INSIDE SPORTS: A TOAST TO JB BAYLON
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 26 Feb 2012
JB Baylon is one of the nicest people you could meet. Warm, friendly and honest, JB was a major force behind the emergence of the Powerade basketball team as a championship contender in the last PBA conference.
Even as he prayed on bended knees at the Baclaran Church seeking a minor miracle for his gallant band of players, he kept faith with his team and its coaching staff unto the bitter end.
Inspired by JB and the strength of his faith in them, the Powerade players made an amazing run for the championship and although they lost to a decidedly stronger Talk N? Text team in the finals, they won hundreds of new fans by the sheer magnificence of their performance against overwhelming odds.
Suddenly, after a performance that lifted the image of the Coke franchise in the public mind and pushed its product in the marketplace, the team learned that one of its stars, Marcio Lassiter, was being traded to the San Miguel Corporation franchise Petron Blaze in exchange for Nonoy Baclao and Rey Guevara, two fine young men consigned to the bench for whatever reason.
The trade set off rumors that Powerade had been sold to San Miguel under a so-called ?buy back? or right of first refusal option which was part of the agreement when San Miguel sold its shares of stock to Coca Cola Bottlers Inc., a publicly listed company.
It is interesting to note that when the PBA board of governors had to vote on approving the turnover of the franchise by a required two-thirds majority, the board was not appraised of the ?buy back? provision which to all intents and purposes was a failure of disclosure and transparency that one would expect in such dealings. As one outspoken governor pointed out, perhaps if we knew of the buy back provision we may not have voted to approve the sale. Maybe yes, maybe no. But the undeniable fact is that since San Miguel Beer already owns three teams and has a reported 49 percent interest in another, an opportunity to re-acquire Powerade would dramatically alter the balance of the league and regrettably drive discerning fans away and lead to the league?s eventual ruin.
This is a fundamental flaw in the PBA of the more recent years ? lack of transparency. But to be sure its not only San Miguel that is guilty of this as most if not all of the other teams have failed the transparency test.
What is particularly galling about the Coke shenanigan is that it is common knowledge both in the PBA board and the sports media that the Lassiter trade was an offshoot of the sale of the Powerade franchise to SMC. No more, no less because coach Bo Perasol would never agree to trade even one of his players from a squad that rose to heights never reached before.
Now here comes Coke?s acting board representative Ronnie Asuncion denying that Powerade had been sold while admitting that indeed there were discussions between the two parties some time ago on the very issue of a buy back. In fact, Asuncion went one step further by saying Powerade hopes to win the next championship.
If that indeed is the goal how in the name of sanity can Powerade justify trading one of its vital players who is No. 3 in statistical points overall for two players whose best moments are spent watching their team from the comfort of the Petron bench. Asuncion and his bosses must think that we who love PBA basketball with a passion are dumb enough to believe their obvious falsehoods. .
One thing for sure, as we mentioned at the press conference following the emergency board meeting called by chairman Atty. Mamerto Mondragon, we will continue our search for a ?small lady? who could come forth and tell us the unvarnished truth about whether a sale was consummated or not and if it was, in which bank the P100 million was deposited unless of course its in dollars and covered by the stringent regulations of the law on the sanctity of foreign currency deposits. If the "Small Lady" surfaces will Mr.l Schultz of Coca Cola deny the existence of a memo wherein he admits to a sale?
It turns out, from what we?ve been able to gather, that the top man at Coke, William Schultz is not a big basketball fan and believes that the money spent on the team could be better spent on advertising. Its his call and we cannot deny him that right. But if in the process he has ? as one outspoken PBSA governor claimed ? lied through his teeth and is found out, then the whole Coca Cola organization will suffer the public backlash.
What is even more painful is that JB Baylon who was to assume the chairmanship of the PBA next season was cruelly denied the privilege after all he had done for the Powerade team and Coca Cola Bottlers. Whether JB resigned voluntarily or was forced into such action is immaterial because its been consummated.
To us, personally, there have been too many instances where good and decent Filipinos have been victims of ugly Americans. As he leaves Powerade behind and accepts the painful reality of having to find a new home to express his love for basketball and to demonstrate his sterling qualities, let us drink a toast to a good and decent man ? JB Baylon. And please make mine Pepsi!
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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