by Waylon Galvez
San Miguel Beer’s June Mar Fajardo already owns a number of records in the PBA – most notably earning his fifth Most Valuable Player award.
But the one thing he cherishes to savor the most is winning a Grand Slam.
“Lahat kami gusto manalo ng Grand Slam,” said Fajardo following the Beermen’s shocking 121-88 defeat to the NorthPort Batang Pier on Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
But to win the mid-season conference, Fajardo said they have to stay focused on the task ahead and keep the hunger factor in them.
The 6-foot-10 center from Cebu considered their defeat – the franchise’s worst in years – as an early wake-up call.
“Good thing first game pa lang namin,” said Fajardo.
Knowing full well that everybody’s slogan now is “beat San Miguel at all costs”, Fajardo suggests that they have to play with more vigor and fire in their succeeding games to regain their deadly form.
“Ito yung best time na magsama-sama kami,” said Fajardo. “Ilang beses na din kami nandito sa ganitong sitwasyon.”
“Aware naman kami na hindi ganoong kadali na manalo (Grand Slam),” said Fajardo, who had 19 points in the setback to NorthPort.
“One conference at a time kami, tapos na yung all-Filipino, so ngayon second conference, kailangang doblehin yung kayod, kung pwede triplihin yung hard work,” he added.
The team of coach Leo Austria has a couple of days to figure things out before renewing their rivalry with TNT KaTropa.
In the history of the league, it was the fabled Crispa squad which did the trick first in 1976 before repeating it seven years later. San Miguel claimed the league’s third Grand Slam during the 1989 season before Alaska joined the club of Grand Slam winners in 1996.
The last team to capture a Grand Slam was San Mig Super Coffee in 2014.
Hopefully, Fajardo, 29, can feel what Grand Slam is all about.
