The PBA was obviously elated over the success of the quarter final series in which the two San Miguel Corporation teams – Barangay Ginebra and Purefoods – joined San Miguel Beer in the semi finals with only the Alaska Aces left to carry the struggle to prevent a family affair in the finals.
PBA officials can gloat all they want over the success in packing the Araneta Coliseum on Sunday with over 21,000 fans but that wasn’t unexpected considering the fact that Ginebra and Purefoods are the two most popular teams in the league with a rabid following and because it was sudden death in both games, the faithful came out in droves.
But in the end, while PBA chairman Lito Alvarez, Commissioner Sonny Barrios and finance man Jimmy Sunglao may be on cloud nine as the cash registers jingled, they better realize that the ends do not justify the means if they can appreciate the implications of what we are saying.
In any endeavor, most of all in sports, integrity must remain non-negotiable. But sad to say, there are several instances of sullied integrity in the pro league where the quality of wholeness is often non-existent and a penchant to cover-up shenannigans as in an old boys club takes place..
My favorite team from the days of the “Living Legend” Robert Jaworski, Ginebra, deserved to win Game 5 but whether they deserved to win games three and four aided by the Talk N’ Text walkout last Friday is at the very least questionable.
The statistics cited by coach Chot Reyes are hard to refute even though JongUichico tried hard and did a decent job at it. One has to look at the games in their totality to appreciate what has been happening in this league in the recent past in particular and understand the background. Having been associated with the PBA since its inception in 1975 and involved in a small way with the eminent lawyer-sportsman Rudy Salud in pinning down corrupt referees whom he didn’t hesitate to fire the moment he assumed office, we know whereof we speak.
When the no-nonsense Salud fired 50 percent of the referees either for their lack of integrity or incompetence, it told a tale of sordid happenings of gambling syndicates and game fixing.
In the Talk N’ Text – Ginebra game several people told us that the Flagrant Foul 2 call by Trongy Aldaba that resulted in a key player, Ranidel de Ocampo being ejected and suspended from playing in Game 5 which hurt Talk N’ Text no end, took several minutes. That the referee kept looking up to where Commissioner Sonny Barrios and officials consultant Romy Guevara were seated raised suspicions, unfairly perhaps, that the referee was waiting for a signal on what call to make.
Commissioner Barrios is reported to have said that he couldn’t alter the call because it was a judgment call. Wasn’t he the one who upgraded a Flagrant Foul 1 to 2 slapped on James Yap in the last conference?
But what we felt was in a sense out of order was for Robert Non who is the Ginebra alternate governor although he is often known to speak for San Miguel Beer, to lecture Talk N’ Text coach Chot Reyes saying Chot’s quoting of statistics was a lame excuse to justify the walkout. And that there are ways to voice their displeasure, if there is reason to do so, and not finishing the game is not one of them. He said “its unjust to the fans, unfair to the PBA organization, unprofessional for a professional team like Talk N’ Text and unsportsmanlike.”
This sportsmanship bit is being milked to the limit. If a team is being virtually screwed by the referees day in and day out, to continue to play instead of making a dramatic statement to draw attention to the irregularity would mean being a willing victim and in effect party to a crime.Remember Ginebra did it several years ago when the respected Bernabe Navarro said integrity was more important than participating in a charade.
As for the statistic that Ginebra is the team that fouls the least as evidenced by the stats Non quoted…that is precisely the point!. Ginebra has been pampered all along in recent years. With attendance figures down rather dramatically and TV ratings also taking a dive, giving our friends from Solar Sports nightmares in trying to recover their substantial investment, it seems the only way to turn the situation around was to ensure that the most popular team survives.
We are nonplussed by Mr. Non’s lecture on sportsmanship. Does he honestly believe that it serves the sportsmanship he espouses to have three teams in a league of ten teams which is now further dramatized by the fact that three of the four teams in the semi finals are owned by the same corporation turning the semis into what looks like an inter-department tournament?
Was it sportsmanlike for San Miguel Beer, the champions of the last conference to buy such an outstanding player as Arwind Santos to further reinforce a champion team. Santos incidentally was No.2 in statistics in the MVP race. Is this what you call maintaining competitive balance and having the best interests of the league in mind? And wasn’t the San Miguel Corporation trying hard to even get Japeth Aguilar after Burger King drafted him and before they peddled him to Talk N’ Text who, in fairness to them kept their word and released Japeth to the Smart Gilas national team?.
Earlier in the conference there were rows and rows of empty seats and our longtime friend and PBA lover, former Pasig Mayor Mario Raymundo often looked a forlorn figure as he faithfully watched the games hoping that something would happen to bring the fans back and keep the league alive. It has happened or has been made to happen and as we understand in the process saved the necks of one or two individuals in the league. Question is, at what price?
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