Here’s something I’ve wondered about privately with friends over the past few months: do we really like Manny Pacquiao? I would usually lay out the evidence:

Continue reading "Sure, we love to watch him fight, but do we even like Manny Pacquiao?"

Here’s a basketball-related story from my Christmas Eve. I was watching BTV (natch!) while waiting for noche buena, a special on Alonzo Mourning. I turned to my stepdad, who worked for a while in Miami back in the ‘90s.

Me: “Naabutan mo ba sa Miami si Mourning?”

Dad: “Oo, nung paalis na.”

Me: “Siya yung pinalit kay Glen Rice eh.”

There was a short, pregnant pause.

Dad: “Eh si Glen Rice naman, para ring si Bogs Adornado yan eh. Kung hindi tumitira, wala nang ibang ginagawa.”

Me: “Ganun ba si Adornado?”

Dad: “Oo… Naghihintay lang ng pasa. Kung hindi pinapasahan yan ng mga taga-Crispa, wala nang magagawa. Hindi katulad ni Atoy Co, kangkarot talaga.”

Merry Christmas everyone. Hope you and your families had a good one.

I was browsing through the PBA website, and ran across this article listing some of the league’s career leaders. An entry in the top ten leaders for rebounding struck me:

ALL-TIME REBOUNDS LEADERS
1. Ramon Fernandez 8652 rebs
2. Abet Guidaben 8570
3. Jerry Codinera 7034
4. Alvin Patrimonio 6152
5. Philip Cezar 5834
6. Robert Jaworski Sr. 5367
7. Abe King 5222
8. Yoyoy Villamin 5163
9. Nic Belasco 4540
10. Terry Saldana 4538

Continue reading "Two cheers for St. Nic"

This is awfully late, but in case you missed it, check out Rafe Bartholomew’s piece at Slate about Manny Pacquiao’s prospects as a politician. The article is great, as usual, but it’s particularly important because it’s one of the few stories that will come out in American media that reflects the true sentiment of Filipinos about Pacquiao’s forays into politics.

(On the other hand, Rafe’s probably just jealous that Pac-man has an honorary Ph.D. And that Pacquiao is still a much, much better actor than Rafe. Hater.)

While we’re here, Pacquiao’s candidacy for a congressional seat in Sarangani is looking interesting. Last September, he fired his first salvo by making a stand against a proposed coal project in the province; apparently, the boxer is head of an environmental task force, which isn’t a surprise considering environment secretary Lito Atienza is one of his closest advisers.

The coal plant project happens to be partly owned by the family of Sarangani Gov. Miguel Dominguez, a staunch ally of the Chiongbian clan. Roy Chiongbian, a member of the clan, will be running against Pacquiao for the seat that will be vacated by Roy’s older brother, Erwin.

Continue reading "Pacquiao, politics, and power plants"

If you’re a fan of the Smart Gilas Pilipinas national basketball team, I would highly recommend checking out the forums at Interbasket.net. Apart from intelligent discussion of the national team program (and the best Jaemark-bashing anywhere on the Internet – I love it!), the threads also feature the presence of SBP insider Nardy Madrasto, who has been helping the SBP with, among other things, getting in touch with Fil-foreign players from around the world.

Nardy’s posts have been both enlightening and entertaining – check out the photos he posted of CJ Giles and his Manila girlfriend – and in a recent contribution to the forums, he explained what’s going on with the SBP and the process of finding an import for naturalization for the team:

Continue reading "Some Smart Gilas questions, answered"

I have a valid excuse for my absence from the blog the past couple of days: I was in Mindanao. I was in General Santos to document the visit of international journalists to the city to meet victims of the families, and I headed up north afterwards to take a short visit to Maguindanao province.

Here’s something for sports fans to chew on: there would have been more journalists in the massacre in the town of Ampatuan in Maguindanao, but a lot of them had to stay behind in General Santos to cover the grand welcome for Manny ‘Pac-man’ Pacquiao after his win over Miguel Cotto.

I didn’t know how to react to that news, and I still don’t.

Just some stuff to cap the sports week. Happy weekend everyone!

Continue reading "Weekender Links"

Here’s favorite line from all of Quinito’s articles about the CJ Giles saga: “The final straw was when he invited his youthful teammates to his apartment for a drinking session that lasted until the wee hours. Eala pulled the plug before Giles made things worse for the team with his negative influence.”

I just love how Quinito makes it out like Giles had physically forced the little angels of Smart Gilas to go get drunk with him. What are they, 13?

It’s silly, because the Gilas members are well-educated young men who have been playing competitive basketball their whole lives. I imagine that these guys, the best and the brightest of Philippine college basketball, would be able to say no to too much drinking, no matter how persuasive their import could be, right?

Continue reading "Giles, imports, and Filipino racism"

My new column for Yahoo’s Ringside with Manny Pacquiao is about thinking happy thoughts, especially in light of everything that’s happened over the past couple of weeks. We’ve been particularly busy at it at my day job, and let me just say that putting together something like this isn’t a pleasant experience.

Anyway, happy thoughts.

Continue reading "Punch-Drunk: Pacquiao's exploits conjure happy thoughts"

Apart from troubled pasts, infamous stints in the Philippines, and local columnists drawing knives after they left, there’s one more thing that Lee Benson and CJ Giles had in common: they signed more lucrative deals immediately after leaving the Philippines.

Right after his tumultuous stint with Sta. Lucia, Benson burned the hoops in China and Puerto Rico, without much incident. Meanwhile, Giles flew off to Lebanon to sign with club team Al-Riyadi, the richest team in the Lebanese league, to replace NBA veteran Mamadou N’Diaye.

Continue reading "The CJ Giles saga brings up even more questions for Smart Gilas"