Fair Play: A fan's dilemma and the Partners Cup

MY friend Harry has quite a dilemma.

Like millions of Pinoys, he loves basketball and follows the NBA religiously.

The problem is, like the rest of other fans who follow sports in another timezone, he’s at work when all he wants to do is chug that beer while cheering hoarse for the Lakers (or the Magic for you non-Kobe believers).

Luckily for Harry, he’s got an Internet connection in his office and he gets to follow game results online (Note to HR manager: Harry doesn’t work for your company.)

I remember, when Michael Jordan and Karl Malone faced off in the 1996 and 97 finals, Sun.Star ran a story of how certain guys at City Hall went missing in the hours between 9 and 12.

Now, because of the Internet, folks like Harry don’t have to skip work to follow the games.

But that comes with an inconvenience. Doing such may be detrimental to your physical and employment health.

How can you pretend to be hard at work if you shout “Yes!” every time Kobe makes a basket? Or when that Superman
makes a dunk? And how can you suppress your emotions when your team wins and you’ve just won a sizeable bet?

Aaah. A fan’s dilemma. It’s every advertiser’s dream.

They know sports fans, wherever they are in the world or whatever it is they are doing, will always look for ways to watch their teams.

PARTNERS CUP. My previous column about the demise of the Partners Cup attracted a few reactions, including from Cesafi Commissioner Felix Tiukinhoy himself.

Tiukinhoy said he heard the Cebu Football Association (CFA) questioned his appointment of Jonathan Maximo as the tournament director for Cesafi and that he was embarrassed for the sponsors since they’ve been asking when the event will start.

To be honest, when Tiukinhoy appointed Maximo, like the CFA board, I was surprised, though for a different reason.

I thought the board assumed the director would be someone from them, while I thought that after four years at CFA, Maximo would stay away from anything football.

But the way the Cesafi games were ran—except that little incident about the phantom punch—erased my doubts.

Tiukinhoy also added that the Partners Cup will push through in July but this will be the first and last. Well, who can blame Cesafi?

Their responsibility is only to organize one tournament a season. They tried to go the extra mile and got rejected.

Another one, Sugbu, also commented in my blog, “Partners Cup Death, this one is something that I don’t quite understand.Why would a well-planned Cup with a decent budget be postponed or be affected by CFA’s cold treatment? Small time festivals don’t get postponed if CFA won’t sanction it. The only logical reason I see fit for now is probably the colleges themselves don’t see the mutual advantage of the Partners Cup (that’s) why only a few enlisted. Or it could be that some teams are not just ready for the competitive demands of the cup yet.”

To be fair, the reason I got was that only two teams were ready. The snub—which came from the coaches, not from the CFA—was assumed.

But I’ve covered football long enough to know that when teams don’t join a tournament, it’s because they don’t want to, not because they are not ready.

Another one also said, “Why is CFA making a fuss about Cesafi not coordinating with them? What about this ___ Festival? Is it in the calendar of activities of the CFA? The reason is very clear. CFA is just politicking. They can’t accept the fact that Maximo is a mile better than them in terms of organization.”

It’s quite a stretch to say Maximo is better than the current board in running a football organization. But the present board can learn a thing or two about running a tournament from him.

Comments

sugbo said…
"But I’ve covered football long enough to know that when teams don’t join a tournament, it’s because they don’t want to, not because they are not ready."

Assuming that this is really the case. Then CESAFI PARTNERS CUP organizers should do something to fix the "they don't want to" thing that some colleges are projecting. Probably Maximo, has to be more diplomatic among other super hero moves he can muster to get to his end, that is having the Cesafi Partners Cup run it's course here in Cebu. I see it more of a challenge to the organizers being in it's first attempt of having a semi commercial type of Football in Cebu.

If CESAFI is really serious about the PARTNERS CUP then they need to include the colleges in their round tables and iron out whatever apprehensions they may have. The feeling should be mutual and the colleges should be able to see the brighter picture as opposed to the cloudly impressions that seem to guide these institutions.

Hopefully,by July, we will hear the kick-off whistle and that will be another good round of Football, here in SUGBO.
ronaldo said…
test
OGER said…
maka guba man kag time table MAXI....MAXI failed to set and initiate its time table for the PC and the Univs get the blame for rejecting the event... to MAXI-FELIX basin ga cge ra ka og atik-atik ni FELIX nga ok ra ang tournament nya wa diay kay klaro...

Basin nagpasalig ka MAXI didto ni FELIX nga ok ra ang event pero dili diay.. Mapasa nginlan ang mga schools na hinuon sa imong binuang..

Storya tag tinuod MAXI oi...kaw sad FELIX pataka lang kag pang sagap sa information... Pa ngutan-a si MAXI unsay tinuod cge lang na cya og tilap nimo nya ikaw way kalibutan eh di ikaw na hinuon ang mapahiya sa mga sponsors.

BOTTOMLINE:
MAXIMO way klaro mao ng wa madayon sa ma sayo ang PC... si FELIX ni react kay gi turned down sa mga schools ang apiki na sched nasuko si FELIX... dapat iyang lapwa-an si MAXIMO nganong na ingon ato.. dili ang schools pakasad-on sa buhat ni maximo nag palpak...

Ikaw pud MIKE LIMPAG!;;; PAGSUWAT OG TARONG KANANG NAAY TANANG IMPORMASYON SA MGA BANAY NGA NAAY KALABUTAN SA IMONG PAGSUWAT. basics man cguro na as a PRESS/MEDIA WRITER... ang pagkuha og STATEMENT SA BOTH PARIES INVOLVE....

Cheers MIKE...inom nya tah pawala sa labad sa ulo...
Mike Limpag said…
To be fair, the reason I got was that only two teams were ready. The snub—which came from the coaches, not from the CFA—was assumed.
oger said…
Mike Limpag you are right. CFA was not in to this one and has nothing to do with it. rumors and gossips flee.

But the exact fact is that the Organizer (Maxi) of the PARTNERS CUP football is not coordinating with the school athletic heads to know the exact and well-planned date for the PC football kick-off. Taht is why some of the team coaches backed out due to the lack of preparation and re organizing their team. The coached went to the school heads to ask the exact dates for the PC football and to give more time to the univs or else the last resort would be "not playing". Then the organizer (Maxi) is being pressured by FELIX but Maxi cannot compel to the Univs statement. So, FELIX gets all the blame for the delay and the lack of interest for PC Football event, then FELIX blamed the UNIVS for their lack of support and disrespected the PC event because FELIX was embarrassed towards the sponsors of PC...

The problem is not the school, the problem is also not FELIX, FELIX only failed to seee what is on thereal deal of MAXI.

The problem is MAXI... he keeps on planning the unplanned hahahah.. telling the media and the school heads that the PC Football will take place after volleyball sometime in march but never happened.

Then here it comes Mr. MAXI telling all the school to get ready. PC Football will start 4 days from now.... huh? the schools did not see it comin.

fantastic MAXI....

Thats the story behind the PC Football event...


the CFA-PC ? i still don't know with that. Thesame thing as the CFA-MILO City Oylmpics.

CFA wants to hold a grip on the City's MILO OLYMPICS but CFA cannot penetrate their efforts to hold the event and sanctioned/channel it through CFA.

Because the government holds its hands to it. CFA cannot handle that event alone. but the public school teachers can as well as the private ones. Teachers are the pillars of the event. They can run it without CFA... DEP ED has more resources than CFA...

After all DEP ED cannot get much from CFA.. CFA wants the organizing of football event only and backed up by paperholder but not efficient referees. While DEP ED can organize the event by selecting their best P.E board passer teachers with much more knowledge on their P.E MAJOR subject the "BALL GAMES Organization of events" which the CFA personnel don't have.

DEP-ED also has their non-board passer, non organic teacher,non CFA trained/certified referee but a certified football player who serve as the officating officials for the football event.

CFA is looking forward to hold up the DEP ED event and takes over the organizing power as well as taking over the officiating.

as far as i know that is all of it that what is why the CFA is running after the DEP ED football projects.

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