GREAT teams are judged not only by winning championships.
Achieving a grand slam should be part of the discussion.
Champion coach Norman Black and cage great Ramon Fernandez both agreed that for a team to be mentioned among the PBA's greatest, showing a Triple Crown badge is a must.
"Whether you like to admit it or not, that's the standard," said Black, the man who authored San Miguel Beer's grand slam season in 1989. "You have to win three straight conferences for you to win the grand slam and for you to be known as a grand slam team."
"To be really considered a great team, you've got to experience winning a grand slam definitely," added Fernandez, one of the anchors of the Beermen back then.
Both Black and Fernandez appeared in the Power&Play radio program of former PBA commissioner Noli Eala over Radyo Singko 92.3 NewsFM, and looked back at what the Beermen pulled off more than three decades ago.
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Only four teams in the 45-year history of Asia's pioneering pro league that a team achieved the rare feat. The fabled Crispa Redmanizers were the first to do the trick in 1976 followed by another one in 1983, then San Miguel (1989), Alaska (1996), and San Mig Coffee (2014).
The Redmanizers were the only team to score two grand slams, while Tim Cone is the only coach to do the feat twice.
June Mar Fajardo and the San Miguel Beermen had a shot on accomplishing the rare act last season, but faltered in the homestretch.
It was the second time this same batch of Beermen came short of attaining a grand slam after a similar failed bid in 2017.
Completing the special feat is not just a walk in the park.
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"We know the pressure involved that even if you win those first two conferences, but if you don't win the third one, you basically didn't do anything. That's how people feels about it," said Black, who now coaches the Meralco Bolts.
What made that 1989 'slam' season a memorable one too, according to Fernandez, was it marked the first time the San Miguel franchise won the All-Filipino title.
"I'm proud of that. It's the first time San Miguel won the All-Filipino," said Fernandez, the league's four-time MVP and now a PSC commissioner.
The SMC franchise has since won a total of eight Philippine Cup championships, including the last five courtesy of Fajarado and Co.
But a grand slam remains elusive for this present-day batch of Beermen.
It's not that easy as Black stressed.
"It takes a lot of greatness to win three straight (titles)," he said. "You can asked Baby Dalupan, although he's not here anymore, but you can ask Tommy Manotoc, Tim Cone, any coach who had coached a grand slam team team knows how difficult it is to win a grand slam." (RG)
