QUINITO HENSON ADMITS POSSIBLE ERROR IN JUDGMENT

Steve Bunce taking potshots against U.S. boxing id...commentators. No butt-kissing here.

Joaquin "Quinito" Henson is one of the best and most objective sports writers in the country. He also happens to be one of the most courageous. He took on the establishment recently when he lashed out on the Philippine National Youth Coach (for what he calls treason) for leaving his wards while a tournament was on-going. Other so-called sports writers kept quiet fearing backlash, preferring instead to dish out propaganda and taking on the "government". In this country, nobody defends government actions in sports anyway. My respect for Henson grew even more (for I already admired him when I was young). I remembered when he defended Manny from outrageous attacks from crabs and jealous people putting Pacquiao down after the boxer's close win against Marquez. It was a classic rebuttal.

Now, he is in the limelight again for calling someone to task. He is a relief from too much butt-kissing in sports media today.

What La Salle is all about

Today, he admitted his error on calling the coach's action as "treason".

Perhaps, it was also an error in my judgment to call Pumaren’s departure from Tehran an act of treason. Pumaren and I go back a long way and I’ve never known him to be unpatriotic. I hope Pumaren and the La Sallian community accept my admission.

He also regretted to being the cause for dividing his community:

I regret being a cause of dissension within the La Sallian community but as a writer, there are obligations I must honor, sometimes at the risk of creating enmity. I only hope that I am more understood and less chastised for taking positions which may appear to be contrary to my school’s interests.

In fact, I am most proud when trying to discern what is right and what is wrong, beyond school partisan interests, because that is something I attribute to my La Sallian education as a Christian gentleman.

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La Salle is a school that "endeavors to develop Christian men and women who are committed to excellence, competent in their professions, and actively involved in the service of the fellow men towards a more peaceful, just and humane Filipino society"

Henson was just doing what he was taught in school. Funny, he turned out to be the real La Sallian.

Why is there a dissension? If we are on the same wavelength, there wouldn't be any. If we all believe the country's the top priority and others are only secondary - there should not be any dissension at all.

QUINITO HENSON SLAMS FRANZ PUMAREN CALLING THE DESERTION "AN ACT OF TREASON"

the "abandonados"
courtesy of rhk111@Pinoyexchange.com

Respected Philippine Star sports journalist and commentator, Joaquin "Quinito" Henson slammed Franz Pumaren's action of leaving the national youth team in Iran today calling it "an act of treason".

As for Franz’ desertion, there is absolutely no excuse for abandoning the national team. The fact that the Philippines had already been eliminated from title contention only made it even more important for Franz to stay in Tehran – to be with his boys in their hour of defeat.

When Franz accepted the job to coach in Tehran, he knew there would be a conflict with La Salle’s schedule. He didn’t agree to take on the responsibility for flag and country blindly. It was an unconditional commitment through thick and thin. There was no escape clause to allow Franz an excuse slip in case things turned sour.

Like Franz, I am a La Salle graduate. I was taught by the Christian Brothers to be a man of my word, to honor my obligations, to live the Word of God, to stand by my principles and to love my country.

What Franz did was against the principles that we learned at La Salle. It was an act of treason because whether you like it or not, Franz was guilty of desertion. To compromise his commitment to the country for a school game is not only unpatriotic but also unconscionable. It smacked of a poor sense of priorities. I am surprised that the Christian Brothers allowed him to come back and appalled that no one in the school raised this moral issue against Franz.

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Schools that refuse their students to play for the country should also be denounced like UST. Contrary to what Quinito wrote in his piece, UST doesn't release its players to the national team anymore or at the moment.

Clarifications:

On why the RP Youth Team didn't select Bringas, Pascua and Salva.

As it is reported, the schools won't release these players. Please read carefully the news item before blabbering.

On why SBP didn't change UAAP and NCAA schedule

SBP has no direct control of the UAAP and NCAA. These leagues are independent.

On why SBP gave the job to Franz Pumaren

SBP offered the job to Pumaren in which the guy has the right not to accept. According to posters at Gameface.ph, Pumaren signed in so he could recruit the players for his school.

On why is Noli Eala too harsh on Franz when the SBP boss Manny Pangilinan doesn't even say a word

Simple, Manny Pangilinan supports Ateneo De Manila University (La Salle's alleged rival). For sake of propriety and to prevent misunderstanding, the guy just kept silent. The supporters of both school are fond of concocting conspiracy theories on what their rival is doing to derail their championship goal so staying quiet is a best option.

Get it?

NOLI EALA CRITICIZES RP YOUTH COACH FRANZ PUMAREN

That's what you get when you have a part-time coach... part-time loyalty

Comment from Philstar.com

Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas Executive Director, Noli Eala criticized RP Youth coach Franz Pumaren for the unbelievable act of leaving his team in the final game of an international tournament for an inter-collegiate meet.

“Regardless of what’s the situation back home, he (Pumaren) had the morale obligation to stay with the team. I don’t agree with what he did and I think it’s a ground for the organization to re-evaluate his commitment to the team,” said SBP executive director Noli Eala.

“I don’t want to second guess him but I’m sure he knew the commitment, he knew the schedule. It’s his moral obligation to be with the team until the end of the battle,” Eala added

Eala remembered his own experience in Tokushima, Japan during the 2007 FIBA Asia men’s championship where he stayed on despite a personal problem that cropped up in Manila. In Iran, he said he came over only briefly since it’s clear from the beginning that he’s not part of the team and he had an SBP conference to attend to.

Source

Coach Pumaren's actions didn't sit well with basketball fans too. In the Phistar comments section, many were angered by the coach's move. One said he shouldn't have accepted the job in the first place since he has the right to refuse (the college season conflicts with the international basketball calendar. Despite the case, no one bothered to adjust the schedule of the local college basketball competition).Other posters want to sanction and fire Franz for lack of commitment. In fairness, Coach Pumaren went back to the country supposedly for one of his assistant coaches' father fell ill - that reasoning didn't fare well too. One poster cited his case don't even compare to the Team USA volleyball coach whose family was stabbed to death in China in the Olympics but still led his men to the gold medal.

The SBP Executive Director lamented the fact other talented young cagers weren't able to represent the country as their school allegedly stopped them:

Eala said the RP boys could have performed a lot better if Arvie Bringas, Nico Salva and Kyle Pascual were allowed to join the team.

Too many people paying lip service about wanting the country to regain international prominence in basketball but couldn't walk the talk so to speak. These schools love to criticize our country's politicians as putting themselves first before the country, look who's talking about nationalism now!

For this reason, the SBP wants a foreign coach (and a full-time one) to helm the country that way it could avert ridiculous controversies such as this.

I always believed in hiring a foreign coach. Don't get me wrong it doesn't mean I look down on local coaches. It's just that PBA or local coaches don't have much experience in international competitions. Besides, we need the know-how that only a coach with a proven international record (like Toroman, led Iran to the Olympics) have. In the end, the transfer of technology will ultimately benefit us. The last time the country qualified to the Olympics was in 1972 and from then on - everything went downhill.