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



Rain or Shine import Rod Nealy tweeted this shortly before his team was blown out by Ginebra last Friday. I think Rod got stood up by Destiny for their date. There are rumors though that Destiny was seen later that night leaving Ginebra import Chris Daniels’ apartment. You know what they always say… Destiny is a fickle bitch.



This tweet makes me wonder: Did Ed Ducut have foot surgery during his rookie year too? What about Boy Valera? Kevyn White?



Heh. In fact, the women who left a comment about James’ statement are just about ready to give him a “Husband of the Year” award. Yay to the power of social media!



Ok, I’m beginning to think Robby Reyes is tweeting these things to try to get into Fire Quinito.



Longtime favorite PBA scribe James Ty III (he’s the guy at the games constantly speaking into his tape recorder) fighting the good fight for Ateneo courtside reporter Jessica “Jessilicious” Mendoza. Chocolates, nice! Hard to argue with his taste.

It was beer and pizza night for me and my buddies this weekend, watching World Cup quarterfinal matches with a Jean-Claude Van Damme movie thrown in for good measure. I was a bit bummed out by Argentina’s loss, because I was endlessly fascinated by Diego Maradona at the sidelines acting all crazy. He actually reminded me of Jawo out there. I kept waiting for him to put his overweight son Dudut Maradona into the game, to the absolute horror of the Argentine fans. Never happened though.

Anyway, lots of good stuff to read for this Monday afternoon, to start the week right:

• Nice article in the Staten Island local news about a former Wagner State standout by the name of Dan Seigle, who has since gone on to stardom as the PBA’s Dynamite Danny. [H/T @Rafeboogs]


• Topex Robinson is back, according to Patricia Hizon on Yahoo. Not sure how he fits in with Alaska’s style of play, but the Aces desperately need ballhandling help for LA Tenorio. Also funny: the comments thread in the article has been hijacked by people talking about Patricia’s gum-chewing habits while in church.


• The Patay ang Butiki blog is alive, coming out with a two-part piece on the best performances in the ongoing PBA Fiesta Conference (here’s part 1 and part 2). It would be interesting if they ever write about the reason they’ve been away for so long.


• Reuters has named the two foreign private equity firms that are looking into buying San Miguel Pure Foods: Carlyle and CVC. According to the story, bankers advising potential buyers are saying that the whole company might be sold.


• FHM came out with a list of the prettiest PBA wives and girlfriends. My all-time favorite PBA wife is still Rio Locsin, who married Padim Israel. Actually, I think she’s my favorite Pinay sexy star of all time; there’s a reason why Hotdog namechecks her in “Langit na Naman.” She was hot and hilarious in Ishmael Bernal’s classic comedy Salawahan.
  
  I love the seeming randomness of all these PBA player-sexy star hookups, like Chris Pacana and Paloma. I always thought the most random hookup was Lowell Briones and Rita Magdalena… until I found out that Paeng Santos was the father of Via Veloso’s kid. Now that’s random.


• While we’re on the topic, last month UNO Magazine posted previously unreleased photos of the lovely PBA courtside reporter, Cesca Litton, from a shoot last year.


• And finally, more updates on the Kris Aquino-James Yap front: “James Yap admits he’s wooing Kris Aquino again,” reports ABS-CBN, while Yahoo has some good news, with “Kris still open to reconciling with James”. Okay then.

The recent Fiba-Asia Champions Cup may have been tough for the Smart Gilas national team and its temporary Serbian reinforcement, Milan Vucicevic, but I think we can all agree that the picture above clearly shows that Milan is a winner. My favorite part of the photo? Assistant coach Allan Gregorio looking on in the background.

UPDATE: GilasInsider points out in the comments that the pretty girl in the picture is actually the girlfriend of Rey Guevarra, who is the true winner. Good job man!

(Photo nicked off the official Facebook page of Smart Gilas.)

Meanwhile, the national team, which aims to win the 2011 Fiba-Asia Championship to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics, is reportedly bringing in a new prospect, Marcus Douthit, a veteran of European and Korean leagues. In college, Douthit was a defensive force, averaging 3.2 blocks per game, and a limited offensive player, putting up 7.8 points per game, before being drafted in the second round of the 2004 NBA draft by the LA Lakers.

Douthit looks like he has pretty good size – he was measured at 6’ 9.5” without shoes (6’ 11” with shoes on) before the draft – and length, with a wingspan of 7’4” and a 9’ 3.5” standing reach.

There is a minor, if weird, blemish on Douthit’s record, as reported by Sham Sports:

Rather uniquely, [Douthit] was charged in connection to his role in an identity theft and embezzlement scheme. He was charged with conspiracy to commit embezzlement and embezzlement over $100 after allegedly receiving money from a fake car accident in December 2001. Someone asked Douthit to deposit a check for $6,500, then withdraw the money a couple of days later. Only a small part of a massive scam. Douthit co-operated with the authorities, and his criminal record was cleared once he paid a fine of at least $6,500 and performed community service.

He looks eminently more ‘signable’ for Smart Gilas than most of the other prospects they’ve been looking at, such as Greg Stiemsma and Dwayne Jones, precisely because Douthit has been out of the NBA radar for years now. Hopefully, everything finally works out for the embattled national team. At the very least, we can be sure that there’s a bed waiting for Douthit that would fit his almost 7-foot frame.

I know I said that updates were going to be light this week because I’m busy with the day job with the elections right around the corner, but I just needed to blog this because it concerns the whole Philippine basketball community. I never thought I’d see the words “Chris Tiu” and “Lihim na romansa” together in a headline, but here’s the big news, from Gerry Ocampo of People’s Journal:

IKINAGULAT at itinanggi kaagad ni Daiana Menezes ang tsismis na pinoporma-han siya ni Chris Tiu. Wala raw ganu’ng pang-yayari. At ‘di rin daw totoo ang balitang madalas silang magkasama ngayon ni Chris sa mga gimikan.

Nang mainterbyu namin, maging si Chris Tiu ay nagulat sa balitang idini-date niya si Daiana Menezes.

Nang makausap namin siya sa taping ng Pinoy Record ay natigilan pa si Chris at hinanap sa kaibuturan ng me-morya kung nagkaroon nga ba ng pagkakataong nagka-sama sila sa lakaran ni Daiana. Wala siyang maisip.

Oo, sexy at maganda raw si Daiana, pero hindi raw sila nagde-date ng Brazilian model at isa sa hosts ng Eat Bulaga.

Inamin ni Chris na attracted din siya sa dalaga. Ang kaso, naka-concentrate lang talaga siya sa pagpa-practice with the RP Team kung saan si Chris ang captain ball, at lagare pa siya sa pagho-host ng Pinoy Record at Ripley`s Believe It Or Not.

Uh, yeah man?

We already know that our beloved Smart Gilas team captain’s MO is to deny everything, and stand in the corner and pray the rosary. Also, we know that his heart really belongs to the departed former US ambassador to the Philippines, Kristie Kenney. And Daiana herself denies it on Twitter.

Ok, I know this is all stupid, but I just wanted to post the photo of Daiana that ran on Journal, after the jump.