It was an interesting night, to say the least. After all, it’s not every day that one gets to hang out and shoot the breeze with the head coach of one’s favorite sports teams. I took advantage of the situation by conducting a no-holds-barred interview with my coaching idol and favorite, Ryan ‘The Genius’ Gregorio of Purefoods. I think it was different from his usual TV interviews, where he gives cliché answers:



PBA super-expert (and fellow Pisay alumnus) Fidel Mangonon organized the get-together, and Patricia Hizon was also on hand because, well, she’s awesome. (Check out her tweets and pictures from the evening.) The conversation was lively and interesting for most of the night, but I think Fidel and Patricia got a little bored when Coach Ryan and I got too into our geeky Purefoods- and UP Fighting Maroons-centric discussions. Most of the things we talked about were off-limits, but we were able to discuss, among other things, Jerry Codinera, James Yap, Marc Pingris, Paul Artadi, the coaching staff, and a bunch of players that Purefoods traded away.

But perhaps my favorite story (that I could tell) from the meet-up came at the end of the evening, when Coach Ryan related how he became a basketball addict. Apparently, his father, former UP Vice President for Administration Martin Gregorio, was a die-hard fan of Tanduay, even before the Elizalde franchise became a glamour team in the PBA. His dad would take the Gregorio boys out to the games, and make a deal with his kids: they could get seats at the upper box section of the venue, or they could go seat at the general admission section and go to Jollibee afterwards. Of course, the boys usually chose the bleacher seat and the Jollibee treat.

Today, almost a lifetime later, three Gregorio boys are all involved in basketball, with Ryan coaching Purefoods, Allan working as an assistant for Smart Gilas, and Patrick being head of Smart Sports. I’m sure their father would have been proud with his sons anyway even if they hadn’t gotten into the game, but man, it must be a really cool feeling for a lifelong basketball fan like Martin Gregorio.