When news first broke-out that several high profile NBA players were coming over to play at the Araneta Coliseum, Kobe Bryant was still in the middle of his Nike Tour and absolutely non-committal (even quoted as to not receiving any invite or proposal from local organizers yet). So naturally, this news was met with a standard Filipino “WEH” or in American English, “Get the F out of here!”
Bryant left to continue his tour, but the “impossible” just wouldn’t die down. Then came an FB message from Mr. Jaemark Tordecilla (the man behind FireQuinito.com who now no longer posts rants on his blog since he is pretty much occupied with his head gig at Akyson TV Sports) that yes, the news was legit. Chot Reyes later posted it on Twitter, and names such as Chris Paul, Derrick Rose, Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant were starting to be thrown around.
Right then and there, everyone was just all giddy. Having those legit NBA All Stars over, just doing interviews, posing for fans and signing autographs would’ve been enough, but to actually see them PLAY as an All Star team? Again, GTFOH!
And we’re not talking about any All Star team, but an actual, “in their primes” core of Team USA. Durant and Rose came from the “B-Team” while Paul and Bryant were from the “Redeem Team.” Wow. Just wow. Add rising stars James “Fear the Beard” Harden, Rookie of the Year awardee Tyreke Evans, promising rookie Derrick Williams and high flying, seven foot specimen JaVale McGee and just about every Filipino basketball fan had their most fulfilling, nerdgasmic wet dream ever.
