Philippine Basketball Association (PBA)

[JohnBM01]

I may try to add a different dynamic to sports chatter. One way to do that is with something I've been seeing on YouTube a lot recently. I want to introduce the Philippine Basketball Association. The teams don't really have fancy names. Most of them are named for companies. For example, Talk N Text and Purefoods are two PBA teams. This is a pro league. Just that it's not like... you know, Boston Celtics, Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat... the teams are named for companies.

(all info below according to Wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_Basketball_Association ))
* founded in 1975
* 10 teams
* rules are a hybrid of FIBA and NBA
* all teams owned by companies, not on geographic locations
* no real "home" teams
* championship is called the PBA Philippine Cup
* team name layout: company name {nickname}; example: San Miguel Beermen
* (no joke) these were actual teams that are now defunct: Crispa Redmanizers and Toyota Super Corollas.
* San Miguel Beermen have the most titles with 17 titles. Also one of the first PBA teams.

So if you follow or want to know more about the PBA, here are some links:
* http://www.pba.com.ph/
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007-08_PBA_Philippine_Cup (PBA Philippine Cup format)

This is part of a "project" to expand the broader scale of different leagues. I want to do one on Philippine college basketball in a later thread. For now, I'm just throwing this out to you all for chatting on the PBA. Anyone care to get this thing going?

 

[niky]

Well... I live in the Philippines, but I haven't followed it for a while. Just as I'm more familiar with Magic Johnson or Larry Bird than with whassisname... oh... LeBron James... I'm more familiar with the old stalwarts of the league than the new players.

It's a decent organization... some great guards, some good hustle play, but being so small, both in the number of teams and in the physical size of the players, it falls short of the Chinese league in terms of international competitiveness.

We use a lot of ABA and NBA (benchers, not first-fivers) players as imports during certain conferences (used to be three conferences a year, dunno about the new set-up) to help raise the level of playing, but even with the size cap on imports, the sheer athleticism of national-level American players is beyond what our local guys have.

There was a competing organization, the MBA, a while back that did adhere to geographic locations... as such, there are home teams and away teams, but it isn't as popular as the big-budget PBA. Doesn't matter... it's gone, now.

 

[nk4e]

My cousin has a shot at the PBA, he is like 6'2. I believe one team name was the Corolla's for Toyota. My cousin's and I somewhat joke that we can make it in the PBA because of height, though I don't have any skills T-T. I also have hats for a certain team that my dad got from the P.I ( Philippine Islands).

 

[Omnis]

I wish more leagues were company-based. In the USA, however, it would probably turn into a corporate hell.

 

[niky]

A company-based team isn't such a far-fetched idea. It takes money to recruit and train top-flight talent... so a straight corporate sponsorship would give a team the muscle it needs to top the league.

But the US is rich enough for a locality-based system to work... city-based teams already have enough sponsorships to pay out millions for salaries, benefits and training.

 

[GTV0819]

Can I revive this thread for Pinoy users?

 

[niky]

Shoot away... though I doubt many people on here actively watch.

What with the threatened walk-outs and hissy fits this last series...

 

[GTV0819]

Okay. Then you should close this thread.