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Manila Clasico: Ginebra vs. San Mig Coffee
On the afternoon of November 17, 2013, brace yourself
already and ensure your smartphones and laptops are fully-charged for
#ManilaClasico!
If the main game of the new season is any
indication, PBA (Philippine Basketball Association) is hell-bent on
duplicating, if not surpass the success of the previous year. The
record-breaking 38th season of PBA indeed set a standard so
gin-ormous that it has been a transcending year that put PBA back to relevance.
Surely, we owe it to the most recent success of our national team on
international competitions as the driving force that interest on basketball is
once again at its peak. People started believing that we can compete with the
best of them, Philippines has put itself anew on the map of the world
basketball with the silver-medal finish at FIBA-Asia and the momentum never
stopped from that point since. PBA, being the country’s premier basketball
league would do everything—anything that could keep these basketball nuts on
their toes. And what better way to do it than to pit two of the most popular
team in the local hoops in a cavalcade of personalities and histories toward
each other on special grudge match known to us PBA fans as the Manila Clasico.
Before I cruise through the story, I would like for you,
readers to read on the words below and their antonyms:
Anejo—Purefoods
Tondeña 65—Coney
Islands
Ginebra San Miguel—Purefoods TJ Hotdogs
Gordon’s Gin Boars—Purefoods Corned Beef Coboys
Brgy. Ginebra Kings— San Mig Coffee Mixers.
The Living Legend— El Presidente
Jaworski—Patrimonio
Ampalayo—Codiñera
Rugged Crew—Glamour Boys
The Fast and the Furious— Kid Lightning and Boy Thunder
Mark Caguioa—James Yap
Slaughter—Sangalang
Masa— Sosyal
Downer (Gin)—Upper (Coffee)
The infinite list of comparisons between two of
the most fabled franchise in the PBA is what makes the game between Ginebra San
Miguel and San Mig Coffee the ultimate main event of the league. The hype and
the fireworks. The side stories that overplay on the loop to feed the hunger of
the ravenous fans who is ready to explode in anticipation. The sheer size and
magnitude of the battle between these two can only be compared to those of the
most notable rivalries such as Ali-Frazier, Hagler-Hearns, Tyson and the ear of
whoever opponent, and until recently, despite no real fight has been made
yet—Pacquiao-Mayweather. This is the kind of game that may require to combine
both Smart-Araneta Coliseum and the MOA Arena and yet that may not be enough. Two
of the biggest draws the league has ever seen which dates back to the late 80’s
led by the franchises’ godfathers, bitter rival themselves—Robert Jaworski Sr.and
Ramon Fernandez. The former headed a collection of blue-collar daredevils; the
latter led spunky boys-next-door. The thugs barreled: the debonairs slashed. Manila
Clasico is also a battle of stereotypes; Ginebra is thug because they play so
physical; Purefoods is lame because they are good-looking. The contemporary Yin and Yang; the local hoops Alpha and Omega. And while the rest of the playing
field could claim their own heated enmity against these two, truly no one could
come close to the fireworks and buildup these two protagonists create every
time they clash.
The Mark Caguioa vs. James Yap conundrum as who is the best
PBA player in the current era highlights the fight for pride of this Manila
Clasico rivalry. While the faces of both
teams nowadays can be too chummy to one another on the backstage, their games
whenever they meet however have been proven to be a different case. From dagger
3’s to twisting lay ups, Mark Caguioa and James Yap may have never developed
such acrimonious relationship towards each other unlike Jaworski and Fernandez
did but one does not need to be a fan of either of the two to realize the need
to contend against each other. From team success to individual feats to fan base
and being the face of the league, each fervent debate amongst their fans are
taken on both radical and personal levels. Who cares about not taking
argumentations to high road? Each haul for awards between Caguioa and Yap is witnessed with vigilant stride. No way that each
camp will let themselves to be bested. One podcast ranked the top 50 best
players of the most recent memory and it had Mark Caguioa and James Yap tied
for the same rank. It was hard to weigh, even for sports pundits to kill the
tiebreaker.
The rabid fans of the opposing teams are not to be outdone
too! The historical hatred of their supporters is a must see, you can make a
case that what makes this rivalry endured and continued to live is the passion
the fans carry with them at the game venue. They are as much involved with men
battling it out inside the court through the heated tit-for-tat booing and
jeering in the crowd. These firebrands exude that kind of passion if only to
fuel the team they root for or simply just the idea of never wanting to lose
against the enemy.
Rivalry is nothing without the history of animosity;
hence, each and every edition of Manila Clasico is not without its own brand of
tensed encounters. We’ve heard how the Jaworski-Jojo Lastimosa hate-hate
relationship and it all started here. Even when Jolas moved to Alaska Yap . The greater, the bigger both
superstars become, the easier they become a convenient target of the opposing
fans.
The evolution of each team came to an interesting turn when
San Miguel Corporation bought the Purefoods franchise from the the Zobel de
Ayalas. On a move nothing less of teleserye
twist that is, what stunned the fierce rivals that for all the hostilities and
dislikes between them and for all the frictions and clashes that parted their
seas, they would soon find out that they are an actual siblings. “From greatest
rivals to sister teams!” What a way to fuck up their lives? The fear it allayed
was it might lose the sting or the lust of every Manila Clasico series just
because both franchises are funded under one conglomerate. Well, several years
after, we are still witness to this match-up like the skirmish of the ages is
just about to be unleashed—Walang nagbago, sa Klasiko patay pa rin kung patay!
So here goes another round of Manila Clasico brimming right
at the opening season of the PBA. As it opens in the aftermath of gargantuan calamities
and myriad of corruption controversies, this much-anticipated game could for a
moment offer a consoling diversion to people in gathering themselves together.
Ginebra and San Mig Coffee fighting for dear life on their very first game of
the season is their tribute to those who have lost so much. This is a
no-brainer yet for so long now, we haven’t been able to figure out that this is
supposedly the right way to start a season. Both teams are set to parade the
top two rookies of this year’s draft class in Greg Slaughter of Ginebra and Ian
Sangalang of San Mig Coffee—in insurance policy that the legendary Manila Clasico
will carry on until the next generation of basketball fans.
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