I once read in a Mario Puzo book how powerful money can be especially when used for the appropriate purpose. "Money is magic" written in one of his books to directly quote, but I've never truly realized what this saying really meant until a week before Smart and PLDT's All Star Basketball Weekend.
Kobe Bryant went straight to China after finishing up on his Manila visit as part of his Asian tour. Kobe fans, and basketball fans in general were still in awe because of his visit at the Fort Bonifacio High Street and Araneta Coliseum. Residual talks here and there could not be avoided, a natural effect Kobe has on with his fans. It was inevitable, where ever I went, the topic always seemed to pop up, "awesome event they had in Araneta!" "I was in High Street for Kobe's promotion in front of Nike, were you there?". Little did we all know that something more explosive was being cooked up. A bigger fish was being fried.
A few days after Kobe left, speculations about another tour, this time having more NBA superstar players present, spread. And yes, it was true. According to various sources, a quick and easy negotiation happened--and it helped that an NBA lockout was announced, for several superstars to make an appearance here in Manila for a weekend scrimmage against the local association's all stars, and the Smart Gilas national team.
Derrick Fisher, James Harden, Javale Mcgee, Tyreke Evans, and headliners Chris Paul aka CP3, Derrick Rose, Kevin Durant, and once again, Kobe Bryant were in freight to have Manila basketball fans held in excitement that, as I put it, was even in levels never seen before in this territory.
It was simply priceless. The mere fact that the people behind the show was able to make a basketball superstar turn around and say hey, 'go back and have a game, we need you down there, oh and bring your buddies with you.' is just absolutely incredible and simply sends that message that they have the power to do it. So i go back to the saying "money is magic".
Incredible isn't it?
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