WITH the 2020 PBA season on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of old games of the league has been seen on television, particularly on Cignal TV’s PBA Rush. It has mostly gained a positive feedback on fans who want to reminisce the good, old days of the league.
A lot of other old PBA games from the historic rivalry of Crispa-Toyota in the 1980s to the exploits of the league’s greats including Ramon Fernandez, Alvin Patrimonio, and Robert Jaworski can also be seen on YouTube and uploaded by fans, bringing nostalgia to the legions of basketball followers all over the world.
Fortunately, fans can expect more old games in the future with the PBA’s efforts to restore old game tapes that contain the rich history of Asia’s first professional basketball league.
Commissioner Willie Marcial said the PBA has in its hand about a thousand tapes of old games which the league plans to restore in order to be shown to the public again. The bulk of tapes, of course, came from its longtime partner Vintage Sports, which carried the games of the league from 1982 to 1999, and are in different formats such as Betamax and VHS.
But Marcial admitted the process of restoration has been difficult with the sheer number of tapes it has on its inventory.
“Mahirap mag-restore. Meron tayong mga 1,000 tapes dito na hindi pa narerestore. Dahan dahan ‘yun at matagal,” said Marcial on the Sports Lockdown online show.
Marcial said the game tapes on hand are from the 1980s and the 1990s. The PBA commissioner noted that, sadly, there are no game footages of the 1970s on hand after the league’s office once got burned and those tapes weren’t salvaged.
The PBA commissioner said that at one time, the league also obtained tapes from the personal collection of former players and coaches in order to add to its video library.
Nevertheless, Marcial said the PBA is making all efforts to save the tapes as a way to also preserve the history of the league that began in 1975.
“’Yung mga lumang tape natin na inaamag, inaayos natin at nililinis. 80s at 90s ang nasa atin,” said Marcial.
So far, the PBA, Marcial said, has restored over a hundred tapes over the years and most of them will definitely be seen by fans due to its current agreement with Cignal to air classic games.
“Sigurado ‘yun kasi may kontrata kami sa Cignal pagdating sa mga archives,” Marcial said.
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