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The Morning After
Vic Villafranca

The Bug Busters: What's up from new kid on the block

Her nickname, she said is "Chuki". Her full name is M.S. Feria-Miranda. She works with Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation, and what she knows about the Philippine Basketball Association, she frankly admits, is, up to now, "not too much".

"I mean", she said, "I know it's about basketball, it's the most popular league in town, but other than that, I'm afraid, somebody will have to cue me in on quick."

Okay, Chuki, you asked for it, you got it.

In the first place, the PBA is a professional, the PBA is a professional league. Which is to say that unlike in the bigtime amateur leagues where the players get their bread under the table, in the PBA they get theirs direct from the company cashier.

All on account of the fact that in the PBA, players play for pay, while in the amateurs, if you were to believe former IOC president Avery Brundage, all that the winners of a champion team get are gold medals and affectionate pats on the head from the coach.

The reason I brought up the question of pay is more and more, as Shell Chemical Philippines, the new member of the PBA and which is affiliated with your company, gets deeper and deeper into the PBA scene, you no doubt would get to realize why some players get paychecks that could make your cashier sick and why some look like they are overpaid.

Take for instance, a player like Bogs Adornado, a superstar who I understand the anointed first coach of ShellChem, Freddie Webb, is planning to tap to beef up the clutch of Crispa orphans which the company got along with the Crispa franchise.

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The PBA Shell Team's Formation:

First Trip to the All Filipino Finals