Rooting against Sol Mercado is tough, because he's just so good. This brings back memories of his Rain or Shine days where he was a nightmare to the Coca-Cola Tigers (and us fans).
Seems like we'll be rooting against him again now.
 |
| "Choo-choo!" |
And that crossover? Man, what a beauty to watch. Of course I could never forget how he crossed Derek Fisher (twice!) when the NBA stars came here to play. His "Sol-Train" monicker is perfectly fitting. When you see him coming, you better move out of the way or you're going to be run over. He's almost unstoppable at times. He brought "bully-ball" to the PBA.
I've always admired Sol Mercado's exciting brand of play, even before he came to GlobalPort. That's why I was so stoked when he became a Batang Pier last year. He teamed up with Gary David in what figured to be an explosive backcourt. Later on, he would form the "MMDA" connection with Willie Miller, David and Japeth Aguilar. That squad didn't have much success though, or maybe the management gave up too easily on making it work out.
As to why that didn't pan out, Sol is definitely not to blame. He put up great numbers for the team during his brief stint here. Just last conference, he averaged a career-high 19 points per game (3rd in the league), to go along with 5 assists (5th in the league) and 4 rebounds.
The great thing about Sol was that he never whined despite the team's struggles, or at least not publicly. He never demanded for a trade. He just continued to deliver what was required of him, and even more. Last year, Mercado decided to go against the doctor's advice of having shoulder surgery (which would've sidelined him for 4 to 6 months), so that he could join the team in the season-ending Governor's Cup.
When the team decided to rebuild and trade away the veterans, Mercado willingly went along with the plan and even pledged to take the young rookies under his wing. As brief as Sol's stay in GlobalPort may be, he showed that he was a true Batang Pier.
And we thank you for that, Sol Mercado.
Roar out.
