Filipino-American coach Erik Spoelstra of the Miami Heat has the distinction of being the only Asian-American head coach in any American major league sport, but that might cease to be the case if his team continues to struggle.

Continue reading "Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra is not having a good week at all"

My buddies and I were just talking about Leslie Nielsen a couple of weeks ago, at the cinema where we were watching the Manny Pacquiao-Antonio Margarito fight. The Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders had just come out in their pekpek shorts to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner,” and I told my friends that the girls’ version was my second-favorite rendition of the song, next only to Lt. Frank Drebin’s classic performance at the game between the California Angels and the Seattle Mariners.

Continue reading "RIP Leslie Nielsen"

Growing up as a Purefoods fan, it was always such a thrill that I shared the same birthday as the best player on my favorite basketball team.

[ Photo by Markku Seguerra ]

If you were to believe Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) executive director Noli Eala’s tweets, the reason here’s no local television coverage of the ongoing 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games is because the government simply doesn’t care enough about Philippine sports. If the government actually bothered, Eala implies, then there would be no reason for everyone not to be able to watch our beloved Smart Gilas and the rest of our country’s athletes competing in the Asiad.

Continue reading "Why we couldn’t watch Smart Gilas (and other Filipino athletes) in the Asian Games"

Smart Gilas skipper, television host, and all-around good guy Chris Tiu joins us in the final installment of Sparring Sessions, a series of interviews with pundits, bloggers, and boxing fans that discuss issues that affect Pacquiao, Filipino boxing, and combat sports in general, veering into topics that mainstream media rarely talk about. Tiu and the rest of the Smart Gilas team are currently in China to compete in the Asian Games, but before he left, he was gracious enough to talk about his former co-host, the Vegas crowd, and playing for Philippine pride.

Continue reading "Sparring Sessions: Smart Gilas team captain Chris Tiu talks about former co-host Manny Pacquiao and fighting for flag and country"

I’m working on a story on Alvin Patrimonio for the next issue of Baller, the official lifestyle magazine of the PBA. I’m just hoping I could do him justice.

[ Photo by Markku Seguerra ]

This cracked me up:

There was a report that you have had a noselift kasi papasok ka na sa showbiz.

“It’s not true!”

Kay Dr. Vicki Belo ka raw nagpaayos.

“Kay Vicki Belo? Bawal yata ako doon, eh!” (Laughs)

A, oo nga pala. I’m sorry, I forgot.

Here’s the whole interview, but that was my favorite part.

If you’ve been active on Twitter, you might already be aware of the reaction of PBA fans about the ongoing technical problems of Solar TV and how it has been affecting the broadcast of the games. The network’s troubles started last October 15, when the first game between Alaska and Rain or Shine experienced intermittent broadcast interruption, while the second game between Meralco and Talk N Text was not broadcast at all.

Continue reading "Solar’s signal problems, the PBA’s delayed reaction, and the league’s next TV deal"