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The
flights of infancy
AS a
young boy, Noli Eala was left to fend for himself. Many
of his ideas are products of his childhood when he’d
create his own games. A shopping bag was a makeshift
hoop with a monopoly board as the backboard. Rulers and
pencils served as ramps for motorcycles where his
matchboxes were micro versions of Evel Knievel.
And when
he wasn’t good enough to make the varsity basketball
teams, he made sure that he wasn’t on the outside
looking in. He’d daydream, sure; after all, sports does
give one visions of glory. He always wanted to be a part
of the game yet he never let his frustrations get the
better of him. So he always found a way to be a part of
the game.
He looks
better now. Aside from his sports promotions company,
he’s found the time to work out. He talks about a
newfound adherence to health and staying fit. His tenure
as commissioner of the Philippine basketball Association
didn’t end the way he wanted it to but he’s shrugged it
off and is back on his feet.
Why not?
He’s still in the game.
The
Starbucks along
Emerald Avenue
in Ortigas Center is bustling with a late-afternoon
crowd seeking relief from the oppressive summer heat.
And frappuccinos are the order of the day. We’re seated
outside in the smoking area but, incredibly, no one is
smoking. Some are wiping the beads of sweat trickling
down their face and necks. It’s the heat, you know. Eala
has some tea and is wearing a black golf shirt while
exuding calmness that curbs his excitement about his
baby.
But
after a few minutes, he’s worked himself up talking
about Liga Pilipinas—his baby—and it’s like the dam
broke. “Passion and pride,” is his cheerful explanation
and he takes a sip from his drink. Then he waxes long
and eloquent about basketball and life. Yet, his sunny
disposition belies his concern for the once more chaotic
national basketball leadership that never seemed to get
a firm grip on the ball as the dispossessed constantly
seek a return to power.
The
rebirth of cool
Liga
Pilipinas is a bold new-jack version of the defunct
Metropolitan Basketball Association (MBA). In its brief
heyday, the MBA gave the PBA a run for its money. It
discovered many a player who eventually became stars in
the country’s premier hoops league. And the people felt
a part of the league as they had a team to call their
own.
“From a
basketball perspective, the MBA carried with it a
localized style of basketball,” marvels Eala. “It wasn’t
scientific. It wasn’t textbook. Maybe it wasn’t
polished, but the rawness of it was very Filipino. The
alahoy shot and the pektus lived and breathed there.”
Like the National Basketball Association, there was a
feeling of community ownership to the region-based
teams.
Liga
Pilipinas is an improved version with a lot of
modifications and innovations. Eala and head of Business
Development Joey Bautista feel that there is still room
in an already crowded basketball republic. “There’s
always room for growth,” says Bautista. “Liga Pilipinas
is a community-based basketball league.”
Mother
of invention
To date
there are 16 teams that will comprise the league—eight
in the south and eight in the north, with some of the
teams already having been named. There are the Zamboanga
Latinos (because it is said to be the only Asian Latin
city), the Iloilo Warriors, the Cebu Niños, the Baguio
Centennials, and tentatively, the Negros Muscovados. The
remaining teams are in the process of having their
monikers approved in time for the May 2008 launch.
The
tournament will tap into the existing officiating
structure while at once develop its own stable of
umpires. And once in a while, there will be foreign
officials working side by side with the local zebras who
will be strictly following Fiba rules rather than hybrid
ones. “The league is all about opportunities and
inviting foreign referees will greatly help in the
transfer of technology,” said the former commissioner
who also divulged that the PBA’s former head of
officiating, Perry Mariano, is now on board as well.
They’ll
be playing in a home and away format that will be
economical and incentive-based for all the teams. Teams
will be accruing points similar to the Association of
Tennis Professionals (ATP) that will greatly tell on the
national championship picture as well as other
incentives. “It has to be a win-win situation for the
teams, the fans, the owners and our partners—the
sponsors,” says a pleased commissioner who admits that
the idea for the league was something he was supposed to
present to the PBA Board of Governors but never got to
do. “It’s a fresh start for all and at once a vibrant
opportunity.”
Even the
way the league is managed is done in such a way to veer
away from the bureaucracy that binds many organizations.
There are two bodies that govern the league—one for
policy making and one for operations that implements
what the think tank comes up with. “The game is
traditional, but the thinking behind it is new for the
times,” chimes in Bautista, who likes the excitement and
initial reception the league has been getting.
All the
games will be shown over the Internet on
www.ligapilipinas.net as well as a television partner
that the league is still working out.
Jump
ball
“The
MBA, the National Basketball Conference and the
Mindanao-Visayas Basketball Association, and to a
certain degree, the PBA, have proven that there is a
market in the provinces. It is doable and financially
and economically viable. Part of the task there is
finding the right and skilled people to make it all
happen,” added Eala.
It’s an
ambitious undertaking where as many as four games will
be played in one day in 350 different venues in 16
communities. Unlike the MBA, which immediately pried
away some of the PBA’s stars and emerging collegiate
players, Liga Pilipinas hopes to tap into a rich hotbed
of undiscovered talent. “It’s an alternative opportunity
for players and localities—and there are so much more
out there—to shine,” emphasizes Rico Meneses, the
league’s head of Marketing. “I guess you’ve noticed
that’s what we constantly talk about—opportunities.”
Noli
Eala nods his head in agreement. He knows it’s a tough
job in a market oversaturated with basketball. Yet, it’s
his unwavering belief that regional basketball is
largely untapped that’s why he’s into this. “With a
league as big as this, there will always be issues of
control and security, which we assure are top of the
list for us. That will always be a primordial policy for
us that our games are clean and fair. It’s important to
keep the integrity of the game intact. But like all
other leagues, we will always be vulnerable to external
forces. So what we can do is to be very vigilant. And
we’re confident about the outcome because it’s all about
playing for pride and passion.”
NBA last
shots:
Kobe Bryant for MVP…Tim Duncan’s open trey to send the game into
overtime in Game One in the revenge series between the
Phoenix Suns and the San Antonio Spurs is the latest in
a long line of rotation blunders… Agent Zero, now’s the
time to make your case as a big-time player who likes to
run his mouth unless you’re content being this
generation’s Chuck Person… Donnie Walsh is a wus. Why
keep Isiah around? What for? Is it the mental torture
for him as he will see the turnaround for this woeful
franchise?… John Paxson, you blew your chance last
season. Now’s the time to blow up the damn herd. |
