I was just totally going to ignore this story, but a whole bunch of people – including a couple of guys connected to Smart Gilas – kept bugging me about TMZ showing clips of Smart Gilas and Chris Tiu after their loss a couple of days ago to the LA Slam of the ABA. The whole TMZ episode is available online (click on the 4/27 ep) and Gilas appears about a few minutes in.

Continue reading "Smart Gilas and Chris Tiu’s pretty face make it to TMZ"

Patricia Hizon broke news of the blockbuster trade on Twitter this morning: Alaska sent two-time PBA Most Valuable Player Willie Miller to Ginebra in exchange for the electric Cyrus Baguio.

Alaska coach Tim Cone told the Manila Bulletin that Miller had wanted out of the team for the last two years, but the Aces didn’t bite until this offer came along.

Continue reading "Skyrus arrives to resurrect the Alaska Air Force, as Willie Thriller joins the Barangay Ginebra Security Agency"

While trolling around the Pinoy Exchange forums, I came across an interesting discussion about my previous post about the San Miguel Corporation possibly selling control of some of its core businesses in food, beer, and liquor. The last post, about a potential buyer for the San Miguel Pure Foods Corporation, caught my eye, and got my wheels turning:

i have a source na baka daw ibenta ang pfoods sa unilab. not sure about pero parang ganun daw. though nagtataka ako ang layo ng unilab para mag venture sa food industry. i asked him if what will happen to pfoods once mangyari nun.. no answer siya

Continue reading "A totally unsubstantiated rumor about a potential buyer for Purefoods: The Unilab family"

After running roughshod over not-too-elite competition in Australia and getting their asses handed to them by excellent professional teams in Serbia, Smart Gilas took its act to the United States to play several minor league teams from the American Basketball Association. A couple of days ago, Gilas began its campaign by going up against the ABA team based in San Diego (which of course in German means whale’s vagina). It was an exciting match, with birthday boy Mark Barroca sinking a three-point shot with 4.3 seconds left to lead the Filipinos to a 94-93 victory.

Continue reading "Smart Gilas planning to join shitty American minor league"

Several weeks back, I wrote about the interest of Japanese beer giant Kirin to increase its stake in San Miguel Brewery and gain control of the San Miguel subsidiary. At the time, San Miguel Corporation president Ramon Ang denied that the food and beverage giant was looking to give up control of its beer operation, saying that the company seeks to retain control of its main businesses, which include San Miguel Brewery Inc., Ginebra San Miguel Inc., and San Miguel Pure Foods Corporation.

Continue reading "San Miguel looking to sell control of SMB, Ginebra, Purefoods businesses; Danding Cojuangco looking to cash out?"

Remember that whole issue with Jamal Sampson? Well, it turns out that he still hasn’t been released from his contract by Smart Gilas. Last week, he wrote in with some bad news:

Continue reading "Jamal Sampson’s shadow still looms over Smart Gilas import search"

So the rumors are true: Greg Slaughter, the 6’11” star center of the University of Visayas Green Lancers, is now redshirting for the Ateneo Blue Eagles to be eligible for the 2011 UAAP basketball tournament, Quinito Henson reports in his Philippine Star column. While Quinito downplays Slaughter’s transfer to Katipunan, instead playing up the center’s improvement while training with the Smart Gilas program, the story may have far-reaching implications.

Slaughter first flew to Manila to train with Gilas, a team bankrolled by SBP chairman Manny Pangilinan, who’s also the top patron of the Blue Eagles. It couldn’t have been coincidence that Slaughter chooses to transfer to the same school sponsored by his Gilas principal. Pangilinan pours huge money into Ateneo sports – “between P10 million to P12 million” a year, according to one Inquirer report – and it’s not hard to imagine him or his minions exerting influence on the SBP to steer Slaughter into making the “correct” decision.

Continue reading "Holy crap, Greg Slaughter really is transferring to Ateneo"

I have been harping about this on Twitter for a while now, but I just wanted to put on record that I really can’t stand the play-by-play work of Paolo Trillo. It’s nothing personal. He just plainly sucks.

So what’s wrong with him?

Let me borrow a line from ‘Almost Famous’: To begin with… everything.

Continue reading "Paolo Trillo sucks: A look at the worst announcer in the PBA"

Last Thursday, in the wake of Dwayne Jones signing with the Phoenix Suns, I wrote about some other D-League prospects that Smart Gilas might want to check out. Scott Schroeder of Ridiculous Upside singled out former University of Wisconsin center Greg Stiemsma as a promising player that should interest the Gilas brain trust.

Continue reading "Another Smart Gilas prospect, Greg Stiemsma, signs with the Minnesota Timberwolves"

Haven’t done a bullet/links post in a while, so here we go:

• Rafe Bartholomew had a lengthy, two-part interview at In the Bullpen (part 1, part 2), which delves not just into basketball, but Philippine culture and history as well.


• Ronnie Nathanielsz gave his new favorite sports patron, Manny Pangilinan, a tongue bath (as Rick Reilly would say) in last Friday’s column to show his support for MVP’s plagiarism issue. I laughed out loud when, in an effort to praise the PLDT chair, Nathanielsz compares Pangilinan to… Ferdinand Marcos!

Continue reading "Monday afternoon bullets"