December 18, 2005 · Posted in: Investigative Reports
For the love of basketball
OUR latest story is on basketball — not the usual PCIJ fare. The report takes off from the scandal currently rocking the De La Salle basketball team, two of whose members have been accused of falsifying their admission papers in order to be enrolled at the university.
This two-part series examines what is behind the scandal, and in the process tells the story of college basketball. In the Philippines, nothing provokes ferocious tribal loyalty more than basketball. For this reason, alumni invest millions in their alma mater’s basketball teams and schools race against each other to get the best players. In the process, critics say, ethical lines are crossed.
Universities say that basketball builds up school spirit, which in turn provides a strong sense of identity and pride. In the process, however, admission policies are relaxed and tremendous pressure is put on athletes to perform.
The writer of this series interviewed over 40 people for this report, including school officials, past and current athletes, and alumni. She found that alumni regularly donate millions to their school teams. Alumni money also pays for a variety of perks for players, including monthly allowances, stays in luxury hotels during important games, and even all-expenses-paid overseas vacations for winning teams.
In addition, enthusiastic alumni and other fans ensure healthy ticket sales during the games. Official documents show that in this year alone, the University Athletics Association of the Philippines (UAAP) grossed P31.5 million. Such influx of money has helped develop not only basketball, but also other sports. Another result, however, is that some schools and student athletes seem to now have a questionable set of priorities, with education and fair play sometimes being sacrificed in the name of team victory.
Read on at pcij.org.
4 Responses to For the love of basketball
Alan
December 19th, 2005 at 1:09 am
The article goes in deep, but I missed a dimension of college sports – or any sports for that matter. I refer to the dark side of gambling. The bettors are not just your usual Las Vegas types but can include high school and college students who bet astronomical sums – especially during the championship games – through texting. Remember that shootout involving the son of a former senator? Which makes me wonder if the reason for the largesse of alumni in building championship teams are more selfish than altruistic.
Alecks Pabico
December 19th, 2005 at 10:40 am
Hi Alan,
If you found the report wanting on the issue of gambling, let me direct you to an earlier report we did last year on the widespread gambling in private high schools and colleges, which is done through SMS, involving betting on the scores of local and U.S. basketball games.
You can read the two-part series here.
Ricky G. Reyes
December 23rd, 2005 at 4:20 pm
I have been watching UAAP basketball since the 80s (BTW I’m a 40++ yr old Atenean)and have watched the league develop tremendously since then. The basketball fever today is much, much more “electric” compared to a couple of decades ago. It is also less violent than the NCAA days. I think the popularity of the games is very healthy for the schools and the student population in general.
Unfortunately, the bending of the UAAP rules to gain unfair advantages has recently tainted the league. But this is nothing new. It has been going on ever since. I remember that Ateneo once entered the finals not because of the number of wins it had but because the top team had been using over-age players. I think this was in 1982 or 1983, for the UAAP high school crown (we lost, since the team was not that talented). Check the history and you will see numerous violations of a lot of schools.
Given the present revenues and resources of the UAAP, what can be done is to institute more checks and controls in order to ensure that schools tow the line. The league could probably hire “investigators” or “auditors” to ensure players and schools are not in violation of rules and regulations. This would also be a deterrent to would be violators.
Reysun
January 1st, 2006 at 11:20 pm
Dear Sir :
Save Our Schools : Jose Abad Santos High School and Raha Soliman High School, located at Meisic, Binondo, Manila.
These two great schools for the poor people of Tondo were sold by Mayor Atienza to private businessmen who will be constructing Call Centers at the school sites.
We would like to know why Mayor Atienza sold it and sacrificing the future of the poor people of Tondo ?
How much it was sold ? And who are the bidders ?
The price of the two lots of said schools are expensive second to Roxas Boulevard.
Rey