Filipino fans that have caught the Azkals fever have been disappointed over the details of the coverage of the Philippine national team’s games in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Challenge Cup qualifiers, which kick off today in Rangoon.

The military junta’s regime in Myanmar – still Burma to pro-democracy activists – is known to be among the most restrictive in the world when it comes to the free flow of information. Local publications are monitored by a strict censors board, and rarely run news items beyond those in line with official government policy. Journalists who run afoul of the authorities are harassed and even jailed.

Continue reading "Football and the Junta: The Azkals kick off AFC Challenge Cup qualifier in Myanmar"

The Sloan Sports Analytics Conference at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is an annual event that brings together top sports executives, coaches, media personalities, journalists, and bloggers. The 4th 5th edition of the conference, which popular sportswriter Bill Simmons has dubbed Dorkapalooza, happened this past weekend, and Pacific Rims author (and friend of the blog) Rafe Bartholomew was there to represent:

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Boxing enthusiast and former Cotabato governor Manny Piñol was among the members of the media that Nonito Donaire included in his Facebook tirade yesterday. Shortly after I posted the last piece about Donaire’s online fight against Chino Trinidad, someone on Twitter pointed me to a very interesting piece by Piñol on PhilBoxing.com:

By the way, just a friendly advice and this will be good for your health and well-being: Do not threaten me or other media people with your Sonic-Boom punch that knocked out Fernando Montiel. You could get into legal troubles with that statement in the Philippines. You could get sued for grave threats and that is a crime.

Also, do not brag about you Sonic-Boom punch. Remember this: a bullet travels faster than a punch.

Holy crap, that certainly sounded like a threat. At least, Nonito treated it like one:

Continue reading "Wait, did Manny Piñol just threaten to shoot Nonito Donaire over his Facebook tirade?"

There was a big fight on the social networks this weekend between Filipino sports personalities, and for once, I wasn’t involved in it. World champion Nonito Donaire and GMA-7 sports reporter Chino Trinidad got into an Internet fight that quickly turned very, very ugly.

Some context: throughout the whole Donaire family drama involving Nonito Jr. and his parents, Chino has been critical of the fighter for not patching things up with his family, a position he shares with his father, Inquirer columnist Recah Trinidad, who has written a number of articles on the matter. In one of Chino’s posts on Facebook, Nonito’s father-in-law also got into a tiff with the former PBL commissioner.

Continue reading "Chino Trinidad, Nonito Donaire trade barbs"