Narvasa blinks, gives Johnson day in court

IVAN Johnson, the highly volatile American import of Tropang TNT, will get his day in court, after all.

Banned from further playing in the PBA for his latest outburst on Saturday and for cursing league commissioner Chito Narvasa, Johnson will appear before the commissioner’s office today after he was given a chance to air his side.

Tropang TNT, which Johnson led to the Commissioner’s Cup title last season, earlier rued the lack of due process over the banning of Johnson. That verdict was handed down just minutes after Johnson’s flare-up during the second quarter of the Texters’ loss to Meralco.

Narvasa declined to speak with the Inquirer about the issue yesterday, but replied to questions through text. He said that a pardon for Johnson will depend on “how [the summon] goes.”

NARVASA: Cursed by angry import

Narvasa confirmed that the TNT management had asked for the meeting, scheduled at 2 p.m.

“I really cannot tell you anything and cannot really answer you until after the meeting,” Narvasa said when asked if there’s a chance that Johnson could be reinstated.

Johnson became just the second import to be banned for life by the league after Renaldo Balkman of Petron (San Miguel Beer).

TROPANG TNT import Ivan Johnson apologized to commissioner Chito Narvasa the day after his outburst. AUGUST DELA CRUZ

Balkman choked teammate Arwind Santos and also appeared before then-commissioner Chito Salud together with Santos and the rest of the team. Salud handed down the verdict just the same.

Johnson’s banishment also came with a P250,000 fine.

In all, despite playing just 16 minutes of official game time, Johnson accumulated a total of P300,000 in fines. He was also fined for fighting with Blackwater players in a pre-conference tuneup game.

A day after tweeting in his account @ivan_johnson44 that “the devil is working overtime,” Johnson apologized to Narvasa on his Facebook page on Sunday.

“I do want to sincerely and most humbly apologize to commissioner Narvasa for my actions in last night’s game,” Johnson wrote. “I ask that you forgive me.”

Johnson was thrown out for a second technical foul for dirty play late in the second quarter of an 88-84 loss to the Bolts.

On his way to the team dugout, an angry Johnson faced a section of courtside where Narvasa was seated and was overheard barking a profanity.