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"

I’m trying to find the right words to say about the very impressive win by Smart Gilas, which is hard, especially since after the game I went out drinking with j_myxx and NeekoBoi (and their awesome dad) of Patay ang Butiki, Gary of Basketball Exchange, and Toff Rada of toffrada.

Anyway, some tipsy thoughts, in bullet points:

Continue reading "Smart Gilas plasters Powerade"

Just in case you’ve been under a rock lately, an exhibition match will be held tonight at the Araneta Coliseum between Powerade Team Pilipinas, the team that represented the country in the 2009 Fiba-Asia Championship, and the Smart Gilas National Developmental Team, which is being eyed to compete in the 2011 Fiba-Asia tourney.

Proceeds of the event will go to victims of Typhoon Ondoy. The upper sections will be open to the public for free, in exchange for donations of old shoes for the victims. Mico Halili reports that the event will also be broadcast on a delayed basis at 6PM over CS/9.

Continue reading "Tonight at the Big Dome: Powerade Team Pilipinas versus Smart Gilas National Team"

Apart from keeping lines of communication open for people struck by tragedy in the aftermath of Typhoon Ondoy, Twitter also brings us news of a brawl between Smart Gilas import CJ Giles and Talk N Text forward Ranidel de Ocampo, in a scrimmage between the two squads bankrolled by Manny Pangilinan. Tweeting from the game was Charles Tiu, the Tiu brother whose hidden desires are not being discovered.

The incident apparently blew up after Giles threw a deliberate elbow at Ranidel, which led to the whole TNT crew ganging up on Giles. (Of course, Charles Tiu called the behavior “unprofessional.” No word on whether Chris Tiu stood in a corner while praying the rosary the whole time.)

Continue reading "Smart Gilas, Talk N Text brawl at practice, tweets Chris Tiu’s brother"

It’s a lazy Thursday, with the long weekend looming, so here are a bunch of links to tide you through the afternoon:

Continue reading "Lazy Thursday reads"

Powerade Team Pilipinas stalwarts Jared Dillinger, Gabe Norwood, Asi Taulava, Jayjay Helterbrand, Japeth Aguilar, and Ryan Reyes hit the streets of Beijing shortly after the Fiba-Asia Championships and sampled some of the exotic local food. Dillinger and Norwood are both providing updates on Twitter, along with other PBA players Kelly Williams and his brother-in-law Lamont Waters.

So, Filipino basketball fan: how do you prefer your heart to be broken?

Do you prefer your team to play listlessly, running around like headless chickens, and being dazed and confused for 40 minutes, as Team Pilipinas did Saturday against Qatar, where they looked like they were still licking their wounds from their quarterfinal loss to Jordan?

Continue reading "Fiba-Asia Championships: Team Pilipinas ends its campaign with back-to-back losses"

The late, great David Halberstam had an awesome quote from Hall of Fame forward Julius Erving about professionalism: “Being a professional is doing the things you love to do, on the days you don't feel like doing them.”

Continue reading "Fiba-Asia Championships: Jordan knocks Team Pilipinas out in their quarterfinal matchup"

I wasn’t able to tweet during the Team Pilipinas game versus Kuwait or post a quick report on it because I was out late partying with Lady Gaga last night. Just kidding. Anyway, this morning, my friends who went to the show couldn’t get over the size of her penis.

Continue reading "Fiba-Asia Championships: Team Pilipinas beats Kuwait, gears up for knock-out quarterfinals action"

Defending Fiba-Asia champions leaned on Memphis Grizzlies center Hamed Haddadi and superstar swingman Samad Nikkah Bahrami who combined for 46 points to turn back a game Team Pilipinas in a matchup between two countries with unpopular presidents and citizens who have taken to the microblogging platform Twitter. It can be recalled that protesters in Iran used Twitter earlier this year to protest the electoral victory of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, while Twitter trends have been affected by various Filipino memes, most notably former President Corazon Aquino’s death, but also various other crap like the last SONA, the UP-Ateneo upset, and the book blockade.

Continue reading "Fiba-Asia Championships: Iran beats Team Pilipinas in the Battle of Twitter"