I started writing about way back, filing stories about the UP Fighting Maroons for an old incarnation of Peyups.com. With the new UAAP season opening this Saturday, I unearthed an old article I wrote in 2003, a running diary of the league's opening.

I'm posting it now for a couple of reasons: it's fun to look at how my writing has changed (or hasn't changed) since eight years go, and it fits in well because Ateneo is hosting this season again.

A few more notes:

- I was totally ripping off Bill Simmons in this diary, something I would freely admit, except no one called me out because he wasn't the sportswriting superstar he is today, and not as many people read him back then.

- A couple of interesting figures turn up in the diary: play-by-play guy Jude Turcuato, who was really the first mainstream media person who gave this blog the time of day, and analyst Ryan "The Genius" Gregorio, who needs no introduction to readers of this website. Funny how these things work out.

- The Karl in the article is the owner of Peyups.com; he's now one-half of the famous wedding photography tandem Mimi and Karl.

- While it's not exactly excellent writing, I still enjoyed my gratuitous potshots at Ateneo.

Oh, sorry, *the* Ateneo.

Enjoy.

Continue reading "A blast from Peyups past: My running diary of the UAAP opening day 2003"

Season 74 of the UAAP tips off in a couple of months, and once again all the attention and resources will be on the men’s basketball tournament. But while alumni boosters and sponsors literally pour in hundreds of millions of pesos into college basketball in the country, athletes from other sports have had to settle for scraps.

These include, unfortunately, the University of the Philippines Men’s Football Team, which was crowned champion of the UAAP football tournament in Season 73. I came across this letter on Facebook asking for help in order to supplement the team’s meager resources:

Continue reading "The UP Men’s Football Team needs help"

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"

Ok, crowning him king may just be a tad bit premature – after all, it was only one preseason game – but we haven’t seen a legit college freshman this exciting since… LA Tenorio? James Yap? And those guys are two of the best, if not the two best, homegrown players in the PBA right now.

Continue reading "All hail King Kiefer!"

Here’s some news that should be of interest to all local sports fans: Last week, MediaQuest, the PLDT subsidiary that controls TV5, signed a deal with IBC-13 to air sports programs in the government-controlled network. A new primetime block called AKTV featuring sporting events will soon air on the channel.

In exchange for block time, Media Quest will improve the signal of the channel and upgrade network facilities nationwide.

The move comes as the latest part of MediaQuest’s aggressive expansion strategy, which saw the company pouring in P7 billion into TV5 in 2010 alone. In October, the network launched an all-news FM radio station, while its 24-hour news channel Aksyon TV went on air on UHF television last February.

Continue reading "TV5 signs block time agreement to air sports programming over IBC 13"

“The 2011 UAAP Football Champs were the same guys who helped Rock Ed load relief goods for North Luzon in 09. Matagal na silang champyon para sa ‘kin. Bravo, UP!”

-- Gang Badoy, founder of RockEd on the UP football team, which went undefeated in the UAAP football season

For the second straight year, I had the privilege of speaking with the coach of the Philippine Cup champions shortly after winning the title. Over dinner and beer last Tuesday night, Coach Chot Reyes joined me and bloggers from Patay Ang Butiki and From the Stands to shoot the breeze and talk hoops. Because we were all basketball nerds, we ended up talking about everything from the series against San Miguel to his MBA stint to what happened between him and Jun Limpot.

But most of our conversation focused on Talk N Text, Smart Gilas, and the Ateneo Blue Eagles. Here’s the stuff (I think) I can publish:

Continue reading "A dinner with Talk N Text coach Chot Reyes"

PBA owners: Manny Pangilinan (4th from left) and Ramon Ang (5th) sit side by side

Pictures from yesterday’s PBA owners’ meeting showed a curious seating arrangement: Manuel V. Pangilinan, chairman of PLDT and Metro Pacific, and Ramon S. Ang, president of San Miguel Corporation, sat side by side to discuss the league’s problems with the other teams’ top honchos. Tonight, when game 2 of the Philippine Cup finals between San Miguel and Talk N Text tips off, the corporate “frenemies” will be back on opposing sides rooting for their flagship basketball teams, a position they’ve probably grown accustomed to over the past several years.

Continue reading "San Miguel-Talk N Text series the latest saga in Ramon Ang-Manny Pangilinan rivalry"