Sports Eye
Weighing the court officials
By Jesus A. Garcia Jr.
AFTER that tedious but fruitful and memorable trip to the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore, I’m back to resume my coverage of the 2010 PRISAA-UCAAP cage tilt, considered as the biggest in the province. UCAAP executive director Seato Gonomil said the winner of this cagefest will represent Dagupan City in the PRISAA Region 1 Games slated October 27-30 in Laoag City while PRISAA Region 1 executive director Phil Celi said the champion in Laoag City, in turn, will stand for our region in the national PRISAA Games to be conducted in February either in Cebu or Tacloban City. Celi said he’ll attend a PRISAA meeting in Manila on September 4 to finalize everything, particularly the venue and the date of this tertiary sports competitions. Gonimil and Celi have invited me to cover the national hostilities and the prospects for me look bright. This will be my second time to cover at the national level after the 2005 event held at Narciso Ramos Sports and Civic Center in Lingayen.
The PRISAA-UCAAP cage tilt that’s being held now at the Dagupan People’s Astrodome is expected to last until the third week of this month. And by the time you read this piece, the tourney, exclusively for college students in the province, would already be in the semifinals.
The cagefest is running smoothly and fine. The organizers, headed by Atty. Gonzalo Duque, Angel Gumarang and Gonimil, are doing a great job. It’s a well-organized event and the best so far of all the PRISAA provincial games that I covered since 2005. Yes, there were some lapses on the part of the court officials, especially the referees and the table officials, but that’s common. Nonetheless, if it gets rampant, it can be really annoying to the spectators, the organizers themselves, and especially for the coach and the players. Avoiding blunders are also particularly crucial in the dying minutes of the game, especially on a closely-scored match.
So I observe the performance of the court officials in ongoing PRISAA-UCAAP cagefest. So far, I can say I have very high regard for some of them, namely: referees Danny Villanueva of Mangaldan, Pio Castaneda of Urbiztondo, and, of course, Jun Amado of Sta. Barbara, the Region 1 commissioner of NARECOM. I feel an aversion against some of the others, like Cris Tamayo, Jun Pontaoe, Ric Bautista and Richard Fontanilla. Their reflexes still can’t compare with the three. As for the rest, I’d say they are between weak and good. I’m not saying they’re incompetent, but they surely can still learn from Jun, Danny and Pio.
The table officials are committing mistakes too, especially those who handle the scoring and time machine. We’ve caught them napping on the job several times now, failing to quickly post the new scores and the numbers of fouls committed. No wonder Gumarang already suspended three of them because of ineptitude.
As spectators, we can only hope to accost the officials on their gaffes and our aim is to help make the league more successful and exciting. I wish they can understand this and even thank us. They should know how to face up to reality.
God loves those who know how to accept their mistakes. Amen.
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