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.

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



Rain or Shine import Rod Nealy tweeted this shortly before his team was blown out by Ginebra last Friday. I think Rod got stood up by Destiny for their date. There are rumors though that Destiny was seen later that night leaving Ginebra import Chris Daniels’ apartment. You know what they always say… Destiny is a fickle bitch.



This tweet makes me wonder: Did Ed Ducut have foot surgery during his rookie year too? What about Boy Valera? Kevyn White?



Heh. In fact, the women who left a comment about James’ statement are just about ready to give him a “Husband of the Year” award. Yay to the power of social media!



Ok, I’m beginning to think Robby Reyes is tweeting these things to try to get into Fire Quinito.



Longtime favorite PBA scribe James Ty III (he’s the guy at the games constantly speaking into his tape recorder) fighting the good fight for Ateneo courtside reporter Jessica “Jessilicious” Mendoza. Chocolates, nice! Hard to argue with his taste.

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.

Last night, an agent who reps several PBA imports had a series of tweets about another reinforcement campaigning in the Fiesta Conference. This import, she said, was definitely 6’8”, a couple of inches taller than the 6’6” height limit for foreigners in the tournament.

(Note: I’m not linking her tweets or mentioning her name because her profile is set to private.)

A media personality then replied that there were no other representatives from the other teams when the guy was measured. After another back-and-forth, it became apparent that the player they were talking about was Alaska’s Diamon Simpson.

Now, imports cheating about heights in the PBA is nothing new; Rafe Bartholomew wrote about the practice a couple of years ago on Slate:

Alaska’s current import, Rosell Ellis, has displayed a miraculous ability to shrink and grow over his five PBA seasons. In 2001, the league capped height at 6 feet 4 inches, and Ellis measured a shade over 6 feet 2 and a half. This season, with a 6-foot-6-inches height limit, he came in at almost 6 feet 5 inches. It's safe to say that Ellis, 32, didn't have a growth spurt. He told me that before his measurement in 2001, a coach advised him to make himself as short as possible so he could play in tournaments with even lower height limits. Ellis recalled the PBA’s knee-pushing henchmen doing their darnedest to straighten him out, but he locked his joints and pushed his head down toward the base of his neck. Behold, the amazing, adjustable-height basketball player!

Back then, pretty much every team was cheating when it came to import heights, but the PBA has since modified its method for measuring an import, now requiring the player to lie down for a more accurate measurement. Simpson was measured at 6’5 15/16” by the PBA.

Also, unlike in years past, actual measurements are more readily available for those who know the right resources. Simpson, a borderline NBA prospect after coming out of college in 2009, was measured at 6’7.5” barefoot at a pre-draft camp last year – a full inch and a half over the PBA limit!

(As a comparison, Derby Ace’s original import this conference, Lorrenzo Wade, was measured to be 6’5.5” by the NBA.)

It remains to be seen if this will become a full-blown issue, considering that Simpson has been an absolute beast for the Aces this conference, carrying them out of the stupor of a post-championship loss, and acting as the stabilizing force on a team that traded away its best local player. Then again, the PBA did give its stamp of approval to Simpson’s stint, so perhaps the buck has to stop with them.

The case is especially curious because of the involvement of the Alaska franchise. As Rafe discussed on Pacific Rims (as well as on this blog post), the team makes a lot of bones about following league rules, especially on maximum salaries, to the letter, with team officials led by owner Fred Uytengsu using it as a motivational tool for Alaska players.

But to a jaded PBA fan, this is just another case where the league’s rules fall by the wayside, just like salary cap violations, Fil-Shams, lopsided trades, collusion, and a million other things. It bothers me, but I don’t think too many people in the league lose sleep over these things anymore.

UPDATE: The always-awesome Fidel Mangonon tweets that Ginebra assistant coach Allan Caidic was actually present during Simpson’s measurement. So if the PBA measurement is accurate, does that mean that Simpson shrank?