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| If that promotional material does not look like a Basketball Game to you, then I do rest my case. |
Oh man, The disaster last night, which is the PLDT Last Home Stand Fiasco? Tsk tsk tsk, to quote a liquor commercial - Mahaba-habang usapan ito!
To tell you frankly, I am contemplating about writing a post about that unfortunate event because I am a basketball fan and therefore, things like what happened last night is something that I do not want to put in the internet, let alone write a blog post about.
However, as I do things during the day and the more I try not think about it, the more the blogger in me keeps on nagging myself to write about it. In the end, I conceded. So, here is my post about the Lost....err I mean, Last Home Stand that never happened.
Back in 2011, I was really elated when the news that NBA players (The current playing ones, not the retired NBA vets) are coming to town to play a series of exhibition games against our very own local basketball stars from the PBA and our pride, The Gilas Pilipinas National Team. It was like a dream come true! Imagine, NBA stars like Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, and then-current MVP Derrick Rose to name a few are going to strut their stuff in a game against our local talents? Fantastic! If you have the dough, you can even watch the game "Live". With that in the offering, the events, as expected, were sold out and became a complete success.
So, when the "Last Home Stand" event was announced (or should I say, HYPED) for the past few weeks which will feature our FIBA World Cup-bound Gilas Pilipinas against a selection of All-Stars and young, up and coming NBA Stars that include the likes of Blake Griffin, Paul George, Damian Lillard, and 2014 Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard, I myself felt the sense of Deja Vu and said to myself that this is another dream come true for the legions of Basketball-loving Filipino fans. It was even billed as a charity event and tagged as the best "send-off" that we will be giving our National Team before they head to battle in Spain for the FIBA World Cup. Who could go wrong with that, huh?
Unfortunately, I was wrong.
After all the hype and with a lot of fans buying the stratospherically-priced tickets and braving the bad weather yesterday just to watch the so-called "Home Stand", they all trooped to the Big Dome for basically, NOTHING.
The National Basketball Association (NBA) intervened on the last minute because as it turns out, the organizers of the event failed to take the required steps that they need to do (as per NBA's ruling about exhibition games) and the event was not sanctioned by the NBA, hence the players (being bound by the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the players and the NBA itself) are barred from participating in any activities, especially a 5-on-5 Basketball GAME. Non-compliance will result in hefty fines and even suspensions for the erring NBA players. With that warning, the players had no choice but to abide. (Will you risk getting fined and penalized and worse, ruin your career just for an exhibition game that is not sanctioned? Hell No!)
Instead of a game, the "disgruntled" fans were "treated" to a glorified PLDT (Practice Lang, Drills, at Training) that resembles nothing short of your regular team practice drills that you should not even be paying a "centavo" to see. A shower of BOOS and UNPLEASANTRIES followed thereafter and soon, people are walking out of the Big Dome demanding a REFUND and leaving home feeling short changed.
The whole spectacle became a nightmare instead of a dream, a malevolence instead of a charity event, and can be hands-down, the WORST SEND-OFF any National Team can ever get before competing in a World Cup tournament.
To make matters worse, the organizers even tried to one-up the "cheated" fans by issuing a statement that they "NEVER advertised that there was a GAME." _____ (Insert your choice of Unpleasant Word HERE), talagang magpapalusot pa eh noh?! Balak pa itakbo ang pera ng mga nadismayang madla!
Fortunately, Manny V. Pangilinan (MVP) prevented this shenanigan by issuing an apology and promising that there will be a refund, a guaranteed refund, no ifs, buts, or coconuts. (Saludo ako sa iyo, Mr. MVP for this action) I am sure "HEADS WILL ROLL" after this is all said and done, MVP will not let the people responsible for this humiliation to go scot-free.
However, even with the apologies and the refund, what happened was really a heart-breaker for the fans. I really felt bad for them. These fans paid their hard-earned money and exerted a lot of their effort in support of Philippine Basketball and what they got was this? Outrageous! For the love of basketball, Filipino Fans should not be in the receiving end of this travesty. Dapat may managot talaga dito! (Organizers, I am looking at YOU!)
The Filipino (Basketball-Loving) Fans did not deserve this POS!
My sympathies goes to those fans affected by this. You really did not deserve to be the ones losing in the "Last Home Stand."
Until next time,
Ciao!
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