I appreciate the fact that new IBF junior flyweight champion Brian Viloria is embracing new media, Twitter in particular, but this particular post seems like a bad idea.

Continue reading "Brian Viloria probably sharing too much information"

Gerry Penalosa, fighting Puerto Rican sensation Juan Manuel Lopez this Sunday morning, has been waiting for his date with Destiny for 20 years. He would send her flowers, buy her drinks, even chase her through cold winters in South Korea and Japan. She made eyes and flirted back, but invariably, she would cancel at the last minute. Destiny, that cruel, stuck-up tease.

Continue reading "Will Gerry Penalosa finally seal his date with Destiny?"

That was quick. After last night's Filipino Heritage Night at the San Francisco Giants' AT&T Field honoring Manny Pacquiao, people who attended the event have decided to honor the pound-for-pound king in their own special way: by hawking the free Pacman bobblehead dolls from the evening on eBay.

Continue reading "Manny Pacquiao bobblehead now available on eBay"

Solar Sports marketing head Jude Turcuato reports that "The Flash and the Furious" card that featured victories by Nonito Donaire and Brian Viloria was a commercial success. It was a risky proposition for Solar to promote the fight in the first place, given that neither Donaire nor Viloria have the star power of Manny Pacquiao.

Then there was the live event. A television broadcast is one thing, but the logistics of organizing, and more importantly, monetizing an event like a boxing card in Manila can be a daunting task. Broadcast giant ABS-CBN tried it with their "Invasion" card which they co-promoted with Golden Boy Promotions, and as Turcuato himself pointed out, they barely filled up half the Big Dome.

Continue reading "Solar flare: Business booms for Donaire, Viloria fights"

Major League Baseball's San Francisco Giants are at the forefront of the league's marketing efforts to reach out to ethnic communities in their area and tonight, the team held its first-ever Filipino Heritage Night, with Manny Pacquiao as guest of honor. It was about damn time someone paid some attention, because Filipinos make up the second largest Asian group in the city.

Continue reading "San Francisco Giants celebrate Filipino Heritage Night, honor Pacquiao"

The last episode of Pacquiao/Hatton 24/7, HBO's documentary series to hype up the big fight, featured faces familiar to any mainstream film fan. Christian Bale, who played the Caped Crusader in Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, was spotted alongside Mark Wahlberg intensely watching Manny Pacquiao spar.

Continue reading "Pacman meets Batman: Christian Bale watches Pacquiao sparring to prepare for new movie"

The path to NBA stardom is littered with tweeners: shooting guards trapped in point guards' bodies, finesse big men, and undersized power forwards. The last group is especially common; for every Charles Barkley, Anthony Mason, and more recently, under-rated gems such as Paul Millsapp and Craig Smith, there have been countless others who have been two short, too slow, too-whatever for their game to translate from college to the NBA.

Continue reading "David Noel: Can he bring the crown back to the Gin Kings?"

42 points, 1 rebound, 0 assist, 1 steal, 6/11 from the three-point line.

Continue reading "NBA Playoff Snapshot: Lone gunman almost drops Boston"

Fire Quinito gathers all the essential reading for the Viloria-Donaire knockouts, so you can save time to gawk at Zac Efron's waxed eyebrows and washboard abs.

Continue reading "Boxing mop-up: Donaire and Viloria"

The economic downturn is affecting everyone, and it has hit local amateur commercial basketball particularly hard. The Philippine Basketball League, the traditional breeding ground for Philippine basketball's rising stars, beginning their new tournament while reeling from the departure of two members (Burger King and Toyota Otis), are down to five teams.

It makes sense. Unlike the PBA, the PBL is truly borne out of love: companies pay teams to play in near-empty arenas and there is next to no one watching on television.

This is Fire Quinito's primer for each team, with a different twist: a profile of each team owner. Who are they, and what do they do? And why the hell are they still in the PBL?

Cecilio Pedro and Lamoiyan Corporation's newest team, the Licealiz Hair Doctors, are up next.

Continue reading "PBL Preview: Cecilio Pedro and the Licealiz Hair Doctors"