From SAN-MI-GUEL to MAG-NO-LIA

From Malaya online:

From Beermen to Beverage Masters

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BY NOLI CORTEZ

ONLY the name was changed, not the determination to succeed.

That was how San Miguel Beer management explained the reason for the change in moniker – from Beermen to Magnolia Beverage Masters – of the team that will see action in the 33rd PBA season that starts on Oct. 14 at the Araneta Coliseum.

"We expect the Magnolia Beverage Masters to carry on the winning tradition of the San Miguel Beer team," said San Miguel Beverages Inc. president Robert Huang in a media conference yesterday in which the team’s new name and look was bared.

Bernie Marquez, SMBI general manager for domestic operations, said the players are also expected to act as ambassadors of the firm’s beverage lines that include Magnolia Health Tea and Fruit Drinks as well as Magnolia Pure Water.

Hopes for the team doing well and adding on to the Beermen’s PBA-best 17 championships have not been diluted, however.

Observers believe this team has what it takes to improve on its runner-up finish in last year’s Philippine Cup, its pre-season top seeding brought about mainly by the acquisition of sniper Larry Fonacier and draft picks Samigue Eman and Jonas Villanueva.

They are expected to greatly bolster a lineup already well-stocked with the likes of Danny Ildefonso, Dondon Hontiveros, Danny Seigle, LA Tenorio, Olsen Racela, Wesley Gonzales, Chris Calaguio, Lordy Tugade, Willie Wilson, Gabby Espinas and Dorian Pena, who is expected to be fully recovered and 100 percent game-fit from a foot surgery when he rejoins the team in mid-December.

As is his wont, head coach Siot Tanquingcen preferred to downplay his team’s chances.

"I must admit, this team is loaded with talent," said Tanquingcen. "But traditionally, it’s how a team transfers its strength from paper to the playing court that matters. We still have to do that."

The threats posed by Talk N Text and Alaska should also not be taken lightly, added the two-time champion coach with Ginebra. The only way to do that, he stressed, is to achieve the vital chemistry.

""We have to have everybody on the same page and play our game the way it should be played," Tanquingcen said.

For the record, the SMC team, one of the league’s pioneers in 1975 as Royal Tru-Orange, had played under the brand name Magnolia in the 1984-85 and 1986-87 seasons.

It carried the name San Miguel Beer first in the 1980-81 campaign and, seemingly for good, in 1987-88.

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