CHICAGO - Game-fixing is difficult to prove, let alone prosecute.
Unlike the social media court of public opinion, where screenshots of messages are readily accepted as evidence of wrongdoing, the threshold of finding guilt in the court of law is "beyond reasonable doubt."
To arrive at a conviction, the prosecutors have to subpoena phone records of the suspects involved while the investigators will have to dig into betting tickets at several betting sites to determine if there was unusual wagering activity on games that were alleged to be tainted.
It's a long and exhaustive process.
But it needs to be addressed because the integrity of the results, the heart and soul of any league, is at stake.
Deterring game-fixing is just as crucial as prosecuting it.
Unfortunately, the measures the PBA has taken are lame and toothless.
In a SPIN POV episode last April, PBA agent Danny Espiritu said the league has a "three-strike policy" for players suspected of "being involved in game-fixing and related activities."
GAME-FIXING IS THE MOST EGREGIOUS CRIME IN ALL OF SPORTS. IT'S LIKE MURDER IN SOCIETAL CONTEXT.
And the PBA, in all its redeeming glory, offers three opportunities for would-be offenders to go back on the right path.
There are crimes that don't deserve second chances, let alone three. And that includes game-fixing.
If a player gets involved in game-fixing, Espiritu explained, the board of governors will mark that player with one X.
A second X will result in a trade and a subsequent journeyman career while the third X leads to a ban that is done "quietly and isn't announced in public."
I beg your pardon, Kume Marcial.
You're not running a local parish here where a grave malfeasance can be cleansed with hope and prayer. What's needed here is an iron fist.
The penalty must be one and done. And you don't give the offender a quiet exit. You reveal his name in public as a deterrent to other players and then escort him to the nearest NBI field office.
WHEN ROGUE PLAYERS DO YOUR LEAGUE DIRTY, KUME MARCIAL, YOU DON'T PLAY TIC-TAC-TOE. YOU PLAY HARDBALL.
All this uneasy chatter is back in the headlines after a San Miguel Beer 3x3 player, Daniel De Guzman, was tied to a game-fixing deal that turned out to be broken.
Do I believe the San Miguel versus Ginebra game was rigged?
Not necessarily.
Is the league dirty?
I don't think so.
But doubt is poison.
It's like infidelity. You don't have to actually witness your partner to be in the company of someone else. It's other people's whispers, and the mere thought that he or she is unfaithful, that messes with your mind.
De Guzman is innocent until proven guilty. But the PBA can't rest easy.
Because the seeds of doubt have been planted. And like stains of an old carpet, this one never goes away.
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