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Benjie's back
Spectator by Al Mendoza

NO player in recent memory has won a second Most Valuable Player Award 10 years after winning his first MVP plum.

Not Wilt Chamberlain of the NBA. Not Larry Bird of the NBA. Not even Michael Jordan of PEBA (Planet Earth Basketball Association).

That should make Benjie Paras, the 1999 PBA MVP, a class of his own.

Ramon Fernandez has won four MVPs, a feat duplicated by Alvin Patrimonio.

But despite Benjie's "only" two MVPs, Benjie's feat will stand the test of time. It's like he's done what Jordan had done when His Airness came back from retirement: Make Chicago NBA champion again.

The sterling point about Benjie's feat was that many had written him off years ago. Almost, he was considered a mere player in the PBA after 1989, just routinely doing his thing like an 8-to-5 employee in a garments factory.

And with reason.

Benjie, after scoring a first in the PBA by sweeping both the MVP and Rookie of the Year award in 1989, sort of made a nosedive in his career. He authored it himself. Willingly.

In fact, he quickly deteriorated not long after 1989.

His game dipped.

His discipline fell.

He sort of became a lost soul.

Drunk with success?

Success went to his head?

Whatever, Benjie Paras quickly faded into obscurity just as fast as he soared to celebrity status.

Slowly but surely, he tried to wreck his career. First, he went to show biz; he wanted to carve a niche as a comedian.

To a certain degree, he succeeded. And that's because he started to treat his basketball career as second fiddle. Even his partnership on the hardcourt with Ronnie Magsanoc was destroyed. While Magsanoc continued to push himself to scale the heights, Paras insisted on sliding down the precipice of basketball purgatory.

Certainly, Benjie soon towered on the boob tube.

But tragically, the PBA's Tower of Power soon found himself cascading quickly from his basketball perch.

There was also this run-in with Shell management when he stubbornly wanted out even as he had a live contract with Pilipinas Shell. Immaturity of the first degree.

Bent on pursuing an ill-advised move to transfer to Ginebra San Miguel, Benjie defied reason and allowed himself to be consumed by pride. He refused to play in a bid to force Shell to release him.

Shell didn't blink.

Benjie blinked, a surrender that made him brand-new again. The campaign to restore order in his troubled life has begun.

It was a hard climb back to the top.

But now that he has reached the apex once more, the view from atop should be as panoramic as ever.

Always, love the second time around is sweeter.

(Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer, December 8, 1999)