Last Wednesday, the House Committee on Games and Amusements held a hearing to look into the Wynne Arboleda incident that happened during the Burger King-Smart Gilas game three weeks ago. The investigation delved into, among other things, the allegation by SBP executive director Noli Eala (and repeated by Smart Gilas loyalists) that Burger King coach Yeng Guiao had ordered Burger King players to rough up the developmental team players. The loyalists had taken a Twitter report by Patricia Hizon about Guiao’s pre-game speech instructing his team to “put them in their place” as evidence that the fiery coach wanted a hit out on the Gilas boys.

Except it wasn’t true, as Patricia herself attested to during the hearing, and that the statement was taken the wrong way by people with certain biases. There were NO directives for BK players to hurt anyone, according to her.

Continue reading "Putting them in their place"

The broadcast of the game won’t be until tonight, but news of the results of the game between Talk N Text and Smart Gilas leaked out over Twitter already this afternoon, and boy it didn’t look pretty. In fact, you can say that it was uglier than (you know the joke by now).

Anyway, Talk N Text mopped the floor with the Gilas boys, 103-70, handing the national developmental team their second straight loss. According to Fidel Mangonon (you really ought to be following him on Twitter by now), Smart Gilas import CJ Giles saw limited action, playing only the first five minutes before going into the freezer for the rest of the game. Fidel tweeted later that there were reports that there was a problem about the health of Giles’s 4-year-old, which explained why his focus wasn’t on the game. In a follow-up, Fidel said that Giles’s mom called the center to inform him about the potentially life-threatening disease.

Continue reading "Talk N Text dominates Smart Gilas as import CJ Giles plays limited minutes"

If you follow Philippine basketball, you probably won’t be surprised to learn that there was a fight in this afternoon’s game between Burger King and Smart Gilas. Yeng Guiao’s teams, after all, have been known to play a physical brand of basketball, and between the Guiao-Toroman issue and the Japeth Aguilar controversy, there’s enough bad blood between the two teams to know that the air would be combustible.

But who figured that the fight would be between Burger King point guard Wynne Arboleda and a heckler later identified as Alain Katigbak, a fan of Smart Gilas and Ateneo and a friend of Chris Tiu? (UPDATED: Chris's brother Charles left a comment clarifying that the Gilas team captain does not know the person involved, contrary to Fidel Mangonon's earlier tweet.)

Continue reading "Fight mars Burger King’s victory over debuting Smart Gilas"

Rain or Shine Elastopainters

Looking back: Rain or Shine had a breakout season in 2008-2009, making it out of the wildcards for the first time in the Philippine Cup and, with import Jai Lewis, going all the way to the semifinals in the Fiesta Conference. After getting a pair of dynamic rookies in Gabe Norwood and Sol Mercado, coach Caloy Garcia installed a new system predicated on spacing the floor and dribble-penetration, similar to the dribble-drive motion offense ran by John Calipari.

Continue reading "Fire Quinito 2009-2010 PBA preview, part 2"

Rick Olivares yesterday wrote more details about the scuffle between Smart Gilas and Talk N Text, mostly from the Smart Gilas perspective. Love how Rick continues to play Alex Magno to Noli Eala’s Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. You’d think he was also a Tiu brother.

I'm surprised though that no one has pointed out the fact that no one on the Smart Gilas side seemed to come to Giles’s aid when the fracas occurred. What the fuck are they paying Jason Ballesteros for? He’s not nearly cute enough to stand in the sidelines praying the rosary.

Continue reading "Update on the Smart Gilas/Talk N Text scuffle, from Alex Magno, este, Rick Olivares"

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"

I go away for a while, and all hell breaks loose? Apparently, while I was gone, Japeth Aguilar expressed his intention to not sign with Burger King, the team that made him the top overall pick in the 2009 PBA draft, in favor of signing with the Smart Gilas Developmental Team that would compete in the 2011 Fiba-Asia championship. Curiously, Aguilar had every opportunity to sign with Smart Gilas prior to joining the draft, but instead chose to enter to the PBA anyway. In a statement, Aguilar attributed his change of heart to a desire to continue representing the country.

It’s bullshit. A little digging would allow us to connect the dots, and give us a clearer picture of what’s happening.

Continue reading "Pointing out the strings in the Japeth Aguilar puppet show"

I already said that I was a fan of his work, so I was very disappointed to read Rick Olivares' half-baked profile of Smart Gilas import CJ Giles. In the story, Olivarez kept alluding to the trouble that has hounded Giles throughout his collegiate career and how he's using his stint with the team to gain redemption, but never mentions what happened.

Continue reading "Meet Smart Gilas import CJ Giles"