Forgotten was SMB's Grand Slam chase?

Drowned in the din of the recent Pacquiao-Horn fight was San Miguel Beer’s conquest of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup.

The Beermen’s return to the throne after 17 fruitless years was as rousing as Digong’s presidential win a year ago and as equally bizarre as Horn’s points upset victory over Pacquiao.

It was almost totally expected to happen but the manner by which SMB ended the title playoffs bordered on the grim and gore.

After storming to a 3-2 lead over TNT Katropa in the best-ofseven Finals, the Beermen were primed for a defensive stance, anticipating an enemy going all out to extend the series to a no-more-tomorrow Game 7.

But to their pleasant surprise, the Beermen saw none of Katropa’s vaunted grit and firepower.

Instead, it was SMB which unleashed bomb after bomb that in only three quarters of play, the Beermen’s coronation seemed certain.

At first, the stunned crowd could not fathom the depth of SMB’s murderous binge that reduced TNT to a hapless, worthless bunch of also-rans.

And then in one fell swoop, the shock truth became all too clear that TNT’s import Joshua Smith was a total non-factor in his team’s survival mode.

His foot injury that had started to hobble him even before the Finals began had thoroughly slowed him down—almost crippling him, in fact,

In simpler terms, TNT had lost the war outright because its No. 1 soldier—Smith—played injured. Nash Racela’s rookie mistake had been unmasked after he stuck to his prime pillar that proved useless from Game One onwards.

In essence, therefore, SMB coach Leo Austria was served his second straight crown for the year on a silver platter via a 4-2 win.

Meanwhile, Horn will reportedly earn $2million, a big jump from his $500K purse on July 2, and Pacquiao to pocket another $10 million when they meet anew in Brisbane, Australia.

But until then, we will get to see first whether or not San Miguel Beer will capture its second Grand Slam since its 1989 Triple Crown.

Will Austria achieve the Slam and join the elite company of three-jewel achievers, namely the late Baby Dalupan (1976 Crispa), Tommy Manotoc (1983 Crispa), Norman Black (SMB 1989) and Tim Cone (1993 Alaska, 2015 San Mig Coffee)?

Go figure.

At first, the stunned crowd could not fathom the depth of SMB’s murderous binge that reduced TNT to a hapless, worthless bunch of also-rans.