Format tomfoolery

June 14, 2000

Players and teams all dream of immaculate win streaks, of single, double or even triple-digit numbers followed by zero. Mexican boxing great Julio Cezar Chavez had his 98-0 before he ignominiously lost to Oscar dela Hoya; the Cebu Gems of last season were 3-0 before they were brought down to earth by the Manila Metrostars; even World Championship Wrestling’s Bill Goldberg had his rigged 111 (or something)-0 before the Ted Turner organization decided to have Kevin Nash nee “Diesel” now “Big Sexy” end the charade and start another.

Just this week, closer to home, another team bearing the proper noun “Cebu” erected a 13-0 win-loss record after emerging victorious in all four stages of the 1st M.Lhuillier Visayas Cup under-14 football tournament. Then a potential spoiler came out of the dark to threaten to rain on the parade of the “Carmen Boys.” Iloilo (9-4), playing in their turf of Barotac Nuevo before an expectedly large and rabid home crowd, only needed to beat Cebu once to emerge the tournament champions. No best-of-three, no twice-to-beat conditions in Cebu’s favor.

Mediocre Ginebra San Miguel, ranked No.8, needed to defeat No.1 Mobiline (which once led the eliminations with a 7-0 record) twice to proceed to the semifinals as opposed to Mobiline needing to win just once. Barangay Ginebra, playing their crowd-pleasing role to the hilt, beat the Phone Pals twice, making the hulking Asi Taulava cry and streak his golden-dyed hair. There is always an eager envious hand to pick up a rock to try to hit the ripe mango (to loosely translate the Cebuano adage), the dark entity to pluck a shining star and squeeze it into a dark hole. “Crab mentality,” “tall daisies” or “downward mobility,” call it what you will.

Iloilo, probably the first and last place in the Philippines to love, nay, worship football, was the pre-tournament favorites. But the small-town boys of Carmen and some San Carlos City reinforcements shook up preconceptions by bagging the first leg-title in Cebu. Credit to the home field? But with the small crowd out to watch the games here, it wasn’t much of a home support. Take out the comfort-zone edge and give credit to the players’ abilities and good coaching.

DF-Carmen made a run. They started in Cebu and didn’t stop until they soundly beat Iloilo, 2-0, in Barotac Nuevo. But what if they had faltered? What if the Ilonggos beat the Cebuanos y Negrenses? The dark horse has an uncanny way of beating the odds.

A single knockout semifinal or final may add to the thrill and immediacy with everything on the line. And you can add disgust to that. What incentive does a team have to amass an unblemished record in the early part of the tournament, if all that can be rendered moot after a single or double loss (in the twice-to-beat format)? There may be no reason for an unbeaten team not to defeat another with an inferior record. There is, actually. A Brazilian national football coach said that his team may beat Italy 19 out of 20 times they play, but on the occasion they lose, they’re playing for the championship and statistics go out the window.

It’s win or lose. Nothing else matters. Fairness is only taken into account when the unexpected happens. In Cebu MLSDF-Carmen’s case, fortunately, the expected happened. Hopefully, lessons were learned.