CHICAGO - Stoic is one of the words that best describe Norman Black.
Like that fictional movie icon, John Rambo, the Meralco head coach is equipped with the facility to "ignore pain, weather and warfare."
So when he emits even the slightest hint of frustration, chances are, something really bad is cooking.
In this case, it's the officiating.
Just exactly how bad?
"I can't talk about it without getting fined or suspended. My focus now is to win our next game against Phoenix," Black told me in a telephone interview.
Unlike coach Black, though, I don't have any reservations spewing about how terrible the referees have whistled games to the detriment of Meralco.
In their last three games, the Bolts have been called for 79 fouls while their opponents only have a combined 64. Their import Tony Bishop went to to the charity stripe just three times in the same span while his counterparts shot a combined 40.
How can the refs honestly explain that differential of 37?
A lot of refs' whistles are judgement calls. Clearly, there is some impairment in the judging here.
I don't know if Kume Marcial will lift a finger on this travesty but the PBA refs should be reminded that the MVP group, not just SMC, helps pay their salaries too as a league member.
Jut saying.
GINEBRA DODGED A BULLET TONIGHT.
Which is good news for the Never Say Die flock.
But signs of trouble continue to billow from a team whose record is only 6-5 despite being loaded with several max players and armed with a coach who makes at least P1 million a month, more than the combined salaries of coach Magnolia's Chito Victolero and Topex Robinson of Phoenix.
The headlines glowingly narrated a come-from-behind 104-93 victory.
Cute.
But Ginebra shouldn't have been in that position against a vastly inferior Rain Or Shine.
Losing a double-digit lead and then trail by 6 with 7:54 to go in the fourth quarter isn't a sign of moxie. That's just a team constantly playing with fire.
And when you do that often enough, you get burned, eventually.
FASTBREAK. Before flying over to Manila, Shabazz Muhammad fired a text message asking his friend and fellow Las Vegas resident Orlando Johnson if he is currently playing in the Philippines.
"Yes," said Orlando.
Muhammad then told OJ he had just been signed as an import.
Naturally, Orlando asked, "Which team?"
"San Miguel" was the response.
Truth really is stranger than fiction.
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