IT is weird but it keeps happening.
A team defeats a team two-in-a-row—one win by a ghastly rout—only to bow to the same squad in the third game. Not only lose but to end up beaten black and blue.
That’s what’s happening in the ongoing title showdown for the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Governors’ Cup between Magnolia and Alaska.
Magnolia won the first two games, 100-84 and 77-71, respectively.
With those results, you would, of course, put your money on Magnolia in Game Three. Piece of cake.
But then, what do you know?
Alaska came roaring back and proceeded to massacre Magnolia, 100-71, to inch to within 1-2 in the best-of-seven Finals.
“I think we had a great defensive effort and amazing shots,” said Alaska Coach Alex Compton. “But the overall story of the game was we made a bunch of shots in the first three quarters. We didn’t commit many turnovers and we played defense with great intensity.”
But Magnolia Coach Chito Victolero saw the game differently, was short of accusing Compton of baiting the referees to side with Alaska in Game Three.
“Compton drew the attention of the referees after Game Two and he got it,” said Victolero in Tagalog. “I’m now also attracting the attention of the refs…and what I’m just asking is consistency on calls. What they’d call on the other side, they should also call the same on us.”
Well, it is a given that referees are key cogs in every championship showdown. One bad call by a ref could swing the outcome of a game.
But then, let’s be fair.
Referees may not be perfect, but they shouldn’t be blamed for defeats we suffer.
What’s happening at times, if not most of the time, is seeing coaches point an accusing finger at the refs when setbacks hit them.
Will it happen again in tonight’s Game Four between Magnolia and Alaska?
But really, this ref-bashing habit has got to end if we are to continue believing in PBA’s reason for existence.
The league has been there 43 years and it would not have survived this long if it did not have the resilience and staying power to weather every storm that came its way, lapses in officiating included.
Let’s just then play ball, please?
THAT’S IT For the record, the 69th Fil-Am Golf Invitational now ongoing in Baguio City’s Camp John Hay and Baguio Country Club has drawn a total of 251 teams from more than 10 countries—127 in Seniors play and 124 in Men’s Regular. At an average of five players per team, the City of Pines is hosting at least 1,255 golfers, not counting two alternates allowed per team. The world’s longest-running amateur golf tilt played in two weeks is presented mainly by San Miguel Corp. and Toyota. Toyota’s best-selling Rush is a hole-in-one prize at No. 10 of Baguio CC and at No. 18 of Camp John Hay. The biggest amateur golf tournament in the world is being co-chaired again by CJH’s GM Tim Allen and BCC’s GM Anthony de Leon. The best four scores from the five-man teams will count for the day, with a birdie given three points, par 2 points and bogey 1 point. A player holing out for double bogey will incur a two-point penalty for his team—a rule adopted to speed up play in the series ending December 15. Without this rule, every round could end up uncompleted on account of darkness—due to the sheer volume of players.