CHICAGO - I have little affinity for anything called a "list." I tend to diminish one, not finish it.
Take for example the grocery list my wife hands me over on a fastbreak to the Filipino store six miles away from our building. Somewhere between the string beans and the sayote I am prone to neglect the sinigang mix.
Forget the sinking feeling that consumes me each time I bring home inadequate supplies. Think instead of the heat of a thousand chili peppers that I get from my beloved Ermee.
I got to relive some of that nightmare when the NBA recently released the list of 76 all-time great players who were honored by the league to celebrate its 75th season.
Instead of relishing who got it in, many among us were more enamored with who got left out.
Silly, really, but it's just a fact of life. No list can make everybody happy.
NO KLAY. NO T-MAC. AND NO SUPERMAN.
Why was Klay Thompson, one of the pillars of the Warriors' dynastic Finals run from 2015 to 2019, excluded?
How is there no room for T-Mac, a seven-time All-Star and one of the most prolific scorers of his generation?
And shouldn't Dwight Howard, who averaged 22.9 points, 14.1 rebounds and 2.4 blocks as the NBA's most dominant big in the 2010-11 NBA season, be included?
And what about Alex English, the 8-time All-Star and former scoring champion (1983) who had a jump shot that was smooth as butter?
A strong case can be made for each of the above to be included in that list, but then again, who the hell do you bump off?
No one among the official 76 is undeserving, each carrying five-star credentials that earned them the accolade.
Which is why I'm not going to waste ink and energy to debate on the topic.
And besides, the voters who came up with the list are far more qualified than I'll ever be.
BORING TITLE SERIES. After a game-and-a-half, exciting and entertaining are two words that can't be used to describe the ongoing PBA finals.
More like predictable and painfully one-sided.
Kume Marcial insisted that this championship was "maganda."
Indeed, beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder.
After blowing out the Hotshots in Game 1, 88-70, TNT went to halftime of Game 2 with a comfortable 66-50 lead [as I write this piece].
Runs happen in basketball all the time and perhaps Magnolia can make it close in the second half but I've already checked out. I got no time to squander and wait for miracles.
The Tropang Giga are simply too good.
Mikey Williams is on a prison break against the Hosthots' supposedly tough guards. And with Ian Sangalang and Paul Lee at less than 100 percent, Magnolia has no chance.
It doesn't help that Calvin Abueva, who is starting after coming off the bench in Game 1, is a harmless participant with just six points at the break.
So let me be the first to say.
Congratulations, TNT. Well done ending a six-year title drought.
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