No overturning PBA suspensions

PBA commissioner Chito Salud has decisively ruled in cracking down on the players involved in the ugly San Mig Coffee-Globalport brawl at the Cuneta Astrodome last Wednesday. The penalties amounted to a total of P170,000 and a suspension of five games. It’s still a far cry from the Detroit-Indiana eruption that escalated into the stands in an NBA game at Auburn Hills in 2004. That mess resulted in a total of $11 Million in forfeited salaries and a suspension of 146 games.

It’s safe to speculate that Salud’s sanctions won’t be overturned by the PBA Board of Governors. The situation is dramatically different in the UAAP where the commissioner’s decisions are subject to reversal by the Board of Trustees. In the PBA, the commissioner is no lameduck. He is empowered by the Board to decide on game-related issues, including suspensions and penalties involving players. The commissioner also has a free hand in determining the fairness of trades. The Board hired the commissioner to manage the league’s day-to-day operations and restricts itself to ruling on policy matters. That’s the way it should be.

Unfortunately, in the UAAP, the commissioner is backed up by the Board only if it agrees with his decisions. Fortunately, in the PBA, the Board trusts the commissioner’s objectivity and judgment. Imagine if the Board of Governors ignores the commissioner’s authority and dips its fingers into game-related matters. No doubt, in this instance, decisions will be made in consideration of vested interests as is the case now in the UAAP.

Surely, the UAAP can learn from how the PBA operates. Salud summoned the players involved in the Wednesday brawl to a meeting at the PBA office before the penalties were decided and announced. That’s due process. The players aired their side and Salud listened. Footage of the incident was reviewed repeatedly to pinpoint culprits and instigators.

When the UAAP Board recently downgraded commissioner Chito Loyzaga’s two-game suspension on UE center Charles Mammie, it neither summoned Mammie nor reviewed the tape that resulted in the penalty. When the UAAP Board slapped a one-game suspension on Ateneo coach Bo Perasol and a ban on La Salle supporter Jonathan Atayde last Wednesday, the sanctioned individuals were never called to explain their side. Where was due process?

The San Mig-Globalport brawl saw Mixers coach Tim Cone storm onto the court to restrain Batang Pier’s Kelly Nabong. Cone held on to Nabong’s leg and both fell on the floor. Cone prevented Nabong from engaging in more fisticuffs. Before Cone’s intervention, Nabong took a swing that Marc Pingris dodged then held the Mixers forward down by pulling on his jersey to knee him in what looked like a mixed martial arts maneuver. Cone’s timely entry was reminiscent of then-New York coach Jeff Van Gundy’s widely-publicized peacemaking in Game 4 of the NBA Eastern Conference quarterfinals between the Knicks and Miami in 1998. Alonzo Mourning and Larry Johnson scuffled with a few seconds left in the fourth period. Van Gundy threw himself at Mourning and held on to his left leg to avert an escalation of the fight. It was like a Lilliputian battling Gulliver. Gundy stands 5-9 and Mourning 6-10. Curiously, both Cone and Van Gundy attended Menlo College in California so it’s not like they had no common roots.

“I look at the tape and I look like I’m overmatched,” said Van Gundy, quoted by Mike Wise in the New York Post. “Obviously, I was. But I don’t regret what I did. People were trying to make it like I was attacking him. I was just trying to make sure it didn’t escalate.”

Van Gundy’s wife Kim said, “They kept saying it was not a good idea for him to come off the bench, was it stupid because he’s 5-9, I don’t know but his size hasn’t hurt him yet.” Like Mourning to Van Gundy, Nabong is considerably taller and heftier than Cone. That didn’t stop Cone from trying to hold him down.

Van Gundy and Cone were lucky they came out of the skirmishes unscathed. Then-Miami assistant coach Alvin Gentry wasn’t so lucky in trying to pacify his own Heat player Grant Long during an altercation with Atlanta’s Kevin Willis in a 1994 NBA playoff game. In the heat of the moment, Long body-slammed Gentry who wound up in a hospital for treatment of a fractured right hand.

The Indiana-Detroit brawl didn’t just involve players but also fans. Five fans were in fact charged in court and banned from ever attending Pistons home games. One fan drained a cup of beer on Ron Artest, now Metta World Peace. Artest went after the fan, engaged other fans and was later suspended the rest of the season which turned out to be 73 regular season and 13 playoff games. Penalties included hours of community service and the NBA also required anger management therapy on five players, including Stephen Jackson and Jermaine O’Neal.