“Fire Quinito is a very, very impressive Philippine sports blog, and I'm not saying that only because the guy who runs it reads my stuff. The blog's take on Philippine sports is funny and right.”
-- Rafe Bartholomew, author of Pacific Rims: Beermen Ballin' in Flip-Flops and the Philippines' Unlikely Love Affair with Basketball

“Gutsy.”
-- Tim Cone, Alaska Aces coach

“Irreverent, objective, witty, straight to the point. Just as sports reportage should be. Yes, even when it attacks the 'numerous dick moves' of Chot Reyes.”
-- Chot Reyes, Talk N Text Tropang Texters Coach

“Fire Quinito reminds us that reading about sports should be as fun as watching or playing them.”
-- Howie Severino, GMANews.TV Editor-in-Chief

“In a culture of kiss asses, it seems [Fire Quinito] has been refreshing in the sports community.”
-- Jude Turcuato, longtime play-by-play announcer and former marketing head of Solar Sports

“I must say it is refreshing to see the reporting as blunt and candid as [Fire Quinito] is.”
-- Fred Uytengsu, Alaska Aces team owner and former PBA chairman

“At 1st why Fire Quinito? I find it really weird to get accolades at the expense of a sports institution. And where is the moral value for awarding you a blog award? You are just an ant compared to someone like Quinito who has been around the writing world as early as your diaper days. You are just a small insect and Quinito won't make patol to you ever and never...”
-- Boyet Dones on Twitter

The ongoing Jamal Sampson saga has created some buzz even in the mainstream media: both the Manila Standard Today and GMANews.TV picked up the story last Thursday, while Patricia Hizon’s (always excellent) column for Standard Today last Friday carried the only reaction from an SBP official so far, from newly-minted Smart Gilas team manager Frankie Lim. Yesterday, Abante Tonite’s Zaldy Perez also mentioned the blog post in his column.

(It’s weird though, I always figured that if an Abante Tonite column was going to run my stuff, it would be for Dear Xerex. Especially on the eve of Valentine’s. But I digress.)

Also, this morning, Beth Celis’ whole column in the Inquirer was basically lifted from the blog (without giving any credit, unfortunately). Still, the issue made it to the Sunday edition of the country’s biggest broadsheet, so hopefully it would encourage the SBP leadership to issue a statement on the matter.

Of course, in light of Coach Rajko Toroman’s scathing email against him, it was only natural for Sampson to want to respond. I almost didn’t want to run this, because it detracts from the original issue at hand (the contract situation with the SBP), but in the interest of fairness, here’s the latest from Jamal Sampson:

I’m going to take a sec and respond to coach’s comments. One, let’s see, coach mentioned a tournament with Zain where I hurt my back, and could only play some minutes the rest of the tournament, and China, [where] I got hurt in my second season. Both are true. [With] Zain, I got hurt for a tournament, but continued to play, but limited some of my minutes. But I still played, and we won the championship with me playing 30 minutes in the championship hurt. In China, I played with a torn hamstring but tried to play through it, but [the injury] limited how effective I was, not being able to run and jump. But yet again, I played, just not as well as I could if healthy.

He named 2 injuries. Well, I’m 26 years old, and turned pro at 18. In college, I played and started all 34 games, I think, for my college career. I have been a pro for 8 years now, and he named 2 injuries prior to this team, both where I still attempted to play. In a sport where injuries are frequent, to name 2 for a player in 9 seasons sounds pretty lame to speak on.

Have I had some injuries? Sure. What athlete or player hasn’t? Look in the NBA, from Dwyane Wade whose career was hampered in the beginning due to injuries, to a player people associate with me, my cousin Ralph Sampson, who most people consider one of the top 3 college players ever and a guy who was first pick and only got to play like 6 NBA seasons, or Bill Walton, an NBA great who only played about 3 full professional seasons due to bad injuries.

I’ve managed 9 seasons so far, and he named two injuries I tried to play through. Does that sound justified?

Two, I’ll respond to coach’s comments, on assistants. Well, guess what, the words came from coach himself: he hates how he was given and made to take those assistants and not allowed to pick his own, and none of them know what they are doing. That’s what coach stated before. Also, it’s been stated he got stuck with Coach Allan [Gregorio, brother of Smart Sports head Pato Gregorio] only because his brother is high up in the Smart business, or whatever program sponsors the team. These are all facts I couldn’t know unless told, obviously. They said none of the coaching staff had any prior coaching credentials.

Regarding my knee not being swollen, well, both doctors I went to said it was swollen. One thought it was a mild sprain, but wouldn’t know without an MRI. The other thought it was capsulitis, which causes swelling in the back of my knee, and wanted me to take an MRI though to make sure, because it could be a few other things. [Coach Toroman] never attended either visit to the doctor, nor does he have any info on my contract, or how I was paid, or if things were handled.

Also, another point made by coach about missing a game against San Miguel, well that actually helps prove one of my points. He stated someone came for me an hour and a half before the game. Well, the game was at 10 AM, I landed at 11 PM the night before, because I had been back home for a week and a half.

Why I didn’t know about the game, and they had to try to send someone, is because I had no cellphone. This game took place in January, I signed a month earlier in the beginning of December, where it clearly states in my contract I was supposed to get a Filipino phone and SIM card right after signing the contract, so I could contact people and get contacted. A month later, I still had no phone. Ironically, a team named Smart Gilas, ran by Smart, a cell phone company, can’t get me a phone for over a month.

(Editor’s note: Sampson furnished the blog with a receipt for a cell phone connection dated January 6, a day after Smart Gilas’ tune-up game against San Miguel which Sampson missed.)

Noli apologized and said [the phone] got held up for some reason, and he took responsibility for me missing the game because I wasn’t informed about it, because I had no phone.

Also, about me not playing and refusing to play in the first 2 games, my agent told them I wouldn’t play until I signed a contract, because he wouldn’t risk injury without me being under contract and covered medically and everything. That’s standard procedure, plenty of players won’t play for a team until they signed a contract, unless it’s a player desperate for a job and has no other options, and has to do it that way.

Some players [on Smart Gilas] keep me in the loop about what’s going on. I guess Coach Toroman didn’t know about me sleeping on the floor without a bed and stuff, and asked some players if any of that stuff was true, and they confirmed it. I don’t like to mention any of the players though, because they’re under contract for 2 more years, and I don’t want to cause any friction for them.

Since the influx of emails from personalities such as Jamal Sampson, Rajko Toroman, and a comment from Chot Reyes these past few days, people have been emailing me left and right about messages for these people, including a lot of suggestions for Coach Toroman regarding team strategy and player recruitment. Apparently, I am now the official receptionist of all of Philippine basketball.

Anyway, whenever I feel pretty good about myself with how much this blog is being read, I always get an email that starts with Dear Quinito. It puts me back in my place, just like Burger King put Smart Gilas in their place in that controversial game.

I’m posting this particular email from a certain ‘Redentor Castro’ not to make fun of it (although it is hilarious), but also because I figured that someone could forward the message to Quinito himself. Not only would he be thrilled with the idea that someone thinks he should be an adviser to the SBP, but it contains something about someone abroad possibly being related to a Filipino, and Quinito just lives for that stuff. It’s like shabu for him; remember, this is the same guy who spent the 1997 and 1998 NBA Finals writing about Karl Malone’s biyenan. You could almost hear him banging out a column now.

Oh, right the email. Here it is, as it was sent:

Good morning Quinito,

First of all i would like to thank you for continuously providing valuable insights to Philippine Basketball. I am just wondering that inspite of your knowledge and expertise, how come that SBP is not taking you as one of their advisers.

Anyways, I am sending you this e-mail just to make a suggestion for the Smart Gilas that currently facing difficulty of looking for a reinforcement. I have watched Smart Gilas during the recently concluded basketball tournament in Dubai, and I was impressed on how they adopted the system of Toroman (how I wish that it is a filipino calling the shots and not a foreigner, nothing against with Toroman but just call it patriotism), but if you would analyze the style and system that Mr. Toroman is trying to put with Smart Gilas, it is basically the same formula that Ron Jacobs instilled with NCC during the 80's, although just a minor tweaking (it's because the level of the basketball then is comparatively different from now) but still the foundation is the same; a dominant big man ( remember Dennis Steel, who needs not to score but willing to protect the paint; offensively and defensively) a high flying wing man (Jeff Moore, who is very athletic and agile who's percentage of his shots is very high) and a shooter(Chip Engeland).

Among the three positions that mentioned, the last two is not hard to find specially within this generation of Pinoy players or even fil-ams. but having a big man in the middle who's priority is to clog the lanes and get the rebound but of course a threat in the paint is the most difficult one, since it is very seldom that you will find it. That is why Adam Parada (ex Red Bull import) came to my mind.

Why Adam Parada, well if you will see his approach in the game, it is basically the same thing as what Dennis Steel and CJ Giles were doing for the team, he rebounds well, blocks good and if needed he can really score, not to the fact that he is a member of many times of the Mexican national basketball team, that makes him knowledgable of the Amateur International Rules of basketball. One more thing that makes Adam Parada more quallified to become the reinsforcement of GIlas is that he is engaged or married to a Filipina who happens to be a daughter of a former amateur player named Raul Inoferio (I am not sure if it with Maisagana) who is now reciding here in Canada, who was married BEFORE to the daughter of Elias Tolentino. So with this facts, I guess calling him and to be part of a Philippine Basketball again will not be difficult, what can you say?

Have a nice day and more power to your blog.

Red Castro
Burnaby, British Columbia
Canada

• PBA Commissioner Sonny Barrios will fine Talk N Text more than PhP1-million for their walkout. Fidel Mangonon has all the numbers.


• Jude Turcuato, who had a short stint working in the PBA Commissioner’s Office a few years ago, writes in his blog from the perspective of both a fan, and someone who has seen how the Talk N Text organization operates: “Throughout the whole Asi Taulava ordeal about his citizenship, TNT Management always felt that (then-Commissioner) Noli (Eala) was unfair with disallowing their big man to play because of him not having the proper documentation. They even had the PNP ready to arrest the commissioner at one point with cops at the Araneta if he didn't allow Asi to play.”


• Ronnie Nathanielsz, not surprisingly, defended the Talk N Text decision. At this point, Nathanielsz is the closest thing that the Philippine sports scene has to a moral compass; if he’s taking one position, you could almost be certain that the opposite position is the correct one.


• Tito Talao opened his column about Manny Pangilinan with this line: “Like the noble captain of a doomed ship, Talk ’N Text team owner Manny V. Pangilinan waited until everyone aboard had been saved before quietly stepping off deck Sunday night.” Yuck. Will he be faxing this column to Pangilinan’s office along with the solicitation letter for the PBA Press Corps Christmas Party? (I’m kidding.)


• Sometimes Recah Trinidad annoys me.
  
  There is the way he writes one sentence paragraphs, to make all his points seem profound—not to mention to stretch his point across the Inquirer’s column inches.
  
  * * *
  
  But sometimes, it works.
  
  Take his column about game 5 of the Ginebra-Talk N Text quarterfinal series, for example.
  
  He paints a picture of Manny Pangilinan and Chot Reyes’ terrible realization of the game four mistake—the walkout that was unwarranted.
  
  * * *
  
  It left the reader wondering, if there was something up with Pangilinan leaving the Araneta Coliseum so late. There must have been nagging questions.
  
  Could one of those questions be about Reyes’ job?

Had a good chuckle when found this in my inbox a couple of days ago. I could understand the confusion on Twitter, but does it still confuse anyone who goes through this site and finds the email address?

Mr. Joaquin Henson
The Philippine Star

Dear Sir Henson:

Greetings!

The show that started investigative reporting on Philippine TV is on to a new brand of probing. To explain issues relevant to the public, Probe, the longest running investigative news magazine show in the country, takes a harder look at the men and women of the hour.

Renamed “Probe Profiles”, the show features a weekly in-depth profiler of the hottest figures in the news. Every Wednesday, veteran broadcast journalist Cheche Lazaro and her team peel off the layers of the country’s newsmakers by going over their past and examining their present lives—lives which affect the Philippine society in general. Among featured personalities are cosmetic surgeon, Dr. Vicki Belo, Billiards icon Efren “Bata” Reyes and former president and inspiration, Cory Aquino.

For the coming episode this 2010 we will feature Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) legend, Mr. Rudy Distrito. The story will focus on the person himself—a comprehensive profiler of the contender—as a man, as a son, a father, a husband and an athlete.

We saw an article you did regarding Mr. Rudy Distrito, and having the knowledge that you are also a part of the PBA family; we would like to ask for your permission to provide us any contact details of him. Please understand that this information will be of great help in our production.

I will call your office to follow up on our request. However, should you have any questions regarding this matter, please feel free to contact the Probe office at [phone number withheld] fax no. [fax number withheld] or have your reply at [email address withheld].

Thank you for your time and attention.

[Name withheld]

I could just imagine the poor person calling up Quinito at his office and telling him about this email, as he becomes confused. “But sir, I sent it to your email yesterday. Here it is, j at firequinito dot com.”

Also, I saw a promo on a Rudy Distrito feature on (I think) Rated K. So na-scoop-an na ng Rated K ang Probe Profiles.