Small advantages

We see it many times.

A referee whistles for a foul and while he turns to the table to signal the number of the culprit, another player raises his hand to acknowledge the foul.

The referee then yaps at the erring player.

Two players scramble for the ball and the referee signals a jump ball. One player positions himself for the jump but then an opposing player complains to the referee that it was another player!

The referees sometimes couldn’t recall the players, thus they would confer. I hate this when it happens because it delays the game. 

Another instance, a referee whistles for a technical foul. A player with a better FT percentage would usually step on the stripe to the foul shots. Before he could shoot the freebies, the ref stops him and points to the other player to take the shot.

Players and coaches try to get whatever small advantages they could eke out from a situation. Can’t blame them for trying but then sometimes it gets out of hand.

Like what Nate Robinson of the NY Knicks did last week. In the closing seconds of the first quarter against New Jersey, he took the ball and tossed it to the opposing team’s basket!

He made the shot but fortunately, it didn’t count because time has expired. Mike D’ Antoni, however, wasn’t laughing. He benched Robinson for the rest of the game.

Getting that small advantage at any cost paves the way for cheating.

Henry Abbott (TrueHoop) reported an incident in the European League where a Turkish coach let a suspended player play during a road trip.

The plan was cunning. The coach instructed the player to use his teammate’s uniform.

Despite the obvious disparity in looks, height and heft, the player Cemal Nalga went on the play with his team Galatasaray Café Crown in Germany.

The ploy almost worked!

After two months, the opposing teams complained that player #7 (the number that Nalga used) suddenly recorded some incredible stats!

Okan Cervik, the coach, and his staff had been fired after the embarrassing incident and the team is in danger of being fined and relegated to a lower league.

What blows my mind is that the games were just no-bearing exhibition games!

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The Cebu City Marathon is going high-tech with the introduction of state-of-the-art timing device called ChampionChip. This will be the first running race outside of Manila that will use such a gadget.

The gadget is a miniature transponder with a silicon chip and energizing coil embedded in a specially designed casing about 1.5 inches in diameter. It is lightweight, around three grams and is weatherproof, waterproof and shock proof.

A runner ties the chip to his shoelace or ankle strap. When the runner passes through special mats equipped with magnets and antennas (laid out at the start/finish line and other segments of the route), the chip becomes active. The chip sends data to the race computer including the name, race number, time splits and overall time of the runner!

Before I forget, the deadline of registration for the Cebu City Marathon is December 31, 2009. There will be no extension. Runners could register at the Active Zone in Ayala and the PSC Office at the Cebu City Sports Center.

Registration has begun as well for the 8th Midnight Run on December 13, 2009. Only the first 400 runners will be accommodated, so please hurry and sign-up at the PSC Office and Casa Ilongga.

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