IWAS at First 5 the other day with some kababayans and friends and I asked Ramon “El Presidente” Fernandez if he could join us. He said he’d drop by after meeting an old teammate at USC who had arrived in town.
When I informed one of the owners, certified basketball nut Bimbo Tequillo, a doctor who has been to numerous NBA All-Stars and Finals, that El Presidente would drop by, he said he’d go there straight from the hospital. He arrived armed with four poster-quality printouts for El Presidente to sign.
“I couldn’t find anything colored,” he told me as he showed me a black and white photo of Mon wearing his No. 10 Toyota jersey.
My friends arrived and Mon, who was in another reunion, said he’d try to drop by. Knowing he was busy, I was preparing to tell Doc Bimbo that Mon might not make it and I’d just bring his posters personally to Mon so El Presidente could sign these.
But Mon did drop by. And since the venue was a sports bar, all eyes turned to our table as he sat his 6’7” frame down. After he was introduced to my friends and after some chitchat, the El Presidente stories flew. Rodney Orale of the Erco team showed him a photo of a relative whom Mon played with before. Mon sat beside him and Rodney said that if his relatives see the picture of him and Mon, “ma-inggit gyud to sila.” Albert Flores, who loves dogs, also shared his stories of the time when he and Mon were in a plane together and they got to talk about dogs and boy, does Mon have stories about dogs. Mon shared about how at one time, he had more than a dozen dogs sleeping on the floor of his bedroom.
Moments later, Doc Bimbo finally got to meet Mon and asked him to sign the posters, which El Presidente obliged. While they were posing for pictures, I could hear Doc Bimbo say, “Big fan kaayo ko nimo.” Like I said, it was a sports bar. After Doc Bimbo had his turn for a photo op with Mon, a group from a nearby table approached Mon and asked if they could also have their pictures taken and they had, one by one.
Later, after the photo op, my friends and I got to talk with Mon about his PBA career and some of the things he’s been doing now with the Philippine Sports Commission and the just-concluded Philippine National Games.
I recalled an online conversation I had with Jovi Neri, who can make a great case for the MJ vs. LBJ argument, about how I wasn’t old enough to have seen El Presidente play. Actually, I was. I remember paying particular attention when the PBA then promised to send the All-Filipino Cup champion in 1994 to the Asian Games, and 1994 was Mon’s final year.
But that wasn’t my favorte El Presidente story that night. A friend of a friend, who just happened “to drop by” when he learned that El Presidente would be there, was taking his sweet time in having a photo opportunity with the legend.
While we went out to enjoy the fresh air, the obviously tired Mon said that he’d go ahead and I thanked him for dropping by. When that guy learned that El Presidente had left, he was crest-fallen and we chided him for taking his sweet time.
All he could say was. “Nilakaw na ang GOAT? Sayanga,” Well, better luck next time.