I started watching basketball in 1988, when I was six years old. My favorite basketball team was Purefoods – Joe Cantada dubbed the team’s talented rookie corps ‘The Yuppies’ because they were young professionals – and my favorite basketball player was a hotshot shooting guard named Jojo Lastimosa. Not only was he a high-flying daredevil slasher who would finish fastbreaks with 360-degree layups just for the heck of it, he was also a deadly shooter whose range extended far beyond the three-point line.

Continue reading "Jolas and Jaemark"

Multiple outlets this morning are reporting that Phoenix Petroleum is in talks to acquire the Barako Bull franchise. If and when the transaction pushes through, it will finally put an end to one of the most pathetic episodes in PBA history, which saw the once-proud Red Bull franchise crippled by financial problems and forced to sell its key players to barely make payroll from month to month. Finally, the nightmare is over.

But while talk of Phoenix’s entry over the next few months will revolve around basketball-related matters – Will they be able to become competitive? How will they rehabilitate a team whose lineup has been ransacked? – let’s take a look at the most important part of this transaction: Will they be able to afford supporting a PBA team?

Continue reading "Phoenix Petroleum in talks to buy Barako and what it means to the PBA’s future"

Listed below are ten statements about the PBA Commissioner's Cup, which kicks off tonight with the Ginebra-Meralco game in Laoag City. 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: 2011 PBA Commissioner’s Cup"

So what do Chot Reyes, Tim Cone, and Ryan Gregorio – the coaches of the last three PBA championship-winning teams – have in common that set them apart from other coaches?

They all read Fire Quinito.

Of course, the fact that they are all brilliant coaches who led talent-laden squads probably had more to do with their victories. But hey, if Quinito Henson can talk about birthdays and biorhythm during the PBA broadcast and pass it off as “analysis”, then I can claim to be the reason for these coaches’ success, right? Let’s take a look back at how they got here.

Continue reading "The secret to PBA championship success"

Can I just share that, while you are reading this, I have spent the last couple of nights in Koronadal, South Cotabato. Koronadal is also known by its other name Marbel. Yes, I spent the last two evenings in the hometown of 1998 PBA Most Valuable Player, Captain Marbel Kenneth Duremdes. Anyway, quick takes on each of the PBA teams in the Philippine Cup so far:

Continue reading "2010 PBA Philippine Cup first impressions, part 1"

In a previous post, I talked about the changes being introduced by new PBA commissioner Chito Salud, which he passes off as innovation but are actually recycled ideas. While in the middle writing that entry, I started to think of ideas, from my point-of-view as a fan, that could make my life easier and that could help the PBA. These are all practical ideas that have been done elsewhere, not pie-in-the-sky stuff that the PBA couldn’t possibly do.

I’m sure everyone has ideas as well, so post away in the comments.

Continue reading "Innovative ideas for the PBA"

I let out a chuckle when I read the blurb for Chito Salud’s appearance on the GMANews.TV sports show FTW, which said that the new commissioner’s mantra is “constant innovation.” It was funny because so far, the only real innovation under his tenure has been the changes in the opening ceremony. In fact, most of the ideas the new regime has trotted out, so far, has been recycled.

The “time-tested” three-conference format? It’s obviously a return to tradition, and Sonny Barrios actually proposed the very same thing in 2008.

Continue reading "Constant innovation or recycled ideas? A very early look at the PBA under Chito Salud"