My last word on the FIBA Asia Finals officiating

If you haven't read my piece, The Morning After, on the day after the loss, click on this link.

You know, I have been covering FIBA and international basketball since the 1990s. I have seen a lot of hoops and I have seen a lot of controversial games. To make light of the bad officiating is wrong. There are bigger things that happen. There is more to a game than a gold medal.

Take a look at these screen shots. Look for a common denominator. It isn't difficult to spot.

So what about the loss to Palestine? Hindi naman inaasahan matalo doon. Oh, he did officiate one game where we won. Tambak kasi yung kalaban. Can't make any magic when you're up huge.

The tweets from MVP regarding the unavailability of the bus to pick them up, the lack of tickets, the fixing of the ring during warm-ups? This happens a lot. Not just in hoops. 

In 2010, we were in Vietnam for the Suzuki Cup. Now the order for eating meals was -- Singapore, Philippines, then Myanmar. Teams never ate at the same time. It is part of the protocol. Now during Singapore's time to dine, their entire team stayed outside the dining area while they allowed one coach to go in and eat. Turns out he was their official "food taster." If after 30 minutes, he wasn't puking his guts out, wasn't suddenly ill or dying, that is when the team ate. I asked their coaches about this and I was told that it was a precautionary measure. Some hosts pull tricks to throw you off rhythm. One times, they were staying in this hotel in another country when the fire alarm went off in the dead of the night. Everyone of course rose and scampered out. Turned out to be a false alarm. And it happened twice! They weren't able to sleep soundly after that. The following day, they were lost badly. In that tourney, Myanmar brought their own food. Kaming mga Pinoy, oh, hell. We ate. Phil Younghusband fell ill though the night before the game against Vietnam. But the rest is history. We beat them, 2-0.