NLEX alone in fight for competitiveness

Members of the media who attended the victory celebration of six-time D-League champion NLEX expected a double treat last Monday night at Saisaki, Edsa: a sumptuous Japanese buffet feast and juicy, hot tidbits for a news story.

Everyone wanted advance information on the status of NLEX’s application for a PBA franchise. Is Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) pushing through with its membership, or has MPTC president/CEO Ramoncito Fernandez had a change of heart—unable to get a concession that would give the team with a winning tradition some amount of competitiveness in the PBA?

* * *

“I will tell you on June 7,” said Fernandez, when asked by some scribes on his way out of Saisaki.

Then he sat down for a while with the scribes to explain that NLEX decided to join the PBA with the objective of moving up to a higher level of competition.

“We’re here for the competition, not for product advertising or any other consideration. We asked for an extension because we’re trying to find other ways, other options to make NLEX competitive in the PBA,” he said.

The two other new teams, Kia and Blackwater, which figured in the D-League finals with NLEX, are basically only interested in advertising and promoting their brand. Neither of them is interested in getting any concession to make the team competitive.

NLEX stands alone.

* * *

NLEX team manager Ronald Dulatre said they came to the decision to move up to the PBA because every year, they see their players get picked in the early rounds of the PBA rookie draft.

“We also see how they make good in the pro league,” he said, citing ex-Road Warriors Calvin Abueva, Ian Sangalang, Greg Slaughter, Chris Ellis, Emman Monfort, RR Garcia and Cliff Hodge.

“We thought that if we were given the concession of bringing up some of our players, the way the previous ballclubs that moved up from amateur to pro were allowed to, we would have a decent team.”

Much to the team’s disappointment, however, there were no concessions at all.

* * *

His name is Luis Pabon. He comes from Puerto Rico and has the unenviable reputation of being the worst boxing referee.

“Nonito got three head butts and three elbows from Simpiwe Vetyeka last Saturday night, but not once did he make a call,” a television man told us last Monday during the early morning breakfast press conference hosted by ABS-CBN for the now five-division world champion Nonito Donaire Jr.

Donaire admitted that the first-round head butt made him so dizzy he became completely disoriented.

“For a moment, I didn’t know where I was and what I was doing. My vision was blurry and I was not aware of my surroundings,” Donaire recalled.