MANILA: In the next few days, the PBA will announce that, for the first time in its history, the All-Star Game and the other side events, will be held in Dubai from March 4-6 next year.

Arab News learned of this developing story on Thursday afternoon, and it certainly is welcome news for a huge number of Overseas Filipino Workers who are in that oil-rich emirate — and even to the others who are nearby — who would want a glimpse of Pinoy-cooked cage action.

It will be a very big delegation traveling to Dubai, practically guaranteeing that all the stars in the league will be flying out to not only play, but mingle with OFWs there.

The PBA has held official games in Dubai for the last three seasons, and Arab News has gathered that the organizers there have made a killing — not only at the tills, but because of so many sponsors willing to come in.

And with an All-Star Game to be held, more sponsors will be even more willing to buy spots for the annual spectacle.

This corner just hopes that — even if we know that taking more than 100 people to Dubai would be a logistical problem that will also be super expensive — tickets would be within reach of the OFWs.

It is, after all, their support in the past that made this All-Star trip possible.

I just hope that the organizers give something back.

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The All-Star festivities have been taken to the provinces by the PBA simply because the event doesn’t attract too many fans in Metro Manila.

The reason is simple: the fans don’t want to see exhibition basketball, they want to see games that provide for high stakes, games that would mean something when won and would make the loser feel very bad after.

Attendance in the PBA these days is very easy to predict.

If the game schedule doesn’t have Barangay Ginebra and is an elimination round game, chances are, one can head straight to the venue and buy his ticket at the box-office. Prime seats are still likely available. If Ginebra is playing, one can be sure that the venue is more than half full. If the Gin Kings are clashing with either San Miguel Beer or Star, it would be close to jampacked.

San Miguel and Star also have followings of their own and can stand alone in an ordinary playdate to bring the crowd in.

Rain or Shine and Alaska have loyal followings that neither need to be given tickets by the players and team officials, while the others, no matter how good they are, continue to struggle at the tills.

Fans of the other ballclubs surface when their teams make the playoffs or the Finals.

The Filipino will spend his hard-earned money and cheer himself hoarse if the stakes are high for his team. In the playoffs, the PBA can stand alone without Ginebra in the schedule, and will be raking ‘em in if the Gin Kings are there.

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So what has happened to fan-following in the PBA nowadays?

In the old days, Crispa and Toyota brought the fans in; Purefoods and Añejo Rum did the same; Ginebra San Miguel later on and then San Miguel, especially during the Beermen’s dynasty that counted a Grand Slam in 1989.

Ginebra has managed to maintain the mystique that it gained during the Robert Jaworski era. The Gin Kings are being followed anywhere they go even after several changes in the lineup.

What made Ginebra tick as a team? What made Purefoods the glamor team in the 1990s and what made people regard that 1989 San Miguel team as probably the best of all time — no offense to Crispa and Alaska, which also completed Triple Crown sweeps — and of course, San Mig Coffee just a couple of years back.

Back in the day when science was not that prevalent in the game for the Filipino players, the fans would come rushing to venues to see their favorite teams play.

It was rough out there, with action literally physical if not downright dirty.

Stories of the enforcers during the day are like fairy tales if you can find someone who saw them and narrate them to you.

It’s the kind of action that the Filipino wants.

Not that the Filipinos don’t dig the science in basketball, but in this country where action is not above-the-rim like the NBA because of its tall players, a different flavor of basketball — like what it was until the 1980s — is what tickled the imagination of the Filipino fans.

Jaworski never played with scientific efficiency, he was all about hard work, determination and the will to win – characteristics that endeared him to fans who up to now are looking for the man who can even come close to be compared to the Big J.

Ramon Fernandez defied logic by being good at everything he does on the court. He was lean, didn’t jump that high, didn’t run that fast but dominated the game in a way only he can.

He was one of the smartest players the PBA has seen, and at this day and age, if only some of our beefier, more athletic centers can get Fernandez’ smarts, he would dominate the league like no one has done before.

Fans are eager to see someone as charismatic as the stars of the old days come to fore. The PBA should, by design, manufacture someone who can be the next Jaworski, Fernandez, Alvin Patrimonio, Atoy Co, etc.

The PBA must make the fans identify themselves to certain players or certain teams. There should never be a gray area for them.

In the old days, it was either you were a Toyota fan or a Crispa diehard. You were either a Jawo follower or a Fernandez supporter.

The PBA needs that to happen again now, more than ever.