So what do Chot Reyes, Tim Cone, and Ryan Gregorio – the coaches of the last three PBA championship-winning teams – have in common that set them apart from other coaches?

They all read Fire Quinito.

Of course, the fact that they are all brilliant coaches who led talent-laden squads probably had more to do with their victories. But hey, if Quinito Henson can talk about birthdays and biorhythm during the PBA broadcast and pass it off as “analysis”, then I can claim to be the reason for these coaches’ success, right? Let’s take a look back at how they got here.

Longtime readers would, of course, be familiar with the Ryan Gregorio saga. A lifelong Purefoods fan, I began as a vocal critic of the former coach when the team was toiling in mediocrity. Then during the 2010 Philippine Cup semifinals against San Miguel, I made a bet that I’d stop criticizing him for a year if the team made the finals, and lengthen that moratorium to three years if they won the championship. They did, and the whole thing ended in an embarrassing bromance.

Tim Cone, meanwhile, was the first PBA coach who took to Twitter, and as such, was the first PBA coach to become aware of the blog. He would read the site and forward the stories to his boss, Alaska owner Fred Uytengsu, who also ended up becoming a reader. Shortly after winning the 2010 Fiesta Conference, Coach Tim left a comment on one of my posts criticizing the PBA’s plan to enforce a handicapping system for the 2011 season – a story that got picked up by GMA News, and actually got him summoned by PBA commissioner Chito Salud. Sorry to get you in trouble, coach.

Before that, however, another PBA coach had already been made his presence felt in the comments section of the blog. Talk N Text coach Chot Reyes left a comment shortly after I wrote a post criticizing the decision of his team to walk out of its quarterfinals game against Ginebra last year, and even took delight in the fact that I called it a dick move. Since that comment, he’d signed up on Twitter as well, dispensing both basketball wisdom and fashion advice to basketball fans. Last Friday, he led Talk N Text to its second All-Filipino title.

Curiously, there’s another bench tactician known to read this blog who’ll be coaching in the upcoming PBA Commissioner’s Cup. The coach? Rajko Toroman of Smart Gilas, which is touted by coaches as favorites in the upcoming tournament.