COACH Yeng Guiao must have really been pissed. He just called San Miguel player Terrence Romeo “bastos” for all media to broadcast, print, and vlog.
“Bastos” is, of course, the ultimate insult hereabouts about someone without civility, without manners, someone so gross and crude one runs out of expletives to capture one’s disgust. It is the verbal equivalent of a physical assault.
Romeo has not been available for comment.
So what got Guiao’s goat? Well, Romeo did a garbage-shot three pointer.
Somewhere in basketball here and abroad is an unwritten code that says a team leading by a margin considered too big to overcome usually dribbles away time left in the game and just lets the clock run out.
READ Guiao says beef with Terrence all about 'basic respect'
During the San Miguel Beer-Rain or Shine game last Saturday at the Dasmariñas City Arena in Cavite, the Beermen were leading 114-107 with 3.7 seconds remaining. Given that lead and with only that time left, even divine intervention could not have altered the result in favor of Rain or Shine.
But when Romeo got the ball, he decided to go for the basket from a long ways off, it went in, and, voila, three points were added to San Miguel’s haul.
Guiao went ballistic.
“Nagulat ako sa nangyari. Medyo bastusan ang labas,” he mouthed off. “I think ‘yung the mere fact na they are seeded No. 1, they are the best team, they have the best record, they have the best talent, that in itself should make them a class organization. But to be a class organization is giving due respect doon sa mas mababa sa ‘yo. Pero hindi naman nangyari.”
Not done, Guiao went on to throw an expletive Romeo’s way: “May tao talagang bastos. Wala tayong magagawa. May taong mayabang, may taong bastos, wala tayong magagawa doon.”
Netizens are divided over the incident. Some say Guiao was right to go ballistic, others think he should have let it pass, and others theorize that being down 0-3 in the best-of-seven semifinal series and on the verge elimination must have made the Rain or Shine coach lose it and he wanted someone or something to blame for his team’s shortcomings.
Well, my take is he is right to raise the issue. But, he is not right to rain expletives on the hapless Romeo. But Guiao would not let it pass, going so far as to drag the whole San Miguel organization in his tirade, saying it has no class.
Now that is hard to accept from a guy who holds the record for most fines, most suspensions, most ejections and most warnings from the PBA’s Commissioner’s Office. No other coach or player or manager can match his score sheet. What’s more, he’s always had the habit of pointing the dirty finger — in some cases, literally two fingers — at people who cross him or whom he thinks have crossed him, in a gesture right smack in the world he calls “bastos.”
Over the top
Romeo, 32, an outstanding guard for the San Miguel Beermen, was probably not thinking of codes, written or unwritten, in the world of hoops. He probably just wanted to give fans at the Dasmariñas City Arena, the newest stadium in the country, located in the province where he was born and raised, a good show as thank you for filling up the 4,500-seat stadium. Or, also maybe, Romeo just wanted to add a bit to his stats. In the end, he made a not bad 13 points, three of them credited to his garbage-time shot.
That’s all.
“Bastos” to describe the fellow is just a bit over the top.
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