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Sports and Hobbies

How to Fix the PBA

Posted on July 16, 2012 by Spanky Hizon Enriquez

I used to love the PBA.

I even, ten years apart, worked as a sportscaster for the games.

But these days, I can't even bring myself to watch a whole quarter, much less a complete game, of a league that seems to have lost its mojo.

Robert Jaworski's official retirement last week, and the "homecoming" of Ricardo Brown only served to underscore the differences between then and now.

I still wish the best for the league of my youth, and I hope someone there reads my list!

TOP 10 WAYS TO FIX THE PBA:

1. No real need for "imports" anymore. They were needed 30 or so years ago, to give parity to the league, in order to enable weaker teams to compete against Crispa and Toyota.

2. Imports in the early days were world-class, NBA level players. Billy Ray Bates was a star with the Portland Trailblazers and Glenn MacDonald helped the Boston Celtics win a title. These days, the imports playing in the PBA seem to be NBA rejects.

3. Imports were needed back then to quench the thirst of NBA fans. NBA games were next to impossible to watch then, unless one lived in Clark or Subic, or if one had installed a UHF antenna to grab the signals of the bases' FEN Networks. These days? Fans can watch an NBA game daily on BTV. Fanatics can watch up to three!

4. Besides, why do we still need imports now when half of the PBA seems to be composed of imported Fil-Ams anyway?!

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It used to be okay when there was one per team. One great Fil-Am who really embraced the Pinoys, like the great Ricky Brown. These days? The Fil-Ams seem to be mercenaries more than anything else.

5. Instead of imports, the PBA should hold "invitational tournaments" with guest teams from other countries. This hits two birds with one stone: it will provide valuable exposure to international teams, and provide opportunities to hype "national pride" and patriotism to drive up attendance at the live games.

6. The PBA should control all the skewed and self-serving trades that seem to benefit only the teams of the two giant conglomerates that own more than half of the teams.

7. The PBA should create and foster team loyalty by building up real rivalries. There are no more rabid fanbases that cheer for insanely intense games like before: Crispa-Toyota, Ginebra-Purefoods, Gilbey's-Shell, or Anejo-Tanduay.

8. Limit player movement. It's now a fact that the UAAP is more popular than the PBA. It's unfortunate that the college players get lost in the pros, no thanks to silly revolving door policies. The PBA allowed potential MVPs like Enrico Villanueva become journeymen, while endlessly promoting Fil-Ams who have no real connection with the fans.

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9. Investigate what Don Allado said about "fixes" in the PBA. The league should listen to him, instead of just punishing him. Where there's smoke, there's fire.

10. The PBA should once again be a league of passionate and tough players again, not a league composed of namby-pamby over-familiar kind and friendly clubs.

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Comments

Raymond Abriza said:
why import in the first place anyway? if people love uaap guys then they should hire more of them once they graduate. when you play for the nba, you do your best to be the top player because it is a chance for you to earn more and have more endorsements. i guess pba players are ok with their six figure salaries each month so they play lazy.