the anticipated season due to the thrill and excitement that brings and the intensity was different since they carrying their University’s name and honor. However, in the Philippines they also have a collegiate basketball league which is also called it NCAA but are not directly related with the NCAA in America and were their local version. It fact it was founded in 1925 fourteen years before the US NCAA tournament was established. Compared to American NCAA having 68 teams to compete their league format was composed of only eight teams battling to win the prestigious collegiate championship. These university contenders with their corresponding monikers include:
1.   Arellano University – Arellano Chiefs
2.   Letran College – Letran Knights
3.   College of Saint Benilde – CBC Blazers
4.   Emilio Aguinaldo College – EAC Generals
5.   Jose Rizal University – JRU Heavy Bombers
6.   Mapua Institute of Technology – Mapua Cardinals
7.   San Beda University – San Beda Red Lions
8.   San Sebastian College - San Sebastian Golden Stags
9.   Perpetual University – Perpetual Altas


Let’s Play Pro

In this country maturation from amateur to pro is done just like what they do in USA. After graduating from college they can include themselves into draft to get picked, if not that lucky they can first go to a developmental league to hasten their skills and wait to be noticed. There is only one organization that is responsible for the developmental league and the pro league this is none other than Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). This organization was the oldest professional basketball league in Asia and second in the world after NBA. It was started in 1975 and its regulations are a hybrid rules from International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and the National Basketball Association (NBA). It was compose of 9 pioneer company banded franchised teams and not based on geographic locale which means that they don’t have the home court and the league just rent a basketball stadium to occupy during the games.

There are some league that tried to compete with PBA such as the Metropolitan Basketball Association (MBA) where they set a completely new rules and format they even allow foreign nationals to play in their league. Natives supported this league since they love basketball but the success lasted for only five years due to lack of financial funding. PBA was now on its 37th season and still going strong, a typical Filipino household would not be complete without watching their favorite PBA team playing.
Hottest Teams And Players
The starting years of PBA was an epic since each team are battling for hoop supremacy. Rivalries between the competing teams brought hypes to the game and the famous rivals are Crispa Redmanizers and Toyota Comets their rivalry was comparable to NBA’s long rival LA Lakers and Boston Celtics. However, because each team is company branded product franchised nobody can tell whether how long a team will last. At present all the pioneer teams was replaced by new team franchises. List of the pioneer teams and the present best teams includes:

Pioneers
·         Carrier Weathermakers
·         Crispa Redmanizers
·         Noritake Porcelainmakers
·         Presto Ice Cream
·         Royal Tru-Orange
·         Seven-Up Uncolas
·         Tanduay Rhum Makers
·         Toyota Comets
·         U-Tex Weavers


Present- Best
·         Petron Blaze Boosters (San Miguel Beermen) – 19 championships.
·         Alaska Aces – 13 championships.
·         Bmeg Llamados (Purefoods Tj Hotdogs) – 8 championships.
·         Ginebra Kings – 8 championships.
·         Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters – 5 championships.

During its 37 years of existence PBA was able to produced players that have a quality of a basketball superstar. Filipinos have indeed a talent in the said sport even though they lack in height compared neighboring Asian countries. They have the skills and the guts that made them exceed. During its 25th year anniversary PBA announce their list of 25 greatest players in PBA history and was followed by a friendly game between the GOAT. Those that occupy the slot include:
1.   Johnny Abarrientos   
2.   Bogs Adornado
3.   Renato Agustin
4.   Francis Arnaiz
5.   Ricardo Brown
6.   Allan Caidic
7.   Hector Calma
8.   Philip Cezar
9.   Atoy Co
10.                 Jerry Codinera
11.                 Kenneth Duremdes
12.                 Bernie Fabiosa
13.                 Ramon Fernadez
14.                 Danny Florencio
15.                 Abet Guidaben
16.                 Freddie Hubalde
17.                 Robert Jaworski
18.                 Jojo Lastimosa
19.                 Lim Eng Beng
20.                 Samboy Lim
21.                 Ronnie Magsanoc
22.                 Vergel Meneses
23.                 Manny Paner
24.                 Alvin Patrimonio
25.                 Benjie Paras


Present- Best
1.   James Yap
2.   Jimmy Alapag
3.   Arwind Santos
4.   Gary David
5.   Laurence Tenorio

How Much Do Filipino Players Gets?
The profit of a pro basketball player in Philippines is luxurious enough than other professions. According to the new salary cap that was approved by the PBA boards the new salary cap was increased to 42 million a year, which means that a star players can get as high as 420,000 pesos a month depending on their performance which is equivalent to almost 10grand in US money. Although not as high as what Kobe gets, but still to earn 10 g’s a month is a lot.
For Hoop Junkies Around The Globe
For basketball enthusiast you can also follow this international league by their web site (http://www.pba.ph/) or by subscribing to Filipino channel. Here is some of the list that caters PBA games via live streams:
·         http://mypinoy.tv/pba-live

It’s more fun playing basketball in the Philippines. Do you know any international league aside from PBA? Share your inputs by hitting the comment box below.

1 comment: