There is always life after basketball.
Mikee Reyes seemed headed for a professional career in basketball.
He could shoot the long ball. He could handle the rock. Yes, he was small at just 5-foot-9, but there was a lot of fight in this UP Fighting Maroon. A lot of game.
Things, however, didn’t pan out for Reyes. He bounced around for a while, trying his luck at the next level. Pushing it. Going after his basketball dreams.
Nothing worked out.
But nothing can ever put a good man down.
In 2015, Reyes began dabbling as a sports analyst for NCAA men’s basketball—all while chasing that career in the pros. He’d get a chance here and there, but it just wasn’t meant to be.
Eventually, the chase had to stop for Reyes.
Only the end of one chase birthed another, as Reyes searched for his proverbial second act during the pandemic: becoming a media personality in sports, along the lines of a Bill Simmons or a Dan Patrick or, maybe, a Quinito Henson.
Reyes appears to be winning this particular chase, establishing himself as one of the most viewed sports podcasters in the country over the past three years or so—thanks in large part to his podcast, Shoot First, which featured one ultra-popular segment in WRU Now? (Where Are You Now?).
So, that begs the question: Where is Reyes now?
Well, the man known as “Tito Mikee” is living his best life. Apart from his wins as a social media content creator, he is about to pick up yet another win, this time on television.
Reyes will be the News5's latest sports presenter, being part of no less than the primetime newscast of Frontline Pilipinas. It's an achievement that Reyes still can’t believe—at least not yet, like what his Facebook post seems to suggest.
"If you told me this bagito would one day be on primetime news, KALOKOHAN," the former UP ace wrote on his post, which flaunted a photo of himself as a child.
"Kid's come a long way," he added.
It has been a long, winding road for Mikee. But he’s done a good job and has certainly come a long way.
Catch Tito Mikee on News5 during weeknights for your daily fill of sports action.
(GM)