BIG NIGHT AT THE BEERHOUSE: HOW SAN MIGUEL FLIRTED WITH HISTORY AND TOOK HER HOME

“I want to give credit to the Alaska team. Both teams deserved to win. It’s just that si Lord, well, mas mabait siya sa amin.” Leo Austria said this as soon as he was handed the microphone after his San Miguel Beermen accomplished the previously impossible: winning a best-of-seven after dropping the first three games. There he stood, now a three-time champion coach, now a title-holder for three of his four conferences (.750 CHAMPIONSHIP PERCENTAGE ARE YOU KIDDING ME) and now apparently, God’s favorite coach.

And indeed it was. He has the highest respect for Alex Compton, and everyone in an Alaska jersey, that is unquestionable. (The Aces, and this is an early sidebar, I realize, are a classy franchise, a model of an organization that stands as a beacon in a sometimes beacon-lacking league. Their management, players and staff are tremendous professionals and human beings. I wish them well in their coming campaigns and sincerely hope for Number 15 to be in the Alaska trophy case very soon. Now back to Leo). Here’s Austria, a guy who just did something nobody before him has done before. He was emotional, ecstatic, and in true SMB