|
I HOPE
that the RP Men’s team loses.”
“Don’t
get me the wrong way,” the cigarette-smoking man said as
he took one last and long puff on his cancer stick then
stubbed it out in the ashtray in front of him. “I’m
nationalistic as they come. But all this continued
emphasis on basketball mean is that there will be less
corporate sponsorship of other sports.”
The man
has been a part of (non-basketball) national teams as a
player, a coach, and now managing it from the sidelines.
He acknowledges the stifling and paralyzing politics
that has robbed our national sports scene of its
vibrancy as well as the corporate world’s predisposition
toward basketball, boxing and billiards (let’s call them
the “B” sports henceforth) for sponsorship.
Just the
other day, I sat down with local football official who
asked me why the Spanish La Liga and German Bundesliga
were being dropped from Solar Sports’ roster of shows. I
had to explain that not only weren’t the ratings there,
but it was difficult getting advertisers for the
telecasts. Save for the die-hards, the games are said to
be too early in the morning to watch and outside of
Barcelona and Real Madrid no one knows the other teams
and players. Clearly the numbers weren’t there after the
jump-in-the-bandwagon event of the 2006 Fifa World Cup
spectacle and it didn’t justify the costs of paying for
expensive properties.
We were
asked what was being done to help the growth of football
to which I replied that as much as I believe in that, it
is not my job neither my company’s to propagate the
sport. That is the job of its national sports
association. What we can do is show footage of local
leagues aside from news and scores. If it’s something
similar to the Asean Football Qualifiers where the
national team—the Azkals—are competing in then a few
companies might be willing to shell out the big bucks to
televise their matches. But was it the presence of Fil-foreigners
that sparked the interest? While their controversial
inclusion doesn’t help team chemistry or inspire our
local players, it does generate interest. So there are
complicated “chicken and egg” questions to be asked
where you factor in business, politics, and the spirit
of the game.
In an
effort to bring football news to our programming, I’ve
diverted our news crews to cover UAAP football and Ang
Liga tournaments. I even motored all the way to the
Diosdado Macapagal International Airport to interview a
stranded Ghanaian who was trying to play football in
Singapore (he’s now with UP and will be suiting up for
them in Season 71) but ended up living in the airport
for several months in a real life version of Tom Hanks’
movie The Terminal. When I try to insert football
into our news telecasts, it’s yanked off in favor of
other more compelling sports or other newsmakers. It’s
what the people want, I’m told. All you have to do is
look at the UAAP where it’s mandatory for all schools to
field basketball and volleyball teams the others be
damned.
One of
our recent climbers of
Mount Everest said that when they were seeking sponsors to fund their
expedition to the famed mountain’s summit, many turned
them away. Of course it was understandable, the climber
acknowledged. What’s mountain climbing anyway to the
corporate world and the masses? But after their
accomplishment, there were numerable photo-ops and
promises by various politicians (now if you believe in
them then you surely believe in Santa Claus and the
Easter Bunny).
When we
asked one media buyer why mixed martial arts (MMA)
doesn’t get sponsors locally and she said that it’s too
violent unlike boxing. Hmm. I don’t know of MMA deaths
but boxing … So what does she know about boxing? “Manny
Pacquiao.” What weight division does he compete in? “Ah…
I’m not sure.”
Outside
the B-sports, most have no professional league for
athletes to move up. I asked Atty. Ogie Narvasa a few
months ago why he didn’t pursue a pro hoops career after
a sterling stint with Ateneo and the Nationals in the
late 1970s. “To be very honest,” said Narvasa. “Back
then, the sport wasn’t a lucrative profession. Very few
made any serious money unlike now when a draft pick can
mean you’re set for life. Maybe if I were coming out of
college now I’d consider it, but only maybe.”
The late
football official and Ateneo coach Chris Monfort once
said that the one-year salary of a pro basketball player
is enough to run a pro football league and pay
allowances for all its players. The late coach’s
long-time friend PBA Red Bull Barako coach Yeng Guiao
concurred, “Chris is right. Definitely right. As much as
basketball is popular, we should also give other sports
a chance to fly. There are many more sports where we can
be the best or among the best.”
The
Cigarette Smoking Man lit up his fifth cancer stick
during our meeting the other week. “It’s hard to
explain. I want the men’s national basketball team to
win but you know what I mean…”
“You
mean it’s like I’m a Roger Federer fan yet I didn’t root
for him in the last US Open and the just concluded
French Open,” I offered suddenly wondering if I had made
an apt analogy and if the Cigarette Smoking Man might
think that I’m an idiot.
“What do
you mean by that,” he harrumphed eyeing me peculiarly.
“You see
as much as I am a Federer fan, I am a bigger Pete
Sampras fan and I don’t want him to break the Pistol’s
modern era record of 14 tennis Grand Slams.”
He
laughed out loud and patted me on the back. “We
understand each other quite well. I, too, am a fan of
Pete Sampras.”
The
author has a nonsports blog at:
the11-25pages.blogspot.com |
