Regional hoops ‘new’ reincarnation

CEBUANO basketball fans now has something to look forward to other than the PBA as there is a new national league being planned. Unlike the defunct Metropolitban Basketball Association, which signed its doom when it opted to compete with the established PBA right from the start, the Countrywide Basketball League, is starting small, with just eight teams.

I doubt there are going to be superstars in the league as it can’t compete with the salaries offered by the PBA teams but I hope that it has learned the lessons in the MBA. Basketball has been in the psyche of the Filipinos for generations and so too regional basketball, but only in school-based competitions.

The MBA, before it degenerated into a cheap version of the PBA, offered regional professional for the first time and it was a huge hit. However, despite the huge crowd in the venues, the money earned wasn’t enough to stem the bleeding. Like I said, competing with the PBA was a deathtrap.

I was still in college when the MBA opened, and I remember chancing upon a game in an open-air cafeteria. It featured my hometown Socsargen Marlins against a forgotten team and decided to watch the game, as did many others. I was alone in my table and after one particular play, when me and the guys in the other table let out the same cheer and realized we were cheering for the same team, I was invited to join the group.

Like me, they were from Marbel and like me, they were a bunch of students who left South Cotabato. In high school, we wouldn’t have done that, considering the last time our team played against a team from their place, a squad of marines (with high-powered fireams to boot) were involved as glorified bodyguards.

We got to talking about our team, how despite its obvious lack of quality players compared to the big city teams, we were going to support and follow it. “Suporta-an ta lang, ato man.” We compared notes, too. On local basketball legends supposedly good enough for the pros but never got the breaks they needed.

That’s what regional basketball does. It brings communities together, and I hope this is what the CWBL will bring to the table come March. It won’t matter if there are no June Mar Fajardos in the league, fans will be cheering for the team, not the players.

Besides, I think the absence of superstars is an advantage. We all have our favorite players, right? But we really can’t relate to them. However, we can relate to the small guys struggling to make a living through the things he love.

And I think that’s the advantage the CWBL will have over the PBA. (www.mikelimpagblog.wordpress.com)