Lots of stuff to get to, wala munang pasakalye:

• Got a nice shout-out this morning from my favorite play-by-play man (and fellow Baller contributor) Mico Halili, who dug deeper into Yeng Guiao’s way with words in his column today. He adds a few more quotable quotes from the fiery coach, including my favorite: “Bahala kayo diyan! Hindi ako tatawag ng time-out! Gawan niyo ng paraan yan!”

Continue reading "Thursday bullets starring Yeng Guiao, Tim Cone, and James Yap's lovelife"

I was in Lucena, Quezon this past weekend for my buddy Oliver’s 10-10-10 wedding (congratulations on your first marriage, pare!). Bored during the long drive late Saturday night, I came across a bunch of interesting tweets from Wesley Gonzales and Paolo Bugia talking about the funny shit that comes out of Yeng Guiao’s mouth during games. Gonzales currently plays for Guiao at Air 21, while Bugia was drafted by Guiao’s Red Bull team in 2005.

Gonzales started it all on Saturday morning, telling everyone about the hilarious “pep talk” they received from their coach after Air 21’s loss to San Miguel the night before:

Continue reading "Shit My Coach Says: Wesley Gonzales and Paolo Bugia talk about Yeng Guiao’s insults"

I wasn’t really all that excited about the return of the three-conference format for the PBA. I kinda liked the long, slow burn of having two conferences, and how each championship became much more meaningful because there were only two tournaments each year. I suppose I’m in the minority, judging by the comments compiled by Patricia Hizon, when it comes to this. I always suspected I was among the very few who enjoy watching random meaningless Air 21-Barako Bull regular season games. It takes a certain kind of unhealthy obsessiveness, I suppose, to run a sports blog like this one.

Continue reading "The PBA’s three-conference format: Is it the answer?"

At the start of the 2010 rookie draft, the PBA played yet another video tribute for Customs commissioner, former PBA board chairman, and former Air 21 team manager Lito Alvarez. With a smug grin on his face – you know, like he had just gotten away with cheating on a round of golf – Alvarez claimed proudly that because of his “savvy” moves, it was the first time that a team, Air 21, had the top three picks in the rookie draft.

Continue reading "Air 21 leads the clusterfuck that was the 2010 PBA rookie draft"

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"

Philippine basketball has started to develop a small but vibrant community on Twitter, and Fire Quinito’s newest feature, The Sweetest Tweets, round up the best messages, in 140 characters or less.

Continue reading "The Sweetest Tweets, featuring Rod Nealy, Sol Mercado, Robby Reyes"

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"

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"

Apart from troubled pasts, infamous stints in the Philippines, and local columnists drawing knives after they left, there’s one more thing that Lee Benson and CJ Giles had in common: they signed more lucrative deals immediately after leaving the Philippines.

Right after his tumultuous stint with Sta. Lucia, Benson burned the hoops in China and Puerto Rico, without much incident. Meanwhile, Giles flew off to Lebanon to sign with club team Al-Riyadi, the richest team in the Lebanese league, to replace NBA veteran Mamadou N’Diaye.

Continue reading "The CJ Giles saga brings up even more questions for Smart Gilas"

Alaska Aces

Looking back: Alaska started the 2008-2009 PBA season well, as the team came a Willie Thriller layup short of winning the Philippine Cup. The loss, however, seemed to weigh heavily on coach Tim Cone’s wards, and an unhappy Aces team finished second to the last during the Fiesta Conference. Things got even worse in the offseason when star guard Miller asked to be traded, a request Alaska denied.

Continue reading "Fire Quinito 2009-2010 PBA preview, part 1"