YOU have to give it to Jose Rizal University senior player John Amores, what he accomplished was short of a miracle.

From being a nobody, well, unless you are from JRU too, who could say he knows John Amores, at least prior to what he did against St. Benilde, charging singlehandedly into the whole team and punching players along the way in a recent game.

And ironically, the game a lost cause for the Heavy Bombers already, behind by 20 with a little over three minutes left in the game, and he was already being pacifed and the game had been stopped already.

And from a basketball player, he transformed into a 100 meter runner, and charged out from the JRU bench then transformed into a martial arts athlete when he reached the finish line at the other end of the court.

In a matter of hours, Amores attained the peak of his (un) popularity on line, with people from all walks of life weighing in with their comments, maybe 99 percent negative, all sarcastic, funny, angry, and serious.

I did watch the different videos of what happened, and I simply could not find any reason for Amores to do what he did.

Of course I would have missed out on what was not captured by the cameras, but still, enough was shown to tell me Amores was wrong.

The only possible reason I may be willing to accept from him is that he has psychological problems that affect his behavior to this extent.

In fact many people cited the need for him to undergo an anger management session.

I also read a comment that says people had no business delving into the issue unless they knew the side of Amores,

I can understand if he was a teammate or a friend of Amores, but it stll will not be enough to justify Amores’ actuations, more so that there were previous players fights where this guy was involved in the recent past.

Maybe he does not know that the age of the enforcers in the NBA and the PBA, has long been gone.

The likes of the original enforcer, Joy Dionisio, followed by his teammate Bong de la Cruz, Oscar Rocha, Alex Clarino, Onchie de la Cruz, and maybe Beau Belga can be the nearest to being one in the present crop of players, just to mention a few.

If I were to compare him to a player, I can think of Rudy Distrito, who told me once that he simply tried to live up to the expectations of the fans, and for me, Rudy was not even an enforcer type.

Unfortunately again for Amores, with what he did, he might have destroyed a possible basketball career, his school and the NCAA have suspended him indefinitely, He will be facing court cases filed or to be filed by some players, parents, or maybe even schools.

Do I agree with the penalties so far that have been announced?

Yes, for one I believe everyone is responsible for the consequences of his decision , plus the fact that I have not heard of any mitigating circumstance in his favor if at all, what came out were aggravating circumstances, and Amores should accept the price of what he did.

By the way, he also has had enough time to realize the gravity of his wrongdoing, but in a “public apology”, he said he was sorry but blamed his hands for moving, on their own?

Should he be given a second chance

Not now for sure, in the future, maybe, but I hope not.

LOOSE CHANGE: I scored three out of four in my prediction for the Shakeys Super League women’s collegiate volleyball, i thought Ateneo will make it, but instead, La Salle, Adamson, and UST are joinng NU in the final 4……But I stand pat on this, NU will take the crown…..Congrats to the under 15 SWAB Archive team that ruled its age group in the MILCU Got Skills basketball tournament, I conducted mental strengthening sessions with the team, I guess it helped…..am happy that F2 showed why I picked them to be in the top 4 in the PVL by beating Creamline. By Lito Cinco

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