CHICAGO - In this age of technology when almost everyone is wired to a smartphone and wifi can find anything under the sun, it's nearly impossible to just fall off the face of the earth.
But Justin Brownlee did exactly that, somehow.
Look, it's not impossible for anybody to change a phone number, delete social media footprints and vanish into thin air.
READ Meralco suffers second EASL loss as comeback vs Taoyuan falls short
But not when you're a high-profile celebrity athlete employed by a giant conglomerate with an estimated market capitalization of P154,9 billion.
While the 6-foot-7, 220-pound naturalized Filipino isn't required yet to report to his mother team, Ginebra, until next conference, his presence was and still is needed by the Meralco Bolts who signed him last September to reinforce their EASL campaign.
Without Brownlee, the Bolts are 0-2 in the EASL after Sunday's 82-72 defeat to the Taoyuan Pauian Pilots in Taipei.
WHERE ART THOU?
Given the strength of the competition, it's no guarantee that Meralco would be 2-0 with Brownlee but the Bolts would have had at least a better fighting chance.
So, where is he?
A quick Google search says Brownlee is "unreachable" and SPIN.ph has reported that executives from the PBA, Ginebra and Meralco are all clueless on the whereabouts of the former NBA G-Leaguer.
Part of my job as a columnist requires me to be pessimistic on some occasion and so I find it odd, maybe even unbelievable, that Ginebra cannot contact their ace import.
No way, not on this green earth.
Others view the disappearance differently, though.
HOPING FOR THE BEST.
"This is not a surprise. He has missed flights and Gilas Pilipinas practices a couple of times in the past," a former Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) executive told me in a telephone interview on Saturday.
In the wake of Meralco's second EASL loss, multiple unsuccessful attempts were made to reach team manager Paolo Trillo on Sunday night.
But a Bolts official who requested anonymity because he wasn't authorized to talk about the issue said, "I am not going to judge but the bottom-line is, he's not with the team."
Those who are searching for someone dear who is missing is often inundated by a flood of mixed emotions that include sorrow, shock, confusion, and in some cases, rage.
And there's also the wicked fear of, God forbid, something horrible that may have happened.
Was he abducted? Did he have a medical emergency that required a stay in the hospital where phones are ofttimes not allowed?
I hope Brownlee is okay and safe somewhere in this universe.
There will be a time for him to answer why he balked on his arranged and sanctioned union with Meralco. He will also have to explain why he can't pick up the damn phone for Christ's sake.
The time is not now.
But tomorrow, as it always does, beckons.
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