After the controversial ending to the
FEU-NU match last Sunday, the Bulldogs’ coaching staff filed their protest on
the decision by Commissioner Ato Badolato to uphold RR Garcia’s controversial
last basket that gave the Tamaraws a 77-75 win. Tournament Commissioner At
Badolato ruled that Garcia released the ball with one-tenths of a second left
and was therefore valid. But NU officials say that the video evidence was
inconclusive and that the correct thing to do would be to send the match into
overtime if not a replay.
A decision on the protest was supposed
to be made today but as of 8pm Monday night, there was no word yet. A
conversation with UAAP President Nilo Ocampo of NU told me that there is no
truth to any rumor that they are trying to pressure the Commissioner to change
his decision. “That is not our way,” said Ocampo. “When the tape was being
reviewed we stayed at a distance. If we do not receive a favorable decision to
extend the match to an overtime period then we will elevate this to the UAAP’s
Technical Committee. We will abide with whatever decision they come up with.
But for now we will pursue this until a final decision is rendered. It is a
crucial match with Final Four implications and we will support our coaching
staff and team.”
My take on this is that the UAAP Board
should never get involved in decisions pertaining to sporting events because it
will always be under suspicion regarding agendas and vendettas. I have written
and said time and against hat the appointment of a commissioner should not be
on a yearly basis but for a contract of several years. The commissioner should have say on the tournament decisions with a higher body to hear appeals. And this body should never be composed of member schools.
Case in point: the two schools
involved are FEU and NU. Should this go to the technical committee/board or
whoever, who are the remaining schools involved? Three others are contending
for a title. Some will want either FEU or NU out to better their seeding.
Thinking aloud, maybe this is where
they elevate it to the Technical Committee of the Samahang Basketbol ng
Pilipinas.
I’d like to think that the UAAP member
schools will make informed, fair, and unbiased judgments but no. I have been
following the league and their many decisions over the years and I cannot say
that all the decisions are controversy free or even correct.
And I think that it is time to finally
cover all the gray areas of the rulebook. And while they are at that, the rulebook
should be printed in book format rather than printed in bond paper because that
looks so unprofessional.
Going back to the issue, have there
been UAAP basketball games that were replayed? There’s the controversial 1992
championship game between DLSU and FEU. And I think (I hope I remember this
correctly, a Ateneo-UST game sometime in the late 1990s).
And there’s the matter of precedent. I
am not a lawyer and wouldn’t begin to know the whys and wherefores of precedent
But should that always be considered in decisions? I am not saying that I am
not for it but would like to engage in discussion regarding this.
More on this tomorrow…
I'm not sure what the UAAP rule on this is, but if it's like how they do it in the NFL, the referee should've a made a call real time, on the court (whether the shot is counted or not). Then they go to the replay. If the video shows CONCLUSIVE evidence contrary to the real-time call, then they should reverse it. Otherwise (as in this case), the call should stand.
ReplyDeleteI didn't watch the game. What, if any, was the call on the floor (before the replay)?
i thought it was inconclusive as well when i watched it on TV. more so when i saw the pictures on facebook. when in doubt... go to OT.
ReplyDeleteSir Rick, I believe some time within the past decade, a game between UE and La Salle was replayed. Can't really remember what happened during that game, but I think in the dying seconds, La Salle was trying to call a timeout but was not given, and I can't remember the other details. UAAP then decided to replay the game after the losing team (UE I think) filed a protest. The coaches during that time was Dindo Pumaren for UE and Franz Pumaren for La Salle.
ReplyDeleteThanks for that bit of info. There was also another game that was replayed and this was in 1984 between UP and UE. UP lost in the rematch while UE went to the Finals to play UST with Pido Jarencio.
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