‘Paid hack’ post

While most of the sporting world has been focused on basketball and the country’s medal winners in the Asian Games, a new issue has been percolating in junior basketball. It involves a veiled attack against a young player and the sportswriting profession. As you will see, it is a bad case of sour-graping, and an interesting case of an attempted blind item.

Almost two weeks ago, a coach of a prestigious school’s basketball program took to social media to attack a player of his former employer, who was mentioned in an article in the sports section of a giant broadcast network’s website. In his post, the said coach described the writer of such an article as a “paid hack” for calling the player a “standout”, even though the player averaged less than five points a game last season. (The coach may have intentionally – or incorrectly – even obscured the exact number by a tenth of a point). The comment has been screen-grabbed and passed around by other coaches and players at the high school level, many of whom know the coach in question. Naturally, the parents of the player who felt alluded to (since the stat mentioned was a very specific number), were distraught.

Let’s look at the facts. The coach who posted the insult handled the player’s current high school team for five years. At the time, he had a much stronger lineup, with name players who are now stars of powerhouse collegiate squads, some of whom have even played on the national team. In those five years, he did not win a league championship. He has since moved on to a rival school, no longer coaching high school. In the two years since, his successors at his prior team built a champion squad with a bunch of virtual unknowns. This is why it appears to be a case of sour-graping. Plus, a grown man taking a shot at a non-combative teenager doesn’t look good.

Now, on to the graver issue.

The implication that the writer in question was paid off to write what was not even overflowing praise is a very serious one. The implication that those in our profession who write about unpopular topics or persons are paid off leaves a very bad taste in the mouth. Many of us take our job very seriously, and such attacks, veiled or otherwise, should pass the muster of proof.

Incidentally, this writer also wrote about the player in question and his team months ago, precisely because he was part of that winning system. This writer would like to believe that independent thinking does not make one a paid hack. In our profession, those are fighting words. People have lost their jobs or gotten sued for such insinuations.

It would have been more decent and diplomatic – not to mention dignified – to simply voice disagreement, instead of making a two-pronged public assault. According to the family of the player concerned, the coach had allegedly – through an intermediary – offered to apologize to the player in person. Whether true or not, the offending post was not taken down, which would have been a gesture of good will and genuine contrition.

It would be fruitless to speculate as to why the coach took a broadside shot at sportswriters simply because he disagreed with the subject matter, or failed to win at the said school. But such low behavior generally does not come from any good intention. Nothing good comes from unsubstantiated assaults on the media institution, and an attempt to ruin the name of a youngster who has already achieved success.

Come to think of it, those of us who knew the late Joey Mente remember him fondly as an outstanding teammate and person who was great for team morale. Coincidentally, the one-time PBA Slam Dunk champion also averaged under 5 points a game. But nobody thinks any less of him for that.