WELCOME to the 15th annual Brewskies where at the end of every calendar year, we hand out award for dubious achievements in sports, controversial and infamous moments and personalities.
Let’s hand them out shall we?
THE FAMILY FEUD AWARD
THE Patafa, the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association, and EJ Obiena. One that degenerated into a social media war that the latter clearly won. Then the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) declared Juico as persona non grata; something Patafa president he will challenge.
POC president Abraham Tolentino said they are not removing Juico but they do not recognize him. Huh?
This whole row could have been resolved in days. I have no idea why it was played out this far. Even worse, this saga isn’t over.
THE RET-CON OF THE YEAR AWARD
A RET-CON is when a new piece of information surfaces and changes the interpretation of previous events. This is usually found in television, film or comic book stories, and yet, it found its way into the world of professional tennis where Chinese star Peng Shuai went missing for 18 days after accusing a senior Chinese communist party member of sexual assault. The entire sports world was in uproar and pressured China into confirming Shuai’s safety.
She later appeared and said her post was misinterpreted.
Does anyone believe that?
THE SPIRIT OF MUNICH ’72 INTERVENTION AWARD
TO Formula 1 Race Director Michael Masi whose controversial decision to break with convention to allow lapped cars to overtake the safety car (after a car crash earlier) handed an opportunity to Dutch driver Max Verstappen to beat Lewis Hamilton who was on course to break Michael Schumacher’s seven consecutive Driver of the Year titles.
It didn’t help that Hamilton paid the price for not changing tires at that time which Verstappen did.
People were praying that no crashes decide the title. They just didn’t expect that crash to come from another driver that still ultimately affected the outcome.
Sad isn’t it?
THE MISSED SHOT OF THE YEAR AWARD
WE all know about “the Shot.” You know game winning shots that make a career or a name. Michael Jordan has had so many. Kobe Bryant too.
How about the missed shot of Ben Simmons during last year’s National Basketball Association play-offs when he passed up a clear dunk for a pass to a Philadelphia 76ers teammate Matisse Thybulle who split his free throws. While there was a little over three minutes left in the game and still time to do something, they lost that Game 7 to the Atlanta Hawks.
Simmons was pilloried by his teammates and coach, fans, and analysts. They could forgive the passed up dunk, but Simmons did not play well at all. I would even say his teammate Joel Embiid responded by demanding a trade. Except there were no takers. He returned eventually to Philadelphia but was tossed out for not wanting to practice and going through the motions.
What people forget is even if mired in a bad series, Simmons did what he could. He assisted Tobias Harris on a lay-up to make it. 93-89, still Atlanta. He stole the ball in the next possession but only split his free throws, 93-90.
Embiid turned the ball over for the eighth time in the match then later missed a trey as Philly lost, 103-96…at home. In spite of that, it would be hard to criticize Embiid as he played with a knee injury. Simmons was a lightning rod for criticism.
People have since weighed on Simmons but all this could have been handled much better. Today, the Sixers—without Simmons are second in the Atlantic Division with a pedestrian 19-16 record that is good for sixth spot in the Eastern Conference. Without Simmons in uniform.
THE TURN AROUND AWARD
GOES to the 12 top European football clubs that tried to form their own super league in place of the current Champions League but beat a hasty retreat after unprecedented anger from fans, media, and FIFA and UEFA.
They clearly forgot what Mohandas Ghandi once said about the world having enough for man’s need but not enough for man’s greed.
BAD SPORT AWARD
THIS one goes to Jordanian Prince Ali bin al-Hussein who asked the Asian Football Confederation for a gender verification check on Iran’s Zohreh Koudaei after his side lost in a 4-2 penalty shootout to Iran. It would have been a stretch to blame this on Ben Simmons.