CHICAGO - I don't want University of the East coach Jack Santiago to lose his job and affect the means with which he can provide for his family.
But I also want him to be punished more appropriately for being caught allegedly "ordering his players to harm University of the Philippines star Ricci Rivero" during the Warriors-Maroons game last Saturday.
The two-game suspension handed out by the UAAP is a joke.
Since when did the UAAP lose its spine?
Santiago's actions had all the elements needed to consummate a crime.
Motive. Means. Opportunity.
Heck, you can even throw malice in the pile.
And he gets two games for that?
The UAAP installed the bubble supposedly to protect the health and safety of its players but when presented with the opportunity to do just that against a clear and present danger, the league recoiled like a shrinking violet.
Apparently, there are a lot of basketballs in the UAAP but there are no balls when it comes to tough decisions.
The frustration about this disciplinary mishandling was relayed to me by a PBA head coach through pixels in my cell phone screen.
SMH.
I understand the emotions that billows around a team huddle, especially among teams that are getting disemboweled by the competition, but the kind of anger and spur-of-the-moment bravado about taking down a rival player cannot come from the coaching staff, the adults in the group.
If Santiago really has such a rabid appetite for violence he should take up jiu jitsu, or mixed martial arts, where anything goes.
I know nothing happened and Rivero walked out of the gym with all his body parts intact, but what if?
What if some dunce in the Warriors bench listened to his coach and carried out the order?
Coaches can always find employment elsewhere. We saw that with former UST coach Aldin Ayo who has found a new home at Chooks-To-Go.
But players can only break their knees once and their careers are over.
The severity of punishment helps deter crime. Two games won't prevent the next numbskull coach from ordering a hit against an opposing player that his team cannot stop through legal basketball means.
I ASKED RICCI IF HE IS SCARED OF BECOMING A "TARGET" MOVING FORWARD.
He is not.
"I don't think it will affect me because I believe that intentionally hurting someone will not help you win. I will just focus on our goal this season and leave it all to God to watch over me."
Yes, thank God there is a God.
Because the UAAP doesn't seem to do a good job watching over good guys like Rivero, who faced an imminent threat to his healthy existence.
As for the lame, slap-on-the-wrist penalty that Santiago got, Rivero passed judgement like one of his nifty assists.
"I will leave it to the commissioner and the UAAP board. I trust that they know what's best for us athletes and the league."
Unfortunately, the trust here has sadly been misplaced.
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