Will Pilo exchange seats with wife?

By Eddie G. Alinea
Manila Times
October 7, 2007

A keen observer would notice that in Game 1 of the UAAP men’s basketball best-of-three title series, Pilo Pumaren was at La Salle’s side of the Araneta Coliseum while his wife Marietta stayed behind the bench of the University of the East.

Pilo’s elder son Franz is coach of the Green Archers while younger son Dindo is handling the Red Warriors.

In Sunday’s Game 2, the parents of the feuding siblings would have to exchange places with Pilo going to the UE side of the playing venue and Marieta or “Yeyet” to relatives and friends, will occupy the seat where her husband was two days ago.

Following the Archers’ 64-63 victory that moved them within a win of clinching the UAAP championship, however, Pilo said that the switching of places might not happen as the La Salle community, from school officials to the alumni, to players, had requested him to remain where he was Thursday.

“Suerte daw ako doon, so pakiusap nila, huwag na lang”

Pilo revealed when he appeared in Friday’s SCOOP weekly session at the Kamayan Restaurant on Padre Faura. “Hindi ko lang alam kung seryoso sila, but I think our sitting arrangement will follow.”

“Pareho naman namin silang anak at kahit na sino manalo sa kanilang dalawa, magiging masaya na rin kami. Siyempre malungkot yung matatalo, but that’s the game of basketball is all about or any sports for that matter. May nanalo at may natatalo. Maybe it’s sadder if some other fellow wins, pero kung kapamilya, OK na rin,” said Pilo, a former UE mainstay himself and coach.

Asked how their union has produced three talented and winning coaches (Derrick is coaching Talk ’N Text in the PBA while the eldest child, Filomeno 3rd, did not choose basketball as a career), Pilo retorted they just followed what he had advised them.

“Parang abogado, kapag ang tatay ay abogado, most often, magiging abogado rin ang mga anak. Kapag doktor, ganun din,” Pilo explained.

“What I told them was that it’s OK if you follow my career as a player. Pero maliliit naman kayo kaya hindi gaanong sisikat. Piliin nyo na lang yung career na sisikat kayo gaya ng coaching. So there, they chose that calling at medyo nag-excel naman sila,” he added.

Forced to comment on UE’s loss that deprived the Warriors of what could have been a record 15-0 winning run, Pilo replied: “OK naman yung play. Na-execute naman. Kaya lang, bakit yung last shot ni Borboran sa three-point area? Puwede naming ilapit at percentage-wise mas maganda.”

“Then yung follow up ni Arellano, bakit tip-in? He could have held on with the ball then followed it up, baka nakakuha pa ng foul at mabigyan ng free shot. Isa lang ang lamang kaya posible pang ipanalo,” he analyzed. “Isa yun sa mga lessons na dapat matutuhan.”

“Anyway, I told Dindo to tell his boys not to lose heart. They lost by a mere point despite committing 31 turnovers which Franz’s boys translated to 25 points. Ibig sabihin, breaks of the game lang ang kinatalo.”

“Gaya nang sabi ng iba, If UE plays its best and La Salle also plays its best, UE will win. Sa Game 1, maganda ang inilaro ng La Salle samantalang ang UE masama ang inilaro kaya natalo ng one point,” Pilo surmised.

Pilo, who as a Warrior in the 50s gave a pair of UAAP championships and a pair of National Intercollegiate crowns and, as a coach, three UAAP titles and another pair of Intercollegiate championships, betrayed where his heart belongs when he said:” Buti na lang sa Game 1, nangyari ‘yun. May tsansa pang makabangon.”