Thanks for the memories (Part 2)

“Wouldn’t you like to work in an organization in which you have the absolute confidence, the absolute knowledge that other people that you may or may not know – who work in the same organization as you – would be willing to sacrifice themselves so that you may survive?” - Simon Sinek

The Metropolitan Basketball Association left a lasting mark on Philippine basketball. The entire country became the New World. It was as if we were seeing the Philippines for the first time. Though we needed to be at ABS-CBN at 3 a.m. to make all those first flights to the Visayas and Mindanao, we didn’t mind. There was a freshness to all the experience. There were no ranks, only roles. Each place brought its own challenges, from beds and showers not built to accommodate 6’6” Danny Francisco and myself, to college gyms that only had one bathroom. We were seeing corners of the country that most people only dreamt of, meeting new people, experiencing new cultures, overindulging on new food. And we were being treated like rock stars. I had never signed so many autographs as I did that first year. There was a palpable innocence to the league in 1998.

The MBA introduced many innovations. Consecutive games were broadcast from two different locations. Announcers were flown to Cebu, Davao, Bacolod, Iloilo, and Cagayan de Oro in the south, and driven to Pampanga and Pangasinan in the north. The league reintroduced Fil-Ams, with a cap of two per team. We met Alex Compton, Dorian Peña, Chris Clay, Jeff Flowers, Rudy Hatfield, Rafi Reavis and local legends who became nationwide heroes. The excitement at every game felt like a college championship. At Rizal Memorial Colleges gym in Davao, crowds were so loud, they literally shook the dust out of the rafters. And in Bacolod, television ratings were unparalleled. As this writer said then, everybody comes from somewhere.

ABS-CBN Sports backed up each team financially, and won international awards for its television production. Then the league made two crucial errors. First, some team owners decided to scrimp and not match the network’s funds as agreed upon, watering down parity. Then, despite tremendous growth potential, teams tried to poach PBA talent. Retaliation was inevitable. After the Manila Metrostars won their championship, starting power forward Don Camaso packed his bags for Mobiline. That was the beginning of the end for the upstart MBA. As the late Butch Maniego said, you don’t assault motherhood.

No matter. ABS-CBN strengthened deals with the UAAP and NCAA, and a quid pro quo with Studio 23 provided a home from 2 to 6 p.m. every day. This coincided with the dominance of De La Salle University, the rise of Ateneo, and the emergence of San Beda. Each league experimented with foreign student-athletes, and whoever found a diamond in the rough won. The Red Lions ended a 28-year drought with Sam Ekwe, launching a dynasty of their own. Occasionally, another school would break the stranglehold of the Green Archers and Blue Eagles. ABS-CBN Sports did what it did best, create superstars and hype rivalries. More often than not, the games lived up to the hype. This writer was content to train the courtside reporters free of charge.

Along the way, ALA Promotions blazed a sparkling new trail for pro boxing in the Philippines. It was satisfying to meet grounded, humble world champions like Donnie Nietes and Milan Melindo. And each time we traveled to Cebu, Bacolod or even Bohol, our hearts cracked with the frustrations of Boom Boom Bautista, AJ Banal and Z Gorres. The partnership with ABS-CBN Sports led to world title fights in the US, Mexico and the United Arab Emirates. In between, the network was in a perennial tug-of-war with GMA 7 for the rights to high-rating Manny Pacquiao fights, often splitting free TV and commercial-free cable broadcasts between them. It then became a contest of who had the better announcers.

The NBA, meanwhile, was a case of keep away. ABS-CBN did not want anyone else to have it. This does not, however, discount the brilliant, tireless work of Boom Gonzalez and TJ Manotoc and their field producers, who overcame so much to be at so many All-Star Weekends and NBA Finals. Time differences notwithstanding, they were also required to report for various live programs on ABS-CBN, ANC and dzMM, and produce packages for the various newscasts. These were unacknowledged feats of Herculean endurance.

Then came Hardball.

In 2006, The World Tonight on ANC was being trimmed back down to 30 minutes. This left a half-hour strip open for something new. Immediately, this writer conceptualized a tongue-in-cheek sports magazine show for a general audience. The timeslot was perfect for a North American audience, too. Eventually, it also became a platform for promoting ABS-CBN Sports content, and for breaking stories. Soon, my broadcast partner Boyet Sison developed into a more than capable sports anchorman, ring announcer, voice talent and radio commentator. A decade later, Hardball won the first of three consecutive Gawad Tanglaw Awards for Best Sports Show. An amusing development, considering how irreverent we were. Hardball set the tone for sports talk shows that followed.

In the last decade, ABS-CBN Sports has widened its audience through the rise of women’s volleyball, which introduced a new, testosterone-free level of cooperation on one hand, with the extreme brutality of mixed martial arts on the other. ABS-CBN Sports has been ahead of the curve in covering emerging sports like rugby and beach games. It found the right blend of polished announcers and former athletes to educate the audience.

Even without the network’s merchandising muscle, on its own ABS-CBN Sports has earned enough accolades to fill a museum. It has discovered and developed gems of producers, writers, technical personnel and on-camera talent. It has captured countless indelible moments from global sports events from the Olympics to the Asian Games and so on. It has enriched the lives of Filipinos and filled them with hope and inspiration. For many of us, whatever happens next, we will always have the communal experience of having called ABS-CBN Sports home.