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.




Here’s hoping that when we vote for Chris Tiu as our president in 25 years – you know, after he serves as Manny Pacquiao’s vice president for 6 years – he’ll still have a full head of hair.




I miss Ed Picson doing the coverage. Always loved him, especially kapag binabara niya si Quinito.




Nice. I wonder though if there’s a workout to make Dyan a better boxing announcer.




Yeah, go for it Boyet! Just remember: Flirting on Twitter is ok, but writing love letters leads to disbarment.




Cool. And it’s high praise too, because Howie and I have spoken before about David Halberstam’s classic “The Breaks of the Game.” Also, if you missed it, he left a comment on the post about his James Yap documentary, and called The Genius “cutie coach Ryan.”




And the fans concur. Ayos si Coach ah, parang (500) Days of Summer lang eh noh.




An underrated, amusing part of Howie’s documentary: FEU center Aldrech Ramos chilling out wearing a jejecap.




Had a nice, quick chat with Mico after last night’s game. He’s one of my favorite sportscasters. Plus, he gives hope to all of us short guys who want to be involved in basketball. Also, he’s married to Pia Arcangel, so that gives us even more hope. I should probably stop writing now before I get into trouble.

Anyway, I had a good time at the game even though Derby Ace lost. Speaking of which...




Yeah, this was after Marc Pingris had a monster, two-handed putback slam dunk to cut the San Miguel lead to 4. The Beermen called timeout, and the arena DJ played Baby. Pati pagkatalo ng Purefoods, kasalanan pa rin ni Bieber. While we’re on the subject of music…




If there ever was a Sweetest Tweets hall of fame, Robbie Reyes would be a first-ballot inductee.

Philippine basketball has started to develop a small but vibrant community on Twitter. The Sweetest Tweets is a round-up of the best messages, in 140 characters or less.



Oh, we’re all going to miss Rod’s tweets while he’s away. I hope his date with Destiny finally goes through.



Yeah, tell ‘em Rick! I completely agree! Sino ba ‘yang mga SBP official na yan?! Mamaya pati mga nanay at tatay nila, isama pa nila sa Taipei!



Hacheche-pache!



I still remember Joey Mente throwing water bottles at the Taiwanese crowd. Iloilo Megavoltz for the win!



I’m sure Cesca Litton is flattered to get compliments from the PBA’s resident fashion expert.



I think Bo Perasol traded for Paolo Mendoza just so they can have isaw at UP after practice with Marvin Cruz.



Yeah! Fire Quinito!



Simpleng yabang lang din ‘tong si Cabaggie, eh noh?



Yeah, this is what this feature is here for, to document Robbie Reyes’ Twilight fandom.



Also, to keep track of James Ty III’s undying love for Jessica “Jessilicious” Mendoza. Keep fighting the good fight, James!

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.