Poor excuse from ‘banana man’

A utility staffer from the Cagayan Valley Rising Suns of the PBA Developmental League was recently summoned to the office of PBA commissioner Chito Salud in Libis, Quezon City, for alleged racist heckling against NLEX cager Olaide “Ola” Adeogun.

The utility boy had openly called the 6-foot-9 Nigerian unggoy (monkey) in high decibels, within earshot of the gallery, as he scratched the top of his head, mimicking a common mannerism of monkeys and apes.

He did this the entire match, obviously to get Adeogun’s goat, so he’d lose focus on the match.

Now heckling from fans and from the bench is not unusual during a basketball game, unless it borders on the offensive.

And this was exactly how it was in the case of the utility boy whose antics reeked of racism.

To add sick humor to his entertainment act, the provocateur entered the court after the halftime break brandishing a huge, yellow banana, supposedly an ape’s favorite food.

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Except for being subjected to a sermon from the commissioner, the utility boy escaped sanctions.

He said he was sorry and swore to the commissioner he would not do it again. But the banana man had to put up some kind of defense, although very weak.

He claimed Adeogun called him baboy (pig).

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Although Adeogun has learned to speak Filipino fluently, NLEX coach Boyet Fernandez just couldn’t imagine the third year marketing student of San Beda College making that remark.

“Ola is friendly to everyone. He doesn’t have a mean bone in his body. He is loved by SBC students as well as alumni not only because he’s an outstanding player, but more importantly because of his good nature,” said Fernandez. “Ola is an important piece in the NLEX equation.

Our defense in the paint and our rebounding are anchored on him. His numbers remained constant during the game against Cagayan, which means he was not affected by the harassment.”

Unfortunately, the Road Warriors lost the game to Cagayan because a number of key players were injured.

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Quite a few from the sporting community were aware that Filipino-American decathlete David Bunevacz suddenly vanished from Philippine soil seven years ago because of a run-in with business partner Cedric Lee, who had beaten him to a pulp.

Lee is the same person involved in the mauling of actor Vhong Navarro.

The dispute had allegedly been about money but those in the know offer more scandalous theories.

Bunevacz was one of few athletes the Philippine Sports Commission had spent millions on for training. However, he didn’t stay around long enough to live up to expectations.