Last night, I decided to go out with friends instead of staying home to watch PBA action. I figured, “Hey, it’s just one night, what could possibly happen?”

Well, shit happened.

I turned to the replay of the Talk N Text walkout on BTV as I stumbled into my house past midnight, with the team already in the dugout. I read updates on Twitter over what happened, and, had an angry, drunken rant on Twitter about the issue.

I still feel the same way right now, even after the effects of alcohol had worn off. I am so tired of the Philippine basketball culture of whining about bad calls and bad referees, the persecution complex, and the incessant need to play the victim card.

Rain or Shine assistant coach Richard del Rosario tweeting about how the referees suck his team’s series versus Purefoods. Smart Gilas crying like babies about their whole PBA stint. San Miguel Corporation pulling out its advertisements from the 2008 PBA Philippine Cup finals after James Yap was suspended, and stupid Purefoods fans crying conspiracy against the team. UAAP teams filing every close game under protest. SBP executive director Noli Eala calling up PBL commissioner Chino Trinidad to suggest “fairer” officiating against San Beda during the 2008 NCAA finals. I could go on and on.

This walkout takes the cake. Chot Reyes pulled a total dick move by ordering the walkout—and, as a lifelong Purefoods fan, I’ve seen my fair share of dick moves from Chot Reyes—and Talk N Text management’s decision to condone it showed the organization’s total lack of class. I don’t care how bad the officiating was, this move was one big “FUCK YOU!” to the PBA, to all its other teams, and to all its fans. Seriously, do you have any idea how hard it is to get a lower-level ticket to a Ginebra game if you’re not connected to any PBA team playing that night?

I submit that the officiating might have been terrible. The foul that led to Ranidel de Ocampo getting thrown out might not have merited the flagrant foul penalty 2. The boys at Patay ang Butiki seem to think that Talk N Text might have a case against the officiating. Reyes himself cites the free throw disparity between the two teams for the whole series.

(I’m not a fan of using this metric to prove bias in officiating. It just proves that Ginebra shot more foul shots – nothing more. Now, if Talk N Text really wanted to prove that calls have been going against them, they could review the game and come up with a call-by-call analysis, similar to the ones done by 82games.com on controversial NBA games like Game 5 of the 2005 NBA Finals between Dallas and Miami, and Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference finals between the Lakers and the Kings. Otherwise, the free throw disparity would be just another empty statistic.)

Even then, if the Talk N Text organization really wanted to improve officiating, there are more effective ways it could have been done. With its influence on the PBA board, it could push for reforms in the officiating system, call for more transparency, and even move for the termination of officials that they accuse of bias. The PhP500,000 fine that they would pay for walking out could have been used to document issues that they have with the officiating, and they could even do stuff like statistical models and regression analysis to support their position. They could have done themselves, the PBA, and the Philippine basketball community a really huge favor.

Instead, they chose to walk out and screw the public out of a good game. Their subsequent statement about the officiating is a gun held to the head of the rest of the PBA, carrying with it the implication that if they lose, they got screwed by the officiating. You see, this walk-out doesn’t prove that Talk N Text is against biased officiating per se, just that Talk N Text is against biased officiating against the team.