Monday, March 11, 2013

UAAP say hello to protectionism with the Jerie Pingoy rule

The University Athletic Association of the Philippines has approved a new rule of making players who transferred from one UAAP high school team to a rival UAAP team sit out for 2 years before playing in his new team.  The rule was rumored to be triggered by the apparent interest of two-time UAAP Juniors MVP Jerie Pingoy of FEU to play for the 6-peat seeking Ateneo de Manila University.

The UAAP created the new rule to protect the treasured basketball programs of many of its member schools.  Hello protectionism and goodbye choice! What is next? The PBA only allowing teams to draft players from their D-league affiliates?  The rivalries in the college-level is now so stiff that players as early as 13 should decide what college should they play for. Wow. It's amazing.

It is now like UAAP is making players sign an unwritten contract that makes players as properties of schools. Maybe next year, they will allow schools to trade rights of certain players in exchange for other players. This is the problem with the Philippine school system.  The college game is so unregulated that we do not know what are these players are getting in exchange for their services.  The UAAP is in away bigger than the PBA as teams could sign as many as 30 players in a given year. The rivalries are more heated and the team owners and sponsors rival that of PBA team owners. SM has team in the UAAP. So does the MVP group. There were even talks that there are betting in UAAP games. It is understandable the schools will protect their interests and their prized possessions. 

The rich schools can recruit as many student-athletes as they can afford.  There are players languishing in Team B's who could have starred in other UAAP schools like UP. Why can't UAAP limit the number of players that schools can protect? It's like in the NFL, teams cannot franchise all of its free agents. The new rule now also applies to lesser known players who aren't even in the college plans of their UAAP schools. Not all schools can wait for 2 years and not all players can sit for 2 years and continue to develop.

I guess the NCAA is so happy with the new rule and they could probably see an influx of UAAP Jr. talents to their ranks in the coming years. Call it karma as the UAAP has been poaching the talents of many NCAA schools (especially San Beda) for years.  If I have a son who can be the next Michael Jordan, I will probably enroll him in an NCAA or a CESAFI school so that when the time comes, he will have many options and not be hindered by the Jerie Pingoy rule. ;)

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Petronovela: Renaldo Balkman out of the PBA

One of the main stars of this conference's Petronovela Renaldo Balkman is "banned for life" in the PBA. His sentence was handed Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner Atty. Chito Salud.  Salud not only banished him from the league but he was also fined 250,000 pesos. Wow, that's a over year's salary for an average Juan de la Cruz.

The drama at Peron continues as many die-hard fans felt that PBB's (Petron Blaze Boosters) "telenovela" is hindering the ascent of the team. Last conference, they had a coaching drama leading them to almost at the bottom of the standings after being touted to be one of the strongest teams on paper. This conference after a great start, one of their leading men chocked a fellow leading man causing the producer (commish) to implement a harsh punishment.  The show was supposed to be rated PG but what Balkman and company did rivaled the unknown stars of "face to face" or "personalan".  After seeing the video of what happened last friday, many sarcastic fans were reminded of Claudine Barretto vs. Mon  Tulfo. 

Slowly but surely the PBA is evolving into a mini-teleserye.  TV5 even interviewed Balkman a few days after the incident which was handled like Boy Abunda or Lolit Solis interviewing a movie star.  By the rate they are going, the PBA could soon dislodge Ina, Anak, Kapatid as the top telenovela in the country. 

The PBA could use the incident to evolve into like WWE.  They could probably add chairs and blood to increase the ratings further. Next would come costumes since they already have nicknames like Kracken, Ninja, Spark, Lieutenant, Captain Hook, and Extra Rice Inc.  With the incident garnering over a million hits already , the PBA somehow became viral.  Bad publicity is still publicity.  

As for Petron, they are now looking for a new leading man.  If you want to audition the requirements would be you must be over 6-8 in height, choir boy looks and manners, no tattoos, and the type who would hug teammates instead of pushing them away.  If you qualify or if you know someone you can act as his manager and make tons of money.

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