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?"

PBA owners: Manny Pangilinan (4th from left) and Ramon Ang (5th) sit side by side

Pictures from yesterday’s PBA owners’ meeting showed a curious seating arrangement: Manuel V. Pangilinan, chairman of PLDT and Metro Pacific, and Ramon S. Ang, president of San Miguel Corporation, sat side by side to discuss the league’s problems with the other teams’ top honchos. Tonight, when game 2 of the Philippine Cup finals between San Miguel and Talk N Text tips off, the corporate “frenemies” will be back on opposing sides rooting for their flagship basketball teams, a position they’ve probably grown accustomed to over the past several years.

Continue reading "San Miguel-Talk N Text series the latest saga in Ramon Ang-Manny Pangilinan rivalry"

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?"

Thumbs down to the UP Fighting Maroons, who lured their fans into getting their hopes up with an improved team featuring rookie Fil-Am Mike Silungan, whom Coach Aboy Castro described as a cross between James Yap and Dondon Hontiveros. True to form, they got plastered by La Salle. They should just go ahead and change their name to the UP Sucking Maroons.

Read my report on the UAAP Season 73 opening weekend over at FHM.

Just some stuff to cap the sports week. Happy weekend everyone!

Continue reading "Weekender Links"

I wrote a feature about UAAP for FHM, and it includes a wrap-up of season 72 and a sneak preview of season 73. Also, corny jokes:

Continue reading "Fire Quinito's UAAP postmortem on FHM"

Here’s the “Hitler as a La Salle fan reacting to the Archers missing the Final Four” clip that’s been going around.



It’s alright, but I’m posting just so I could link to the vastly superior “Hitler reacts to JRU’s loss to San Beda” last year. Now that was hilarious.

The Far Eastern University Cheering Squad is this year’s surprise winner of the UAAP Cheerdance Competition. FEU is the host school for the UAAP this year.

The Ateneo de Manila Blue Babble Battalion bagged second place with a Michael Jackson-inspired set. Ateneo hottie Sari Campos won a special award for being, well, a hottie.

The UP Pep Squad, the two-time defending champion, was relegated to third place.

Continue reading "UAAP Cheerdance: FEU wins, Ateneo takes second, UP drops to third"

It’s finally happened: De La Salle University is out of the UAAP final four for the first time since the format was instituted in 1994. Tony Atayde already filed a post-mortem and I’m assuming he’s crying green tears, while TJ Manotoc is already deep into the rumor mills. Are the rumors libelous? Wait, that’s a totally different issue.

Continue reading "Poll of the week: How should La Salle coach Franz Pumaren spend the rest of his September?"

I wrote a piece over at FHM on how to beat the Ateneo Blue Eagles, who are looking as dominant as they did during their championship run. I am, of course, an expert at these things, since I'm a fan of the UP Fighting Maroons, who handed Ateneo it's only loss in the current UAAP tournament.

My original draft ran much longer, and had jokes about Lady Gaga, Joshua Webb, Mark Barroca, Eman Monfort, and annoying scenesters that come out to these games, that will never see the light of day. It’s probably all for the best.