The last time a team coached by Yeng Guiao played Smart Gilas in a PBA tournament, back in the 2009-2010 Philippine Cup, Air 21 point guard Wynne Arboleda ended up assaulting a Gilas fan at courtside in a very ugly incident in a rough-and-tumble game. So when Guiao’s new team, Rain or Shine, faced off against the Gilas squad last Sunday, many fans were also expecting fireworks.

Continue reading "So what’s a Yeng Guiao game against Smart Gilas without a little controversy?"

Veteran coach Yeng Guiao has left the Air 21 Express to join the Rain or Shine Elastopainters. The news was confirmed to GMANews.TV by current Rain or Shine coach Caloy Garcia, who will slide down to become Guiao’s deputy on the bench.

Continue reading "Yeng Guiao ends tumultuous run with Air 21, takes his talents to Rain or Shine"

Gabe Freeman and Arwind Santos will be teaming up for San Miguel this year

Listed below are ten statements about the PBA Fiesta Conference, which kicks off this Sunday, March 21. In the comments, leave a post on whether you think each statement is true or false, and a short explanation why this is so.

Continue reading "True or False: The 2010 PBA Fiesta Conference Preview"

I spent the past couple of days back at my family’s ancestral home in Middle of Nowhere, Iloilo to attend to some family matters, so I missed the second game of the Philippine Cup finals between Purefoods and Alaska. Quite serendipitously, I ran into Patricia Bermudez-Hizon and Vince ‘The Prince’ Hizon in the airport just before my flight back to Manila, and they filled me on what happened in game 2.

Back at home a couple of hours later, I watched video of referee Maui Maurillo calling a bailout foul on Alaska’s Joe Devance while defending Kerby Raymundo’s desperation jumper with 1.7 seconds left.

Continue reading "Bullshit call by referee Maui Maurillo mars game 2 of Purefoods vs. Alaska"

The Burger King Whoppers and the Coca-Cola Tigers opened 2010 with a major trade, swapping starters Gary David and Alex Cabagnot while throwing in Chico Lanete and Wesley Gonzales into the transaction as the French fries in the value meal.

It’s an interesting trade, and on paper, should improve both teams. The Whoppers needed a point guard not named ‘Chico Lanete’ to start for them after losing Wynne Arboleda for the season, while the Tigers didn’t have anyone who can create plays at the wing position for them. David is an elite scorer and Cabagnot is a solid point guard. On the other hand, Lanete and Gonzales are serviceable members of the rotation as long as they don’t play too many minutes.

Continue reading "Burger King trades Gary David and Chico Lanete for Coca-Cola’s Alex Cabagnot, Wesley Gonzales, and free upsize drinks"

Last Wednesday, the House Committee on Games and Amusements held a hearing to look into the Wynne Arboleda incident that happened during the Burger King-Smart Gilas game three weeks ago. The investigation delved into, among other things, the allegation by SBP executive director Noli Eala (and repeated by Smart Gilas loyalists) that Burger King coach Yeng Guiao had ordered Burger King players to rough up the developmental team players. The loyalists had taken a Twitter report by Patricia Hizon about Guiao’s pre-game speech instructing his team to “put them in their place” as evidence that the fiery coach wanted a hit out on the Gilas boys.

Except it wasn’t true, as Patricia herself attested to during the hearing, and that the statement was taken the wrong way by people with certain biases. There were NO directives for BK players to hurt anyone, according to her.

Continue reading "Putting them in their place"

I guess nobody forwarded the Commissioner's Office Rafe's blog post:

Continue reading "PBA statement on Wynne Arboleda's suspension"

SBP Executive Director Noli Eala chimed in on the raging Wynne Arboleda issue, and his comments, which he made over a series of Twitter posts, were interesting to say the least:

Continue reading "More Wynne links: Noli Eala unloads on Burger King and the PBA, and a legal analysis of the possible Arboleda suspension"

I’d like to point everyone to this thoughtful analysis from Rafe Bartholomew of the Wynne Arboleda incident. I would call it a must-read, but if you’ve been reading this blog long enough, you’d know that pretty much everything Rafe writes is a must-read. While he doesn’t absolve and condone Wynne’s behavior, he does empathize with the Burger King guard and points out flaws in our culture along the way. I grew up watching basketball in the environment that Rafe describes; I’d written about how my mom took me to my first PBA game when I was six, featuring my favorite Purefoods Hotdogs against the evil Ginebra team led by Robert Jaworski, and a riot damn near broke out.

Continue reading "Wynne-gate"