The Prototype

The Prototype

There was a time when PBA commentators would readily hand out monikers to just about anyone and everyone-- stars or not. Some of which became legendary thanks to that player's on-court skills, others stuck because it was simply the humorous thing to do.

It has always fascinated us how noone really came up with a moniker for one Gabby Espinas. We're not talking about the Espinas of today who has proven to be a solid contributor for the Alaska Aces, or the Espinas that was drafted by the San Miguel Beermen (now Petron Blaze Boosters) and buried on the bench behind a bunch of frontline veterans. We're talking about the Philippine Christian University-era Gabby Espinas, the man who won Rookie of the Year-Most Valuable Player in the NCAA (which was tarnished the year after when the league opted to give the same ROY-MVP double award to FOREIGNER Sam Ekwe) and was posting crazy, Calvin "The Beast" Abueva numbers even before The Beast came into the scene.