Stolen moments at the MOA Arena
Last PBA season sometime in July 2012, the league played its first-ever game at the brand spanking new, state-of-the-art Mall of Asia (MOA) Arena. Talk 'N Text dropped a close one to an undermanned B-Meg Llamados (now San Mig Coffee Mixers) squad, and the two teams made history as the "devirginizers" of the MOA Arena as far as hosting PBA basketball is concerned.
Just yesterday, 17 October 2012, the PBA had its first doubleheader at the MOA Arena, the first of several playdates there, at least for the ongoing Philippine Cup. People like things new, and watching an event at the practically new-born, well-airconditioned site, sparkling with novel come-ons never before seen in the Philippines as far as sports venues are concerned, made many of those who planned to watch the games live excited for the experience. Why, even the television fans were excited, for reasons unclear to me, to see a game telecast from the MOA Arena instead of the Big Dome or another "older" location.
The first game pitted the GlobalPort Batang Pier against the Meralco Bolts. The Bolts were heavily favored, coming off three well-played games, a close loss to TNT in their first game, and back-to-back wins against the Alaska Aces and Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, as opposed to the three straight losses of Global to begin the conference.
The game was tight until the middle of the third quarter, with GlobalPort even leading at the half, as veteran Willie Miller, ably supported by Rabeh-Al Husseini and rookies Jason Deutchman and AJ Mandani, tried made sure the Batang Pier would have a chance in the fourth. However, Meralco, in Cliff Hodge workman-like fashion, steadily built a lead, and finished the third quarter up by eleven.
I caught part of the game via the PBA radio coverage on DZSR 918 AM, with Dennis Principe and Eric Reyes on the call. The Bolts were up by 14 early in the fourth when I erroneously presumed the game was over and switched back to listening to music on FM radio.
When I got home, though, I switched the TV on, and was shocked to see GlobalPort only down by a point. A few scrambling plays later, including a lay-up by Mandani, and one, a Deutchmann three, a Ronjay Buenafe three of his own, and a Sol Mercado lay-up in the dying seconds with GlobalPort up by three, the game was over.
GlobalPort secured its first-ever victory by a single point, 105-104. Miller led his team with 33, as the Batang Pier clearly stole the game from Meralco, which was securely ahead, but faltered late in the game. The way Global Port robbed Meralco of a third straight win shows that the Batang Pier can be a threat in the ongoing conference and other teams should not take them lightly.
Unfortunately for the Meralco Bolts, having been stripped of what seemed like a sure victory was compounded with actual thievery that happened in their locker room sometime in the first half. The team discovered at halftime that robbers had entered their dugout and taken the personal belongings of their Conditioning Coach, Mon Macatangay, Coach Ryan Gregorio, and Assistant Coaches Ronnie Magsanoc and Xavi Nuñag. The thieves might have had something against people from UP, since all victims were UP graduates. Among items taken were cash, iPads, iPhones, and for Nuñag, the entire bag he brought to the venue.
Of course, with only fifteen minutes to sort things out before the second half, and being down by four after the first, the coaching staff of Meralco had to focus on the game, block out thoughts about the heist done against them in what was supposed to be a secure area, and try to come back and win the game. For a long stretch in the second half, Meralco was clearly able to direct its attention to the task at hand, but, as above-stated, faltered towards the end of the game.
Whether the pilferage in the locker room played a part in GlobalPort's stealing the game away from the Bolts is something we will never know. Surely, however, the entire Meralco team was distracted, to say the least.
In the aftermath of the painful loss, the anger and disappointment of Meralco players, team officials, and fans about the robbery in the locker room showed. Team Manager Butch Antonio questioned via Twitter how long it took for the CCTV footage to be reviewed, asking whether MOA Arena used "betamax format". He also said that they were able to open the Meralco dugout's "other door" with a plastic ID card. Apparently, MOA Arena security personnel had yet to admit any fault in their procedures or policies, when Antonio later tweeted that "moa arena just has to admit fault with their security and that some doors they have are flawed the way [they were] designed!"
We may never know what really happened. Some insist it was an "inside job" since it's hard to believe such a new, high-tech facility could be victimized by thieves so easily. This was not the Cuneta Astrodome, where everyone knows that pilferage in the locker rooms happened on more than one occasion.
Another ugly thing about last night's Meralco loss was that viewers, some Meralco fans, started faulting Mercado for the team's loss, even accusing him of selling the game since he decided to go for a two-point lay-up even if his team was down by three with just a couple of seconds to go. I only wish people don't go overboard on this issue. Mercado quickly admitted after the game that he mistakenly thought his team was down by just two, thus the intention to go for a quick two and tie the game. He manned up, he said the loss was on him, and challenged those who were accusing him of wrongdoing to get to know him first before judging him.
It must have been difficult for everyone in the Meralco Bolts' organization to sleep last night. A game was stolen away from them, thieves got away with valuables from their locker room, and some people wanted to rob their heart and soul of his dignity and honor by insinuating that he sold out. There are lots of lessons to take away from what happened last night, especially for the Bolts.
As for security procedures at the MOA Arena, PBA Commissioner Chito Salud was polite to say that it needs improvement. In truth, what happened is outrageous and unacceptable. The attempt at being a truly world-class entertainment venue took a big blow last night, after the safety of the entertainers/performers (in this case, players and coaches), and their belongings, was clearly threatened. Reparation must be made, and should be volunteered.
In the second game, Talk 'N Text did not allow Air 21 to steal a victory. The Tropang Texters took firm control in the second half and stayed unbeaten. Air 21 dropped to 1-3. At least for Air 21, they may have lost, but they had all their belongings when they went home.
You can follow Charlie Cuna on Twitter @Charlie C.
Editor's note: The blogger's views do not represent Yahoo! Southeast Asia's position on the topic or issue being discussed in this post.
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