In 2007, after Noli Eala was forced to resign by the Philippine Basketball Association as commissioner due to his disbarment, two candidates were up for the position: former telecommunications executive Lambert Ramos and lawyer Chito Salud. Neither man had enough votes to be appointed commissioner; San Miguel, Ginebra, Coke, Welcoat, and Red Bull – the SMC bloc – voted for Salud, while Air 21, Alaska, Sta. Lucia, and Talk N Text – the MVP bloc – voted for Ramos.

However, each man needed six out of the nine votes (voting rights haven’t been restored to Purefoods at the time) to be appointed commissioner. Unable to break the deadlock, the board decided to appoint Renauld “Sonny” Barrios, who at the time was OIC of the PBA, to the commissionership full time.

Continue reading "The curious politics of Sonny Barrios’ appointment as SBP executive director"

If plans don’t miscarry, Noli Eala will soon be out of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas. The ouster of the executive director, according to multiple sources, stems from several issues of mismanagement under his reign, particularly of the Smart Gilas program. One issue involves the failure to liquidate funds supposedly for the team, which resulted in the delay of salaries of the Smart Gilas players.

Continue reading "Noli Eala out of the SBP, into San Miguel?"

Noli Eala, executive director of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas:

Continue reading "Two tweets, one of which is about Smart Gilas, that may or may not be related"

Haven’t done this in a while, but before we get to the bullets, I enjoyed this comment from reader Jowana Bueser last week:

Have you seen Kris Aquino's Dalaw? Just bothered with Diether Ocampo's role as her husband. Seems like potshots against James Yap. He's the almost spineless, not so good with English husband who earns less than his better-educated wife.

Okaay. On to the bullets:

Continue reading "Wednesday bullets, starring Jeron Teng, Jerry Codiñera, Younghusbands and Dalaw"

Kabataan Partylist Rep. (and friend of the blog) Mong Palatino has an interesting post up at his blog about the state of Philippine sports, after attending a summit organized by the Philippine Sports Commission and the Philippine Olympic Committee. The post is chockfull of data, and is well worth reading in its entirety, but one part jumped out at me:

[PSC Chairman Richie Garcia] complained that sports bodies are too dependent on PSC funds. He blamed this on the poor support from private sector. In fact, only 5 percent of the Top 1,000 corporations in the country are into sports sponsorships. The PSC chairman added that private support exists when there is vested interest.

Continue reading "Pinoy sports and patronage"

If you were to believe Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) executive director Noli Eala’s tweets, the reason here’s no local television coverage of the ongoing 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games is because the government simply doesn’t care enough about Philippine sports. If the government actually bothered, Eala implies, then there would be no reason for everyone not to be able to watch our beloved Smart Gilas and the rest of our country’s athletes competing in the Asiad.

Continue reading "Why we couldn’t watch Smart Gilas (and other Filipino athletes) in the Asian Games"

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"

Ok, I’m the stupid blogger I mention in the title, and admittedly, most (but not all) of the stupidity of the said exchange came from my end. I’m really not all that comfortable writing about this, but this is the kind of crap I write about anyway, and it’d be weird if I didn’t write about it, so why not.

It all started innocently enough with this tweet from Noli Eala:

Continue reading "SBP executive director Noli Eala gets into a stupid Twitter exchange with a stupid blogger"

UPDATE: Charles Tiu reports via Twitter that Coke has granted permission for Taulava to play in the Fiba-Asia Stankovic Cup. Next up: permission from the PBA.

Coca-Cola executive JB Baylon is taking it from all angles today after team management decided not to allow its center, Asi Taulava, to play for Smart Gilas in the Fiba-Asia Stankovic Cup. Taulava had begun to practice with the team recently to stay in shape, and volunteered his services for the Stankovic tourney after reports that several members of the team, including big men Marcus Douthit (passport issues), Greg Slaughter (studies), and Rabeh Al-Hussaini (leaving the team for the PBA draft), would not be able to participate in the tournament.

Continue reading "In defense of Coke’s Asi Taulava decision"

The Interbasket forum for Philippine basketball is home to some of the most passionate local basketball fans, particularly of the Smart Gilas Pilipinas National Basketball Team. Because of the rabid fandom of its members, the message board has attracted the attention of basketball insiders, including officials of the Samahang Basketball ng Pilipinas (SBP), the country’s national basketball federation.

One such personality identifies himself only by the handle Namamangha, and is acknowledged by everyone to be an official of the SBP. Oddly, the past couple weeks, Namamangha started badmouthing Smart Gilas coach Rajko Toroman in the forums:

Continue reading "SBP official badmouths Coach Rajko Toroman online, as Smart Gilas descends into heavy turmoil"