Philippine basketball sports has started to develop a small but vibrant community on Twitter, and Fire Quinito rounds up the best messages from athletes, broadcasters, and fans, in 140 characters or less.




Here’s hoping that when we vote for Chris Tiu as our president in 25 years – you know, after he serves as Manny Pacquiao’s vice president for 6 years – he’ll still have a full head of hair.




I miss Ed Picson doing the coverage. Always loved him, especially kapag binabara niya si Quinito.




Nice. I wonder though if there’s a workout to make Dyan a better boxing announcer.




Yeah, go for it Boyet! Just remember: Flirting on Twitter is ok, but writing love letters leads to disbarment.




Cool. And it’s high praise too, because Howie and I have spoken before about David Halberstam’s classic “The Breaks of the Game.” Also, if you missed it, he left a comment on the post about his James Yap documentary, and called The Genius “cutie coach Ryan.”




And the fans concur. Ayos si Coach ah, parang (500) Days of Summer lang eh noh.




An underrated, amusing part of Howie’s documentary: FEU center Aldrech Ramos chilling out wearing a jejecap.




Had a nice, quick chat with Mico after last night’s game. He’s one of my favorite sportscasters. Plus, he gives hope to all of us short guys who want to be involved in basketball. Also, he’s married to Pia Arcangel, so that gives us even more hope. I should probably stop writing now before I get into trouble.

Anyway, I had a good time at the game even though Derby Ace lost. Speaking of which...




Yeah, this was after Marc Pingris had a monster, two-handed putback slam dunk to cut the San Miguel lead to 4. The Beermen called timeout, and the arena DJ played Baby. Pati pagkatalo ng Purefoods, kasalanan pa rin ni Bieber. While we’re on the subject of music…




If there ever was a Sweetest Tweets hall of fame, Robbie Reyes would be a first-ballot inductee.

Philippine basketball has started to develop a small but vibrant community on Twitter. The Sweetest Tweets is a round-up of the best messages, in 140 characters or less.



Oh, we’re all going to miss Rod’s tweets while he’s away. I hope his date with Destiny finally goes through.



Yeah, tell ‘em Rick! I completely agree! Sino ba ‘yang mga SBP official na yan?! Mamaya pati mga nanay at tatay nila, isama pa nila sa Taipei!



Hacheche-pache!



I still remember Joey Mente throwing water bottles at the Taiwanese crowd. Iloilo Megavoltz for the win!



I’m sure Cesca Litton is flattered to get compliments from the PBA’s resident fashion expert.



I think Bo Perasol traded for Paolo Mendoza just so they can have isaw at UP after practice with Marvin Cruz.



Yeah! Fire Quinito!



Simpleng yabang lang din ‘tong si Cabaggie, eh noh?



Yeah, this is what this feature is here for, to document Robbie Reyes’ Twilight fandom.



Also, to keep track of James Ty III’s undying love for Jessica “Jessilicious” Mendoza. Keep fighting the good fight, James!

Photo by Jan Dizon, NCAA.

The big story coming out of the PBA last week were the major changes on the San Miguel bench, involving assistant coach Ato Agustin and head coach Siot Tanquingcen. Agustin, who was brought in earlier this conference to be part of the brain trust, assumed coaching duties during the Beermen’s loss to the Coca-Cola Tigers, while Tanquinqcen sat meekly at the sidelines.

After the game, San Miguel basketball operations head Robert Non said that the move was “on-the-job training” for Agustin, who led the San Sebastian Stags to last year’s NCAA championship as a first-time coach. San Sebastian management consequently released a statement saying that Agustin would still remain the Stags’ head coach. Curiously, Eric Gascon, a former teammate of Agustin with the MBA’s Pampanga Dragons, joined the San Sebastian coaching staff, and rumors are that he is the Stags’ coach-in-waiting.

The San Miguel coaching situation is awkward, to say the least, with Tanquingcen playing the good soldier amidst the humiliating circumstances, while Agustin has to cram to get up to speed with how to handle the team – reports have it that he has also been running the team’s practices – at a critical juncture in the conference, when the Beermen are fighting for an all-important second seeding, which would guarantee the team a free ride to the semifinals.

Speculation is predictably rife about what’s going to happen with San Miguel. Everyone is assuming that Agustin will be the next coach of the team, and this has given rise to whispers that the whole Tanquingcen-Agustin charade is a way to circumvent the rules of both the PBA and the NCAA; both leagues currently disallow head coaches from the other to handle a team. The rumors have even spilled over to the camp of San Miguel’s sister team Ginebra, where Tanquingcen is speculated to end up after the conference, either as a deputy to his mentor Jong Uichico, or as the latter’s replacement.

For most level-headed, clear-thinking fans, however, there is one big question: What the fuck is San Miguel management thinking? It’s hard to make any sense of this move, especially its timing at such a critical juncture, and so near the end of the season.

It’s terribly unfair to Tanquingcen, who, for all his shortcomings as a coach, does not deserve this kind of public humiliation. It’s not the first time it’s happened, either; in 2006, he was demoted back to become Uichico’s assistant at Ginebra despite winning two titles with the team, where he was the architect of the Gin Kings’ Fast and Furious attack featuring Jayjay Helterbrand and Mark Caguioa.

It’s certainly not an ideal situation either for Agustin, who has spent the last several months preparing to coach San Sebastian for its title defense. Instead, he now has to juggle two jobs and deal with all the shit that this situation is bringing up.

And while I’m sure he’s happy to have the job, Agustin’s San Miguel homecoming, at the very least, should have happened under better circumstances. He was always San Miguel’s forgotten superstar, carrying the team on his shoulders when more celebrated teammates like Samboy Lim and Hector Calma were decimated by injuries. While Lim, Calma, and another star teammate, Allan Caidic, stopped playing, they were given cushy roles in San Miguel’s PBA operations, something that didn’t happen for guys like Agustin and Alvin Teng, players who were just as responsible for San Miguel’s PBA success in the ‘90s. Of course, unlike Lim, Caidic, and Calma, they never played for Ron Jacobs, weren’t close to Danding Cojuangco, and never played for the celebrated Northern Consolidated national team.

Even Agustin’s return to the San Miguel bench was something he had to earn, with his glowing coaching resume, after leading San Sebastian not just to an NCAA title, but other tournaments as well. So yeah, he deserves better.

As it is, there’s no reason why all these coaching moves couldn’t have waited until the offseason, when Agustin would be free of his San Sebastian commitments, he’ll have a hand in building up the team’s roster, and he’ll have ample time to install his system. Instead, he has to deal with this clusterfuck for all of us to see.

Then again, should it come as any surprise that San Miguel’s coaching change should come about in such a ham-fisted manner? It’s the same way it does in building up its team, acquiring talent haphazardly without regard for things like chemistry or balance, something that already drives its fans crazy. Then again, as a fan of another team, maybe I should just shut up. After all, it’s better for my team if San Miguel just keeps running around like a headless chicken.

Rey Joble joined GMANews.TV full-time a couple of months ago, and since then he’s been banging out excellent breaking reports on the PBA virtually as it happen. Just tonight, he managed to come out with not one, not two, but three quick reports on involving three different imports:

Diamon Simpson. As you may recall, I wrote about the possibility of Simpson being taller than the current PBA height limit. Tonight, PBA commissioner Sonny Barrios put an end to the issue, saying that Simpson’s measurement was final, and the Alaska reinforcement can continue his PBA stint.

But the issue still drew reactions from Ginebra coach Jong Uichico, whose assistant, Allan Caidic, witnessed Simpson’s measurement by PBA staff:

“We were represented by coach Allan (Caidic) and he voiced his opinion regarding the matter. It wasn’t a blatant protest as we respect Alaska’s representative and the import being measured," Uichico said in a telephone interview.

“There was a final measurement made and those who conducted the measurement claimed he passed the test. We can’t make any action because our representatives are mere observers and we didn’t file any protest. But we were able to exchange thoughts with other coaches several times – that Simpson looks big and may not be 6-foot-6," added Uichico.

Also voicing his concern was Derby Ace coach Ryan Gregorio, who cited Simpson’s US listing, where he was measured, in bare feet, to be about an inch taller than the height limit. (Full disclosure: Since our fateful meeting a few months ago, I have been communicating with him over the course of the tournament, exchanging thoughts on the performance of the team and its import, Cliff Brown. But we never discussed the Diamon Simpson height issue; I have no idea if he got the information from this blog, or if he found it on his own. I wouldn’t be surprised either way.)

As much as I like and respect Jong Uichico, I have no idea why he keeps whining about this considering Caidic had an opportunity to lodge a formal protest after Simpson’s measurement, but didn’t. If anyone is to blame, it should be him.

But all these reactions are mere noise now, as everything’s settled: Simpson stays and, with his dominant performance so far in the conference, he has to be the odds-on favorite to win the best import trophy at the end of the tournament.

Gabe Freeman. Here’s a case that’s even more curious than Simpson’s. Freeman has missed the last two games of San Miguel, supposedly because of “flu-like symptoms.”

But as any astute reader of Basketbawful would know, “flu-like symptoms” is simply euphemism for some other weird shit going on; for NBA players, it usually means they’re nursing a particularly nasty hangover.

People were willing to buy San Miguel’s excuse for Freeman after he missed one game, but when he missed a second straight one, they began to wonder. PBA teams ride imports really hard, and it would usually take a very serious injury for a reinforcement to sit out a game, never mind two. Worse, it came at a crucial juncture in the tournament, with San Miguel slipping fast after starting out gangbusters in the tournament.

Reporters started sniffing around, and rumors started flying that Freeman had failed a drug test, leading to a suspension. Commissioner Barrios was coy about the matter. “Under the current rules, we keep it private between the Commissioner’s Office and the team," he said. “I can’t comment either way.” Meanwhile, San Miguel basketball’s top official, Robert Non, denied the rumor, sticking to the flu story.

During a random PBA drug testing, two vials of urine are collected from a player. If one sample tests positive, the second vial is sent to drug testing laboratories for further tests, while the player serves a mandatory drug suspension. Curiously, Freeman had a meeting with the commissioner today.

This whole brouhaha comes on top of another controversy surrounding the Beermen’s head coaching position. Last Wednesday, assistant coach Ato Agustin took over the coaching chores for the team, relegating head coach Siot Tanquingcen to the sidelines, a move that San Miguel team officials cited as “on the job training” for the former. But this is a story for another blog post.

Freeman, meanwhile, returns to action tonight, but it remains to be seen if he ends up staying for good. San Miguel faces the Rain or Shine Elastopainters, which also has some import news of its own.

Jai Lewis. Rain or Shine has decided to give the pink slip to the former George Mason center, who will be making his farewell appearance tonight. While Lewis led the team to the semifinals in last year’s Fiesta Conference, his performance has slipped considerably this year. Even before the last two games, where he scored only 3 and 10 points respectively, he has looked sluggish and uninterested on the court.

The Elastopainters are bringing in Rod Nealy, an exciting wingman who gives the team a different look. Nealy started in the PBA burning the hoops for Ginebra in the 2007 Fiesta Conference. The Gin Kings brought him back last season, but replaced him midway through with David Noel, a good move considering Ginebra ended up making it to the finals before losing to Freeman’s San Miguel.

Nealy’s entry into the Rain or Shine fold is expected to ease the scoring burden off Sol Mercado, who has been playing like a hero the past two games in losing efforts. Lewis’ departure, meanwhile, hopefully means that Quinito Henson will stop bringing up George Mason’s 2006 Final Four run for the 7,346th fucking time during the PBA broadcast. It was getting a little annoying.