After my trip to Thailand last week, I went straight to Boracay to catch up with my buddies for a quick vacation. Obligatory player sighting story: I saw Renren Ritualo a couple of times around the island, the second time, he was with his wife walking at D’Mall just past the booth where they have the basketball shooting machine. The guys at the booth were calling out to him to try out the shooting game, but he ignored them. I kinda wish he took them up on it; I would have loved to see Renren laying waste to the D’Mall basketball shooting game record.

While on my trip, I was only able to take in very little basketball, watching game 5 of the Derby Ace-Rain or Shine game (while jumping to the La Salle-UE game at the other channel). I was absolutely on edge the whole time during the game, and I felt like Sol Mercado bailed the Llamados out when he took a thirty-footer at the end of regulation instead of going hard to the basket. I caught the start of the Ginebra-Alaska game, but I had to leave – a buffet dinner and more heavy drinking beckoned – which was a shame, because people said the main game was even more epic than the opener.

By the way, Ryan Gregorio bringing in Tony Washam? Looks like a genius move so far.

Oh, and how about 20,000 fans turning out for a PBA quarterfinals doubleheader? Not bad for a dying league, eh?

Lotsa news from the past week or so, in bullets:

• The latest PCIJ report on presidential campaign donors brings up some very interesting information. Can you guess which candidate got donations from both Ricky Razon and Manny Pangilinan, who contribute a sizeable chunk of cash to the De La Salle and Ateneo programs, respectively? Will post the answer in the last bullet.


• Even though he’s on the other side of the world, Pacific Rims author Rafe Bartholomew still spends his New York City mornings watching PBA games on live streaming. Last week, he wrote about Talk N Text, the new villains of the PBA, and he received a detailed rebuttal in the comments section from Texters coach Chot Reyes.


• Chot Reyes also revealed on Twitter that he was reading Rafe’s book, which concludes with a best-of-seven series between Alaska and Talk N Text. Curiously, Coach Chot and the Texters will be facing Alaska in a best-of-seven series starting today.


• Nice GMANews.TV report on Cyrus Baguio’s throat-slashing gesture towards Ginebra (which he plays off as a joke). Earlier, I mistakenly attributed the story to Rey Joble.


• Check out Jonas Terrado's excellent sports blog, a must-read especially during the UAAP season. It seems like we've all been reading him forever (actually, since his UBelt.com days).


• From Joble last week: Pitting the NCAA coaches against UAAP mentors in a basketball game. I love how Ateneo coach Norman Black, who’s the epitome of class on the sidelines, gets all competitive and starts trash-talking when asked about his hardcourt prospects: “Don’t make me laugh. I’m an import. No way the NCAA team can beat us.” I agree that the UAAP guys would probably win, but I think the NCAA has a puncher’s chance, if Vergel Meneses and Ato Agustin decide to make a game of it.


• Big NBA week for Asian-Americans: Portland names Rich Cho as its new general manager, while former Harvard standout Jeremy Lin is about to sign a deal with the Golden State Warriors. Also, former 7-UP import Dell Demps is in the running for GM jobs in Phoenix and New Orleans. UPDATE: It looks like Demps is headed to NOLA.


• Cocktales reports that four senior executives of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company, including Talk N Text governor and SBP Vice Chairman Ricky Vargas, was given a compensation package last year of P297 million. “Assuming that the generous package is divided equally,” the report says the executives “will still end up taking home an envy-raising P59.4 million each.”


• The presidential candidate that got millions in cash from Ricky Razon and Manny Pangilinan? None other than former President Joseph Estrada.

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.

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.

I spent more than a thousand words on my review of Rafe Bartholomew’s Pacific Rims, and it’s a good thing GMANews.TV still published it:

AS A SPORTS BOOK, however, Pacific Rims really shines while detailing Bartholomew’s 2007 PBA Fiesta Conference stint covering the Alaska Aces, who welcome him with open arms, but not before giving him the same Filipino nickname that was given to Panchito in several Joey de Leon movies.

Here’s where the inevitable comparisons to David Halberstam’s classic "Breaks of the Game" are drawn, and these comparisons are not entirely unwarranted. Bartholomew’s writing sparkles as he paints portraits of several members of Alaska, making the characters leap out of the pages: Tim Cone, the coaching lifer who taught himself the Chicago Bulls’ triangle offense; Jeffrey Cariaso, the team’s spiritual leader who bridges the divide between the team’s locals and Fil-Ams; Dale Singson and Aaron Aban, former college basketball stars who have bonded at the end of the Alaska bench; Rosell Ellis, the world-weary import seeking basketball redemption; and Willie Miller, perhaps the book’s most indelible character: equal parts jester, enigma, and unstoppable scoring machine. The funniest anecdote in the book involves Miller playing a prank on teammate Tony dela Cruz that gives new meaning to the former’s “Willie Thriller” nickname.

Read the whole thing here.

Also, the great Tom Ziller from Fanhouse called the book a sequel to Breaks of the Game. The classic by Halberstam featured, among many memorable characters, the mercurial Billy Ray Bates. Pacific Rims quite literally picked up from where Breaks of the Game left off, chronicling the Black Superman’s years in the Philippines, which Deadspin posted as an excerpt today. Go read.

UPDATE: My buddy AJ reports that the book is also available in Australia, while commenter RPM writes that he got his copy at Powerbooks Greenbelt, where there are still a handful of copies.