The wonderful journey of Kevin Alas and how not to miss Justin “Noypi” Brownlee

The road to success is always under construction.— Lily Tomlin American actress and comedian

The never-ending life story of NLEX Road Warriors’ Kevin Alas, one of the PBA’s premier playmakers and the epitome of true sportsmanship, isn’t a joyous one.

Unlike others though, Gilas Pilipinas “Magic Bunot” isn’t ready to give up after suffering his third ACL injury in the ongoing Commissioner’s Cup.

Alas, a star of out Letran in the NCAA, before getting picked second overall by Rain or Shine in the 2014 draft, got injured at the Ynares Center in Antipolo, the same venue of his past two knee injuries. This time, the ever-friendly and humble Alas tore the ACL in his right knee as NLEX bowed to Terrafirma.

While his fans, teammates, and family worry about his fate, the 31-year-old point guard calmly accepted what happened. The fact was, he was composed and drove alone to the Cardinal Santos Hospital in San Juan.

Kevin Alas with wife Selina [photo credit: Kevin Alas Facebook]

“He told me that he doesn’t want to be a burden to his team and besides he has the best nurse in the world-his wife Selina,” Kevin’s father, Louie Alas, who admitted that he was more stressed than his son, recalled.

Unknown to many, Louie, a Quezonian, was once heralded as a future PBA star as a 6-foot-2 playmaker in the late 80s. But two ACL injuries cut short his journey. The former Adamson court general instead used his injuries as a platform for his successes as a coach.

The elder Alas handled Letran, Philippine Patriots in the ASEAN Basketball League, Mobiline, Phoenix and most recently Zamboanga in the MPBL.

To those in the loop, Selina is a cancer survivor, and Kevin during those trying times displayed remarkable courage as he helped his wife on the road to recovery.

Now, it’s Selina’s turn and the countless prayer warriors to help Kevin. His knee is still swollen and he is expected to have an arthroscopic procedure to reconstruct his ACL.

Recovery may take up to 10 months but don’t be surprised if Kevin will be back earlier than predicted. As if any consolation, his previous ACL injuries hit his left knee wearing the dark jersey in March 2018 and February 2019.

Everybody is frightened but Kevin and Selina are being bolstered by their deep faith in the Almighty.

“Prayers,” that’s all his father is asking from Kevin’s supporters.

Kevin Alas suffered another ACL injury in NLEX's loss to Terrafirma on Saturday, November 18. [photo credit: Kevin Alas Facebook] — Kevin Alas suffered another ACL injury in NLEX’s loss to Terrafirma on Saturday, November 18. [photo credit: Kevin Alas Facebook]

In his Facebook post, Kevin wrote:

“My knee may be hurting but my spirit is not broken because I have Jesus Christ in my life
“2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,
3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. ”
-James 1:2-4″

Kevin isn’t sulking and looking forward to the future with confidence and a brave heart.

In Lord God we trust in Jesus’ name, says Louie.

Way to go, Kevin!

Brownlee is not Brown-Less

After a magnificent gold-medal game against Jordan in the Asian Games right in the Chinese homecourt, Justin “Noypi” Brownlee came crashing back to earth after testing positive for prohibitive substance as per the rule of the world’s doping agency.

I am unsure whether Brownlee has already appealed the results but I can tell this: fans are badly missing the charismatic naturalized player. The fact was, crowd-drawer Bgy. Ginebra’s drive to the ongoing PBA Conference is affected by Brownlee’s absence. The league is strict regarding players who test positive for drugs.

Brownlee’s silence is deafening and that is adding to the mystery surrounding his situation. I think, he is still in the US and missing the Philippines a lot. Brownlee’s predicament doesn’t make him Brown-LESS.

For us to lessen the pain of what happened, let us just look back and tell the world that we’re on top of Asian caging since topping the event in 1962.

Come back Justin.

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Dennis Eroa

Columnist at Sports Bytes PH

After 25 years of working with the Inquirer Group of Companies, Dennis decided to make an early retirement due to the pandemic. Formerly a college editor of UE’s The Dawn, Dennis learned the craft from the country’s leading chroniclers of sports namely Recah Trinidad, Al Mendoza,Jimmy Cantor, Chito Manuel and the late Larry Galvez, Doc Inigo and Tito Tagle. In the early 90s, Dennis became a section editor of Riyadh Daily, Saudi Arabia’s first English newspaper. He is an active member and officer of the Philippine Sportswriters Association, Tabloids Organization in Philippines and the Sports Communicators Organization in the Philippines, He covered local and international sporting events while working at Sports Flash, Malaya, Headline, Evening Standard, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Libre and Bandera.