GMA News Online editor-in-chief Howie Severino emailed last Tuesday night, taking issue with a paragraph I wrote in my last piece about Krip Yuson’s plagiarism:

When I first called up Rey Joble to inform him about the apparent plagiarism, I asked him if he was going to file a complaint to his boss, GMA News Online editor-in-chief Howie Severino, about the matter. Joble responded in the negative; he said he was apprehensive about speaking up about the issue because he knew that Yuson was good friends with his boss, and that he was afraid that making a bigger deal out of it would jeopardize his career. He was ready to just let it pass if it meant that he could just go on with his job quietly – understandable, in this day and age, when most people, even sportswriters, are just concerned about making sure that there’s food on the table for their families.

Continue reading "An apology"

I was ready to just let the whole Krip Yuson plagiarism issue die down; the man said his piece immediately after I’d brought the issue to fore, and writers from other corners of the Internet came up with thoughtful, well-written pieces on the matter.

But then the Palanca Hall of Famer wrote about the incident this morning in his Philippine Star column, which just about unmasked his earlier apology as disingenuous.

Continue reading "Krip Yuson is a plagiarist AND a jackass"

This blog turns two years old today, so let me take this opportunity to celebrate this blog’s modest achievements.

Over the past couple of years, the level of discourse about sports in this country has deepened and broadened, and I’m proud to say that Fire Quinito has had a little to do with that, even though the posts here aren’t always polite or in good taste.

Continue reading "FQ turns two"

Presented without comment:

GMA News Online: “Famed writer Krip Yuson apologizes for plagiarism”

stuart santiago: “plagiarism and, uh, krip yuson? is that you?”

RadikalChick: “plagiarism apology as can of worms”

Interlineal: “Ruins and monuments: A collective statement on the plagiarism of Krip Yuson”

Krip Yuson sent an email regarding my earlier blog entry about his Rogue Magazine piece on former PBA commissioner Rudy Salud, which contained several paragraphs from an article written by Rey Joble for GMA News Online. His letter follows in full.

Continue reading "Krip Yuson replies"

So I settle down and read the rest of Rogue Magazine’s sports issue, and something struck me as weird about Alfred ‘Krip’ Yuson’s piece on the Philippine Basketball Association and the legacy of former commissioner Rudy Salud. The words on the page midway through the article sounded familiar; my sensors went on red alert when Yuson started quoting MYPBA forum denizens Jay P. Mercado and Percival Flores. I knew I’d read this article before.

If you follow the PBA closely, you’d know that only one mainstream sportswriter regularly cites the pro league’s amateur historians mentioned above: Rey Joble of GMA New Online. I searched for Joble’s article about the passing of the former commissioner, and true enough, almost the whole middle section of Yuson’s article was lifted directly from it. Whole paragraphs were copied, with very minor changes made.

Continue reading "Hall of Fame writer Krip Yuson plagiarizes for Rogue Magazine PBA article"

And I wrote a couple of pieces in it too! Again, this gives you an excuse to buy the magazine with the hot chick on the cover, by saying you’re only buying it for the sports articles.

Continue reading "Rogue Magazine’s sports issue out now"

Here’s some news that should be of interest to all local sports fans: Last week, MediaQuest, the PLDT subsidiary that controls TV5, signed a deal with IBC-13 to air sports programs in the government-controlled network. A new primetime block called AKTV featuring sporting events will soon air on the channel.

In exchange for block time, Media Quest will improve the signal of the channel and upgrade network facilities nationwide.

The move comes as the latest part of MediaQuest’s aggressive expansion strategy, which saw the company pouring in P7 billion into TV5 in 2010 alone. In October, the network launched an all-news FM radio station, while its 24-hour news channel Aksyon TV went on air on UHF television last February.

Continue reading "TV5 signs block time agreement to air sports programming over IBC 13"

In 2007, after Noli Eala was forced to resign by the Philippine Basketball Association as commissioner due to his disbarment, two candidates were up for the position: former telecommunications executive Lambert Ramos and lawyer Chito Salud. Neither man had enough votes to be appointed commissioner; San Miguel, Ginebra, Coke, Welcoat, and Red Bull – the SMC bloc – voted for Salud, while Air 21, Alaska, Sta. Lucia, and Talk N Text – the MVP bloc – voted for Ramos.

However, each man needed six out of the nine votes (voting rights haven’t been restored to Purefoods at the time) to be appointed commissioner. Unable to break the deadlock, the board decided to appoint Renauld “Sonny” Barrios, who at the time was OIC of the PBA, to the commissionership full time.

Continue reading "The curious politics of Sonny Barrios’ appointment as SBP executive director"