Games Today (Araneta Coliseum)
5 p.m. — Rain or Shine vs Burger King (for third)
7:30 p.m. — Ginebra vs San Miguel

Can San Miguel Beer quench its thirst for a championship?”

From the looks of it, the Beermen have almost everything at their disposal but their success depends largely on how they perform against coach Jong Uichico.

Interestingly, Uichico, who guided them to their last championship four years ago, will be the one calling the shots for crowd darling Barangay Ginebra when they unravel their “Sister Act 4” in the PBA Fiesta Cup starting today at the Araneta Coliseum.

While both teams belong to the same family – San Miguel Corporation – it’s a known fact that both squads hate each other so well, thus making their best-of-seven title series a must-see by all ages.

For one, the match-ups are intriguing, and so are their ambitions.

Both are pampered by the big bosses but only one will be treated like a king at the end of an expected grueling series.

San Miguel enjoys a 2-1 edge in their championship duel but things appear on equal footing this time.

Overall, both teams are figuring in a playoff series for the ninth time overall in the last 20 years, although this will be the fourth time that they will collide in a championship series.

The two ball clubs, set to clash at 7:30 p.m., have a combined 25 PBA titles with San Miguel owning the most with 17.

Under coach Norman Black, SMB won the 1989 Reinforced Conference over Robert Jaworski’s Anejo (4-1) on their way to a rare Grand Slam feat. Uichico then steered the squad to a 4-2 victory over Ginebra in the 2001 All-Filipino Cup.

The Kings ended San Miguel’s domination two years ago when Uichico was shipped to the league’s most popular squad two years ago.

Clashing at 5 p.m. are Rain or Shine and Burger King with the Elasto Masters, owned by Raymund Yu and Terry Que going for their best finish in three seasons.

The winner in the one-game face-off will end up third which Rain or Shine is hoping to achieve after making it only to the quarterfinal round last conference.

“Making it to the semis is already an achievement for us but if we finish third that will mean a lot more for us,” said Yu.