Limpag: Community basketball

FROM 10 teams in its initial conference, Manny Pacquiao’s Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League has ballooned to 26 teams for its second conference, which will open on June 12. That exponential growth shows how huge a hit community basketball is and makes you ask, why has no one thought of this before?

It’s the same reaction the Cebu Provincial Sports Commission is getting with its highly succesful Gov. Davide Basketball Cup, a local government-based competition that has kindled hometown pride, judging from the packed venues and catfights that have spread to social media.

The controversial City of Naga vs. Minglanilla game, which organizers have ordered to be replayed, is one proof of how strongly some Cebuanos feel for their team. I just hope though that this fierce hometown pride won’t lead to blind loyalties that would be detrimental to the league.

Pinoys are strongly regionalistic and take pride in their hometown. Community basketball combines both passions, making both the MBPL and the Gov. Davide Cup a strong hit in communities starved of the chance to cheer for their own. For a while, the PBA provided that and allowed Pinoys to cheer for their own kababayan whenever they made the cut in Asia’s biggest league.

Now, the MBPL will provide that. It’s just too bad, though, that from the four teams that applied, only the Cebu Niños, backed by IPI, will be pushing through. But I guess that’s going to be an advantage for the team, as it will have the whole Cebu community backing them up.

The team isn’t aiming for the title and its initial target is modest, to make it to the playoffs since that would guarantee home games in Cebu. And if the team succeeds in getting Dondon Hontiveros, the PBA hotshot would give the team that much-needed shot, publicity-wise.

From just a few weeks, the new conference of the MPBL is expected to last 11 months, according to the latest update I read. If the league gets more teams, or even if it stays at 26, then I guess this will be the time when Pinoy basketball fans can get a taste of an NBA-type season, where there is only one champion instead of three.

The league, too, is giving players who weren’t able to get that break in the PBA a chance to pursue a career and of course, also those who are in the twilight of their careers, a chance to extend it.

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