In defense of ‘malicious’ sports media

There were quiet queries why there was no noise from the national sports rah-rah chorale when, in fact, we’ve just formally qualified one boxer to next year’s London Olympics.
Didn’t this feat call for a celebration?
“They were obviously not very glad,” suggested one veteran sports editor, who has also started to ask if the national boxing drive for a medal in London has hit a snag.
Anyway you look at it, light flyweight Anthony Barriga’s entry into the Olympic boxing tournament—although done through the back door—was one solid step forward.
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Forget that Barriga lost to veteran Chinese Olympian Zou Shiming.
A qualifier is a qualifier, in whatever manner.
But this same editor cried that, based on the daunting 5-12 defeat of Barriga, he would need loads of luck, if not a small miracle, if he’s to advance and hopefully meet Zou again in the Olympic proper.
Not only that, the editor added. There was bantamweight Joan Tipon, who was recycled and predictably failed in his quest for an Olympic slot in the Baku World Championships.
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“Didn’t they have any younger, better boxer? Why did they have to recycle again?” the editor wondered.
He said the Tipon caper spoke volumes on the quality of boxers doing the Olympic bidding for the Philippines.
For one, he added, it only meant they’ve not truly broken up from the “shackles of mediocrity” imposed on the national amateur boxing backyard by its previous leaders.
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In fairness to the Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines, they’ve got other boxers who will soon be sent to do the Olympic chase.
There is, for one, Asian Games flyweight gold medalist Rey Saludar.
Saludar, 24, won his first two bouts in Baku before bowing to Rausee Warren of the United States, 12-22.
Either he gets a slot through bidding or through the wild card chase, but there’s a distinct likelihood Saludar, pride of the Abap, will be in London.
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What would honestly be Saludar’s chances in the Olympics?
This was answered through one returning broadcaster, who heard it right from our favorite boxing trainer, Freddie Roach.
“I don’t know much about the Philippine team,” Roach was quoted as saying. “But it should be noted that the US amateur boxing team is itself in a mess.”
Roach did not say it, but the resounding loss to Warren did not augur well for Saludar’s London campaign.
Warren, described as a scrub fighter, miserably failed to advance farther in Baku after beating Saludar, the Philippines’ main boxing hope.
Moral: If you can’t get past a lowly aspirant like Warren, how could you hope to rise and shine in London?
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Well, maybe this need not be mentioned here, but the editor friend took exception to comments made by one naturalized columnist who insisted that sports media had no business maligning national athletes and teams that had failed in their international missions.
“Who’s he to lecture us on values?” protested the editor. “Of course, there was no malice, but we as journalists have the duty and mission to detail even sorry, shameful losses, mistakes.
Why?
“So that these failed athletes won’t continue repeating them.”
The editor likewise doubted the honesty of this columnist, after the scribbler had shamelessly begged his own section editor to retain all the licking adjectives in one recent over-extended piece that shamelessly flattered beyond recognition a humble, well-respected national sports patron.