The Final Score: The beast within Jvee Casio

By now, we’ve all concluded: on a basketball court, Jvee Casio can’t be rattled. You can play in-your-nostrils defense, smack him when he’s taking a three-point shot or pound him with Thor’s hammer when nothing else works, and he’ll still play on. No tantrums. No retaliation. Ask the rugged defenders of the PBA and they’ll swear by it. Casio is annoyingly indefatigable.

Or is he?

[Related: Aces lean on defense as Alaska swallows Ginebra to take Game One]

It’s December 12, 2012. Jvee and his fiancée Jackie are in the car. They’re late for the wedding of Cholo Villanueva and Agnes Tapia. The indefatigable one is about to unravel. He doesn’t want to be late for the wedding of his former La Salle teammate. He doesn’t want to disappoint fellow-members of the wedding entourage. He doesn’t want to arrive at the venue, in his sharp, white long-sleeved shirt and chic metallic silver vest, 45-minutes late.

Like in any come-from-behind situation, Jvee is determined to find a way. He takes one detour. Then, switches to another. Then, decides to gamble on a new route. But Metro Manila is in total gridlock, as if the traffic gods conspired to ruin Jvee’s day. All he can see from his windshield are brake lights. All he can feel is blood rushing to his head. They’re late for the wedding and there’s nothing he can do about it.

Then, it finally happens. For the first time, Jackie witnesses a breakdown. Stuck inside the car somewhere in Greenhills, trapped in a motorcade that refuses to move, Jvee throws his Blackberry phone. It bounces off different parts of the interior like a pinball in a pinball machine. The man who doesn’t know the meaning of pressure, the man who thrives under the weight of ten-point deficits with three minutes left, the man who should register the clutch-four-point play with the DTI, loses his cool. Jackie is stunned.  

“Pwede, kalma lang,” Jackie pleaded. “Ano bang problema mo?”

The realization hits Casio instantly. It was one of his most un-Casio moments.

“Binato ko yung cellphone ko sa loob ng kotse,” Jvee sheepishly admitted. “Nagalit sa akin si Jackie. I learned na wala rin mangyayari.”

Jvee and Jackie laugh about the incident now.

However, it’s still a discovery. So, Jvee has a temper. Even if he rarely uses it the way most people do. Instead, he utilizes controlled rage. In sports, it’s the scariest kind. Go try and enrage Jvee, pester him like you’ve never pestered anyone before, bait him into slamming the basketball off the floor, a move that could lead to a technical foul. He won’t bite. But he’ll get upset. Only he won’t lose it again the way he did on a stressful Wednesday last December.

There’s a beast inside cherubim-faced Jvee, for sure. Yet it isn’t reckless. It is never obvious. It is always purposeful. It strikes when you least expect it. It strikes even when you’re completely ready for it. When he sees red, he no longer loses poise, he just goes out and wins games. - AMD, GMA News