FOR two hours, almost all the UAAP reporters on duty camped out on the hallway outside the De La Salle locker room at the Araneta Coliseum.
That Saturday night, the defending UAAP women's volleyball champions Lady Spikers had just lost a bruising four-setter to rival University of Santo Tomas in a battle that carried dire semifinals implications.
Patiently, the reporters waited. They had stories to write, deadlines to meet, all of which required talking to players and coaches to enhance their reporting.
READ La Salle silence deafening after loss to UST
The locker room doors finally opened 29 minutes before midnight, but when the La Salle contingent leaked out they decided to just blow off the media.
Just to be clear, the UAAP has no rules in place requiring volleyball players to talk to reporters after matches, so La Salle didn't break any protocols or anything like that.
But just because what they did was allowable absent any set guidelines on media availability doesn't mean it was right, either.
That silent treatment was dirty, discourteous.
IT WAS ALSO SO INCONSIDERATE OF OTHER PEOPLE'S TIME.
I get it. The Lady Spikers' feelings were hurt after being reduced to a No.3 seed in the Final Four. But they've been through this pain before and you'd think they're able to manage their emotions hours after the contest.
As defending champions, a bunch of gifted players who had caused so much heartache to other teams during their dominance, you'd think La Salle would show more grace in the face of defeat.
I was wrong.
And just to be clear, too, I don't blame the players for any of this. I blame the coaches and the team staff, whom these young ladies take orders from. In case you forgot, they also kept mediamen and basically the entire world of Philippine volleyball in the dark on the real nature of Angel Canino's injury.
If UST and UP and Ateneo routinely make their players available post-game in both good times and bad, why can't you, La Salle?
When you win you're all smiles at the presscon, patting yourselves in the back so hard you risk injuring your wrists. But when you lose, you clam up?
That's petty, childish. And conduct unbecoming of a university with an impeccable tradition of fair play and sportsmanship.
A FRIEND, NOT A FOE.
Teams ought to know by now that the media is an ally. That's why they rely on them to disseminate announcements and press releases. Give these reporters the respect they've earned.
The media is the bridge that connects the fans to the players and vice versa. It's a valuable partner in the common quest to make the UAAP grow.
When it's all said and done, Ramil De Jesus will go down as inarguably the best to ever coach volleyball in the UAAP, if not the entire Philippines. The lone, tiny wrinkle in his legacy would be the perceived indifference his program treats the media.
Let's hope that changes.
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