Fair Play: Latest basketball drama an insult to CCSC

(This is my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu's April 15 edition)
SUMMER is a time when sports action picks up and organizers of various tournaments turn to the government for support. For some, like those in football, badminton, tennis, swimming and the other less-popular sports, the private sector is who they turn to for tournaments, so kids can have events to join.

Not so with basketball. That's why teams in the Cebu City Mayor's Cup are lucky the Cebu City Sports Commission rolled out the red carpet for them.

But, it turns out, three team owners don't know how lucky they are and are acting like a bunch of sore losers who'd bite the hand the feeds them.



After the walkout drama in Medellin last week, three teams informed organizer Lorenzo Chao Sy that they are withdrawing from the tournament because they don't like the officiating--the most unsportsmanlike conduct in recent years in Cebu.

This conspiracy to sabotage a tournament named after the Cebu City Mayor shows the values--or lack thereof--of the three team owners. Let's call it as it really is, a conspiracy. No incident in recent history here has three teams withdrawing simultaenously because of officiating. Why they did that, is something the team owners only know.

And to blame officiating is the flimsiest of all excuse, so flimsy that if their reason was a dress, it would be perfect for the 50 shades of grey sequel.

Sy said he won't hold any grudges, but if it was me, I'd recommend to the Cebu City Sports Commission that they no longer invite Joemang's Surplus, Abrenic Engineering and RMA Logistics to any sport-related activity the city will hold.

The funds used for the Cebu City Mayor's Cup could have been spent for deserving poor kids, but it was spent for a basketball tournament, because the sport is in our blood. And in exchange, the three team owners sudden withdrawal sabotaged it.

Bad calls always happen, but I've seen kids as young as six who deal with bad calls better than these three team owners--they accept it, and continue playing.



Because in sports, how you play the game, how you deal with officials, organizers and even the utility boys--during and after a match--is more important than your conduct in the game itself.

They forgot that.

So, let's keep on reminding them by banning them from all sports-related activities the Cebu City Sports Commission will hold.

All sports-related activities—not just basketball.

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