WINNING multiple Most Valuable Player (MVP) awards in basketball — or any sport for that matter — is no mean feat. Only the really good ones are capable of doing it.
One MVP plum is good enough. But a second one is like a necessity for validation purposes.
In boxing, you become a world boxing champion, yes, but then, you need to prove that you deserve the honor.
How do you do it?
You need to win your first defense of the crown. Otherwise, your crown-clinching match could be easily called a fluke.
A successful first defense validates the championship.
The MVP trophy in basketball is without a doubt a most coveted metal, especially in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) for the singular fact that the league is the nation’s No. 1 hero factory.
For years, only two players have stood out as super heroes for their shining accomplishments: four MVPs each.
I refer to Ramon Fernandez and Alvin Patrimonio.
Many believed it would take decades before their quadruple feats could be duplicated — let alone surpassed.
But, no, June Mar Fajardo would make winning MVPs look like picking cherries.
Since barging into the PBA in 2012, the 6-foot-10 Fajardo, from Pinamungajan, Cebu, would quickly reap honors that, in no time, he wiped out the four MVPs each won by Fernandez and Patrimonio.
Not only did Fajardo overtake both legends in trophies collected but he also erased the combined eight MVP plums won by the duo.
Only last Sunday, Oct. 5, Fajardo collared his ninth MVP award in Season 49 of Asia’s so-called first play-for-pay loop.
Fernandez described Fajardo’s latest victory as a prelude to a 10th MVP for the main pillar of San Miguel Beer.
“As long as he stays healthy, he can still do it,” said Fernandez of Fajardo as quoted by Inquirer’s Jonas Terrado. “I won my fourth in 1988 when I was 35.”
For Fajardo to do it, Fernandez said Fajardo needs to control his weight, “because as you get older, your knees will give out.”
Fajardo is 35 and he must heed Fernandez’s counsel. In any sport, the knees always go first — not the brain.
The good thing about Fajardo is, he does not really covet honors.
“If it comes, it comes,” said Fajardo. “To me, my teammates, our team goals, always come first.”
Humility is his middle name.
