As Rafe Bartholomew once pointed out, nowhere have people loved lookalikes as much as here in the Philippines. He further noted:

Continue reading "Poll of the week: What is your favorite PBA-Celebrity lookalike?"

A few hours ago, Rey Joble tweeted this interesting little nugget: "After the Japeth Aguilar incident, the PBA is now ready to rock the boat of the SBP"

And rock the boat they did. Tonight, incoming PBA chairman and Burger King team manager Lito Alvarez said he was planning to revisit the PBA's national team commitment:

Continue reading "And the Japeth Aguilar issue threatens to (again) tear the Philippine basketball world apart"

There’s a raging discussion on the Japeth Aguilar issue all over the Internet, and at the Interbasket forums, my last piece on Japeth was posted on the thread. Anyway, one of the commenters, Patay-Butiki, who I assume runs the excellent Patay ang Butiki blog, (UPDATE: the commenter Patay-Butiki is not involved in the excellent Patay ang Butiki blog) had this to say:

Continue reading "More on the Japeth Aguilar issue"

I go away for a while, and all hell breaks loose? Apparently, while I was gone, Japeth Aguilar expressed his intention to not sign with Burger King, the team that made him the top overall pick in the 2009 PBA draft, in favor of signing with the Smart Gilas Developmental Team that would compete in the 2011 Fiba-Asia championship. Curiously, Aguilar had every opportunity to sign with Smart Gilas prior to joining the draft, but instead chose to enter to the PBA anyway. In a statement, Aguilar attributed his change of heart to a desire to continue representing the country.

It’s bullshit. A little digging would allow us to connect the dots, and give us a clearer picture of what’s happening.

Continue reading "Pointing out the strings in the Japeth Aguilar puppet show"

“The Hawaiian Punch” Brian Viloria defended his IBF light-flyweight championship in a unanimous decision over Mexican challenger Jesus Iribe. The bout was not particularly eventful, with Viloria outpointing his opponent by using his superior boxing skills. The victory did not come as a surprise, as boxing blogger Tim Starks noted prior to the fight: “Iribe went the distance with Edgar Sosa, so he's not a total softie, but he only won one round on three scorecards, so there's that. Even the unmotivated, wrong-headed version of Viloria that Brian seemed to banish with his defeat of Ulises Solis shouldn't have any trouble beating Iribe.”

Continue reading "Island Assault: Brian Viloria, AJ Banal outbox foes"

I will be out of town for the rest of the work week because of my Clark Kent job. While I probably will have some Internet access, I don’t think I’d be able to do the requisite research (read: trolling around the web) to post much. You think a story about Manny Pacquiao’s lovelife writes itself? Well, actually, it kinda does, but still.

Anyway, before I go, let me pass along this anecdote from a friend in the know. She says that her choice for the San Miguel Bigote Challenge would be Tonichi Yturri. Apart from the classic bigotilyo look, she's picking him because Tonichi (how funny is that name, especially for an almost middle-aged 6’ 5” guy? Tonichi, Tonichi, Tonichi!) allegedly always plays badminton in short shorts and hangs out at her friend’s bar right after, wearing the same short shorts and even going commando.

Yeah. See you guys this weekend.

There was an interesting tweet from PEP’s Scoopbox last night: “Manny Pacquiao was reportedly spotted with Ara Mina at Pan Pacific Hotel last nyt while d boxing champ was playing poker. How true?”

Continue reading "Pound-for-pound champ Manny Pacquiao still hitting it with Ara Mina?"

The 1989 San Miguel Beermen are one of the greatest teams in PBA history, winning all three conferences that season. All-time greats such as Mon Fernandez, Hector Calma, and Samboy Lim led the team, even as a plucky 2nd round draftee named Ato Agustin rode the pine.

The team led the league in scoring, assists, and killer staches. Actually, I made up the first two items, but there was no denying that the team was loaded in the bigote category. Fernandez and Lim showed the way among the starters, with Franz Pumaren, Elmer Reyes, Agustin, and Jeffrey Graves providing quality bigote minutes off the bench. Even benchwarmers Alfie Almario (a.k.a. the original Chris Tiu), Tonichi Yturri, and Ricky Cui did not let their lack of burn get in the way of their staches.

So which of these men had the best bigote? Vote now at the poll to your right.

Last week's poll asked the question: "Who is your favorite Olongapo Fil-Am?" Willie Thriller ran away with 59% of the votes, while Jeffrey Graves finished a distant second at 15%.

It’s a lazy Thursday, with the long weekend looming, so here are a bunch of links to tide you through the afternoon:

Continue reading "Lazy Thursday reads"

Powerade Team Pilipinas stalwarts Jared Dillinger, Gabe Norwood, Asi Taulava, Jayjay Helterbrand, Japeth Aguilar, and Ryan Reyes hit the streets of Beijing shortly after the Fiba-Asia Championships and sampled some of the exotic local food. Dillinger and Norwood are both providing updates on Twitter, along with other PBA players Kelly Williams and his brother-in-law Lamont Waters.