Hoops Life Hosts on VisMin Mess: It Takes Away Jobs

The Pilipinas VisMin Super Cup is the only active Filipino professional basketball league despite the 2019 Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

And yet, controversy happened.

During the game between Lapu-Lapu City and Siquijor, players missed uncontested lay-ups and even free throws. The first half of that game ended with both teams combined for four for 29 shooting from the free-throw line. A power outage forced a stoppage at halftime. But for most pundits and fans alike, it was more than because of the power outage.

In effect, the league the expulsion and suspension of individuals involved in the mess. The start of the Mindanao leg is still up in the air. More importantly, the jobs of thousands now hang in the balance. And so is the integrity of the league itself.

In the words of Jinno Rufino on Tuesday's first episode of Hoops Life, "Because of this performance, now everybody's job is in jeopardy,"

He added, "My heart fell for our friends in the basketball community in the Philippines that are not allowed to play,"

His co-host and member of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) broadcast team, Aaron Atayde, shared his sentiments.

"I wanna be a part of the games. I wanna do something and, I felt bad listening to the commentators who were trying to have to explain what was going on. It was so difficult. I've been in situations where sometimes you know, the game goes really, really haywire like everyone was missing and everyone was losing the ball. I hate calling those parts of the game because you have to try to make it sound as interesting as possible,"

Atayde also felt bad for people who may lose their jobs due to the controversy. "It turned into a complete disheartenment after I saw it as somebody that works on a broadcast team in a professional league turned into somebody that's not working right now. These guys have the opportunity to have a job,"

Atayde concluded, "Everyone that could have been making let's say 15,000 Pesos or 10,000 Pesos a month, now that entire team, that huge family is all gone. They have no jobs right now because these guys did not respect the game,"

Unfortunately, game fixing and other controversies in sports, in Rufino's words, have been around for a very, very long time. And when asked by his co-host about how to stop controversies such as the one that happened last Wednesday, Rufino had this to say,

"It's very difficult, and I honestly don't think you can,"

Screenshot is from Smart Sports Facebook page