On Salgado and Santos

There really isn't that much to discuss when looking back at FEU's rout of DLSU last Thursday. It was an exciting, close game which FEU won, fair and square.

Even the incident with Manny Salgado was an open-and-shut deal. Purportedly with the intent of pacifying FEU's Arwind Santos and DLSU's Joseph Yeo, who were engaged in a little post-game trash talking, ran up to them and ended up whacking Santos upside the head, earning for himself a lifetime ban from ever again watching a live UAAP game.

I guess the reason to even write about it is the fact that I was kind of shocked to see just how old Salgado is. I remember back in high school and college when Xander Lao accompanied the UAAP team as manager or assistant manager, or something like that (I'm pretty sure he wasn't a ball boy). I figured, upon reading about the incident, that Salgado was around that age and was floored to see his now infamous slap captured in still photographs on the front page of a popular daily.

There have been enough opinions written by sports columnists on how inexcusable Salgado's behavior was, and so I am content to agree with them, but I can't help but shake my head about how seriously some people tend to take these games, even championship ones.

Remember the fisticuffs between the Indiana Pacers and Detroit Pistons, which had Detroit players punching out unruly fans? I think it's some kind of testimony to Santos' composure that he didn't lash back at the old man, especially considering his so-called professional counterparts several continents away couldn't contain their anger.

For God's sake, IT'S JUST A GAME. That said, the lifetime ban on Salgado is rather appropriate punishment. It might not have been if he had been younger and his volatile temperament therefore a little more understandable given the whole championship thing, but he was no kid and should therefore have known exactly what he was in for when he pulled that stunt.