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:
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.