PBA vice chairman and Air21 president Lito Alvarez is elevating his protest of San Miguel Beer’s 130-129 overtime win over the Express last Nov. 5 to the Board of Governors.
Although commissioner Sonny Barrios has rejected the protest, Alvarez said yesterday he will exhaust all means in appealing for a reconsideration, even to the extent of bringing the case before the Games and Amusements Board which is empowered by law to supervise the operations of professional sports.
Alvarez said with due respect to Barrios, he has informed the commissioner of the steps he is taking.
“I am requesting for a reconsideration not only for Air21 but also for San Miguel,” said Alvarez. “The fans are aware we were robbed of a three-point shot as the TV replays clearly showed it. We should’ve won the game in the first overtime. We wouldn’t want the fans to think San Miguel got an undeserved break. We owe that to the fans.”
The PBA itself has admitted the rule challenging a decision on a three-point shot is “not perfect.” In the disputed game, Air21 couldn’t challenge because there was no deadball situation as only 9.8 seconds remained on the clock and neither team had a timeout left. Air21 coach Bo Perasol challenged the decision at the end of the first overtime but officials dismissed it because time had expired.
While the rules are clear on judgment calls, this case could be argued as an exception because public interest is involved. Rules are made to preserve and protect the integrity of the game. More than the letter of the law, upholding the spirit of the law is essential.
Air21 hit a three-point shot that was counted as only two points. San Miguel failed to convert in the last 9.8 seconds after the shot and it went into a second overtime. If San Miguel scored in the last 9.8 seconds, the case would be closed. The fact that it failed to convert should’ve prompted the officials to review the three-point shot and declare “game over” before the start of the second overtime.
Alvarez said the PBA Constitution and By-laws provide for the Board to reverse a decision by the commissioner via a 2/3 vote. A contrary view, however, is the Board is not authorized to reverse the commissioner on game-related decisions. This contradiction will be settled before Air21’s protest is taken up by the Board.
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Solar Sports vice president for sales and marketing Jude Turcuato said recently the TV response to the PBA coverage on CS-9 and BTV has been phenomenal.
“Our original objective was to have incremental ratings increase while significantly, growing the upscale viewers,” noted Turcuato. “But we got significant spikes across all demographics by improving the signal clarity, graphics and changing the broadcast philosophy. Ratings have gone up by 50 percent from the previous year.”
Turcuato said the top-rated game this conference is already higher than the finals averages of last season’s pairings. He said a high of 8.4 percent was posted this year compared to the 7.2 average in the Sta. Lucia Realty-Purefoods finals in the first conference and the 7.9 average in the Ginebra-Air21 finals in the second conference.
The Solar TV talents are also generating positive feedback. In fact, fans are known to be eagerly anticipating who will be assigned to cover the games. They’re particularly focused on the females – BTV “face” Lia Cruz, Reema Chanco, Cheska Litton, Mica Abesamis, Peaches Aberin and Marga Vargas.
“We in the PBA are happy and proud that most games have been found interesting and exciting by the fans,” said PBA commissioner Sonny Barrios. “The word is out – gate attendance is up and TV ratings have increased over last year. The ticketing office is deluged with ticket inquiries. All these are attributable to the overwhelming positive response of teams and the players to play their hearts out from start to finish every game. I am sure there are even better games to come.”
No wonder PBA chairman Joaqui Trillo is all smiles these days.