To Raise Moral (Sports World, 1974)

Sports World Magazine

November 23, 1974

Beth Celis

 

 

            At last, they’re forming a professional basketball league.

 

            Good. Now there is a chance to restore morality to Philippine basketball.

 

            The eight breakaway MICAA teams – Mariwasa, Crispa, Toyota, YCO, Concepcion, U/Tex, Seven-Up, and CFC – led by no less than the association’s former president (Domingo Itchon of YCO) and current president (Mariwasa’s Emerson Coseteng) have declared they’re going pro in order to “clarify” the status of their players and of the league itself.

 

            The BAP, on the other hand, wants a “transition” period. In other words, they want more time under the status quo.

 

            And the BAP argument is based on their fear, a valid one, of course, that national representation will suddenly become much weaker until stronger amateurs can be developed by a more competent development program.

 

            The argument is couched in moral terms, naturally. One side speaks of “honesty,” the other of “patriotism.” 

 

 

 

            But we all know that the breakaway MICAA teams simply, finally got fed up with the BAP’s honing in on the playing time of the best MICAA players. And playing time means money at the gate and from TV.

 

            Remember when the BAP wanted to ban the champion ABC players from playing in the MICAA from December, 1973 to July, 1974 because the BAP said, they wanted to keep training the team for the Puerto Rico games? That would have been eight months of fundraising games for the BAP.

 

            The MICAA hasn’t issued any income announcements, but the players know that its take went down this year owing to frequent BAP requisitions of playing time.

 

            So, if you go behind the value-attached terminology (such as “amateurism” and “patriotism”), what you get is a struggle over income between the MICAA teams and the BAP. And the BAP, it turns out, will be the loser since its position is basically parasitic and usurping.

 

            Doming Itchon told us that it won’t take six months before the pro league gets going. They’re waiting for the papers from the NBA so they’ll profit from the American experience. But at the same time, their local preparations are also quite advanced. As he says, it won’t take six months.

 

            One good sign is that the organizers are concerned over the moral aspects of pro basketball. According to Itchon, they would want the players to consult their lawyers before signing contracts with their respective teams.

 

            This is the current attitude. The overwhelming majority of MICAA players want a professional league, but there are also others who have a wait and see attitude. Their reason?

 

            “If the terms of our contract with a pro team are just going to be the same as with the MICAA teams at present, there will be no improvement really.”

 

            This is from a leader among the players.

 

            But it seems that the pro league’s organizers, judging from Mr. Itchon’s statement, are out to do justice to the players.

 

            That’s a very crucial point. It should lay the basis for a moral attitude towards every other aspect of pro basketball in the Philippines. Another word would be “honesty” – it should be an honest to goodness professional league and not just an escape from the clutches of the BAP.

 

            Nobody could really complain about certain irregularities in the MICAA, or in other amateur leagues, for that matter. An organization, for example, could not be criticized for recruiting only mediocre players. And players could not be concretely faulted for holding back. After all, there are more “important” things than amateur play.

 

 

 

            But a pro league will be different. A much higher standard of competence and, yes, morality will be demanded by the public. For the public will be paying for entertainment. Juan Dela Cruz in the bleachers will be a customer, not just a spectator as in amateur sports.

 

            That will mean he will have a right to demand more balanced teams, better conditioned players, more knowledgeable coaches, better officiating, better coliseum facilities, more competent league leadership (such as keeping of statistics), more professional behavior from the players, etc.

 

            The public will henceforth be paying customers. They’ll be more demanding than the present “audience” who can’t really kick about shortcomings in “amateur” circumstances.

 

            In short, there will be a morality to professional basketball, the obligation to give a good and honest show. Since this is basketball country, I’m betting that the pro league will do a good job.

 

            The technical level of basketball will improve, just as the NBA has raised the level not only in the United States but all over the world. We’ll be seeing the exciting return of imported American players. Playing for real money, the pros will have to be and they will be better (At present, the only truly full-time team is the Crispa Redmanizers).

 

            From the point of view of basketball, we like what’s coming. In less than six months.

MICAA '73: A Postscript - Heroes, Highlights of a Stormy Season (Sports World, 1973)

Sports World Magazine

September 8, 1973

E.A. Perez de Tagle

 

 

It’s what could have been time for the MICAA, and Sports World pinpoints five incidents which in no little way contributed to Toyota’s magnificent triumph in its maiden year and only in its third tournament (including the time it played as Komatsu).

 

These are:

 

1.     The decommissioning of Willie Adornado of Crispa on a fractured left hand for seven games.

 

2.    The banning for life of Rudy Soriano and Rey Franco of Crispa.

 

3.    “Lax officiating” in the second game between YCO and Universal Textile.

 

4.    Orly Bauzon’s “Shot of the Year” without which Toyota would have made an early exit during the Comets’ semifinal playoff with San Miguel Corporation.

 

5.    Roger Melencio’s suffering a fractured rib in the second game of the championship series and his being lost to the Concepcion cause in the rubber match.

 

The 1973 MICAA campaign was, as far as memory serves, the most extensive, with two round-robins among 10 teams for an average of 18 games per team. As recounted in last week’s issue, Manila Bank played 15 and forfeited three, Squibb, CFC, Crispa, Mariwasa and U/Tex with 18 each: SMC 22, Yco 23, and both Toyota and Concepcion 24 each.

 

During which Mariwasa, the defending champion, strung up five wins in a row only to lose eight of its nine succeeding games including a 95-85 upset by Manilabank and finish seventh from the top. And Ciso Bernardo’s Consolidated Foods Corporation quintet upset SMC, 87-80 only to yield to Squibb’s only victory in the campaign in the Prestos’ very next outing by 92-91.

 

As the semifinalists took over, Squibb stood at 1-17, Manilabank 3-15, CFC 4-14, Mariwasa 8-10, Crispa 10-8 and U/Tex 11-7.

 

Crispa was the antonym of luck personified. With four wins behind them, the Redmanizers were leading the Concepcion Motorolas when Bogs Adornado tripped off Jimmy Noblezada. The resulting fall fractured Adornado’s left hand and Crispa went on to lose the game and five of their next seven.

 

Then, with Adornado back in the lineup and the Crispans still in contention, Rudy Soriano and Rey Franco were adjudged guilty of point-shaving in games played during the MICAA All-Filipino and they joined six other Crispans previously banned for life in the sidelines. Without them, Crispa lost two of its last three games and finished two games out of fourth place.

 

 

 

Note that before the Adornado disaster, the Redmanizers had whipped Toyota, 80-78 and YCO, 81-69; that Danny Floro’s charges only lost to SMC in overtime, 88-86 (with Soriano and SMC’s Boy Velasco being thrown out of the game for exchanging blows, each getting automatic three-game suspensions), and by 94-92 the next time around. (Crispa’s luck continued to sour even after the league ended. One of its mainstays, Fortunato Co, was found guilty of point-shaving and joined the ranks of the banned. Comparatively luckier were Jesse Sullano of Mariwasa and Ramon Lucindo of Concepcion, who each drew one-year suspensions for failing to notify basketball authorities of attempts to bribe them into shaving points.)

 

Crispa with an intact lineup would have been a tough match for any MICAA team.

 

U/Tex had the bad luck of starting off against top competition and lost four in a row before notching a first win. It was 4-5 coming home, when the Weavers started playing the games of their lives. First, Concepcion 81-78, next Toyota 82-76, then SMC 78-71.

 

U/Tex was in the process of adding YCO to its list of victims when Coach Lauro Mumar at a crucial point of the game recalled son Lawrence to the bench and kept him there. Without Larry, the Weavers fast lost ground and U/Tex absorbed one of only two defeats in second-time-around play.

 

Mumar explained afterwards that he took Larry out “to save him from mayhem.”

 

U/Tex finished a win shy of figuring in a fourth place playoff with Concecpion and SMC, and the last was seen – for the tournament – of Bay Mumar’s patented slowbreak tactics.

 

The Braves were ahead, 76-75, with seven seconds to play when the Comets made their last play. It was the second game of the semifinal playoff between SMC and Toyota, with the Braves toting a 70-62 first win. Alberto Reynoso dribbled toward goal and the SMC defense drifted with him. Reynoso passed back, to Orly Bauzon. With the big bulk of Big Boy as screen, Bauzon had a clear view of the basket. He jumped, and his basket in the last four seconds of play gave Toyota a 77-76 victory.

 

Toyota was back in the race, and there was no stopping the Comets from there.

 

(Joy) Dionisio did a Bauzon in the second game of the championship playoff series to give Concepcion a 73-72 triumph. The shot also came in the last four seconds, a lay-in after Dionisio managed to spin away from Bauzon.

 

But Melencio was under an x-ray apparatus at the Makati Medical Center and the attending doctor’s worst fear was realized: the 10^th rib on the left side was fractured. He had rammed against the massive leg of Big Boy on a lay-up and crashed to the floor with a thud.

 

Without Melencio, the Concepcion defense lost cohesiveness and the triumvirate of Big Boy Reynoso, Ed Camus and Mon Fernandez dominated the backboards in the finale, and only Concepcion obstinacy and never-say-die spirit made it a game until the last quarter when the Comets decisively pulled away.

 

 

Big J Back on Top and How (Sports World, 1973)

Sports World

April 28, 1973

 

 

            The Komatsu Komets still have to win a game after six tries, an exhibition and five tournament tilts. But they can derive some consolation from the fact that in the Panamin Invitational Tournament just concluded, they at least had the best shot in Robert (Bobby) Jaworski, who buried the hoops oat a 24.80 points per game clip.

 

            Of his total, Jaworski averaged 10 field goals in a game, and his production from the 15-foot line was nothing to sneeze at, a solid 24 out of 26 tries.

 

 

 

            Bobby Jaworski’s failure to sweep all scoring honors was only because YCO’s Valerio Delos Santos shot a perfect 12 out of 12 in the free throw department and Mariwasa’s Narciso Bernardo bested by a point Jaworski’s single-game record, Bernardo going for 31 against YCO.

 

            Delos Santos earned free throw honors when Crispa’s Fortunato Co finally missed a charity shot in his last game for a 15 out of 16 clip.

 

            Team-wise, YCO was tops in free throw conversions although only third best in offense as well as in defense.

 

            Actually, YCO won the Panamin title on a seconds-to-go conversion by speedster, Freddie Webb that led to a 105-103 win against Mariwasa.

 

            Newly-crowned National Seniors champion San Miguel Corporation went through the Panamin still in a celebrating mood; the Braves lost four of five games, including a prestige match against Mariwasa decided by a jumpshot by Ramon Lucindo with just two seconds to go, 87-86.