The returning Marquin Chandler led Purefoods to a 92-85 win over Coca-cola. Tigers coach Kenneth Duremdes was hampered by sore eyes, and sat behind the bench in sunglasses.

The rampaging San Miguel notched win no. 8 against Talk N Text, in a game featuring the return of Danny Ildefonso. Danny I. looked good against the porous Tropang Texters defense. At one point, Ildefonso ran a pick-and-roll with Olsen Racela which resulted in a wide-open jam (raise the roof!). Valerie Concepcion and Danding Cojuangco were both in the house to cheer for the Beermen, while the Talk N Text side featured celebrity Rufa Mae Quinto and BB Gandanghari.

Continue reading "About last night: Danny I. raises the roof again in PBA Wednesday"

The PBA Fiesta Conference resumes today after the week-long All-Star festivities, with tournament leader San Miguel putting its undefeated record on the line against Philippine Cup champions Talk N Text.

Apart from having a dynamic import in Gabe Freeman, the Beermen's backcourt has been lights out during the stretch, with Dondon Hontiveros leading the charge. The Cebuano hotshot has not only been playing out of his mind all year, he is also more than friends, but less than lovers with Valerie Concepcion. Nice life, dude!

After the jump, a totally gratuitous photo of Valerie Concepcion and some more PBA stuff.

Continue reading "Can anyone stop the San Miguel Beermen?"

At 1 PM Eastern time Tuesday (that's Wednesday 1 AM Manila time), pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao will chat live over at the FanHouse. Bookmark this link now! Then go ask him about Ara Mina.

Last week, it was Britain's favorite hitman, Ricky Hatton going toe-to-toe with the fans. The chat lasted about an hour or so, and hopefully, the Pacman will go on at least that long.

Well, at least give him points for trying.

Lacking the explosiveness of fellow local contestants Gabe Norwood and KG Canaleta, Talk N Text forward Jared Dillinger went all out with a gimmick worthy of Dwight Howard. For his first attempt, he made a running start towards the basket for an alley-oop care of teammate Jimmy Alapag, but Alapag waved him off. Dillinger ran to mid-court and stripped his Talk N Text jersey to reveal his Manny Pacquiao outfit, complete with boxing gloves.

Continue reading "Jared Dillinger almost steals the show in PBA slam dunk contest with Pacquiao jam"

Fire Quinito gathers all the essential reading for Juan Manuel Lopez's impressive TKO win over Gerry Penalosa, to save you time to gather your thoughts about why BB Gandanghari was denied entry into a bar for cross-dressing.

Continue reading "Boxing mop-up: Lopez batters Gerry Penalosa"

Quinito Henson was part of the broadcast of last week's Viloria-Solis fight, alongside play-by-play guy Chino Trinidad and boxing analyst Mike Ochosa. I'm paraphrasing the following exchange during the third round of the fight, but it totally exposed how little Quinito knows about boxing.

Continue reading "The week in Quinito Henson annoyance"

Juan Manuel Lopez added another feather to his pound-for-pound cap by beating Gerry Penalosa from pillar to post in their bout Sunday morning, forcing Freddie Roach keep the Filipino champion from continuing the fight at the beginning of the tenth round. It was the first stoppage of his career for Penalosa, who had never touched the canvas in more than 60 fights.

It was a mismatch from the very beginning, with Penalosa lying prone to Juanma's body attacks. If it had been Penalosa from 10 years ago in the ring against Lopez, he would have been able to stay active enough to confound Lopez with his activity in close quarters, and he would have been busy enough on offense to prevent the champion from marching in and taking his shots. Instead, Penalosa was a sitting duck who, to use Roach's words for Oscar de la Hoya, could not pull the trigger anymore.

Continue reading "Juan Manuel Lopez pounds Gerry Penalosa into submission"

Fire Quinito gathers all the essential reading before the Penalosa-Lopez bout, so you can save time to ponder the implications of Marian Rivera being the new Darna.

Continue reading "Boxing mop-up: Gerry Penalosa challenges Juan Manuel Lopez"

The last leg of PBA All-Star Week caps off tomorrow evening at the Araneta Coliseum with the Powerade-Team Pilipinas selection going at it with PBA All-Stars. Threatening to steal the show, however, is the slam dunk competition, which on paper could be the best slam dunk event the league has ever had.

Continue reading "PBA slam dunk contest promises to titillate"

GMA News reports that former Best Import awardee Marquin Chandler is back to reinforce the Purefoods Tender Juicy Giants for the PBA Fiesta Conference campaign. The mercurial Chandler led Purefoods to the finals of the 2005-06 edition of the tournament, and Purefoods coach Ryan Gregorio is hoping to duplicate that success.

Continue reading "Marquin Chandler returns, but can he end Purefoods' slide to mediocrity?"