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| Dear Coach Chot |
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| Monday, 08 February 2010 20:29 |
 ALL right, basketball fans. Let’s write a letter to Talk N Text coach Chot Reyes, whose untimely outburst against officiating led to his team’s controversial walk out during Game 4 of the PBA quarterfinal series against Barangay Ginebra at the Araneta Colisuem last Friday.Dear Coach Chot, Please accept what I am going to tell you as a friendly criticism, even if you do not exactly call me friend. I know you’ve been told about it several times before, but in the heat of the moment, it bears repeating. It’s about the walkout, coach. You know, the infamous Game 4 walk out which most basketball fans believe, turned Talk N Text’s quarterfinal series against Barangay Ginebra around. I don’t know how exactly to tell this to you , but I have to reemphasize it in case you’ve forgotten about your responsibility as a coach in this matter. Look, coach, the Tropang Texters just lost the deciding Game 5 -- and the best-of-five quarterfinal series -- to the Gin Kings last Sunday. Instead of getting the opportunity to defend the title, the Tropang Texters will now be wallowing on the sideline and thinking what might have been. I’m sure you, as a coach, might also be asking yourself even now if you really made the wise decision to walk out and forfeit the game infront of thousands of basketball fans. There are many questions now being asked even by the most loyal Talk N Text fans. One of them is “What if you and the Tropang Texters did not walk out of the game and continue playing despite what you believed was biased officiating? Surely, the Tropang Texters could have ended the series right on that fateful Friday night and advanced to a highly-anticipated semifinal duel against early qualifier, Alaska Milk. Let’s make no mistake about it, coach. The biggest loser in any walk out in the long history of games that men play is almost always the fans. Fans paid good money to watch a basketball game, in this case, two basketball games: Talk N Text-Ginebra and Purefoods-Rain or Shine. Most of the fans consider the games as another form of entertainment. Some of them paid their way to the coliseum seats to forget their problems and get hours of uninterrupted basketball action as only the PBA can provide. Most of the fans do not care about the internal conflict prevailing among the participants and the organizing group. In fact, some of them are not even interested which teams wins as long as the games are interesting and unadulterated. The walk out cost the game and deprived the fans hours of sports entertainment. One fan who came all the way from the province to watch the game now even ask the PBA for a refund because the time period of the game he paid to see is surely not worth his hard-earned money. Can you blame him? As one loyal PBA fan wisely put it in a blog in one of the leading dailies, “Talk N Text lost more than just one game with the walkout. Aside from losing Game 4 and the series (with the Game 5 loss), the Tropang Texters lost their integrity as a professional basketball team. As a professional organization, they have a responsibility to protect not just their team but the league (PBA) where they belong.” The walk out, needless to say, changes everything. “It is unjust to the fans and unfair to the PBA as an organization,” Ginebra alternate governor Robert Non was quoted as saying. “There are ways to voice their displeasure, if there is reason to do so, but not finishing the game is not one of them.” You want to call attention to your grievance? You want to tell the world about biased officiating in the PBA? You want to show the fans that you are unhappy with the referees’ job even though your team is leading the series, 2-1? But let me ask you now, coach -- do you think the legendary Crispa Redmanizers coach Baby Dalupan would ever do it? Or the mercurial Tim Cone? Norman Black? Yeng Guiao? Or even Ginebra coach Jong Uichico? I don’t think so. Surely, there are many ways to show disagreement with officiating. But a walk out, which can be labelled as a poor act of sportsmanship, is not one of them. Something to think about, right, coach? Very truly yours, Ed Andaya * * * NOTES -- Congratulations to Aigee Marie S. Andaya of Unciano College-Antipolo City, who successfully passed the Nursing licensure examination held last November, Aigee is the daughter of Valentino C. Andaya and Rosa Maria S. Andaya of Cainta, Rizal... Birthday greetings to Lourdes Crisologo, who turns another year older on Feb. 12... Best wishes, too, to Sherily Cua (Feb./ 12), Ambet Nabus (Feb. 12) and AaronBautista (Feb. 14). * * * For comments and suggestions, email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it |
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