The Final Score: Jared Dillinger’s extreme PBA adventure continues

You still remember Jared Dillinger, right?

You know, the guy who won PBA championships with Talk ‘N Text? He’s the dude who plays a lot of basketball with some skateboarding flair. It’s like he always plays with rock and roll in his ears.

Perhaps this can help: power forward body, wingman skills and two-guard speed. His fans call him Daredevil; it’s an impeccable sobriquet.

Remember him?

Or do you recall something else? Perhaps you remember someone’s car crash in April. Perhaps you remember someone traded away from Talk ‘N Text in June. Perhaps you remember someone losing his Gilas slot before August. Perhaps, once you finally remember who Jared Dillinger is, you’ll remember how he slipped off the basketball map in 2013, so suddenly, so unexpectedly.

24 hours before he was scheduled to fly back to Manila from Los Angeles, California last September 19, Jared sent me a lengthy e-mail message. It begins with the line:

“Where do I start?”

I reached out to Jared after I saw a video he posted on Instagram last September 16.

In the short video, Jared is on a clear driveway, pushing two loading posts on a metal Prowler sled. The Prowler sled is a brutal device. There are two heavy, gigantic plates secured in each of the two loading posts on the rear end of the sled. This machine, which strengthens legs, hips and arms, looks unforgiving. It is definitely way less cheerful than Santa’s sled.

Jared, whose neck veins are popping out, looks like he’s trying to push a Mini-Cooper with the handbrake still on. He’s in a body-fit sando, royal blue hoop shorts, and a pair of white sneakers. With his pony-tailed-samurai-hairstyle and thick beard, he reminds me of Tom Cruise in The Last Samurai. Think of Cruise undergoing arduous sword training when he was in that isolated village in Japan, that’s Jared.

Jared, who needed to have his pelvis realigned after his car accident, continued to write:

“In the beginning before I was able to do any sort of training I had to do rehab for a solid month. I went everyday which lasted about five hours, it was so boring LOL. On top of that I was allowed to swim and do yoga three times a week since those were considered low impact exercises. So everyday I woke up at the crack of dawn, went to rehab and then followed with either yoga or swimming.”

In March of 2012, I saw a framed poster of pro skateboarder, filmmaker, musician, television star and thrill-seeker Bam Margera in Jared’s house. Margera, who risks injury and infamy on the MTV show Jackass, is, by most accounts, a jackass. He falls off a 100-foot waterfall in a kayak, with little to no kayaking experience, and breaks his hernia in the process for kicks. I respect that some view this as inspired work. By the way, Margera’s fans also call him Daredevil.

Jared said that framed poster of Bam Margera is going to be replaced with a poster of Mike Tyson.

The connection between Margera and Dillinger is both cautionary and poetic.

I don’t know if Jared’s basketball contract prohibits him from zipping through subdivisions on a longboard. I do know what that contract doesn’t outlaw:

1. Chasing a loose ball that’s headed for the front row seats like it’s the last ticket out of Pluto.

2. Guarding opponents like they’re mortal enemies.

3. Scoring on drives as if your life savings depended on it.

3. Playing like a basketball wildman for all the right reasons.

Jared continued to share in his e-mail message:

“After rehab, I really got after it and my days would be filled with training and skill work. I'd have two a days sometimes three a days for my daily regimen depending my schedule with my family.”

“For example, my day would start at 7am and I’d do training similar to what you saw in the videos. I would take an hour break, eat lunch, see my daughter then go back to the gym for basketball skill work.”

“Afterwards, I would go home eat dinner then go back to the gym and lift weights. All in all, my days in the gym would last anywhere from 6-8 hours a day. On my day off I’d feel so guilty that I would still go to the gym for 3-4 hours.”

Just before Flight PR103 from Los Angeles to Manila took off, Jared sent me a photo.

In a nice family snapshot, he was already seated in the plane along with his lovely wife Eunice and their baby daughter Haven. Jared and Eunice flashed wide smiles. Haven, strapped snugly inside Jared’s front baby carrier (like a “frontpack” for babies), appeared relaxed even with a 14-hour flight ahead.

Haven’s daddy, the audacious rebel of the hardcourt, was headed back to Manila, ready to rejoin the PBA, eager to play for his new team, Meralco, raring to regain his spot in the basketball universe.

We managed to exchange direct messages on Twitter before their plane left LAX.

Me: Please tell me you haven’t shaved off that Last Samurai beard of yours.

Jared: I’m keeping the beard Mico.

Me: How excited are you to get back on the court?

Jared: Plane is about to take off. Anyway I'm anxious to get back on the court and play the game that's treated me so well! I've been training hard and keeping up with team. Oops got to go now. Flight attendants are getting on my ass. See u Mico.

Maybe that’s what it is: an unfinished conversation. Yeah. Jared’s career is still an unfinished conversation between a man and his sport, between a man and his determined ways. Once he returns, the dialogue continues. Yet the dialogue might no longer revolve around the old Dillinger we remember. It might revolve around the new Dillinger we have yet to meet.

I remember Jared Dillinger: the one who might still be playing for Talk ‘N Text, the one who was supposed to compete for a slot on the national team, the one who could have had a shot at a silver medal, plus a place in history, if an ill-timed car crash didn’t intervene.

Remember him?

Regret, however, is not for wild men.

The best daredevils will try a stunt on vert ramp, crash, burn, and snap back up if their limbs will allow it. Then, they’ll quickly recover, refocus and, as God as their witness, try the damn stunt all over again. Only this time, they’ll vow to do it correctly, perfectly, and successfully.  - AMD/OMG, GMA News