Listen to what Uytengsu is saying

Alaska team owner and avid sportsman Fred Uytengsu doesn’t talk about the PBA very often. But when he does he always makes sense and certainly doesn’t mince words—a trait that endears the gentleman to us.

Mr. Uytengsu may not always be one hundred percent correct in his claims but he is very near the mark for sure, which to us, is both acceptable and refreshing.

For those of us who have watched the PBA since day one in 1975, there are clear signs that give credence to Uytengsu’s claims on a number of issues.

No question, it’s not a level playing field. It  can never be if there is multiple ownership of teams which the esteemed late commissioner Rudy Salud was clearly against.

The last conference was a clear example of a format that encouraged teams or at least provided an environment in which they could pick and choose who to play in the championship. Realistically, we cannot blame a coach for using the opportunity given him, which we are certain all the coaches who criticized it would have availed of, if they were in the same position.

The PBA failed to even invite Petron coach Ato Agustin to explain his public statement that Talk ‘N Text coach Chot Reyes picked the wrong team to meet in the finals. This implied that Chot deliberately lost to Petron Blaze in their last meeting in the semifinals so they could face the Boosters again in the finals rather than Barangay Ginebra.

It resulted in a backlash from fans of the crowd favorites and ultimately hurt the PBA.

This could never be glossed over by claiming huge crowds attended the championship games.

When the PBA didn’t summon Agustin for his uncalled for postgame gesture in which he challenged Reyes to a fight and when Chot did the decent thing and declined, he called him “bakla,” it raised quite a few eyebrows. Is this acceptable behavior? Certainly not.

Right now, there are concerns over how teams that cannot trade directly use willing conduits at a price, to get what they want. Players getting a maximum salary from a winning team and still wanting out is another inexplicable fact.

The most disturbing statement by Uytengsu which the PBA board and the Commissioner’s Office must worry about and act on is the warning that if Alaska sees the foundation of the pro league crumbling beyond repair and where graft and corruption becomes the norm, he would have to look elsewhere because the PBA won’t be a viable medium of entertainment.

Fred is saying there is graft and corruption now but it hasn’t grown to the proportions that would convince him to quit the league. It is obvious that there are violations of the salary cap and even though another fine governor, JB Baylon, agreed with Fred, Baylon maintained it is very hard to prove.

Given the PBA’s own propensity to play with numbers and finagle in their presentation, how could we expect integrity in evaluating numbers?

Take the recurring claim in press releases that the PBA had a banner year because it grossed P90 million in gate receipts last season compared to P75 million the previous season. It was portrayed as a 20 percent increase, conveniently ignoring the fact that there was one extra conference last season.

Logically, if the PBA grossed P75M in two conferences it should have grossed somewhere in the vicinity of P112.5M not P90M for three conferences! In fact, it was a shortfall not an increase as any accounting person would tell you.

It’s patently clear that the PBA has some major problems it needs to tackle, swiftly and decisively. For a start it would be best to listen to what Fred Uytengsu has to say. The gentleman always makes sense because he knows what he’s talking about.