The Final Score: Mark Caguioa is Mompo

Sports fans compare one player with another. It doesn’t matter if two players are from different leagues or if they’re playing in different continents. It doesn’t matter if such comparisons are, hmmm, tricky. It only matters that these comparisons underline the relevance of players being compared.

It’s all over my Twitter timeline during Ginebra games. Kobe Bryant is Mark Caguioa. Mark Caguioa is Kobe Bryant. Wait. Before anyone raises an eyebrow, snickers like a cynic or goes hysterical, note that this comparison is more an emotional appraisal and less a head-to-head confrontation. Chillax, they’re not going one-on-one. But I embrace the audacity of their linkage.

Mark and Kobe aren’t leading men in romantic comedies. They’re stubborn cowboys in action movies. They’re not Ben Affleck characters. They’re Bruce Willis at the very core. I’m talking about Bruce Willis in Die Hard 1 (which in my opinion is still the best Die Hard of ‘em all.) Not Rambo. Not The Terminator. No missiles. No robotics. Just old school, wise-cracking John McLane: inflexible, tenacious and, for enemies, just this huge, incredible pain in the neck.

When Mark and Kobe have those scoring binges in the third or fourth quarter of games, when it appears like nothing, not even riot police, can stop them from scoring, I’m reminded of McLane. He is barefoot, running on broken window glass, white sando stained by blood, dirt and sweat, evading gunfire, firing back, trapped inside a skyscraper, the only intrepid soul willing to take on 12 highly armed terrorists.

And McLane totally believes he will win in the end.

So does Kobe.

So does Mark.

And it drives critics and opponents nuts. In one scene, McClane’s heroics forced Hans Gruber, the evil mastermind, to go berserk. Gruber totally loses it. After witnessing Gruber’s tantrum, McClane’s wife proudly declared, “Only John can drive somebody that crazy.”

So Kobe christened himself Vino, which is the Italian word for wine. Caguioa didn’t say he was likewise Vino. Caguioa’s fans did that for him online. Just as well. Check out Caguioa’s last two games: 28 points, 11-of-20 field goals, four rebounds, five assists, one steal, and just one turnover against Talk ‘N Text, 25 points, 5-of-7 three-pointers, seven rebounds, five assists, one steal, and just two errors against San Mig Coffee.

Hence, Caguioa’s fans can’t decide. What is he: Vino, Novellino or Gin? Or as one fan suggested, maybe he is Mompo – the wine used for Sunday Mass. Like there’s a sort of sanctity in all of this. That somehow a good measure of faith is involved in believing in Caguioa. That whenever Mark has the ball, his followers know he will deliver a good move, big basket or crucial victory.

But let’s be real. This Mark-Kobe comparison has a limit. Mark, somewhat embarrassed, said it best during a post-game interview on live television, “Si Kobe Bryant yun.” Yet Mark’s fans, emboldened by the performances of their tenacious cowboy, will surely counter, “Si Mark Caguioa ka naman.” - CLP, GMA News