CHICAGO -- When fans attempt to determine whether a star player's rumored flight from the PBA to the Japan B.League is fact or fiction, he or she must remember one important nugget.
Absent a contract offer, this so-called "interest" on this and that player is just a harmless gaze, no different than a lonely husband gawking at a pretty, smoldering hot woman in the mall whom he knows he has no chance of going to bed with.
And while a lot of facts about the B.League have been fictionalized out there, I have verified one thing to be absolutely true.
The perks are insane.
It starts with the salary, which could go as high as P2,000,000 a month, almost four times the value of allowable salaries for max players in the PBA.
I know some teams enhance those contracts with bonuses. But those carrots can't be eaten when the team doesn't do well like Ginbra, which crashed early in the Bacolor, Pampanga semi bubble.
Look, SMC is ungodly generous, but it's not stupid to reward failure.
In Japan, full salaries are guaranteed, regardless of team performance.
Although the B.League season only runs through eight months, it pays its contracted players for 11 months, meaning there is extra cash to send their children to private schools and more shopping excursions for their wives.
THERE IS ALSO FREE HOUSING AND I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT A TOKEN FOUR-WALLED ACCOMMODATION.
Not underestimating the need for mental bliss and a good night's rest, the B.League houses its imports in high-risers with a view and with world-class amenities to match.
I'm sorry, I was partially wrong when I mentioned that there is also the free use of a car.
That perk also comes with a driver, if the player so chooses.
Need to hone your game and work out to take in some reps anytime?
No sweat.
Asian imports such as Kiefer and Thirdy Ravena have facilities available to them should they need it. Twenty freakin hours a day, seven days a week.
While the Ravenas and their fellow imports are being richly compensated to be able to afford whatever food they covet, their money's no good in some places.
At certain restaurants affiliated with the B-League, they can just walk in and dine without opening their wallets or swiping a credit card.
In other words, the Filipinos playing in the B League have some sort of dilemma.
THEY MAKE SO MUCH INCOME AND HAVE NOTHING MAJOR TO SPEND IT FOR BECAUSE MOST OF THEIR AMENITIES ARE ALL TAKEN CARE OF.
Who doesn't want that kind of problem, right?
Unlike in the PBA, where the players pay their agents commision, the teams in the Japan B.League pay the agents 10 percent of the contract value of players they signed.
Everyone gets to eat, and eat very well. Everybody is happy.
A star player toiling for one of the PBA's super rich teams reached out to me last week and asked a lot of questions about the B League. He hopes to go there when his contract expires.
Can you blame him?
GONE WITH THE (AR) WIND. I can understand the sadness, anger, and dismay fans felt about Arwin Santos being traded from San Miguel to NorthPort.
But none of those emotions are a proxy for insight.
Great as he was once, Arwind Santos is 40. The spiderman's web ain' t as lethal as it used to be.
The Beermen are in the business of winning and they cannot worry about the fans' feelings.
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