Heart and Sol

Follow the leader
(Photo courtesy of Sports5)

There are hundreds, nay, thousands of approaches to the sport of Chess. Some prefer to attack early, others, to lie in wait while a few choose to read the person seated before them. One strategy is to allow your offensive pieces to do the brunt of the dirty work, to have your Pawns, Bishops, Knights and Rooks wreak havoc before unleashing the Queen as your ultimate closer.

Think of the GlobalPort Batang Pier, now carrying an unexpected 4-3 winning card in the PBA Philippine Cup, as something of the sort. While neophyte scoring prodigy Terrence Romeo and “buddy” Ryan Roose Garcia earn praises and headlines with their high-level offense and PBA-ready game, when the games are tight and the chips are down—that’s when we see who the team’s real “anchors” are on both ends of the floor: the Fil-Am veteran pair of Jay Washington and Sol Mercado.

The Romance of Terrence Romeo

Rise and tune out the semantics
(Photo courtesy of Sports5)

In last Wednesday evening's main game, a GlobalPort Batang Pier rookie decided to make a name for himself. That being said; he didn't make a name by appeasing his many, amateur career haters-- no. He made a name for himself by simply playing the way he has the last few years.

Thy name is Terrence Bill Romeo.

High-octane, fast-paced, fading away, crossover, spin move three, one-on-one, one-on-two... one-on-five basketball. What he gave up on inches, he made up for with grit and a will to win. How many point guards can you name that would nonchalantly drive into the lane and absorb Street Fighter Zangief piledriver style contact from both Junemar Fajardo AND Arwind Santos? He was blocked several times and had his shot altered by Petron Blaze's bloodhounds, but this didn't deter him from who and what he was.