07 July 2014

Will Commissioner Salud Be Forced To Resign?

Photo by Paul Mata
This is the question that many Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) pundits are trying to answer right now after Commissioner Chito Salud made two major questionable ruling over two events that happened less than 3 hours between each other.

It all happened on 1 July 2014, before the start of the PBA Governor’s Cup best-of-five Finals Series. During the PBA lottery process, Salud did drew a GlobalPort ball, giving the Mikee Romero-owned franchise the top pick in next season's rookie draft, but how did he do it?

Strike one for Salud cam in three forms. First, the lottery box was set-up in the middle of the basketball court. The inside of the box was not shown to the public and the public has no way of knowing what is inside it because it is not translucent.

Second, Salud put all three balls inside the box, two of which were market GlobalPort and one ball for Meralco. But when he put the ball with his hands inside, he did not pull them out to show that he is not already holding the ball. Instead he drew back his “magic” hand now holding a single ball.

Lastly, there were no representatives from the Meralco Bolts in the event nor from Rain or Shine, which holds the right for the Bolts’ pick. Why?

Questions were raised online, but they were hardly heard because of the excitement brought by the first game.

With the score at 104-101 and just seconds remaining in the game at the MOA Arena, Elasto Painter Paul Lee went for a triple, despite being covered by Mixers forward Marc Pingris. Many game watchers believed that Pingris jumped and leaned toward Lee, which warrants a foul.

Of course, a few followers of San Mig tried to justify the action by applying the principle of verticality, in which the defender must jump straight up to challenge the attempt. Unfortunately, several cameras captured the jump and can be seen as not strictly straight, with his momentum carrying him slightly to make contact with Lee.

Strike two for Salud came when he said that it was a “50/50 judgment call” for the referees and could have gone either way. As the league’s commissioner, who is rumoured to be favouring the three San Miguel Corporation teams, including San Mig, Salud should have used all available resources, including the camera to justify his ruling. Unfortunately, it did not appear that way.

So, from now on, expect that in cases where there is a “50/50 judgement call” no whistle will be blown by the referees, right commissioner?

Do we have to wait for strike three before we see a new commissioner? Will the PBA Board be able to muster enough resources to find a more credible replacement? Will Salud still enjoy the Board’s confidence and avoid the untimely axing suffered by his predecessors, Sonny Barrios and Noli Eala?

Hopefully, fans will get what they want and wished for from this league soon.

2 comments:

  1. LET THE HEAD OF COMM. SALUD ROLL.... THE RULE OF VERTICALITY IS ALREADY OUT OF THE QUESTION IN THE 1ST GAME BETWEEN ROS & SANMIG SINCE LEE IS TAKING A STEP-BACK 3 POINT SHOT, & THE REPLAYS OF THE SAID INSIDENT ALREADY SHOWED FROM DIFFERNT ANGLES THAT PINGRIS REALLY IS LEANING FORWARD LEE CAUSING LEE TO BUMP HIM & ALTER HIS SHOT GOING FOR THE 3. IF WERE GOING TO LISTEN TO HIS RATIONALE (SALUD), THAT WOULD IMPLY THAT THE REFS CAN CALL WHATEVER THEY WANT & AFFECT THE OUTCOME OF THE GAME/S NOT WITHSTANDING THE CORRECT & RIGHT CALL/S TO BE MADE, ITS GOING TO BE A PRECEDENT, & SINCE MANY TIMES, EVEN FROM LONG AGO, THE PBA HAD ALWAYS GIVEN FAVORS TO SMC, SPECIFICALLY SANMIG COFFEE, WHEN CALLS OR NON-CALLS ARE DONE, HENCE AFFECTING THE OUTCOME OF THE GAME LALO NA PAG IMPORTANT GAMES. REMEMBER THE BLOCK SHOT OF REAVIS KAY ENRICO VILLANUEVA N SUPPOSEDLY AY BASKET INTERFERRENCE DAPAT PERO DI TINAWAGAN, REASON WHY SANMIG O BMEG WINS THE GAME? THAT'S ONLY ONE OF THE MANY FAVORS THAT PBA HAD GIVEN TO SMC

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  2. Mukhang malakas ang kapit ni Kume pareng Jonski!

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