First of all, I really like your blog. I think it really rocks!!! Irreverent, objective, witty, straight to the point. Just as sports reportage should be. Yes, even when it attacks the 'numerous dick moves' of Chot Reyes. :)

You're right, my coaching career has been marked by greater disappointments than achievements. In the game 4 incident, I know you (and a lot of sports fans) disagree with, as you so aptly call it, 'the dick move.'

But more than the numbers quoted by the 'patay and butiki' boys, I just wanted to inform you that we indeed followed established PBA protocol w regards officiating:

1. We wrote a letter to the PBA Commissioner dated January 25, 2010 even before the series started, already citing several calls/non-calls in our previous Ginebra games. He replied by admitting that the officials did err in four of the twelve instances, with the assurance that the same would not happen again;


2. After game two which we won, we sent a videotape through Assistant Coach Bong Ravena indicating questionable calls/non-calls by referee Aldaba, requesting that he be prevented from officiating our next games. Commish responded by, according to Mr. Ramil Cruz, insisting Aldaba be put into the pool of refs for games 3 and 4;


3. The morning after game 4, we presented to the Commish video showing how, if referee Aldaba had just done his job and called a foul on Eric Menk for throwing Mac Cardona to the floor, then the play involving the Ranidel de Ocampo Flagrant Foul should not even have happened. He agreed that a foul should have been called on Menk but denied our request for reconsideration and upheld the Flagrant Foul 2 call.

The above shows how we did follow the established protocol for officiating concerns. Unfortunately, it also shows that our concerns went unheeded – that is, until the walkout.

Perhaps due to the walkout, game 5 officiating showed that, indeed, the refs are capable of calling games fairly. We lost that game fair and square, and I credit Ginebra for hitting 14 of their 30 3-pt shots in the game that mattered most. They deserved to win.

In response to your comment on how far we will take this, our position is, as far as necessary for officiating in the PBA to improve, not only for TNT, but for all the teams. And scathing commentaries like yours can only help. After all, it's not easy compiling call logs and editing footage just to show the PBA technical group the day following a stressful game. But, we gotta do what we gotta do.

Again, I do not mind being criticized, questioned and contradicted, as long as the comments are made responsibly and respectfully.

All the best and keep on punchin!

1. I sincerely hope that Talk N Text really does pursue changes to improve the officiating, and I hope they approach it by building consensus among the rest of the members of the PBA board. It really behooves the whole PBA community, including the San Miguel Corporation teams, to push for better refereeing, and all Pinoy basketball fans, including fans of Ginebra, ought to support these efforts.


2. Coach Chot was being disingenuous when he said that “his career is marked by greater disappointments than achievements.” He is the only coach to have won three All-Filipino championships with three different teams (Purefoods, Coke, Talk N Text), and as I pointed out in a previous post, he had taken three teams to the Philippine Cup finals in the last three full All-Filipino tournaments he coached prior to this one.


3. I grew up watching Purefoods games live at the Cuneta Astrodome, when Coach Chot was handling the team (back when he dressed up for games in a tie like a yuppie, not like now when he’s always in fashionably tight clothes like he’s going to do a song number on ASAP). Anyway, he brought all the antics, theatrics (i.e. kneeling on the floor to plead to the referees), and yeah, dick moves on the sideline. One time, an offensive foul was called on a Purefoods player (it might have been Bong Ravena), and he went BALLISTIC at the referee. After the referee walked away, he shouted to the bench (I’m paraphrasing from a memory from 15 years ago), “Kapag yang si [name of referee] ang nasa baseline, palaging charging ang tawag!” Purefoods won the game after a crucial defensive stop by Rey Evangelista, who drew a charge in the dying seconds. Of course, it was called by the same referee who called the earlier charge.