This is the premiere episode of Patay Ang Butiki, a new web show that will be appearing regularly on Fire Quinito. The show is produced by brothers Niko and Mikkel Bolante of Patay Ang Butiki.

In episode one, Niko and Mikkel are joined by ABS-CBN sportscaster Toff Rada and me to look deep into the woes of the San Miguel franchise.



Niko and Mikkel have kicked around the idea of producing a web show about basketball for more than a year now. We were trying very hard not to duplicate the stuff that’s already out there, including the excellent From the Stands podcast that also appears here on Fire Quinito.

So we came up with the idea of tackling only one topic, in-depth, for every show. For the first episode, we decided to take on San Miguel, but not just the big trade; we talk about the San Miguel fan culture, the management’s direction, the Petron name change, previous rebuilding efforts, and the Beermen’s deep history.



This was actually our test episode, and while it’s far, far from being perfect, we were proud that we came up with it through our DIY methods and with no budget at all. Niko is the MVP of this production, doing everything from re-mastering the audio to editing the video.

So while it’s not much now, we’re hoping to get better at this, and we’re excited that it opens up the possibility for all kinds of video-related projects. Reports? Documentaries? All of those are fair game.



Toff, a San Miguel fan who came all decked out in his “San Miguel assistant coach Art de la Cruz” outfit, is the star of the first show. It’s not much of a surprise, considering he’s a professional broadcaster, but also because back in high school, he was always the champion of our extemporaneous speech competitions at Pisay. He and I also ran a pretty mean pick-and-pop back then for III-Mg.



UPDATE: You can also now listen to the show as a podcast.