The Final Score: Ginebra vs Talk 'N Text -- a PBA rivalry for all reasons

Okay, I feel like I'm building-up the series, even if it doesn't need it. My apologies. But I can't help it. Ginebra against Talk N' Text is as close to a PBA post-season rivalry one can get. Doesn't have the long history of Ginebra-Purefoods/B-Meg for sure. Ginebra-Alaska even has more kontra-pelo appeal. But in the context of championship match-ups -- between team owners who can acquire planets, between playing styles which contradict, between front-lines which can topple buildings -- an oncoming series is rife with conflict. Let's start from the top. Ginebra is an SMC team. Talk N' Text is under the PLDT umbrella. Ramon S. Ang (RSA) watches over Ginebra. Manuel V. Pangilinan (MVP) watches over TNT. I'm not sure exactly how much RSA and MVP own, but I'm sure it's more than what I can count. And by golly, one seems to be counting what the other has or has yet to acquire; gamesmanship of the gazillionaire kind. I think I understand it. Paramihan ng zeros and comas right? Okay, maybe I don't. So one claims, "Oh look, I just bought the Star Trek USS Enterprise...ahem ahem, the real thing." The other must counter, "Ah really, well I just bought a Star Wars Imperial Destroyer...ahem ahem, the real thing too." Then, they both complain about finding premium parking space for their latest, massive, larger-than-what-I-can-comprehend acquisitions and share a hearty laugh. How on earth can I relate? Still, I can try to appreciate how two admirals of commerce put two teams together (in the same way they assembled their other teams), stocked each line-up with grand reputations, big names and fat contracts, burdened them with the God-given responsibility to win, placed upon them the challenge to be as successful as they are, and more importantly, to ensure that one team owner is indeed better than the other. The corporate rivalry between Ginebra and Talk N' Text isn't sexy, won't sell tickets, can't start a fracas, but it's there, undeniably contributing to the animosity between title contenders. The only way, therefore, most people can lose voices, rupture lungs cheering for or against RSA and MVP is if they strap on boxing gloves and go 12 rounds with all their properties on the line. Otherwise, their warring check-books serve only as backdrop for a series between teams not averse to aches and pain. When Robert Labagala guards Jimmy Alapag up until the nostrils, when Willie Miller and Mark Caguioa wrestle for playing time, when Chot Reyes resists the urge to walk-out, when Jong Uichico resists the urge to mouth-off, when Ronald Tubid shuts someone down, when Jason Castro runs someone over, and when the collective brawn of Brumfield-Hatfield-Mamaril-Menk-Harris-Williams-Carey-Peek go muscle on muscle WWE Smackdown-style, I can easily relate. These are the more simplified chasms in a rivalry both magnates and mortals can identify with. - GMA News