Scribbles. Doodles. Real-life Drama.: What about the Fans? UE loses protest.

by Tony L. Atayde

07/29/08

Every single team has had their problems with the UAAP, either with the Commissioner Almighty, the referees or both. It’s getting to be a circus more than a basketball league.

Look at the expressions of the coaches and the players every time the whistle blows. They have lost all their trust and faith on the referees and most of all, the Commissioner. What have has the Almighty Commissioner done to our beloved league?

He made his powers be known with selective strength on the 2nd day of the league. He took it upon himself to make an example of the defending champions by making sure HE CALLED THE TECHNICAL FOUL for the coach having no ID.

He thought everyone would cower in fear as he sat in his chair watching the La Salle - Ateneo game. Then he must have thought “Why stop with Pumaren? Let me give Black a technical foul too for good measure”.

What he didn’t count on was that there is a website like inboundpass.com that had pictures of UST Coach Pido Jarencio not wearing an ID the day before. But did he do anything to make amends for his oversight and inconsistent call? That would be asking for too much. The Commissioner used the most inane excuse that has come out of the UAAP, “it did not affect the outcome of the game”. I am sick and tired of this excuse.

To show that the officiating is under his responsibilities, look at how the refs approach him during a game and at every chance they get. He must have thought that we, the fans wouldn’t notice this unusual homage being paid to the Commissioner.

In the La Salle - FEU game, both teams were being victimized by the awful officiating by the National Amateur Blind Referees Organization. After the game, he took it upon himself to ban one of the referees for a badly called game. He was quick on the gun to suspend when he felt like it.

Lo and behold another issue comes up when, in their game against UP, Ateneo fielded 2 players who did not have the patches that the rest of the team had. Again it was inboundpass.com that had the pictures to show this “oversight”. Did the Commissioner do anything about it? Of course not! Why should he when UP did not protest. However, he has demonstrated what he can do with the powers that he has. He neither reprimanded the table officials nor the referees for the oversight. He just kept quiet. What happened to his quick gun with the bullets of suspension?

Then the Mac Baracael shooting happens. Rumors start going around that the gambling syndicates were involved. But it’s all speculation even if Baracael himself said on national television that it was a probability. Another black eye for the UAAP.

In last Sunday’s UE – FEU game, the officiating had turned from downright horrible to extremely embarrassing. The only plus in that scenario was that it was equal opportunity ineptness, as both teams were slapped with infractions that should not have been and non-calls on infractions that should have been called.

After FEU won the game, UE paid the P100,000.00 fee (in the NCAA, it is only P10,000.00) to protest the result. UE claims that the officiating was so bad that it had directly affected the outcome of the game.

Based on the past games, UE may have a point here. If they lose the protest, what they would have achieved is sending a strong signal to the Commissioner’s office that they need to straighten up their act.

But as I am writing this, I was informed that UE lost the protest because according to the Commissioner “it was a judgment call”. How could it be a judgment call when the basis of the protest is a clock which is supposed to be a unit of measure? Now I have seen everything, or have I? I am sure that we will see more surreal reasons as the season goes on.

It’s already getting bothersome that the UAAP Board has done nothing to curb the total lack of order that the Commissioner should bring to the league. It is about COMMAND RESPONSIBILITY. Should the league wait until every game will have the possibility of a protest because of the bad officiating? The league is getting eaten up from the inside and the Board needs to act and act decisively.

Teams are now looking at every game with suspicion. The officiating is so bad that there will be more protests in games to come. Can you blame the teams when they see that the problems could be avoided by just having better referees and table officials?

It is not about the validity of protests anymore. It is about the absence of trust in the way the league is run, especially the officiating. So who are the referees answerable to? If the Commissioner has been able to suspend, he must be the one who is overseeing the quality (or lack of) of the officiating. Remember that the Commissioner has 4 assistants under him and still there is no improvement.

I, and thousands of others, love to watch the UAAP. Many of the fans wait all year for the league to start. If we didn’t care we wouldn’t react this way. We pay for the tickets, we watch the commercials and buy the products that are shown when the games are telecast, we smile when our teams win and are very sad when they lose. We are the fans who have made the league the most successful basketball tournament in the country.

Look at the NCAA. It is run better. The officiating is superb. Yet the absence of the fans has made it a marketing nightmare.

The fans of the UAAP are what the league is all about. Don’t forget us. Don’t forget that we deserve better than what we have gotten so far. Look ahead and see what awaits you, if nothing is done.

What about the fans? Who represents us in the Board? Who will speak for us?

-----

from http://www.inboundpass.com/2008/07/29/what-about-the-fans-ue-loses-protest/

-----

SAD.