They have been there for more or less a month now.
They may have been long retired from professional basketball, but the members of the PBA Motoclub are still at it.
The group, which included PBA greats like Willie Miller, Jayjay Helterbrand, and Marc Pingris, is currently on the tail end of their Canadian tour where they play ball with fellow Filipinos.
So far, they won six of their seven legs in the North American country spanning 30 days, with the final game coming up on Sunday in Montreal.
Injuries begin to hound these retired ballers, though. Pingris said he is nursing a swollen knee after a game against a Filipino squad in Toronto.
“Part ng trabaho natin ‘yan e. Hindi naman natin kagustuhan ‘yun,” said the Pinoy Sakuragi in Jerwin Gaco’s YouTube video. Also in the tour are Cyrus Baguio, KG Canaleta, Billy Mamaril, JC Intal, and Ryan Araña, who has recently been keen on dishing out his takes on basketball and life.
Gaco couldn’t agree more with Pingris, saying while they’re having fun and being taken good care of, fatigue is beginning to take a toll on on them.
“Lahat naman tayo halos may nararamdaman kasi 'yung biyahe at pagod natin nagsama-sama na,” he said.
But if there’s one thing this tour has proven so far, it’s that they’re still, in the words of Rico Maierhofer, on top of the food chain as far as “dayo series” is concerned. "Dayo series" was popularized by Mavs Phenomenal as they went from one place to another to challenge its best players to a game of basketball.
“Top of the food chain sa dayo serye,” he said.
Helterbrand chimed in, though, reminding Maierhofer that gamer and influencer Ako Si Dogie’s team beat them in an exhibition match in Urdaneta, Pangasinan.
“Pwede sabihin ni Dogie na sila ‘yung top of the food chain kasi tinalo nila tayo,” he said.
But these ballers remain competitive as ever. And it appears a rematch is already in the works.
“Sabi ni Ping pag-uwi may part two naman,” Maierhofer said with a smile.
That will definitely be fun. What's even more fun would be to see how they would fare against current PBA players.
But before that happens, Pingris gave props to everyone who made this tour happen.
“Shoutout sa mga tumulong sa’min from Day 1. Salamat sa lahat ng mga taong nagpakain sa’min, sa lahat ng sponsors,” he said.
Watch the whole video below: