Wynne the Fall Guy

 In an unprecedented decision, the Philippine Basketball Association handed down a stiff punishment to Burger King Whopper Wynne Arboleda, suspending "The Snatcher," for the rest of the season for attacking a fan in the stands.  With the season just starting, Arboleda stands to lose almost all of his salary of over PhP 2.5 million and he cannot play in any other league since he is under contract with Burger King.  Much has already been said about Arboleda's folly and while I completely agree with the PBA's decision, I can't help but feel that the situation, just like a good murder mystery, is not completely resolved.  That's because Arboleda isn't the only guilty party here, yet he is the designated, "fall guy," so that other guilty parties are scot free.

     Reviewing that fateful game where Arboleda's Whoppers took on Philippine National Team Smart GIlas, it was clear that the game plan for the Whoppers was to physically intimidate the Nationals to disrupt their fluid offense.  Playing physical, though, is way different from playing dirty, as Gilas Coach Rajko Toroman intimated after the game.  There were a total of four flagrant fouls called in the first 1 and 1/2 quarters alone, with Toroman claiming two more missed by the referees.  With that many flagrants in the game, Coach Yeng Guiao (if he were innocent and I don't believe he is)  should/could have prevented it by the second flagrant foul.   It was clear that the directive to play physical came from him. After all, what team would have several players commit flagrant fouls all in the same game?   Guiao should have taken responsibility by telling his players to knock off the dirty plays.  By letting them continue the rough housing, Guiao was giving a go signal for his players to bring the pain, thereby raising the emotions of the game.  Fans of Gilas (and everyone else in the venue) could see the bullying going on and of course didn't appreciate the dirty play.  In fact, it got so bad that Buger King's own boss, Lito Alvarez, had to go into the dugout by half time essentially to stop his players from playing any dirtier. The elevated emotions definitely played a role in agitating fans enough to hurl expletives at the players.  It just might as well have been Guiao insulting Arboleda there.


     Another guilty party would have to be the referees.  Sure, they tried to control the rough play by calling the flagrant, but they could have taken the time to talk to the players and coaches to cease the attack on Gilas, perhaps giving them warnings that further infractions would result in ejections and suspensions.  Secondly, they should have been more alert when Arboleda made his way to the stands.  Arboleda may be a speedster on court, but he wasn't exactly making a mad dash to the fan.  A more alert referee crew could have gotten in Arboleda's way before the disaster.  This particular crew, however, only got to Arboleda AFTER Wynne was able to kick the fan in the gut.  


     Lastly, a blame finger has to be pointed at the Araneta Coliseum security.  When the NBA had the "Malice at the Palace," where Ron Artest attacked a fan, Araneta copied the NBA plan of having security placed near the court area to prevent another fan attack.  The Araneta security, however, were virtual tortoises here as they arrived even later than the "speedster" referees.  These were the same guards who valiantly prevented me from high fiving Melina properly when the WWE came to town, but when someone actually attacks, they are nowhere to be found.  Bravo guys.  


     The whole incident, "The Arboleda Attack at Araneta," is ugly whichever way you look at it.  A disrespectful fan, a hot headed player playing dirty, a coach who allowed dirty play to get back at the team that beat his silly, a batch of referees slightly sleeping on the job and a security crew who act like matadors all caused a situation that could seriously affect fan appreciation of Asia's oldest professional basketball league.  So why is it that only one element of the disaster was punished?