Doble: Crown the Star

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

THE SEAOIL-National Basketball Training Center (NBTC) Elite League Basketball League crossover semifinal is set on January 29 and the best-of-3 finals will be on February 4 for the Bacolod elimination at WNU gym.

SEAOIL NBTC program director Eric Altamirano said that the most anticipated event in the program is the SEAOIL All Star Game which was inspired by last year’s All Star balloting campaign experimented here in Bacolod.

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"NBTC will begin the new SEAOIL High School All Star Game, featuring the top 30 graduating high school players from around the entire Philippines, Altamirano added. “It will be the first chance for everyone in the country to see the future stars of Philippine basketball playing together on the same court."

Interestingly, the idea for this event was inspired by the tremendous success of the SEAOIL All Star program ran only in Bacolod City last year. With its success, SEAOIL will add Cebu, Iloilo, Cagayan de Oro and Zamboanga to follow its balloting campaign.

Nobody will question the success of its program as ballots are given to gas station customers in exchange for its patronage.

What bothers those following NBTC is that those who appear in the All Star are not star players at all. In reality, it becomes a popularity contest with the schools having the most number of ballots collected endorsing more of its players in the selection.

Top players from other teams were left out in the cold, as their schools are either not patronizing SEAOIL products or their parents or alumni are not owners of SEAOIL gas stations. This was the post All Star comments from other coaches in the selection process.

The other disturbing remark is that the organizers did not even bother to give the All Star members a decent uniform to show off their achievement.

Basketball afficionados and fans enjoyed last year's NBTC finals here, wherein Cebu won over Bacolod's St. John's Institute for the title. The City of Smiles is always the preferred venue for events like these, never mind how chaotic the tournament looked and unprepared the local officials commissioned to do the job.

After all, nobody is perfect and there is always room for improvement. But sometimes we can't teach old dogs new tricks. History of mismanagement, misappropriation and misrepresentation just keeps repeating.

But who cares, as long as the smart ones snatch the crown? Viva Corona.

At least there is no impeachment proceedings in NBTC. Right, Eric?