In 2007, after Noli Eala was forced to resign by the Philippine Basketball Association as commissioner due to his disbarment, two candidates were up for the position: former telecommunications executive Lambert Ramos and lawyer Chito Salud. Neither man had enough votes to be appointed commissioner; San Miguel, Ginebra, Coke, Welcoat, and Red Bull – the SMC bloc – voted for Salud, while Air 21, Alaska, Sta. Lucia, and Talk N Text – the MVP bloc – voted for Ramos.

However, each man needed six out of the nine votes (voting rights haven’t been restored to Purefoods at the time) to be appointed commissioner. Unable to break the deadlock, the board decided to appoint Renauld “Sonny” Barrios, who at the time was OIC of the PBA, to the commissionership full time.

Continue reading "The curious politics of Sonny Barrios’ appointment as SBP executive director"

Here’s an excerpt from a story I wrote for the maiden issue of Baller about the San Miguel coaching drama last conference. It’s a look back at the career of Ato Agustin, who will make his PBA finals coaching debut this Saturday. There have been some minor edits for clarity.

ATO AGUSTIN is no stranger to the lack of loyalty of the franchise that ironically carries the tagline Iba ang May Pinagsamahan. After winning a Most Valuable Player award and several championships in seven years for San Miguel, he was unceremoniously traded in 1996. It took him 14 years to get back to the San Miguel bench, and he had to climb his way up to do it.

Agustin has been the hottest name in the coaching ranks outside the PBA, despite debuting as head coach only last year. Not much was expected from the Stags when he took over; the team had not only missed the Final Four for the third straight year, it also lost its two best players, center Jason Ballesteros and gunner Jim Viray.

Continue reading "Ato Agustin: A Baller magazine excerpt"

It’s a common chorus that people from UP do not care about basketball, which is not exactly accurate. The school has had tremendous contributions to Philippine basketball the past few years, despite the lack of success of the Fighting Maroons due to a lack of star players. Consider: 3 of the 10 coaching positions in the Philippine Basketball Association are occupied by UP alumni. That’s 30 percent of the most coveted jobs in the country, considering that every guy who watches PBA basketball wants to be the fucking coach of his favorite PBA team, and he’d gladly tell you why if you check out his posts in your favorite Internet basketball forum.

Continue reading "The UP Fighting Maroons have their own coaching mess"

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.

Continue reading "The Sweetest Tweets supersized, featuring Rod Nealy’s farewell, the Jones Cup, fashion advice from Chot Reyes, and much more"

Gabe Freeman and Arwind Santos will be teaming up for San Miguel this year

Listed below are ten statements about the PBA Fiesta Conference, which kicks off this Sunday, March 21. In the comments, leave a post on whether you think each statement is true or false, and a short explanation why this is so.

Continue reading "True or False: The 2010 PBA Fiesta Conference Preview"

While the heated semifinals battle in the PBA Philippine Cup rages on, Alaska quietly made a move to bolster its frontline by plucking little-used Samigue Eman from San Miguel’s reserve list. While the center wouldn’t be able to suit up for the Aces until the next conference, the foxiness of the move wasn’t lost on basketball fans that saw the center play in the PBL, before he got injured prior to joining the PBA draft.

In Eman, Alaska gets a young center who boasts not just untapped potential, but who showed surprising athleticism and a nasty edge during his PBL days with Welcoat/Rain or Shine. Alaska team manager Joaqui Trillo compares Eman favorably with Alaska’s all-star center Sonny Thoss.

Continue reading "The wacky moves of Alaska"

Here’s the thing: before I was a fan of anything else, I was a fan of Purefoods as a kid, and I still am, despite the ridiculous (and frankly, kinda gay) nicknames like Tender Juicy Hotdogs, Corned Beef Cowboys, Carne Norte Beefies, Chunkee Giants, and Tender Juicy Giants. I’ve remained a loyal fan through the years, Ryan “The Genius” Gregorio notwithstanding.

It should come as no surprise then that I’m absolutely, ridiculously stoked about Purefoods’ upcoming semifinals series versus San Miguel. Not only is the team making its first semifinals appearance in two years (a drought courtesy of Ryan’s genius), but it’s going up against an old school traditional rival. Sure, battling Sta. Lucia and Red Bull was fun, but playing San Miguel evokes pleasant childhood memories of Alvin Patrimonio camping out on the low block and making Yves Dignadice his bitch.

Continue reading "The James Yap fanboy video tribute"

After a crazy quarterfinal round, the stage is set for the PBA Philippine Cup final four. The cast features 3 teams that belong to the San Miguel Corporation, which again reinforces perceptions by the league’s critics that the PBA is an SMC league. Some even say that the PBA is set up so that SMC teams would always end up on the winning end of most tournaments.

The grand conspiracy argument doesn’t hold much water. If it were true, there’s no way Sta. Lucia would have won the 2008 Philippine Cup over Purefoods in a close seven-game series wherein James Yap was suspended for one game for the same flagrant 2 penalty called on Ranidel de Ocampo last Friday. Imagine David Stern suspending Kobe Bryant on an iffy call in an NBA finals series against a team like the Milwaukee Bucks.

Continue reading "The SMC League"

During one of my first email exchanges with Manila Vanilla’s Rafe Bartholomew, when this blog was new, he cited as his favorite Quinito Henson moment a series of columns last year on ex-Sta Lucia import Lee Benson.

An ex-convict, Benson was part of an “inspiring” feature by Quinito titled “Against all odds”. Benson’s recovery, Quinito wrote: “If there’s anyone who knows what defying the odds is all about, it’s Benson.” Quinito then proceeded to detail how Benson managed to carve out a career as a professional basketball player despite serving 8 1/2 years in prison.

Continue reading "The (character) assassination of CJ Giles by the lackey Rick Olivares"

Last Sunday, with little fanfare about the night’s event, 13,000 fans trooped to the Araneta Coliseum to watch an early season game between Ginebra and Purefoods (and perhaps, the matchup between the returning Mark Caguioa and James Yap). They didn’t seem to mind the dark cloud looming over the league with the Wynne Arboleda incident, or the mushrooming negative sentiment all over the Internet against the league after Powerade Team Pilipinas’ debacle in the Fiba-Asia Championship.

Continue reading "Rumors of the PBA’s death are greatly exaggerated: Week 1 thoughts"