Monday, May 28, 2007 Sayson: NBA sends me to my 7th straight finals By Homer Sayson Second Overtime
CHICAGO—The NBA headquarters in New York, through an e-mail from Atsushi Sugiyama of the international PR division, informed me last week that I have been credentialed to cover the 2007 NBA Finals beginning with Game 1 this June 7.
The upcoming trip will be my seventh consecutive on-site NBA Finals coverage.
No one in the history of Philippine sports writing, not even my idol Quinito Henson of the Philippine Star, has covered the NBA Finals for seven consecutive years. And no Cebuano, or any other sports writer outside of Manila, has ever graced the Finals as an NBA-accredited writer.
Not one. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Zip. Kaput.
Which is why I am so proud of this feat.
My newly minted NBA credential eviscerates the myth that only those who toil for the big national dailies can go to the world’s biggest events. My upcoming trip to pro basketball’s grandest event also shatters the perception that Filipino writers from the “probinsiya” are inferior to their brethren from the elitist north.
But to really appreciate the joy I feel right now, you have to know where I came from.
I first fell in love with the NBA during my elementary days. With glazed, dreamy eyes, I used to stare forever at NBA players’ posters which hung majestically at the Colegio del Santo Niño canteen then owned by a Lakers diehard, the late Ronnie Alo.
I was in college when I learned that radio station dyMF had a satellite dish. I vividly recall the countless times when I went to dyMF’s offices at Borromeo St., sometimes in the dead of dawn, and I would beg the security guard to let me in the lobby so I can watch NBA games.
I also remember the times when I would ask my kumpare Raul Rama of the Park and Go empire if I could come over their house and watch the Bulls and Knicks duels. And I can’t tell you how much money I spent at the Boulevard, where NBA games were a staple.
I’ve always been a big dreamer, but honestly, I never thought I would be in the NBA Finals, let alone seven straight NBA Finals.
So how did I do it?
Guts, lots of it. I have so much guts that some of it are spilling out of my shirt as we speak.
Belief in myself as a decent writer is another thing. Even though I don’t own a single unit in journalism, I learned the ropes through simple hard work. I’m glad it’s been rewarded.
But I couldn’t have done this without Sun.Star Cebu. My thanks especially to our editor-in-chief, lawyer Pacheco Seares, for allowing me to write a column beginning last May 5, 2000. Cebu’s two other dailies declined my offer to write for them and if Sun.Star did the same, there would have been no such trips to the NBA Finals.
Thanks also to you, my dear readers. This trip is for you. Without your inspiration and continued support, I would have been just content watching the NBA Finals on TV.
Most importantly, I would like to thank my sponsors for financing my NBA.final.
FOR THE LOVE OF HORRY. My May 16, 2007 column (“Big Shot Bob delivers cheap shot”) drew the ire of several readers who didn’t like the way I portrayed Robert Horry after he “assaulted” Steve Nash in Game 4 of the Spurs-Suns series.
I was splashed with verbal venom, but that wasn’t a surprise because being called all sorts of filthy names is not a new province for me. I am, however, amazed at how the Internet, through sunstar.com.ph, has widened my column’s reach.
Deepest gratitude to my sponsors: San Miguel Corp. through Girlie Garces, iBank Mango Ave. and Stephen Tan, Isuzu Cebu in Ayala through Engr. Dodong Castañares and Bobby Fornolles, Jonathan Guardo of Arthro, Stephen Villamor of Step V, M. Lhuillier, Thirsty Drinks, Park n’ Go, and Bisaya Ispisyal.
