I’ve been a fan of SLAM since high school, and up until a few years ago I still bought the magazine every month, until the hefty price tag (~P500-P600 a pop) made me reassess its place in my life’s list of priorities.

Continue reading "SLAM Philippines out now!"

Ok, crowning him king may just be a tad bit premature – after all, it was only one preseason game – but we haven’t seen a legit college freshman this exciting since… LA Tenorio? James Yap? And those guys are two of the best, if not the two best, homegrown players in the PBA right now.

Continue reading "All hail King Kiefer!"

As you’re reading this, I’m probably somewhere in Central Mindanao working on a documentary project with The War Correspondent Ed Lingao for the day job. Which is awesome, except for the part where I’m going to miss the opening of the NBA season. But worry not, I’ve loaded up some posts which are scheduled to be published over the course of the week though, so you’ll have something to read despite me being away. On to the bullets:

Continue reading "Monday bullets, starring Kiefer vs. Baser, Manny Pacquiao, Ryan Gregorio, and Caloy Garcia"

I got a text message late last night from a basketball insider asking if I wanted to get a couple of drinks, and on a whim, I said yes. He was meeting a friend, he said, one of his idols. It turned out that we were going to be drinking with one of the best point guards in Philippine basketball history, a two-time NCAA Most Valuable Player, a former PBA rookie of the year, and the record-holder for most assists in a single game, dropping 28 dimes.

Continue reading "Thursday bullets starring Kiefer Ravena, Johnny Abarrientos, and the PBA’s greatest forgotten point guard"

A popular chorus among lazy sportswriters is that the PBA is a dying league, a gem that has lost its luster. They rattle off the reasons: the PBA’s gate attendance is on the downturn,¹ the TV ratings are down,² and fan interest is dwindling.³

Continue reading "Is the UAAP a dying league?"

Quinito Henson’s article last week about the UP Fighting Maroons profiled the management committee of the team: Chitong Rivera, Bert Mendoza, and Jake Castro. Calling them “distinguished,” Quinito argued that even though the Maroons finished winless, the three men would continue on fighting.

Continue reading "Meet the clowns behind UP’s 0-14 record"

At the start of the 2010 rookie draft, the PBA played yet another video tribute for Customs commissioner, former PBA board chairman, and former Air 21 team manager Lito Alvarez. With a smug grin on his face – you know, like he had just gotten away with cheating on a round of golf – Alvarez claimed proudly that because of his “savvy” moves, it was the first time that a team, Air 21, had the top three picks in the rookie draft.

Continue reading "Air 21 leads the clusterfuck that was the 2010 PBA rookie draft"

A couple of weeks ago, Howie Severino contacted me to talk about basketball. His i-Witness team had started reading Rafe Bartholomew’s Pacific Rims, and it inspired them to do a basketball documentary. They were playing around with the idea of featuring James Yap, particularly to show a side of him beyond being Kris Aquino’s controversial husband. Howie had also read my recent blog entries about James Yap, and his interest was piqued by James Yap’s amazing performance despite his marital woes. The only concern was that James might not be so forthcoming, because of all the controversies surrounding him.

Continue reading "Airing tonight: Howie Severino’s i-Witness documentary featuring James Yap and Philippine basketball"

I got this email from Coach Eric Altamirano last Monday, and I figured that readers of this blog would be interested to hear updates from him on the preparations of the youth program for the upcoming Fiba-Asia U-18 championships in September.

Continue reading "Coach Eric Altamirano gives updates on the SBP youth program"

Full disclosure: Eric Altamirano is one of my favorite Philippine sports personalities ever. He was the architect of the mini-resurgence of the UP Fighting Maroons in the mid-‘90s, after recruiting RP Youth members Bryan Gahol, Paolo Mendoza, and Ogie Gumatay to the team. I was studying at a public science high school at the time, and the Maroons’ build-up, along with the Eraserheads’ university roots, made me really excited about the idea of attending the Unibersidad ng Pilipinas for college.

But Altamirano, who was also an assistant coach at Purefoods, had to abruptly leave UP when he was tapped by the pro team to replace the acerbic Chot Reyes. Altamirano promptly led the team to the 1997 All-Filipino Championship. That was still my favorite Purefoods championship team of all time, despite the fact that they were called (ugh) the Purefoods Corned Beef Cowboys. (At the onset of the name change in the previous season, management even made the coaches wear cowboy chalecos.)

Continue reading "Here’s to Coach E and the SBP youth basketball program"