General Admission
Even billionaires can be fooled, too
By Al S. Mendoza
THE basketball republic was mad and the anger was justified.
They were made to believe Gilas Pilipinas will engage the NBA Stars in a basketball game on Tuesday, July 22.
They virtually packed the Cubao Big Dome in Quezon City early afternoon that day, expecting to be treated to world-class basketball, if not show time by the masters of the game.
But in a stunning, shocking, development, the game got canceled.
Compounding matters was, the cancellation was announced only minutes before the scheduled game.
In place of the much-anticipated match, officials said, were practice drills and a scrimmage.
Not long after the drills/scrimmage began, the crowd showed impatience.
The irritation would soon erupt into massive walkout—and boos that reverberated all the way to Balintawak.
In a bid to appease the crowd, MVP (Manny V. Pangilinan), the prime mover of the event, went public.
He accepted blame and promptly apologized.
He also promised to refund the amount used to purchase tickets priced from P750 to P23,000.
That big.
Many of the spectators even came from the provinces.
One fan, coming from Cabanatuan City, said: “Our tickets will be refunded but how about our expenses for car fuel and also for food?”
And what about those who bought their tickets from scalpers?
Sorry about that, but no dice.
Money gone down the drain.
Always, scalpers win because, true to their moniker, they scalp you point-blank.
As the saying goes, fellas, charge it to experience. If you can help it, never buy again from the scalpers.
But, wait, why was the game cancelled?
NBA officials in the US cited a rule disallowing NBA players from playing exhibition games without a permit from the NBA.
Turns out, the outfit that brought the group of Kawhi Leonard, James Harden and several other NBA stars did not have an NBA permit to play.
MVP had been taken for a ride?
Somebody played a cruel joke on MVP?
Quite bizarre, knowing that MVP is the hardest to fool. He would not become a billionaire if he were of low IQ, if not lowlife.
My question is, why was the PBA (Philippine Basketball Association) not part of the project?
In July 2011, NBA Stars like Kobe Bryant, Derek Fisher, Kevin Durant, Derrick Rose and Chris Paul came here to play against PBA Stars led by James Yap.
Not even a minor hitch hit the exhibition game won by Bryant & Co. 131-105. But, of course.
It is quite ironic why MVP and his group did not include the PBA in the just bungled project.
Lesson: Even billionaires like MVP, who spent no less than 100,000 million pesos, are not immune to monumental, and very costly, boo-boos. Ouch!
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