If you’ve been active on Twitter, you might already be aware of the reaction of PBA fans about the ongoing technical problems of Solar TV and how it has been affecting the broadcast of the games. The network’s troubles started last October 15, when the first game between Alaska and Rain or Shine experienced intermittent broadcast interruption, while the second game between Meralco and Talk N Text was not broadcast at all.

Continue reading "Solar’s signal problems, the PBA’s delayed reaction, and the league’s next TV deal"

Lots of stuff to get to, wala munang pasakalye:

• Got a nice shout-out this morning from my favorite play-by-play man (and fellow Baller contributor) Mico Halili, who dug deeper into Yeng Guiao’s way with words in his column today. He adds a few more quotable quotes from the fiery coach, including my favorite: “Bahala kayo diyan! Hindi ako tatawag ng time-out! Gawan niyo ng paraan yan!”

Continue reading "Thursday bullets starring Yeng Guiao, Tim Cone, and James Yap's lovelife"

Forget about the three-feet shirt, this is my new favorite picture from Ateneo’s championship.



Come think of it, the three-feet shirt is a pretty good Eraption!

Win or lose, it’s the school they choose!

[ Photo nicked off GMANews.TV ]

I had been in Chiang Mai, Thailand (home of the 1998 Asian Games, where the Centennial Team won a bronze 1995 SEA Games, where then-Stag stars Marlou Aquino and Bal David led the Philippine team to a gold!) since Tuesday afternoon for the day job. I will be here for the week, which means I’ve missed, among other things Alaska’s 25th anniversary celebration – too bad, because I had been planning to get soused and force Tim Cone to answer whether he’d rather pick Kenneth or Jeffrey if he could have only one guy – and Ateneo’s exciting game 2 win over FEU to win its third straight title.

Continue reading "Travel advisory"

As some of you may have figured out by now, I used to work for a company that is part of GMA Network – actually, its GMA New Media subsidiary. The curious thing about working at GMA, aside from bumping into Kuya Germs at the co-op and sharing an elevator with Annabelle Rama, was that people there took the network competition with rival ABS-CBN very seriously. In fact, I’d argue that it has become part of GMA’s corporate culture.

To fan the flames of competition further, GMA posts the TV ratings from the previous day each morning in the elevator lobby and the cafeteria entrance. That way, employees could check out just how well each of the network’s programs performed head-to-head against their ABS-CBN counterpart. “Ooh, look, Encantadia totally beat the shit out of Kampanerang Kuba last night.”

Continue reading "The UAAP finals on ABS-CBN gets destroyed in the ratings"

A popular chorus among lazy sportswriters is that the PBA is a dying league, a gem that has lost its luster. They rattle off the reasons: the PBA’s gate attendance is on the downturn,¹ the TV ratings are down,² and fan interest is dwindling.³

Continue reading "Is the UAAP a dying league?"

Quinito Henson’s article last week about the UP Fighting Maroons profiled the management committee of the team: Chitong Rivera, Bert Mendoza, and Jake Castro. Calling them “distinguished,” Quinito argued that even though the Maroons finished winless, the three men would continue on fighting.

Continue reading "Meet the clowns behind UP’s 0-14 record"

The video says it all:

Continue reading "Congratulations to the UP Pep Squad, the 2010 UAAP Cheerdance Competition champion"

Photo: iamvishnu.multiply.com

As a UP alumnus, I am most looking forward to tomorrow’s UAAP Cheerdance Competition, an event wherein, unlike basketball, UP actually fares well. Unfortunately, I know next to nothing about cheerdance, so I can’t really write an informed piece about it. (Then again, you could argue that I know next to nothing about basketball, but that never stopped me from writing about games. Hehehe.)

Continue reading "UAAP Cheerdance Preview"

I had wanted to do a mock draft for the PBA rookie draft that’s happening tomorrow, like I did last year, but I didn’t have much time. I had actually been in Davao these past few days for a project for the day job – we were documenting a seminar for human rights workers from the Visayas and Mindanao, people doing the Lord’s work – and it was the farthest thing from having a blog where I write awful things about PBA players.

Continue reading "Quick thoughts on tomorrow’s PBA draft"