Mikee wants in; NOW

omero: All he does is WIN

Mikee Romero, he of the famed Harbour Centre Batang Piersquad that rummaged through the Philippine Basketball League so much so thatteams gave up altogether and abandoned ship in favor of winning elsewhere, is bent on breaking into the next frontier—the Philippine Basketball Association.

If ever, this would be Romero’s 2^nd PBA salvo following a brief partnership with Air21 Express which was christened the Burger King Titans for may be a conference and a half before plans went kaput. Now, the champion and rising sportsman is reportedly bent on entering the pros by any means necessary. If he needs to buy a new, 11^th PBA franchise, then game on. If there’s a team that’s on its way out (read: Powerade), then give Romero a call. There’s no B.S. surrounding it, and Romero surely doesn’t need the added exposure much like the San Miguel and MVP teams for his day job—the man is all about competition with basketball being one of his first loves.

Granted, this writer would’ve preferred for Romero to enter the league as team number 11 OR buy one of the useless Lina franchises that has shamed the league with its many trades/ third team-conduit role. It’s a business, yes, but have the decency and respect to at least honor the players and their fans. Hell, either compete or just stop wasting our time.

Back to Romero and what his possible entry means to the league.

We’ll be given another non-SMC, non-MVP squad that won’t be in it for the sake of just putting their brand out there. Romero’s Batang Pier/ Titans won big in the PBL by getting the best and playing all out. Even when they were fielding in guys who were collegiate superstars, they never took games off much like what the PBA-DL NLEX Road Warriors are today.

It will help increase the non-sister teams to four: together with Alaska, Rain or Shine and Powerade (presuming they don’t sell) which raises the stakes a bit and gives us non SMC or non MVP fans more guys to root for (we all love underdogs). That, plus you just know that Romero won’t ever let his good name be tarnished by losing records because of younger, lesser talent. Daresay he’d move heaven and earth to make a key free agent acquisition and start building from there.

So to Romero, cheers and may he find his way into the PBA at the soonest possible time. To PBA Commissioner Chito Salud and the rest of the board, open your doors and let guys who are actually interested in your product join in the fun.

As for the concessions, Romero reportedly wants FIVE direct amateur hires bannered by 6”9 Junemar Fajardo and one half of the NLEX’ wing tandem Chris Ellis. Not bad really, but maybe he should consider other talents—those who are not directly under the SMC or MVP payrolls so that he could hold on to them and actually build for the future (because you never know with these kids, at one point or another they’re all bound to try and cause a trade that would send them “home”—just look at the Gilas core of Marcio Lassiter and Chris Lutz.)