WHAT is wrong is wrong. What is right is right.
It was wrong for referee Sherwin Pineda to call a foul on Paolo Taha of Northport.
It was right for Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner Willie Marcial to suspend Pineda for the boo-boo.
With 1.3 seconds left, Rey Nambatac of Rain or Shine fell after missing a drive for the hoop.
Pineda whistled Taha off as having caused Nambatac’s fall.
TV replays would clearly show Nambatac fell on his own. More of a flop, actually. Although Taha’s arms were raised up high, he was just standing beside Nambatac—as rod-straight as a soldier standing in a flag ceremony.
Nambatac nailed his charities, breaking a 68-all tie and giving the Elasto Painters a referee-aided 70-68 victory that sent Northport whining against the wailing wall.
Batang Pier Coach Pido Jarencio was seen on TV still inconsolably fuming after the game, almost refusing to leave the Angeles University Foundation gym near Clark Freeport.
The most he could do was throw dagger looks at Pineda on his way to the locker room, with his assistants close by to restrain him in case he went berserk.
“The refs are not supposed to decide the game,” Jarencio said.
“It’s just an ugly win for us,” said Rain or Shine Coach Caloy Garcia.
So ugly, indeed, that Marcial, in consultation with his deputy, the technical committee chief Eric Castro, sacked Pineda.
It was an ugly decision as it pained Marcial to suspend Pineda, who he considers “one of the league’s leading referees.”
When was the last time a referee in the country’s No. 1 basketball tournament got canned?
It’s been an unwritten rule that referees getting disciplined need not be publicized. Just right. It saves them from public shaming.
Referees are just human like you and me so that it goes without saying that they make mistakes, too.
It’s a good thing that Pineda’s blunder did not happen in a championship. Imagine the repercussions it could have generated.
Still, my heart goes to Pineda. The stigma will not die down that easily, especially so that he was being sent home. Just imagine the health protocols he had to go through to get to the PBA bubble. Not easy.
But this would not have happened if the PBA adopted the NBA rule of a coach’s challenge. Meaning, a coach can challenge a referee’s whistle when he deems it wrong.
Right then and there, the wrong call on Taha would have been corrected.
Right then and there, the ugliness of things would have been averted.
Will it, Willie. For the good of the league?
THAT’S IT San Miguel Beer, already smarting from the season-long absence of injured June Mar Fajardo, has also lost playmaker Terrence Romeo. Romeo dislocated his shoulder after an accidental collision with TNT’s Ryan Reyes last week.