A foretaste of the MBA - THE GAME OF MY LIFE by Bill Velasco

Famished MBA fans will finally get a chance to see what the player movements and mergers have wrought when four of the league’s strongest teams see action in the Cebuana Lhuillier Friendship Cup.

On Friday, the Southern Conference champion Negros Slashers take on the Batangas Blades (who have merged with the core of the Intra-Conference Challenge runner-up Manila Metrostars), while the defending champion San Juan Knights take on the Intra-Conference Challenge champion Cebu Gems at the Cebu City Coliseum. This will be the first time that Alex Compton, Romel Adducul, Peter Martin and Jonathan Serrano will join Eddie Laure and Ralph Rivera in a Blades uniform. Negros has remained virtually intact, and power forward John Ferriols and swingman Ruben dela Rosa have been getting extended minutes for the SEABA champion RP team.

The Gems, meanwhile, have beefed up in the desire to finally win it all this year. Starting center Homer Se and starting point guard Stephen Padilla (who chose to remain a Gem despite lucrative offers from the PBA) have been getting great exposure with the national team, and are joined now by All-Stars Peter Naron (the Cagayan de Oro Amigos’ team captain) and Max Delantes (former Socsargen captain), giving them a potent outside-inside combination.

Friday’s winners clash on Sunday for the championship, while the losers battle for third place.

"We’re doing this to foster camaraderie among the MBA teams," reveals Cebuana Lhuillier and Gems team owner Jean Henri Lhuillier. "But more importantly, we’re doing it for the MBA fans, so they can see what they’ve been missing, and look forward to the 2001 season."

Cebuana Lhuillier is no stranger to sports. After all, they’ve had a proud history of sponsoring not just basketball, but tennis, softball and even our Olympic taekwondo team to Sydney. Lhuillier himself competed in the tough US NCAA Division 1 tennis tournament, and his other businesses reflect his passion for sports, like the Strike Zone sports and recreation center along Roxas Boulevard, where the company has held several 3-on-3 tournaments.

Looking back, Cebu has actually had the best record in the first three years of the MBA, never coming up empty-handed. In 1998, they were runners-up in the Southern Conference. The following season, they claimed the south, finishing second to the Manila Metrostars in the national finals and hosted the All-Star Game. Last year, Cebu won the difficult Intra-Conference Challenge.

In addition, the Gems have proven their products can play anywhere, and have had the most number of players jump to the PBA. Dondon Hontiveros, Chris Tan, Rob Wainwright and Robert Duat all proved themselves in the MBA playoffs before transferring to the PBA.

"It just proves how good players from the Cebu Gems program are," Lhuillier says proudly.

And despite the huge losses so far, Jean Henri’s Cebuana Lhuillier has even strengthened its commitment to the MBA by hosting the Friendship Cup. Ironically, it is not the financial strain that hurts the Lhuilliers, but more of the lack of acknowledgment in Cebu itself, despite the outstanding performance of the team.

"Despite everything, we don’t really feel the acceptance of the Cebu media and some quarters in the city," says Gems general manager Danny Francisco. "The franchise has an outstanding record, and we’ve never complained about any of our expenditures. Neither have we answered any of those who have unfairly attacked us in the press in Cebu. But some measure of thanks would be nice."

I can see where Lhuillier and Francisco are coming from. Cebu is the toughest basketball market to have a home team in, much like New York in the NBA. There’s an air of "what have you don for me lately" among fans, and mistakes are not condoned. In 1998, the first time there was a debris-throwing incident in the league, I saw how the fans pelted their own players for a turnover, despite the fact that they were leading.

When the Gems suffered two consecutive losses to start the Intra-Conference, the local media vilified head coach Tonichi Yturri. Then the Gems won their next ten games, and he was a hero again. Cebuanos love a winner, that’s clear.

From my experience, the Gems have one of the most professionally-run organizations in local sports. I’ve seen how they’ve released players for lack of commitment or greed, and repaid loyalty and hard work. The basketball-savvy Cebu press have constantly second-guessed Gems management, particularly when homegrown talents like Hontiveros have gone for bigger paydays in the PBA. Obviously, in a pure business decision, the Lhuilliers thought it wiser not to match the substantially larger offers to the players mentioned. Despite the exodus, the Gems made their team even more competitive.

At the end of the day, Cebuana Lhuillier’s Gems have a record that speaks volumes, no matter what anybody says. And, even just for their breaking the fast of die-hard MBA fans by sponsoring the Friendship Cup, they deserve some gratitude.