MERALCO’s game against Eastern last Sunday in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup, which the Bolts won, 88-83, was no ordinary game for its coaching consultant Nenad Vucinic.

He was anxious, maybe even nervous, and it was because he was facing on the opposite bench one of the most important people in his life in the person of Eastern coach Mensur Bajramovic.

It turned out that he and Bajramovic were friends who treated each other like brothers. But their friendship was broken when their former country, Yugoslavia, was torn apart by an inter-ethnic war and the two were separated, each finding themselves living in different countries after Yugoslavia was divided into many different independent states.

Reporters found out about their long friendship and Vucinic was quick to relate how it all began.

“We go back to 1983, when I was a young player and I had to serve in the Army,” said Vucinic. “We were one country. It was called Yugoslavia. He’s from Bosnia. I’m from Serbia.”

“I served the Army in his city. I practiced with the team that he was playing for and he was the one who looked after me,” said Vucinic.

The Meralco active consultant recalled how Bajramovic went out of his way to make life easy for him as being in the military had severe restrictions and limited activity.

“When you are a soldier, you know you cannot go out. So he took me out to his home, and then outside for meals. When I finished the Army, we stayed in touch a little bit,” said Vucinic.

“And then, the war happened between our nations.”

Nenad loses contact with Mensur due to war

The war in Yugoslavia that lasted more than a decade was a global crisis that involved many nations in Europe from the early 1990s to the early 2000s, When the dust settled, what emerged from the former Yugolasvia were independent countries such as Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. There was Croatia, Montenegro, and Slovenia, too.

“We are not a one country anymore,” said Vucinic.

“It’s one of those things that define you as a person in a bad way,” said Vucinic, when asked how difficult it was dealing with the war in their country. “I really suffered because the country broke up and I have still a lot of friends from other countries. And there was a war, there was killing between nations, between his nation and my nation because we have different religion. It was stupid, and it was tough for us,”

The war separated them and it was only about 10 years ago when they were able to get in touch and rekindle their friendship.

“I only contacted him about 10 years ago. And I didn’t know what happened in between,” said Vucinic. “Maybe some of his people, family died in the war. So I wasn’t sure how he was going to react when I contacted him.”

When finally they reconnected, he said both of them were so happy and it seemed like they never separated at all.

Brothers for life

Both had embraced basketball as a life-long career. They were successful in their endeavours but Vucinic seemed not ready for what was in store last Sunday. On the opposite side, coaching guest team Eastern, was his friend Bajramovic.

“He’s like a brother to me. It was very difficult, very emotional for me today to coach against him,” he said. “First time in my life we crossed paths.”

“He’s an unbelievable person. I’m so glad that he’s here, that he can show that his team is playing really well. We had a really good game today and we managed to beat them,” said Vucinic.

Since their reunion a decade ago, Vucinic said they talked almost everyday, even when they were in different countries, exchanging notes about what teams or clubs they were coaching.

But coaching against his friend in the PBA was a total surprise for Vucinic. He said he never thought that their paths would cross, of all places, in the Philippines.

“I was so happy. I was nervous because I have to play against him. I know how good a coach he is. And it’s difficult when coaching against such a close friend,” said Vucinic.

Vucinic admitted it felt surreal that they only faced each other as coaches now.

“It’s weird because I was coaching (the) New Zealand national team. He was coach of Bosnia national team, Syria national team, Kuwait national team. And we never crossed paths,” Vucinic said.

“He coached in Lebanon a year after I coached. So it was like we never crossed paths. And of all (places), (they) come to Philippines, this team came to be a guest team in the PBA is great,” Vucinic added.

The two were foes for a few hours on the Smart-Araneta Coliseum court. But afterwards, like true friends, Vucinic and Bajramovic had a long conversation about the game.

“We are going to meet in about half an hour. There will be a lot of, excuse my language, s**tbeans spoken,” said Vucinic grinning.