Here’s an excerpt from a story I wrote for the maiden issue of Baller about the San Miguel coaching drama last conference. It’s a look back at the career of Ato Agustin, who will make his PBA finals coaching debut this Saturday. There have been some minor edits for clarity.

ATO AGUSTIN is no stranger to the lack of loyalty of the franchise that ironically carries the tagline Iba ang May Pinagsamahan. After winning a Most Valuable Player award and several championships in seven years for San Miguel, he was unceremoniously traded in 1996. It took him 14 years to get back to the San Miguel bench, and he had to climb his way up to do it.

Agustin has been the hottest name in the coaching ranks outside the PBA, despite debuting as head coach only last year. Not much was expected from the Stags when he took over; the team had not only missed the Final Four for the third straight year, it also lost its two best players, center Jason Ballesteros and gunner Jim Viray.

Continue reading "Ato Agustin: A Baller magazine excerpt"

Photo by Jan Dizon, NCAA.

The big story coming out of the PBA last week were the major changes on the San Miguel bench, involving assistant coach Ato Agustin and head coach Siot Tanquingcen. Agustin, who was brought in earlier this conference to be part of the brain trust, assumed coaching duties during the Beermen’s loss to the Coca-Cola Tigers, while Tanquinqcen sat meekly at the sidelines.

Continue reading "The San Miguel coaching mess, starring Ato Agustin and Siot Tanquingcen"

The worst moment of my basketball fandom came in September 1994, in an NCAA championship game at the oven-hot Rizal Memorial Coliseum. I was in sixth grade then, and I was with my classmates rooting for the Letran Knights, who were defending their championship against their arch-enemy San Sebastian Stags. We went there expecting to win like we did the year before, but Baste started to pull away late in the 4th quarter behind the exploits of their high-flying swingmen, (the overage) Jesse Bardaje and Rodney Santos.

Watching your team lose was bad enough, but it was what happened after that really made it bad. With the game out of reach, the San Sebastian crowd decided to collectively, sarcastically, start rooting for Letran. Those fuckers just wanted to rub it in, so they started chanting “Go, Letran! Go, go Letran!” and cheering whenever the Knights made a meaningless basket.

Continue reading "“Poging Baste, Haba...”: San Sebastian dethrones San Beda"

In 1993, the powerhouse defending champions San Miguel faced perennial All-Filipino contenders Coney Island (nee Purefoods) in the finals of that year’s homegrown-only tournament. The Beermen were heavy favorites after making a trade for Allan Caidic in the offseason, reuniting the Triggerman with his former national team buddies, Samboy Lim and Hector Calma. The star-studded San Miguel backcourt was rounded out by the reigning Most Valuable Player in the league, Ato Agustin. The two teams’ matchup was a repeat of the previous year’s finals, a series that was capped by 32 points from Agustin in the deciding seventh game.

Rookie coach Chot Reyes was at the helm of Coney Island, which was making its sixth straight All-Filipino appearance. Everyone knew about the frontcourt of Alvin Patrimonio and Jerry Codinera, but their backcourt wasn’t too shabby either, with Glenn Capacio, Boy Cabahug, and Dindo Pumaren. Curiously, Reyes acquired an eclectic mix of players in the offseason; rookies Dwight Lago, Benny Cheng, Olsen Racela, and Freddie Abuda were drafted to provide hustle and energy, but Reyes also recruited a couple of grizzled veterans: Caidic’s old enforcer from Presto, Abe King, and a rugged guard from Alaska, Frankie Lim.

Continue reading "Ato Agustin, Frankie Lim, and the NCAA Finals"

Photo by Jan Dizon, NCAA.

I did not see this coming at all. Neither did you, and if you say you did, you’re lying.

Continue reading "Ato Agustin, coaching genius.Or: how San Sebastian learned to stop worrying and love the (atom) bomb"

It's a really busy day at my real workplace, but here are some things I wanted to pass along:

Continue reading "Friday bullets"

Photo courtesy of Ubelt.com

The 85th edition of the NCAA opened with a bang last Saturday, kicking off the college basketball season. Defending champion San Beda dominated Mapua in the first game, 85-52, while last year's runner-up JRU staved off Letran in the second, 65-62. In the third game that wasn't televised, San Sebastian welcomed their new mentor Ato Agustin with an impressive 76-64 victory over Perpetual Help.

Continue reading "NCAA opening impressions: San Beda rules, JRU escapes, San Sebastian promises"

Some leftover NBA links I wanted to pass along, before going to bed:

Continue reading "NBA leftovers, starring Bill Walton and the best Laker championship swag in the history of Western civilization"