It was the day before Rich Alvarez' birthday last year, October 29, 2008, he was a Redbull player then and after their game, we heard talks of him getting traded to what we first heard was to Talk and Text. The next day, his birthday, he was traded to Purefoods. I'm not the only one who was glad with that trade. Most of the Purefoods fans I know already appreciate him, back then with Ateneo and with all the other teams he had been through. I remember I was able to watch his draft then, the 1st PBA Annual Draft I attended live. Although we already heard that Purefoods will definitely get James Yap, I was still hearing that Alvarez might go to Purefoods considering that the team will have this one and that, those kind of humors. He was drafted by Shell, number one over all and he just deserve it. Then there's the controversy after his first game where he was benched the entire game but at the end of the season he proved to be ready for the big league and was named Rookie of the Year. After that was many ups and downs to his career. He was signed by Alaska, then to Redbull and suffered an ACL injury. It was another blow and another sad news for him and the fans as well. Back then, I'm not a big fan of Rich, but I really like his game. He is like another Rey Evangelista for me. Simple and hardworking. So with Redbull, we started cheering for him with all my other favourite players namely Larry Fonacier and Cyrus Baguio. And his basketball talent is not the only reason why many like this guy. He is really one if the coolest and nicest player there is towards a fan. And I'm pretty sure many will agree on that. He not only just pose for a picture, nor just signed autographs. He usually said "hi" to all, always held his hands for fans to shake, ask some more questions like "how do you do?", and smiles warmly and sincerely. Even after a loss or a bad game, you can approach him just the same and he doesn't seem to have a bad mood. He appreciates fans as much as fans appreciates him.
He is with Ginebra now and I'm sure he will have more fans coming for him. Especially now, he really is providing quality minutes with his tough defense, his superb rebounding, his all round hustle and continuous hard work inside the court. And still being the coolest outside the court. And that's one more reason for fans to watch PBA and still enjoy it.
Even a Purefoods fan like me will continue to support and cheer for a Ginebra player like Rich Alvarez. And will somehow pray, that he can go back to Purefoods. Even if it's wishful thinking.
---undesirablenumber1---
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