MOST fans were surprised to see the Philsports Arena maple flooring at the SM Mall of Asia Arena on Wednesday night.
For veteran Danny Seigle, it brought back fond memories.
“I was really surprised to see that. I had no idea that they did that (flooring transfer),” said Seigle on the twinbill played on Wednesday at the MOA Arena, which had to borrow the flooring of the former Ultra arena with its own wooden floor under renovation.
“I was looking… ‘PhilSports Arena? We’re playing there again?’ Then I had to look at my schedule before I found out on Twitter it was just the floor,” he said in between laughs.
Seigle said most of his best games with his old team, San Miguel Beermen, were played at the PhilSports Arena, with its old flooring as a silent witness.
The former Wagner College standout won a total of six championships with the Beermen, with his first ever PBA title in the 1999 Commissioner’s cup fought and won at the Pasig city court.
“It brought back very good memories. I remember winning a lot of ballgames there,” said the now Barako Bull Energy Cola star forward. “It’s been years since we last played there. I don’t even remember when.”
After the NBA reportedly demanded a refurbishing of the MOA Arena flooring, PBA had to borrow the Philsports hardcourt for the games to push through at the state-of-the-art coliseum, which only opened on June 16, 2012.
A preseason game between the Houston Rockets and the Indiana Pacers will be played at the MOA arena on October 10, the reason the NBA asked for the flooring's refurbishing.
Unfortunately for Seigle, the PBA will only use the borrowed PhilSports Arena flooring at the MOA Arena on Saturday, Sunday and Friday next week, with no Barako Bull games scheduled on those dates.
Seigle said: “It would have been nice to see the old floor. The old hardcourt!”
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