The PBA hasn’t had a particularly interesting All-Star Game since 1989, the year when the midseason matchup became an annual event. For most fans going into the game, the big storyline was the reunion of Ramon Fernandez and Robert Jaworski, stalwarts of the old Toyota powerhouse team who had since been estranged.

As a diehard 7-year-old Purefoods fan, however, I couldn’t care less about the Veterans; my heart was for the Rookies-Sophomores team through and through. The youngsters included five players from my favorite team: sophomores Jojo Lastimosa, Alvin Patrimonio, and Jerry Codiñera, and rookies Nelson Asaytono and Dindo Pumaren. Conversely, the Veterans were comprised mainly of stars from my team’s hated rivals San Miguel, then in the middle of its Grand Slam season, featuring Fernandez, Samboy Lim, Elmer Reyes, Yves Dignadice, and Hector Calma.

Continue reading "The 1989 PBA All-Star Game"

On Twitter last night, I wrote that Ginebra’s win over Smart Gilas last night to advance to the finals followed the template of Gary Granada’s (and Bayang Barrios’) original song about the team, “Pag Nananalo Ang Ginebra”. The team trailed in the first half as their fans slowly fell into the grips of despair:

Ngunit ang aga nilang nagkalat,
bawat diskarte nasisisilat
Nagkasundo kaming magkakampi
na ang labo kasi ng referee
Ang barangay parang napeste,
natambakan agad kami ng bente
Parang bansa'y nagkaleche-leche,
at nareelect ang president

Continue reading "Ginebrang Ginebra"

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!"

‘The Filipino Flash’ Nonito Donaire scored a spectacular knockout over fellow top 10 pound-for-pound fighter Fernando Montiel this morning, cementing his spot as one of the very best fighters in the world. It was Donaire’s 25th straight victory and his 10th knockout in his last 12 fights. The left hook which sent the Mexican champion reeling on the canvas was reminiscent of Donaire’s star-making stoppage of Vic Darchinyan in 2007.

Continue reading "Nonito Donaire knocks the fuck out of bantamweight champion Fernando Montiel"

On Twitter earlier this afternoon, we were having ourselves a fun little time talking about the Phil Younghusband-Angel Locsin landian, and somehow this video surfaced:



[ H/T: @attyjong ]

By now everyone knows about the Philippine national men’s football team’s big 2-0 win last night in the first leg of its home-and-away AFC Challenge Cup playoff versus Mongolia. The Azkals totally outclassed their opponents last night, completely controlling the match from start to finish.

Continue reading "Azkals beat Mongolia's Blue Wolves, 2-0, in first leg of AFC Challenge Cup playoff"

I enjoyed this delightfully kooky Christmas video from the PBA:

Continue reading "Merry Christmas everyone!"

Writers often come up with all these “Cinderella goes to the Big Dance” analogies in any major sports tournament where a big underdog scores a few upsets against the heavy favorites. The dance that is the ongoing Asean Football Federation Suzuki Cup has officially found its Cinderella: the Philippine national football team, nicknamed the Azkals.

The team had an auspicious enough opening result after drawing 1-1 against Singapore, which was the equivalent of making goo-goo eyes at Prince Charming. And last night’s 2-0 upset against defending Suzuki Cup champion Vietnam? That was Cinderella giving the Prince a handjob in the men’s bathroom – it was thrilling, it was audacious, and it was a different kind of happy ending.

Continue reading "Go Azkals! Philippine national football team upsets Vietnam, 2-0, in the Suzuki Cup"

Filipino-American coach Erik Spoelstra of the Miami Heat has the distinction of being the only Asian-American head coach in any American major league sport, but that might cease to be the case if his team continues to struggle.

Continue reading "Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra is not having a good week at all"

My buddies and I were just talking about Leslie Nielsen a couple of weeks ago, at the cinema where we were watching the Manny Pacquiao-Antonio Margarito fight. The Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders had just come out in their pekpek shorts to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner,” and I told my friends that the girls’ version was my second-favorite rendition of the song, next only to Lt. Frank Drebin’s classic performance at the game between the California Angels and the Seattle Mariners.

Continue reading "RIP Leslie Nielsen"