Quick Salud action on Pua

GOSH, we didn’t expect PBA Commissioner Chito Salud to act that fast.

Thursday noon there was a big party at the PBA office in Libis. Talk ‘N Text was hosting the traditional luncheon after winning the championship in the last conference, and this coincided with the board meeting where the governors would decide who the new commissioner would be.

While the governors and some members of the press were sipping hot coffee after lunch, a call came in from a D-League staff who reported that the troublesome Cagayan Valley coach Alvin Pua had attacked referee Benjie Montero during a timeout, punching him in the back from behind and then in the face, because he did not agree with a call the official made.

The news certainly caught the attention of the PBA officials, governors and scribes, who were still in the dining area when they heard the report.

Someone suggested that perhaps Pua should be banned because this is not the first time he has committed an offense of this nature.

I suggested anger management therapy but this was met with a loud growl of protest.

“That will no longer work on this hot-headed, temperamental dude who terrorizes not only the refs, but also his opponents and even his own players, whom he manhandles when they commit mistakes,” said a scribe who has witnessed the coach collar and push his players.

“One time I also saw him berate one of his players while tightly squeezing the players’ cheeks between his two hands.”

“This is the last straw!” said the commissioner in his press statement issued about 24 hours after Pua committed his latest—and last, in the PBA at least—offense.

On previous occasions, Salud said  the league has sanctioned Pua for harming the refs during official and tune-up games with hefty fines and suspensions, but he has continued with his “recalcitrant and incorrigible demeanor.”

Pua has been fined half a million pesos, in addition to a lifetime ban from the league.

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With the weight loss, his trendy new hairstyle and well-scrubbed, glowing skin, everyone in last Thursday’s board meeting agreed PBA vice chair Robert Non of San Miguel exuded a much youthful aura after a recent quadruple bypass.

“He now looks like Mikee Romero,” said one governor, while a PBA official said he could have sworn it was Vic Sotto who walked into the PBA board room.

“Does Vicki Belo get the credit for the transformation?” I asked Kuya Obet, just before PBA chair Pato Gregorio announced that Chito Narvasa had been unanimously selected commissioner by the 12-man board.

“No, it wasn’t Vicki,” Non replied. “It was Noemi. Noemi Non.”