THAT'S the way to do it.

No holding of punches.

You want it where it hurts most, go for the jugular.

Sonny Barrios delivered yet a major blow in the highest interest of the PBA when he gunned down a Trojan Horse.

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The Smart-Gilas, wittingly or unwittingly, was trying to pull one for the ages, eyeing to nab the best of both worlds.

Nothing wrong there, really, except that when you come down to it, it would appear one-sided.

I mean, Smart-Gilas would take it all, including the crumbs.
By playing the way it had originally wanted to, Smart-Gilas would have lost nothing. Not even its ass. Smart, huh?

It plays half-heartedly, fine.

It plays tough, fine.

It doesn't play at all, fine.

It's win-win all the time.

Only in the PBA?

But then, Barrios said enough is enough.

Time to blow the whistle.

This charade has got to end. Now.

"We are convinced that it is in everyone's best interest if both teams go into the game with the same mindset that the game has no bearing," Barrios said. "Both Smart-Gilas and the PBA opposing team, and their players, will thus be on equal footing as far as their outlook and approach of the game are concerned."

Before his landmark decree, Barrios received two options from the PBA Board to choose from:

1) for Smart-Gilas games to have no bearing even on PBA teams, and
2) for Smart Gilas not to play CJ Giles in any of its remaining games that will have a bearing on the PBA teams.

For choosing No. 1, Barrios chose fair play, not fake play.

Smart-Gilas is in the PBA to learn, not to win. But PBA teams are there to win, not to learn.

For choosing No. 1, Barrios chose intelligence, not incoherence. Realizing that Burger King, Talk 'N' Text and Barangay Ginebra played stupid games against Smart Gilas, Barrios declared them null and void.

I have long detested the practice of allowing guest teams in the league to have their games count.

The PBA is for its teams. To have a non-member like Smart-Gilas to share equal footing with league members is like allowing a stranger to sleep in the master's bedroom.

Not only unfair but also suicidal as well, if not downright gross.

Bravo Barrios!

Here's a glass to a class act.

Published in the Sun.Star Baguio newspaper on November 1, 2009.