espiritista

idol ko si c(r)ap

read in philstar that long-time purefoods Captain alvin patrimonio has retired. so i thought maybe i'd say something.

mixed feelings here, of course. he was the first (and i surmise, the ONLY) basketball player that my then thirtysomething mom had a crush on. his tisoy looks and killer smile made him the foremost glamour boy of the PBA, and his erstwhile "clean" play earned him the respect of a lot of us ballplayers who hated the way Jaworski would throw the requisite elbow to the kisser and get away with it.

it was alvin who made the PBA wholesome, and Purefoods, the ultimate antithesis against that Jologs Barangay made up of the likes of Romulo Mamaril and Dante Gonzalgo. the only time that my family enthusiastically watched the PBA All-filipino finals was when Purefoods fought Ginebra (or whatever La tondena chose it to carry, Anejo ata) to a thrilling Game 5 in 1988. Purefoods was brimming with talent, with the likes of alvin, jolas, jerry codinera, and glenn capacio, while Ginebra was, well, Ginebra. you can't take anything away from Ginebra, except that they really fought like it'd be the end of the world if they lost. it was as if they wanted to put one over these papogi guys who were, mind you, just rookies then. purefoods lost that one.

purefoods lost a lot of championship series after that. they were perennial allfilipino contenders but would always be reduced to whimpering patsies come the import-laced conferences. gosh, who the hell was their scout anyway who kept on sending lemons for imports??? i would always envy ginebra because their imports were always explosive players.

and so alvin's purefoods won only 5 championships in 17 years. not bad, really, especially taking into account the wave after wave of rookies and changes that alvin had to battle through. he had an immediate impact when he came into the league, as a power forward who was content with receiving the ball with his back to the basket a few feet from a short stab and a sure two points. he would work his way to the hoop by banging his butt against his defender, gaining space inch by inch in such a way that made them look like dancing crabs. it wasn't pleasing to the eye, but hey, it was effective.

the influx of filams and bigger pinoys exposed him as an undersized post threat. and despite all the commercials involving him, he couldn't even dunk! he tried moving to small forward by developing a respectable three point shot, but i suppose, you just can't be the same again, as a player, after that. he wasn't fast and agile enough to be a slasher, but neither was he consistent enough to be a pure receive-the-ball-and-shoot marksman. in other words, he became quite ordinary. he faded away.

also, i still remember that the whole family watched his movie with regal films. it included jerry codinera and bong alvarez (si mr excited!) and the very very young triplets, carmina villaroel, ruffa gutierrez, and somebody else i already forgot. it was crap.

posted by dyeproks @ 6:59 PM