Got a pleasant surprise from Ronnie Magsanoc prior to the PBL games last March 9. Ronnie and I were scheduled to cover the game between ExcelRoof and Fern-C at The Arena in San Juan for BTV. Minutes before the game, Ronnie gave me a small white plastic bag. I asked what it was. He said I should just look inside the bag. I pulled the contents out and found a complete white “Ronnie Magsanoc” Purefoods TJ Hotdogs jersey set.

A couple of years ago Ronnie gave me a white Purefoods “Magsanoc” jersey top upon learning that I was once dubbed the Ronnie Magsanoc of Ateneo High School Section 3D in 1990. I had the 50-peso buzz-cut and a semifinal finish in the 1990 high school 3-point shoot-out to prove it.

Truth be told, I had the Magsanoc hair-cut but I wasn’t a Magsanoc fan when he entered the PBA. I was a Ginebra fan in high school. And any Ginebra fan of that era hated how Magsanoc routinely hit 3-pointers even while guys like Dante Gonzalgo and Rudy Distrito tried to twist Ronnie’s legs into a pretzel.

I was, however, fond of the 1986 UP UAAP champion team (by accident, I caught the game on TV one lazy Saturday afternoon. Back in the day, they didn’t show all UAAP games live on TV. Shocking right? I still remember Benjie Paras standing on a courtside table, waving his towel during the post-game celebration) and a supporter of Joe Lipa’s Philips Sardines squad in the old PABL. Ronnie, Benjie and other great players bannered those teams.

Nowadays, Ronnie laughs when I remind of him of how young I was when he was still playing in college. Actually, when Ronnie and I cover games, we probably spend more time reminiscing and laughing than actually talking about the game at hand.

For instance, during the Excelroof-FernC game, Ronnie mentioned how lanky Excelroof center Ian Sanggalang reminds him of former 6′6″ Ateneo center and now PBA TV Analyst Danny Francisco. I wholeheartedly agreed.

Then, in one sequence, Sanggalang blocked the shot of Fern-C’s PJ Walsham. I told him on-air that if Sanggalang reminded him of Francisco, Walsham reminded me of former La Salle big man and now Alaska assistant coach Dickie Bachmann. Pareho pa namang mestizo si Walsham and Bachmann. And I do remember how Danny blocked Bachmann’s shots back in the old days. I think Ronnie remembered too. So we chuckled for a good 2 minutes and struggled to contain our giggles for the remainder of the quarter.

One thing bothers me, though. His Purefoods jersey fits me just fine. Either ganun ka-sexy si Ronnie sa PBA or I really need to lose weight ASAP. MH