Fire Binchee

Posted in infuriatum, sports TV and current events

First of all, this is not a sports blog. At least, I don't think it is but I'm gonna write about sports anyway.

So Purefoods won the PBA championship last night, and in the spirit of full disclosure I would like to state that I am neither an Alaska fan nor a Purefoods fan. I may be a San Miguel Beer fan since birth and I may have wanted Alaska to utterly trounce Purefoods, but that doesn't mean I can't be a fan of fair play.

I am saddened to think that the PBA has somehow lost its sense of fair play. All throughout the quarterfinals and even through the finals, Purefoods had gotten away with plenty of flops, non-calls, and should've-been-non-calls. But it doesn't stop with Purefoods, other ball clubs have also experienced some unforeseen favors from the officiating referees. I know I am not the only one who feels like this, just read the forums and the legitimate sports blogs. There have been so many discussions about how the referees completely took over of the games. I know, the referee's discretion has always made a tremendous impact on the game, but c'mon, this is ridiculous. I can almost hear my neighbor, the one who keeps telling me that PBA games are fixed, saying "I told you so!".

So the PBA heightened the penalty for walking out, thanks to the Walk N' Text incident. From a hefty half-million penalty, PBA Commissioner Barrios raised the fines to ten big ones. Yep, an unbelievably thick wad of cash that amounts to 10 million pesos. I wouldn't have believed that anybody could have money like that, but then I realized we're talking about pesos and its value against the dollar, so yeah.

Anyway, the stiffer penalty will definitely deter any future walk-outs in the PBA, I can almost guarantee that. But if the referees continue to officiate the way they do right now then the league can't blame fans if THEY walk out. Boo's all around. What's worse is the thought that some utterly disgusted bunch of fans can jump onto the court and maul the officials because they made one too many bad calls. I honestly fear for the referee's life.

I imagine a scenario when Joe de Vance got called for a controversial ticky-tacky foul in the dying seconds of a finals game, and the crowd was furious. Oh wait, that really did happen. I can just picture an angry mob of Alaska fans chasing after referee Aldaba or Maurillo.

It's a good thing they don't sell stakes and pitchforks at the PBA venues.