CHICAGO - A battery of expensive lawyers and a rabid 29.9 million following on social media couldn't save Novak Djokovic from being kicked out of Australia.
For a change, an entitled star athlete and the world's No.1-ranked tennis player didn't get his way in a highly-contentious public relations saga.
But because the outbreak of Covid-19 has also become the pandemic of the selfish, Djokovic isn't laying down his racket just yet as reports indicate that his camp will "appeal" his visa cancellation.
The Joker should put an end to this comedy skit of trying to defend his Australian Open title.
It's game, set, and match.
By choosing not to get vaccinated, Djokovic does not deserve the privilege of skipping mandated health protocols.
Certainly not in Australia, which has a 90 percent vaccination rate, and definitely not in Melbourne, a city that had once been locked down for 250 days at the height of the pandemic.
The case of Novak Djokovic once again shines a light on the contentious issue of vaccination.
I get it, it's your choice to keep, your jab to take or refuse.
But our rights to individual choices have limitations.
It's like drinking alcohol. You can drown yourself with Tanduay all you want at home but when you do that in public, privileges like driving are taken from you because death can be a consequence while driving drunk.
It's like having tattoos and piercings, too. You can inundate your body with it but you're likely not getting hired for a job. That's not discrimination, that's just employers reserving their right to hire "model employees."
But my biggest takeaway on this controversy is how the Australian official entrusted with the fate of Novak's visa application had the nerve to say "No" to a global superstar.
I KNOW IT'S A BIT LATE FOR NEW YEAR'S WISHES BUT WHY CAN'T PBA COMMISSIONER WILLIE MARCIAL HAVE THE SAME GUTS WHEN HIS OFFICE IS TESTED WITH CRISIS?
Instead of having a pair of stout balls, Kume Marcial seems to only be prone to dropping the ball.
For reference, look back on the lopsided trades that favored San Miguel teams, the swap that allowed TNT to snag Mikey Williams, and the interminable suspension of Calvin Abueva.
Add to the pile the blatant salary cap indiscretions of the top teams and the horror the Ravena brothers had to endure for having the temerity to choose the Japan B.League over the PBA.
All of that while his office oversees the catastrophic oil spill that is Blackwater.
On a slow day when rising team infections were mysteriously unreported, the PBA bared a P1 million fine will be slapped for those found guilty of tampering.
But as pointed out by SPIN.ph, no one has been convicted of such crime in 47 years.
Only fools fall for that kind of bush-league PR stunt.
That's like advertising a brand-new car as the top prize of a church raffle nobody seems to win.
Like I wrote before, Kume Wille is a good guy trapped in a bad situation.
Unless his bosses, his employers in the PBA board will give him true independence, Marcial will always be like Novak Djokovic.
The Joker.
And funny in a way that his office is a laughing stock.
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