CHICAGO - Listening to PBA chairman Ricky Vargas and SMC sports director Alfranchis Chua address issues that have plagued their league for years was refreshing.
The mere fact that they've acknowledged the outcry about lack of parity, unfair trades and the existence of sister-teams showed that, contrary to prior perception, they do listen to their fans' grievances.
Often, the denial that something is amiss is what makes fans more angry and increasingly rebellious because they feel neglected or ignored.
READ PBA board plays down concerns over (lack of) parity, 'unfair' trades
Vargas made an excellent point that there is also no parity in the UAAP where La Salle, Ateneo and UP have ruled the competition as of late.
Unlike the PBA board, though, the UAAP doesn't seem to have the teeth to bite into the problem.
Vargas is not wrong, parity and unfair trades are "subjective," beholden to personal bias and preferred narrative. It is, however, an objective thing to say that Blackwater and Terrafirma are bad teams and that trading top picks for ancillary pieces is never a good thing.
SILENT SUPPORTERS.
What I will never question, though, is the care and concern that Vargas has for sports beyond the PBA.
Vargas is the chairman of the country's boxing association (ABAP) and SBP president Al Panilio, through PLDT and the MVP Sports Foundation, quietly helped our gymnastics program years ago when the funding necessary to support Carlos Yulo had become more arid than the Mojave desert.
So the inference that Vargas and the board are just letting the PBA rot is nonsense.
Chua's revelation that sister-teams actually help sustain the league was shocking but not surprising. It reminds me of what a doctor once said about chemotherapy; a process that promises life but also often guarantees death.
Like quitting smoking, getting rid of sister teams can't be done abruptly. But here's a thought.
What about a slow purge, cutting the cord one non-performing team at a time while also allowing new entities to join the league one at a time?
Unfair trades are a function of team sisterhood. Once you get rid of one, the other problem goes away.
Much maligned, sometimes unfairly, Chua came to the rescue of Gilas last year and turned a predicament into an Asian Games gold medal.
His heart is in a good place, too. Don't forget that everytime you cast the stone.
DAVE UPDATE.
Although Dave Ildefonso has already "reached out to" NorthPort, the No. 5 pick in last month's Rookie Draft and the Batang Pier are still wide apart in the negotiations.
A person with knowledge of the situation told me that "salary" remains the main hurdle in unifying both sides.
READ NorthPort, Dave Ildefonso contract talks finally underway
For now, at least, rumors that Dave could end up at Converge where his dad, Danny, works as an assistant coach are simply not true.
It's a waiting game as to who blinks first between NorthPort and Dave Ildefonso.
Meanwhile, the clock - with four days to go before another conference starts - just keeps on ticking.
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