The Imaginary PBA Third Conference

If this was anywhere between 2005 to 2010, the current PBA season would be over. But since one of the country’s national mottos is “Bola muna bago dro…” …er, I mean “We can’t get enough of basketball” (yeah, I’m making this one up), the PBA will give us the Governor’s Cup in just a few days.

But imagine having this kind of third conference for the PBA.

The 12 teams will be divided into four groups, with the top four teams with aggregate win-loss record of the two conferences having their spot in each group. The other eight will be determined by draw lots. In the first round Groups A, B, C, and D will play a single round robin among their groupmates. The top two teams of each Groups A and B will form Group E, and same will happen with Groups C and D to form Group F. In the second round the teams will carry over their standings from the first round excluding the game they played against the eliminated team and play another single round robin among their groupmates except for their groupmate in the first round. The top team in Groups E and F will advance to the semifinals. The second and third placers in each group will advance to a crossover knockout quarterfinals match. Single elimination in the playoffs to determine the champion of this third conference.

Imagine… Groups A and B will play their first round games in Pangasinan on the first week in a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Groups C and D will play their first round games in Cagayan De Oro on the second week in a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday as well. Let’s go some other place like Quezon province for the second round, with doubleheaders scheduled on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Then let’s have the final round, let’s say, in Cebu, with the quarterfinals on Friday, semifinals on Saturday, and Finals on Sunday. That’s a total of 25 games for 12 teams for us to have a champion, with all games played outside Metro Manila. It will also take only four weekends to finish this conference.

For one, this I think is one of the best way the PBA can reach to farther areas where they can only afford to watch the best basketball in the country thru television. Plus, all these games would have so much meaning because it is just a short conference, in comparison with random Saturday out of town games where it falls right smack in middle of the elimination round where indeed it would feel so random. With this, the fans would expect an all-out performance from the players, thus a great weekend of high-level basketball for the fans of the host city. With proper marketing, three or four-day sellouts on the venues is almost a guarantee.

Next, this will give the teams who are great in starting strong in a conference. The eventual champion will only play a maximum of seven games and a two-game losing streak to start the conference means you are out of the title contention. Take for instance the Columbian Dyip; they were 2-1 at the start of the Commissioner’s Cup. That win-loss record could be enough to merit them a spot in the quarterfinals. Another example is the recent Commissioner’s Cup champion Brgy. Ginebra, who had a really bad start in that conference. If they have that same bad start in this imaginary conference and drop their two games in the first round, they will be eliminated. Adapting a FIBA-style tournament to these professional teams will present an equal opportunity to all of the teams to win a championship. Imagine a universe where Blackwater Elite is crowned a PBA Champion… this kind of conference will make it possible.

For the players, I’m pretty sure they will like this, so they can give their bodies that much needed time to recover between conferences. No one will complain about their tired bodies anymore because of too much basketball. This will also enable the league to get some breathing space whenever they are going on a break to make way for the FIBA World Cup Qualifiers.

In short, let’s go back to the day where we have a couple of conferences; the Philippine Cup, and the Fiesta Cup. For the sake of having a third conference like we used to do ever since its creation in 1975, let’s have this tournament. I’ll leave it up to them on what will they name it if ever they found this one a good idea. I just laid down the format, and the potential advantages it will bring. They are better on the details and all other stuff.

I just like to see this work. It’s a mere suggestion that I can give to Philippine basketball.

#ParaSaBayan

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Little Amount Of News, Lots And Lots Of Commentaries

When you got too many sporting news on and off the court for the past week, one can’t help but to talk about it. Let’s go!!!

Thursday noontime: PSL files a complaint.

A complaint was filed before the NBI on former PSL officials over alleged embezzlement of league funds. Nothing really to talk about here because everyone inside the PSL isn’t really that much bothered with all the publicity the issue will get. From the vibe of what is going on inside the league while all of these are happening, it’s like a big “wala lang… yun lang.” thing. Something must be done to correct the mistakes that have committed, and that’s it… let’s move on. Analyzing it on a deeper level, it seems that this was a very calculated move and everyone running the league – the board, team owners, sponsors – knew everything about this before they made this public move, and we, the people, able to know it last. The reason? Their responsibility to the fans is to give us the best volleyball competition this country could ever see, and getting us, the public, involved in this issue will not do anything good to that responsibility. They won’t make any move that will ruin that responsibility to us fans, so let’s leave them at that.

Funny thing though… PVL fans who hate the PSL so much found this as a very big deal, where they got one big issue on their own. We’ll get to that later.

Thursday afternoon: FIBA sanctions are served

Suspensions on the 10 players and two coaches of Gilas. Suspensions on the three players of Australia. Fines on Gilas and Australia. I’m pretty sure you have read the full details of the sanctions on both countries elsewhere. I’m just here to tell you that to me, this was a pretty fair sanction. A very reasonable one. My initial reaction when I have read the whole details of the sanction was “it could have been worse.” But to further put some more spices on the recipe, so to speak, here are other things that can be added or further detailed on those sanctions:

1) The SBP can order the host venue, Philippine Arena, to take a share on the fine pie. From what I am aware of, the venue provided the security in that game. So since fans got involved, they have a shared blame on this one.

2) FIBA should give a share of the Boomers’ fine to SBP for the physical damage because of the decal removal. The cost of reprinting that costs something too, and Philippine Arena is claiming that it also permanently damaged the floor because of the errant procedure in removing those decals. So there, Philippine Arena… you lose some, you get some too.

Before I proceed, take note that the referees who worked that game got suspended for a year. They won’t be able to work on international and continental games. Hope they got inter-barangay games on their respective countries to work on their judgment on calls.

One more thing… high five, Allein Maliksi!

Thursday evening: Future plans for the SBP/Gilas

First thing we talked about after scrutinizing the sanction was the venue of the next home game in September against Qatar. Since we are going to play that in a closed door venue – no fans allowed - there’s no reason to use those big-ass venues such as Smart-Araneta Coliseum or Mall of Asia Arena. So, where to?

1) Cuneta Astrodome – also known as Punyeta Astrodome.

2) Ynares Center, Antipolo – favorable for people who are near in Antipolo who will be working that game. One thing though, there are not enough rooms there to house different offices during the game.

3) Filoil-Flying V Center / San Juan Arena – a value-for-money venue. It got kick-ass air-conditioning too.

4) San Andres Gym – if we can’t have it in San Juan, then we could use another “San”, the San Andres Gym. Favorable to me, because I live in Manila. That’s just the plain advantage of it.

5) Meralco Gym – a couple of guys from SBP’s suggestion. Gilas home court.

If you have a venue on your mind where we can play the next home game which is closed door, drop a comment in this post and also tell a reasonable yet quirky reason on why the FIBA game can be played there.

Another glaring topic perhaps are the people who’ll fill in for the suspended players. Our immediate reaction? Ang daming player! It wasn’t a concern to us. For that reason, let’s save that issue for another time.

Another high five, Allein Maliksi!

Saturday: PSL Invitationals Semifinals

Three things about the Saturday matches.

1) If Generika-Ayala played the way how they played Sta. Lucia that day in the quarterfinals against Smart-Army, Petron might have a different opponent in the semis.

2) The match between F2 Logistics and Cignal is much, much closer than what it says in the stats sheet. It was an ultimate defensive showdown between the two teams. Jheck Dionela and Dawn Macandili digging those spikes left and right, middle blockers at work for both teams; rallies lasting for like an hour. Too bad Cignal dropped the first set via a 5-0 F2 Logistics run, and found trouble closing sets since then.

3) Petron and F2 Logistics is now the Manila Clasico of volleyball. “San Juan Clasico” to say the least, but it sounds too forced. People will find a name to this rivalry soon in a natural manner.

Saturday: NU dropping out of PVL CC

The sole reason of me looking forward to this PVL Collegiate Conference is that damn NU team today which I have been covering since their high school days. If anything, coach Babes Castillo just did a coach Ramil De Jesus system, where the seniors coach and coaching staff also handles the high school team in order to aid the transition of the team every time they will lose a player to graduation. See the wonder it did for De La Salle. Babes Castillo have a very strong high school team, they only lost a SINGLE set in the 2017 Rebisco Volleyball League out of the seven matches that they had. How could I not be excited to see them face a tougher competition?

Well, they had that Balipure team in the PVL RC… but it didn’t felt right for me. They got other players and imports in that team. I still wanted that same team I saw back in 2017. As one friend told me, “bali… pure ang gusto mo.” Exactly!

Press release of them dropping out was apparently “they were not ready”. It was pure baloney to me because:

1) Someone else is speaking for them.

2) They have been ready for years.

I would understand Ateneo backing out of this because they got a new coach and understandably, they would need some time to instill a new system before they can get into actual competition. But for this NU team… no way! However, I am not pinning the blame to NU. I know that exact team long enough for me to know that they will not back down from a challenge. Hell, they can be asked to play against Petron for a tune-up game tomorrow and they will play! It’s a golden opportunity specially for their young main gunners to get this experience playing against these seasoned players even for a mere exhibition match.

There, I said it… young main gunners. Reports have it that a rule change disallowed those young main gunners to play for the team this conference. If that is the case, then coach Babes will not really have a team. NU definitely not to blame.

Sayang lang… I was really looking forward to watching them play… that is, if it will be shown… AYOKO NGA PALANG MAGSALITA!

All week long: Ateneo De Manila Gilas Pilipinas

Can we just hand the UAAP Season 81 Men’s Basketball Championship to Ateneo right now? I mean, they raised a lot of hell in the Jones Cup! They scared the hell out of the Korean NT core, came close to the Canadians, gutted the Chinese Taipei’s NT insides that their fans felt ashamed of their own team, and sent a message to the Iranians that their days as an Asian powerhouse are numbered.

The only team that can defeat them in the UAAP are themselves. If they are going to be that pesky in defense… that active and precise in offense… and that enthusiastic yet humble in every game… there is NO WAY those seven other teams can beat them. ­

PBA and PSL finals are coming this week. Plus, I might start seeing some NCAA Basketball action. Have a good week ahead!

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All Sides Of The Story (Final Part)

Anxiety was nowhere near inside the arena on a broader observation. The 22,181 paying patrons were pretty jubilant and trying to amuse themselves from the long hold up of the game. “GINEBRA” chants were heard and at least five rounds of a crowd wave were made. It was the first time I saw a crowd wave from the floor and to be honest it was an amazing sight to see. Perhaps this was in preparation for the things we are about to find out as we saw the referees walking back in the floor from the OB-Van of ESPN 5.

Four players were ejected from Australia. Nine players were ejected from Gilas. Thirteen disqualifying fouls were handed in just one play.

It was something I wasn’t prepared to see. As what I’ve said in the earlier part of this post, it was pretty disturbing to me.

And like all people who used their liberty to express their own opinion (or hatred, unfortunately), sides were picked and blames were handed out left and right to those they think deserved it.

Allow me to take on all sides again.

It might be the Australians’ fault. Yes, they were the one who stepped over the boundaries of being a guest by ripping off those decals without permission and started the commotion during the game because of Daniel Kickert’s forearm hit to RR Pogoy. But I won’t blame them. I’ve seen people or a group of people who do worse things than this incident when their ego is stepped on. That loss to Japan really put them to all kinds of shame in my observation, and they had a hard time accepting it.

It might be Gilas’ fault. It is true that your character will determine how you react on one action, may it be in victory, in defeat, when your home floor gets trampled on, or when push comes to shove. They could’ve reacted accordingly, like what many people (or haters) say. However, as the players and coaches pointed out hours after the commotion, when a family gets hurt emotionally and physically you can expect all hell will break lose. Try to consider it as the best in us and at the same time the worse in us. I don’t blame them either.

It could be the referees’ fault. They were the ones that I initially blamed on our drive home after the game and up until now I still blame them. The day after that game I called two more basketball games over at the PBA D-League and there was no doubt that that incident will be talked about. A senior PBA official validated my thought that it was the referees’ fault. “Basta may nagkagulo sa court, referee ang may kasalanan.” were the exact words of the official. Once chaos ensues in the court in any game, the referees totally lost control of it.

Don’t be too quick though in questioning the capabilities of the referees. They are international referees accredited by FIBA and have also called on countless number of international games. But no matter how many games the referees called, they could have missed all the other circumstances that surrounded that game; how these two teams play, and more importantly the activities that happened before the game. Had the referee known all those stuff, they could have called a foul on somebody by just even looking at an opponent. That might have ruin the flow of the game big time considering Gilas and the Boomers play physical, but we may sure have prevented that brawl from happening.

“What will happen next?” is the question basketball-loving Filipinos have in mind right now. This post took more than 10 days to complete because I was also asking that question. The FIBA extended its deadline to submit all the documentary evidence or statements from the two camps before it commences hearing and eventually hand down its decision. Everyone assumes suspensions will be handed out to the players involved, including me… and it’s a very likely event as of this writing. Others went as far as the Philippines being “banned” again by FIBA. A suspension might be a very bizarre decision considering that it is basketball – a non-violent contact sport – and such things like that have a small probability of happening, and the incident of decal removals where the SBP – our local basketball governing body – is the distressed party. Sinira na nga ang bahay mo, ikaw pa ang paparusahan? Parang hindi naman tama.

 What should we must learn from all of this?

For Australia, they must realize that they are a part of FIBA Asia now, where the competition is relatively light compared to what New Zealand is giving them on a yearly basis before, but expect that they won’t go down without a fight. They must have taken Japan for granted in that game where the Japanese gave their all combined with them being very hot, feeling good, and lucky that night. Never will the Australians must repeat this again… so come the next game they won’t vent their ire on the floor decals or on top-of-the-basket cameras.

For Gilas, their journey has been well-documented and broadcasted like it was a soap opera on TV. We knew their character on and off the court. This incident will be a significant part of their journey. Each one, whether it is a player, a naturalized player, an inactive part of the team, or a coach… they have each other’s backs no matter what. Basketball man o suntukan, walang iwanan.

For me, this is a lesson of how I should prepare myself mentally in any game that I call. This is sports, and anything can happen, including seeing a five-on-three basketball game. It was an advice intended for the three referees who called that game in an interview on TV that I saw, and I must take that advice as well… since it came from an official that I look up to as well.

For us… I encourage everyone to put themselves in others’ shoes. We can at least try to understand where people are coming from if we fail to understand their action. It could have prevented at least unsolicited and unnecessary criticisms from us, specially criticisms to Gilas… in a time where they badly needed our support.

In the meantime, there’s more basketball to enjoy to. Let’s all move on.

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