Two more teams bit the dust last night in the PBA wildcards, with Sta. Lucia and Purefoods knocking off Coca-Cola and Talk N Text respectively.

Continue reading "About last night: Sta. Lucia and Purefoods complete the PBA Fiesta Conference quarterfinal cast"

To kick off your weekend on a good note, here are a bunch of great reads for a lazy Friday in the office. Because what else are you guys going to do, work?

Continue reading "Kobe Bryant as the Paquito Diaz of the NBA, and other lazy Friday links about The Association"

The PBA Fiesta Conference playoffs kicked off yesterday with the higher seeds doing quick work of their opponents.

Continue reading "About last night: Rain or Shine, Burger King take care of business to advance to the quarterfinals"

I already said that I was a fan of his work, so I was very disappointed to read Rick Olivares' half-baked profile of Smart Gilas import CJ Giles. In the story, Olivarez kept alluding to the trouble that has hounded Giles throughout his collegiate career and how he's using his stint with the team to gain redemption, but never mentions what happened.

Continue reading "Meet Smart Gilas import CJ Giles"

Before gaining prominence as the father of that jackass Borgy Manotoc, Tommy Manotoc was an acclaimed Philippine Basketball Association coach who won a grand slam in 1983 with the Crispa Redmanizers, coaching greats such as Abet Guidaben, Philip Cezar, Atoy Co, Freddie Hubalde, and Bernie Fabiosa, all of whom were named to the PBA's 25 Greatest Players list. Each of those guys save for Fabiosa also won an MVP award.

Continue reading "Do PBA players play passionless basketball?"

The site got some nice words over the weekend from Rafe Bartholomew, a former Fulbright scholar who spent several years in the Philippines to study and write about Philippine basketball. He gained a measure of fame in the local scene after writing a couple of stories for the New York Times, first about the Ateneo-La Salle rivalry, and then about Gilbert Arenas' crazy Manila visit last year.

Continue reading "Fire Quinito gets some love over at Manila Vanilla"

Fortunately (or unfortunately), it's not that kind of movie. Four-time PBA Most Valuable Player (and all-around good guy) Alvin Patrimonio actually plays Katrina Halili's father in the new movie Dalaw. The movie also stars Patrimonio's daughter Christine, who is herself making waves in the sporting scene as a budding tennis star.

Continue reading "'The Captain' Alvin Patrimonio to star in a movie with Katrina Halili"

The classification phase of the PBA Fiesta Conference ended last night with two tiebreaker games: the Coca-Cola Tigers beat the Alaska Aces, 81-74 to gain 8th, while the Barangay Ginebra Kings beat the living crap out of the Rain or Shine Elastopainters, 114-71, to get the 2nd seed.

Continue reading "Win or go home: Sorting out the PBA Fiesta Conference playoff clusterfuck"

Just in case you missed it, ESPN's Bill Simmons came out with a mammoth mailbag all about the NBA Playoffs. He leads off with this awesome tidbit:

Continue reading "Simmons on the NBA's "Danger Zone""