First, I apologize for the lack of updates. Here’s the reason I’ve been busy: A few months ago, when I started working for my current employer, the whole staff drew lots as to which presidentiable to cover. We were each assigned a candidate to keep tabs on and eventually write profiles for. Being new, I was assigned a prospective vice-presidential candidate, which shouldn’t have been much work. The prospective candidate? Noynoy Aquino.

I haven’t been posting mostly because I’ve been working on this feature.

Continue reading "Inuman session"

It’s hard to believe that it’s been ten years since Efren ‘Bata’ Reyes’ surprise victory at the World 9-ball Championships in Cardiff, Wales, in 1999. A whole nation watched spellbound not just with his charmed run in the tournament, but also with his hilarious post-match interviews. “I didn’t see the ball, so I just karambol’d it,” said the Magician as he scratched his head in trademark in one such interview. Between Efren’s English and the Welsh accent of the interviewers, the post-match events were every bit the adventure.

Efren’s victory also marked a resurgence of the sport in the country, if not in popularity then in prestige. Suddenly, it was chic to play and watch pool again, and major sponsors poured money into the sport. Soon enough, ESPN started pouring money for a regional billiard tour, the best local players , who had been toiling in tournaments abroad, came back to compete, and the country became such a hotbed for the game that the world 9-ball championships relocated from Cardiff to Manila.

Continue reading "Efren ‘Bata’ Reyes and Django Bustamante win World Cup of Pool, party like it’s 1999"

Tim Starks, who runs the best boxing blog on the planet, has the best summary of 19-year-old Marvin Sonsona's rousing victory over Jose ‘Carita’ Lopez: “Sonsona came up big in two departments that undid other green Filipino prospects in the last year or two: chin (goodnight, Rey Bautista) and stamina (goodnight, A.J. Banal). The kid really can punch and with his size and southpaw stance, arrived with some nice advantages. What may have been most impressive, though, is the composure he showed when Lopez began solving the riddle a little bit midway into the bout. He stopped loading up, started moving and picked his shots well. By the end of the fight, he'd retaken control.”

The video of the rest of the fight is also posted over at The Queensberry Rules.

I was dicking around the Internets, and Google news archive, and while they still only have archives of the Manila Standard, wow… you could lose a whole afternoon here. Case in point:

In 1992, San Miguel was playing Purefoods in the finals of the All-Filipino conference. The Beermen took game 1, but the Hotdogs won the next two games. The reigning MVP, Alvin Patrimonio, was the biggest headache for San Miguel coach Norman Black:

Continue reading "Alvin Patrimonio and the awesomeness of the Google news archive"

Finally, some non-Japeth Aguilar PBA news: Sta. Lucia made trades over the last couple of days to dump salary, shipping off point guard Denok Miranda to San Miguel yesterday, before sending their team captain Dennis Espino to the Coca-Cola Tigers. The Realtors received draft picks from both transactions, with back-up big man Jason Misolas also coming on-board from the Tigers. I’ve also heard rumors that Bitoy Omolon will be traded next.

It’s no secret that the corporation behind the team has been affected by the economic downturn. The real estate sector, in particular, has been hard-hit by the financial crisis especially because of the credit crunch. Last year, the corporation underwent corporate restructuring and reported a loss of P74.6-million from January to September, mostly due to operational costs and taxes.

Continue reading "Sta. Lucia sells off various (basketball) properties"

Newscaster and sports analyst TJ Manotoc was worried over Twitter about how people seemed to be taking Rey Joble’s scoop as gospel truth, and on his blog, he wondered whether Joble’s story is libelous. He compares it to a situation he recently found himself in:

Continue reading "TJ Manotoc asks: Is Rey Joble’s scoop on the Smart Gilas offer to Japeth Aguilar libelous?"

Rey Joble of the Manila Standard Today with the big scoop:

A highly-placed source told Standard Today that the 6’9” former Western Kentucky University player was offered the whopping three-year contract by the team backed by Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas and bankrolled by Smart Communications.

Continue reading "Report: Smart Gilas offered Japeth Aguilar P18m"