Talk N Text Phonepals

(also known as Pepsi Megas, Seven Up Uncolas, Mobiline Cellulars, Talk N Text Phonepals)



Team History:

They entered in the league in 1990 as one of two expansion teams together with softdrink rival Pop Cola. Life was hard for an expansion team, and nothing prepared them for a 2-28 finish, and lopsided scores that would mark their rookie season. A bright spot was explosive import Derrick Hamilton who had 77- and 78-point games but couldn’t translate those scoring outbursts to wins. In 1992, they renamed their team to Seven-Up Uncolas and just as quickly, their fortunes changed. With NBA veteran Dell Demps leading the Uncolas’ way, the team marched to the finals of the 1992 Third Conference but found the sailing rough against the Tony Harris-led Swift Hotdogs. The team was bannered by veteran players Manny Victorino, Abet Guidaben, Eugene Quilban and Naning Valenciano. Quilban registered 28 assists in 1992, the most by any player in the league’s 33-year history.

Before the 1995 season, Pepsi and Sunkist (Swift) participated in a rare coaching swap that had Derrick Pumaren and Yeng Guiao switching sides. With Guiao at the helm, Pepsi fared worse and dropped to the doormat. In 1997, hopes were big when they drafted Fil-Am Andy Seigle with the draft’s first overall pick, and acquired Jeffrey Cariaso from Alaska but the teams still couldn’t find a way to advance to the finals. In 1998, Head coach Eric Altamirano successfully piloted the team to the 1998 PBA Centennial Cup crown, bannered by an exciting import in Silas Mills.

In 1999, the Phonepals would receive their biggest break when 6-9 Asi Taulava agreed to join the team as their direct-hire Fil-foreign player. Taulava and Seigle would form a solid frontline rotation for the Phonepals but the partnership would be shortlived after Taulava was declared ineligible to play and Andy Seigle would be traded to Purefoods for veteran Jerry Codiñera. Taulava returned to the Philippines after getting a DOJ approval but that still did not change their luck. The team tried their hands on foreign coaches Bill Bayno and Paul Woolpert but couldn’t jumpstart the team. In 2003, Jimmy Alapag came to the team by virtue of the 10th pick in the draft. The Alapag-Taulava Mutt and Jeff combo gave the team a title in the 2003 All-Filipino. The following year, Willie Miller would join the team to make it an awesome threesome but couldn’t lead the Phonepals to a championship. After a year, Miller would be traded to Alaska.

The team boosted their lineup the past two years, getting Renren Ritualo, Don Allado, Yancy de Ocampo, Anthony Washington and Macmac Cardona. The team fell short of what would have been a third PBA title after leading the series 2-3 against eventual champion Alaska.

Review of the 2006-07 Season:

Philippine Cup: Anthony Washington came into the season fully prepared to lead the Phonepals back to the top. He played like a man possessed carrying the Phonepals on his back but the Phonepals still fell short, losing the semi-final duel against Brgy. Ginebra 2-4, despite leading the series after three games. Bookend partners Renren Ritualo and Macmac Cardona proved to be a tough competition to Ginebra’s backcourt pair of Jayjay Helterbrand and Mark Caguioa but the Phonepals’ frontliners were outplayed by their Ginebra counterparts. If there was one thing that best characterized the Philippine Cup campaign of the Phonepals, it was consistency, or simply the lack of it. They won big games against the powerhouses (San Miguel, Ginebra) but lost to teams who were on the tailend (Air21, Welcoat). Yancy de Ocampo returned to the Phonepals’ camp but even that didn’t prevent the team from losing to the Gin Kings. The Phonepals wound up 3rd in the tournament, defeating Red Bull in a one-game affair.

Fiesta Cup: A lot was still hoped for the Phonepals even though they lost three players to the national team pool: Asi Taulava, Renren Ritualo and Jimmy Alapag. They recruited Egay Billones to fill the void left by Alapag and also activated rookies Abby Santos and Jonathan Aldave from the reserved list to fill the other vacancies.
Powered by import J.J. Sulinger, they almost achieve their goal of winning the championship for the Phonepals. Leading the series 3-2, they need only one game to wrap the title up for the team but as fate would have it, Alaska showed they were the hungrier team and much more experienced after carving out two close wins to deny the Phonepals of the crown.

Biggest Blunders:

The Phonepals were one of the strongest teams from 2003-05 what with the backcourt pair of Willie Miller and Jimmy Alapag, plus man mountain Asi Taulava and veterans Vic Pablo and Mark Telan. In the 2004-05 Philippine Cup, the Phonepals made the trip to the finals sans their Fil-Am big man due to citizenship issues. In game 1, Talk N Text management decided to field a still suspended Asi Taulava in defiance of a PBA order. Talk N Text won the game. Asi Taulava, fresh from a long layoff, was rusty and was never a factor in the game. Miller and Alapag essayed the leaders’ role in the team since the conference started. In fact, the ballclub appeared to be playing beautifully without the 6-9 Fil-Tongan. Two days later, the PBA nullified the victory and declared the win in favor of Ginebra. Talk N Text would later declare that Asi will no longer suit for the Phonepals for the rest of the series. They were too late. Ginebra closed the series out in six games.