Validation for The Spark

Did you know that there are only three active players left from the top-thin 2001 PBA Draft?

The People's MVP

The top pick soon became Rookie of the Year and 2x PBA Most Valuable Player. Another guy, still in his prime, established himself as a Super Sub but is currently making waves as a solid starter. The third, and the most popular of all, has won several accolades and has gotten close to winning the MVP on two-three separate occasions only to fall short by some vote-selection technicalities.

That third guy, picked third overall, is none other than the Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings' Mark Caguioa. Then un unheralded, 6"1 faux blonde guard out of Glendale Community Collage-- so unheralded that the trivia-happy Quinito Henson was reduced to blurting out "he's a cousin of Chino Trinidad." That's it. No "his girlfriend is..." or "his hairstyle was inspired by..."trivias out of Henson, which surprises this writer even to this day.

Today, Caguoia finds himself locked in a tight race for the MVP plum anew against 2x winner James Yap of the BMeg Llamados, Arwind Santos of the Petron Blaze Boosters and darkhorse Gary David of the Powerade Tigers.

Of the four, Santos should be taken out because of his lackadaisical performance this PBA GovCup. Losing his starting job to the returning Jay Washington and never really getting into any sort of rhythm, the multi-time MVP bridesmaid was a heavy favorite going into the season but fizzled out half way.

Yap on the other hand, finds himself a heavy favorite on several fronts. The numbers are there (even if he's not the best shooter around) because he's the Llamados' "alpha." The media vote will be there because he's arguably the nicest and TV-friendliest of the lot. The players' vote could also swing his way because hey, it's hard not to like the most popular guy in school specially if he's pretty nice to everyone. That, plus the fact that he actually won a title, has improved tremendously under Coach Tim Cone (on offense and defense) and is now going for his second PBA title of 2012.

Finally, there's David, the darkhorse. The gunslinging assassin out of Bataan who's pretty much been doing the same things as before but was cast into the limelight thanks to having an established support crew by virtue of the SMART Gilas popstars JVee Casio and Marcio Lassiter. Score 30 points a night? He's done that before. You just didn't notice. Why? Because the Tigers were a pain to watch.

Throw in a Casio and Lassiter, then all of a sudden things get a little more interesting right? Caguioa's gone on record that he'd give it to David if he could. So there's that one compliment.

But back to Caguioa. And why the MVP title has eluded him for so long and what a victory could mean. He's lost on media votes. He's lost on players' votes. The guy plays with an old school mentality. He's not the friendliest of the bunch, he has that Americana swag that Filipinos shun and despise. He is our version of Kobe Bryant pre-Redeem Team.

You know, before Bryant went on "PR mode" and suddenly tried to become Mr. Friendly with everyone.

Now he's saying all the right things. That he'd trade away his Best Player awards (two this 2012) for a Finals appearance. Not even a title. Just to be back in the Finals to compete. He's tipping his hat to competitors like David. He's not on the Kobe System, but the man is trying.

If Caguioa wins, it would be well-deserved. To emerge as the best player, on a stacked team (no matter how chaotic their system is), is no easy feat and should be admired. There's a difference between being a guy who's supposed to take the last shot (as David is) and a guy who rises from the ranks and wants to actually take it (as Caguioa has done so since 2001, taking the last shot on a playoff game instead of watching his down-the-hill teammates, like Vergel Meneses and Bal David, lose it for him).

This isn't similar to when Jimmy Alapag of Talk 'n' Text won it and it was more of a "feel good" story above all (it was OK that it went to Alapag, but had we been part of the committee, we'd give it to his teammate Jayson Castro instead). This guy is balling like crazy and can't be stopped (well, okay, he ran out of steam versus the Llamados' trapping exploits this playoffs).

An MVP for Caguioa would cement his legacy as a first ballot Hall of Famer when he hangs it up. It shuts up his critics. It would put him up there with his teammate Jayjay Helterbrand who was surprisingly awarded with his own MVP (one that should've gone to Caguioa).

If not?

He'd still be the "People's MVP."

Just ask his most popular Twitter fan, Paul Lee.