I had wanted to blog about this earlier, but there were more, uh, pressing matters to blog about. Over the weekend, Lawrence Chongson, former coach of the University of the East Red Warriors in the UAAP and current coach of Cobra in the PBA D-League, joined the fray in the popular message board community Pinoy Exchange and began answering questions from its readers.

Answers that involved such topics as UE star Ken Acibar, and the coach’s long, flowing locks:

good morning guys. to answer ur questions for today: #1 yes. Acibar will stil play for d university, unless tanggalin din sya. #2 never pa ako nagapapa-rebond ng buhok in my entire life. if u wud only come closer to me then u'll see. noon pa man pati mga girls nai-inggit sa hair ko kasi straight daw. maybe its my chinese genes, i don't know. at my age hndi na ako masyadong conscious sa ganyan. kung alam mo lang how much hair i've lost or nalalagas sakin since i started coaching UE. syempre super-pressured diba? lalo na kung alam mong marami ang babatikos everytime matatalo ang team.

Continue reading "Former UE coach Lawrence Chongson lets his hair down at PinoyExchange.com"

Snow Badua is reporting on Twitter that ABS-CBN actor Gerald Anderson just might be making an appearance soon in the PBA Developmental League. NLEX team coach Boyet Fernandez told Badua that the Catch Me, I’m in Love star has been practicing with the team for the last three days, although he hasn’t been included yet in the lineup. Fernandez is impressed with the former Tayong Dalawa leading man’s defense. “He can pressure the point guard of the opposing team,” Fernandez said, although it’s unclear if the opposing ball-handler is really pressured by Anderson’s defense or he’s just distracted by the actor’s dreamy eyes (which is, incidentally, the question we all ask about Chris Tiu’s tough defense).

Continue reading "Gerald Anderson to play in PBA D-League?"

I was having dinner last night with the boys from the excellent Patay ang Butiki blog, and we invited GMANews.TV’s intrepid sports reporter Rey Joble to join us, since he just worked next door. As soon as he walked in to the restaurant, his phone started buzzing with all kinds of calls and text messages from PBA insiders telling him the details of a big trade by Rain or Shine, Air 21, and Meralco.

Here are the details of the blockbuster deal:

Air 21 gets: Jay-R Reyes (Rain or Shine), Reed Juntilla (Meralco)

UPDATE: Fidel Mangonon III reports on Twitter that Air 21 will also be getting two first round picks from Meralco (2011 and 2013).

Meralco gets: Sol Mercado (Rain or Shine), Paolo Bugia (Rain or Shine), Erick Rodriguez (Air 21)

Rain or Shine gets: Ronjay Buenafe (Air 21), Ronnie Matias (Air 21), Beau Belga (Meralco), 2011 first round pick (Air 21), 2013 first round pick (Air 21)

Continue reading "Breaking down the blockbuster: Mercado to Meralco, Reyes to Air 21, Buenafe to RoS"

Smart Gilas skipper, television host, and all-around good guy Chris Tiu joins us in the final installment of Sparring Sessions, a series of interviews with pundits, bloggers, and boxing fans that discuss issues that affect Pacquiao, Filipino boxing, and combat sports in general, veering into topics that mainstream media rarely talk about. Tiu and the rest of the Smart Gilas team are currently in China to compete in the Asian Games, but before he left, he was gracious enough to talk about his former co-host, the Vegas crowd, and playing for Philippine pride.

Continue reading "Sparring Sessions: Smart Gilas team captain Chris Tiu talks about former co-host Manny Pacquiao and fighting for flag and country"

Quick programming note: I’ll be flying out early tomorrow morning for the day job, on a short video project somewhere in Mindanao. I won’t be back until Monday, which means that I’ll be missing the first two games of the finals. My boss, unfortunately, isn’t a big PBA fan.

Fortunately, there’ll be lots of Fire Quinito content that will be coming your way over the course of the next few days for my latest project at GMANews.TV.

Continue reading "Fire Quinito and Manila Vanilla face off at GMANews.TV"

Sometime this weekend, just before Twitter went down, rumors started swirling around the Internet that Smart Gilas Pilipinas national team coach Rajko Toroman was leaving the squad. The rumor was vague, as most rumors are, about whether he resigned, or he was fired. I would usually just laugh off the rumors like this, but I’d just written about the ongoing mess within the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas last Friday, so I checked with my Gilas sources about it.

Continue reading "Smart Gilas coach Rajko Toroman had a weird weekend"

The Interbasket forum for Philippine basketball is home to some of the most passionate local basketball fans, particularly of the Smart Gilas Pilipinas National Basketball Team. Because of the rabid fandom of its members, the message board has attracted the attention of basketball insiders, including officials of the Samahang Basketball ng Pilipinas (SBP), the country’s national basketball federation.

One such personality identifies himself only by the handle Namamangha, and is acknowledged by everyone to be an official of the SBP. Oddly, the past couple weeks, Namamangha started badmouthing Smart Gilas coach Rajko Toroman in the forums:

Continue reading "SBP official badmouths Coach Rajko Toroman online, as Smart Gilas descends into heavy turmoil"

Philippine basketball sports has started to develop a small but vibrant community on Twitter, and Fire Quinito rounds up the best messages from athletes, broadcasters, and fans, in 140 characters or less.

Continue reading "The Sweetest Tweets, featuring Chris Tiu, broadcasters, and fans"

Nice, rainy Friday, with a couple of huge PBA games tonight: Rain or Shine versus Ginebra for an outright quarterfinals spot, and Derby Ace versus San Miguel for an automatic semifinals berth. Just how important is that semis spot, particularly for Derby Ace? My main man, Ryan “The Genius” Gregorio has never lost a semifinals series in his PBA career.

Meanwhile, some good reads to tide you over till tipoff:

Continue reading "Friday bullets, starring Charles Tiu, Ray Parks, and of course, more Kris and James"

I rushed to the Ninoy Aquino Stadium tonight after a long day of work in the field just in time for the tipoff of Smart Gilas versus the Jordan national team. Gilas actually played well in the first half, taking a first quarter lead and keeping in step with the taller Jordanians at halftime.

Continue reading "Smart Gilas struggles against Jordan"