Mitra should crack the whip
THE Mindanao leg of the now-soiled Pilipinas Vismin Super Cup has also been scrapped. Just right.
That means the Games and Amusements Board (GAB) headed by Baham Mitra will have all the time to thoroughly probe the scandal that rocked the league’s Visayan leg last week.
Even as tournament officials had already kicked out Siquijor, several players and coaches out of the league, there’s a lot more crying to be done to get to the bottom of the brouhaha.
Like, why was Lapu-lapu City given the light punishment of suspension when it seemed so clear, too, that some of its players appeared complicit in the obvious attempt to fix its game against Siquijor?
It was also almost seemly that some coaches could be involved in the most bizarre basketball charade in recent memory.
For, why did not a single coach step in when players from both sides were deliberately missing free throws, lay-ups and jumpers—not to mention flipping away wayward passes?
And weren’t the referees possibly in cahoots, too?
C’mon, they should be the first to know when a hanky-panky is going on in a game.
I commend the officials who finally halted the game after halftime. Never mind that they waited a bit too long before they did so. At least, they acted. Better late than never.
Now, it’s Mitra’s turn to crack the whip. And, I’m glad, too, that Al Panlilio, the youthful president of the Samahang Basketbol
ng Pilipinas (SBP), has linked up with Mitra. If heads should roll wholesale, so be it. Shenanigans have no place in a sport that the nation so madly, devotedly, adore like religion.
THAT’S IT My heart aches over the two tournamentleading 64s in the first two rounds scored by our Yuka Saso, whose firepower sort of vanished, with her 70-71 finish in last weekend’s Lotte Championship in Oahu, Hawaii. She salvaged a still commendable tie for sixth behind winner Lydia Ko, 23, the former child prodigy from New Zealand, who strung up two 65s in her final rounds for her 16th Ladies Professional Golf Association victory. But at only 19, Yuka, who pocketed P2.6 million, is on course for a much-anticipated greatness. Patience, my dear…i mourn the death of my Pareng Louie Visorde, the former mayor of Calauag, Quezon, who was my brother, confidante, ally, defender/protector, glass mate and many more. But even as this cruel Covid-19 took the wedding godfather of my daughter so suddenly away from us, Pareng Louie will eternally remain our pillar, though in spirit, in our revered KABIG (Kapalohan Bisita Iglesia Group). He is just absent, and his presence in our hearts and minds will last forever. Enjoy your vacation, Pareng Louie, in the bosom of our Lord Jesus Christ.