JOURNEYS
RONELO F. FABABEIR

I first met Mang Minyong sometime in 1999. It was after hearing the 7 o’clock mass at San Beda church when I spotted him right there, standing on his frail small frame at the front of the church’s gate clad with yellow Ninoy T-shirt and faded maong shorts.

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Forefathers
Ish Fabicon

There in the island where the waves rock the beaches of sand and stone, my father was born. There, in his childhood, he skin dived to learn the wisdom of the stonefish and the sea horse.

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Rodil F. Fadri

BBT SEASON 5

GREENHORNS CHAMPS

Heart-break kids no more. The Greenhorns beat the Playboys 73-71 in the BBT 2004 finals at the St. John Academy Gym on Sunday (Sept.12, 2004). It’s the Greenhorns' first championship in 14 years. Down by seven with less than four minutes to go, the Greenhorns’ solid team defense enabled them to overtake the Playboys with 51 seconds left. The Playboys had a chance to win or send the game to overtime in the last 14 seconds but their three point try missed and their follow-up shot was blocked. In the game for third place, Candelaria repeated over Gudalupe to bag the 2^nd runner up trophy.

FEDELICIO MVP

RJ Fedelicio (Candelaria) once more showed his dominance in the BBT games. In the MVP contest RJ Fedelicio was virtually unchallenged in statistics and popularity. This year’s BBT MVP award is his second consecutive MVP recognition. He was also chosen best center.            

The other individuals who excelled in their respective positions were:  Dondon Fabrero  (Candelaria) – Point Guard,  Darcy Mansalay (Candelaria) - Off Guard,  Von Festin (GH)  and  Archie Fortu (Guadalupe) – Forwards.

THE ROAD TO THE FINALS

BNHS –TNHS Batch 95, Candelaria , Guadalupe, Hunters, Jazzers,  Tako and St. Joseph     were the other seven teams the  Greenhorns and Playboys had to pass through in the Biniray Basketball Tournament 2004 to reach the finals. When the BBT 2004 opened on July 18, 2004 at the Knights of Columbus Gym, it all looked like a Candelaria-Jazzers rematch in the finals. Greenhorns and Playboys in the BBT 2004 climax was a remote possibility. 

Playboys opened up its campaign with a big loss against the heavily favored Jazzers. It also bowed to the Guadalupe team in its next outing. They also suffered a beating from the Hunters team. Had their game against Hunters not awarded to them due to technicalities, it would have been a 0-3 start for the Tungonan-based team. The Playboys regained form in the next outing by beating the equally strong St. Joseph team of Brgy. Togong  convincingly. The Playboys then suffered another set back when they met the Candelaria team, the defending champions. It was their win over the Greenhorns team that put them back on track. The last two wins gained by the Playboys via game forfeitures against the no-show Tako and Batch 95 improved their record to 5-3 win loss in the 1^st round.

Greenhorns had a good start winning over Tako and Batch 95 in its first two outings. They lost the next game to Candelaria but went on to hand the Jazzers their first defeat. The win over the Jazzers, BBT 2003 runner-up, raised the Greenhorns reputation in the tournament. The good reputation however did not last long as the Greenhorns suffered back-to-back losses to Guadalupe and Playboys. It was the overtime loss to Playboys that pushed the Greenhorns to a virtual elimination. The Greenhorns only hope of advancing to the next round then was a loss by the Jazzers to the Guadalupe team. At stake in the match between the Guadalupe (4-2) and Jazzers (4-2) was the number 2 position which has a twice-to-beat advantage. The Sibay cagers resurrected the Greenhorns when they defeated the Jazzers. The Greenhorns hope was short lived. They bowed down to the already out Sampaloc-based Hunters in the next game. The Greenhorns, however, outsmarted the Hunters team off the court by filing a protest against the Hunters citing disregard of the ground rules. The game was awarded to the Greenhorns.  

    INSIDE

Banton 2003 Update
Feature
   Sports Feature
       BBT Season 5
      Greenhorns Champs
Literary
Book Review
   Is the Battle of Sibuyan Sea
       Really the Greatest Battle in
      History?
Yagting@yahoogroups.com
Bigaon 

  With two games left in the eliminations, the semi-final cast was almost complete. On top was Candelaria with a clean slate 8-0; next was Guadalupe with 6-2 record. At 4-3, the Jazzers would have ended up at the number three position with a win against the Hunters. The Greenhorns and St. Joseph were also at 4-3 but their match would have had no bearing to St. Joseph at all if the Jazzers would win over the Hunters because of an inferior quotient. A Jazzer’s win would have toyed the Greenhorns to the next round because the St. Joseph team showed no interest of playing the Greenhorns if the match would turn out to be a no-bearing game for them.  Jazzers, Playboys, and Greenhorns would be locked in a three way tie. Jazzers and Greenhorns would advance to the next round due to higher quotient. The Playboys team would have been eliminated.  Things didn’t go that way anyway.

The Jazzers did not show up in their most important match. The Jazzers’ loss delivered an outright end to their campaign, catapulted the Playboys team to the next round, turned the match between the Greenhorns and St. Joseph to a sudden death and made the outcome of the Hunters and Greenhorns technical tussle irrelevant. The last semifinal slot was then between the Greenhorns and the St. Joseph team. The Greenhorns prevailed over the Togong cagers.

Greenhorns was the last semis qualifier. At number 4, it had to beat the defending champions who swept the eliminations twice to advance to the finals. The Playboys was at number three and had to beat the Guadalupe in the same fashion to gain a finals slot.

In the semi-final round, the lower ranked but highly motivated Greenhorns and Playboys dislodged their opponents by beating them twice. The almost unthinkable final match happened. It was Greenhorns against Playboys in the finals.

LAST BBT?

The technical issues that ravaged in the course of BBT 2004 and the insufficient funds for the games caused additional worries to the Biniray Executive Committee. The trouble regarding technicalities reached the Biniray Chairman because some team officials ignored the decisions of the tournament commissioners and went straight to the Executive Committee. Amidst the issues in the BBT, the chairman said in many occasions that this could be the last Biniray basketball tournament. The next Biniray Executive Committee might not sponsor the tournament anymore to spare them from additional financial troubles and headaches.

The tournament appeared turbulent in the outside because some teams preferred to add decibels to their arguments rather than logic. Despite the intimidations from the disgruntled teams, the tournament commissioner was in full control. All of his initial decisions were upheld by the technical committee. The full enforcement of the tournament ground rules by the technical committee made the BBT 2004 successful.

Whether BBT 2004 will be the last or not, it would be remembered as one of the most exciting tournaments – on and off the hard court.