I was dicking around the Internets, and Google news archive, and while they still only have archives of the Manila Standard, wow… you could lose a whole afternoon here. Case in point:

In 1992, San Miguel was playing Purefoods in the finals of the All-Filipino conference. The Beermen took game 1, but the Hotdogs won the next two games. The reigning MVP, Alvin Patrimonio, was the biggest headache for San Miguel coach Norman Black:

Patrimonio has been averaging 31.33 points and 13 rebounds which in Black’s own words, “Is getting away with murder.”

San Miguel ended up winning three of the next four games, capping their victory with a 105-86 victory in game 7. Hector Calma, Samboy Lim, and Mon Fernandez all bounced back in the series, but the biggest star for the Beermen was one Ato Agustin, who keyed a 33-19 fourth quarter run for San Miguel:

[Agustin] sizzled with 12 of his game-high 34 points in the fourth quarter alone. He later said: “Binuhos ko na ang lahat. Nagpahinga nang husto ng dalawang araw at binuhos ko na ang lahat.”

The Atom Bomb ended up winning the league’s MVP award at the end of that season, the most improbable MVP awardee in the history of the PBA.

I also found a gem from Fidel Mangonon from 1994 (yeah, he’s been around that long, hehe). Patrimonio was carrying Purefoods, then known as Coney Island, again as he averaged 20.3 points, 10.9 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 1.7 blocks. There’s another big man mentioned in the story with numbers as impressive, with 23.9 points, 8.6 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and 2.9 blocks a game.

I’ll give you 5 guesses about which big man had those numbers.

Then click here to read.

I have no idea what the fuck happened either.