I was laughing out loud while reading comments by Air 21 team manager Allan Gregorio denying that his team had any plans to trade its top draft picks. “The top rookies will stay. A lot of people thought Al-Hussaini’s comments may have fueled talks that he might be traded. But no. No less than our chairman, Mr. Lina, gave the orders that these rookies will stay and become the cornerstone of our franchise,” he told GMANews.TV.

I found the comments funny because given the track record of Air 21, no one believes that its blue-chip rookies will stay with the team beyond their rookie contracts, and poor Allan is put in a difficult spot.

It made me wonder if his brothers make fun of him during Sunday brunch. Now, millions of people would kill to be in Gregorio’s position as a team manager of a PBA team, but his role pales in comparison to those of his siblings: older brother Patrick Gregorio, known to everyone as Pato, is head of Smart Sports and was the first executive director of the SBP, while younger brother Ryan “The Genius” Gregorio was recently appointed coach and corporate sports head of Meralco after leading Purefoods to three championships.

The Gregorio situation reminded me of another set of celebrity siblings: the Sotto brothers. Pato would be Tito Sotto, because he’s the statesman/corporate-type in the family, and he probably wouldn’t have been able to rise up the ranks if he weren’t a savvy politician. Ryan would definitely be Bosing Vic Sotto, not only because he is the most successful, but also because he resonates with the ladies.

Which leaves us with Allan, who has been overshadowed by his brothers, but has carved out his niche in his own little way – just like Val Sotto. Their careers even have weird parallels:

• Allan’s biggest break as head coach came with the Smart Pampanga Buddies, while Val’s biggest break as a lead actor came with Aguila, and in both cases, their appointments were helped by the fact that their brothers had major pull in the organization (Pato with Smart, Tito and Vic with TAPE). In fairness to both of them, they did pretty well for themselves in these projects.


• Allan’s ongoing assistantship with Smart Gilas is comparable to Val’s run in T.O.D.A.S. Both Gilas and T.O.D.A.S. are beloved by their fans. On the show, Val is most famous for his knock-knock jokes. Making knock-knock jokes is pretty much everything Allan does on the sidelines for Gilas.
  
  (I’m kidding! I’m kidding! This is a joke! I’m sure Coach Allan contributes a lot to the continuing development of the Gilas boys! Although if we stretched this analogy further, Jude Roque would be Spanky Rigor.)


• Allan’s short coaching stints (in the PBL with Mail and More/Burger King, in the UAAP with the Fighting Maroons as acting coach to replace Ryan) are like Val’s short cameos in TVJ film projects (Super Wan-tu-tri, Fly Me to the Moon, Lastikman, etc).


• Allan’s current appointment as team manager of Air 21 is the equivalent of Val’s stint as councilor of Paranaque.

Now all we need is for Allan Gregorio to grow a killer stache. C’mon Coach Allan, you can do it!