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    COLUMN: Easy on the penalties, Commissioner Marcial

    In dealing with Sy, Marcial used a bazooka when a six-shooter would've sufficed
    Jul 20, 2020
    spin zone

    CHICAGO - The waters around the PBA's Elite are no longer black. It's blood red. And you can add that color to the violet bruises the league has sustained in recent months.

    Echoing the impassioned plea of my esteemed colleague, fellow SPIN.ph columnist Ding T. Marcelo, I agree that Blackwater Elite owner Dioceldo Sy deserves a break after his team's recent quarantine-related infraction.

    But I also see why the PBA was so uncommonly harsh and punitive in its response. Leniency would not prevent other teams from opening their gym doors to more violations.

    In these ravaged pandemic times, when drivers of public utility jeepneys and two-wheeled contraptions can't even ply their routes to feed their families, the "illegal" workout assembled by Blackwater was reckless and irresponsible in its audacity.

    Athletes are not just entertainers, they are role models, too. When the IATF guidelines on the resumption of sporting activities remained vague, the Elite turned into outcasts as they missed the opportunity to be a shining example that mass gatherings are dangerous as COVID-19 persists.

    Blackwater broke the rules. That's clear and undisputed.

    But did PBA commissioner Willie Marcial really need the bazooka to send the deterring message when a six-shooter would have probably sufficed?

    If it were a more established team that broke the rules, would Marcial be just as forceful in the breadth and enthusiasm of his enforcement?

    And would the rebuke be so public and "insulting" in a way that a threat of an "investigation" immediately followed a stiff P100,000 fine?

    Sorry, I'm inclined to believe otherwise.

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      The word "poor" doesn't usually fit to describe Deoceldo Sy, a man who has more pesos than Argentina.

      But as the PBA and the GAB, two heaving behemoths, take turns swinging at Blackwater, Sy isn't just poor, he seems oppressed.

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      And that's just sad because Dioceldo Sy is a beloved figure who belongs in the Good Guys HaIl of Fame. He wins Man of the Year every six months, that's how nice he is, I am told.

      I don't know the legal impediments, if any, that would prevent Sy from his planned sale of Blackwater. But if he feels that his relationship with the league has been irreparably broken or if the venture is no longer profitable and sustainable, I believe the league has the moral obligation to respect and honor the desires of a valued peer.

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        GIFT OF GAB. I love GAB chairman Abraham Mitra. I worked for the Cebu campaign of his late dad Ramon's presidential run back in 1992. Baham is sage and charismatic like his father.

        But I wish the GAB, instead of jumping into the fray, had allowed the PBA to police itself as a responsible and capable sports body.

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        Sy already apologized, quickly and publicly. He is fine and fined. Is there anything more to probe?

        Following Calvin Abueva's lingering suspension, Arwind Santos' racial taunts to a black import, San Miguel's in-house punch session, and the debilitating financial toll of the coronavirus, the PBA has never been more challenged in its rich 45-year history.

        And just like Sy, another man is desperate for a break.

        Kume Marcial.

        But bad things happen to good people all the time.

        C'est la vie.

        Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph

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