Iba Ang May Pinagsamahan

Haven't been able to update this blog for some time now. Recently, however, I met up with some old friends, Niko and Mikkel Bolante, authors of the number-crunching basketball blog Patay ang Butiki, as well as Jaemark Tordecilla, who runs the most irreverent and hard-hitting sports blog in the country FireQuinito. Over a couple of drinks, the guys broached the idea of having a webcast which would discuss pressing sports issues of the day. They also revealed that the initial episode would tackle the current state of the San Miguel Beermen, the winningest franchise in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). Being a long-time fan of the SMB franchise, I found the offer to guest in the webcast too hard to resist.

Here is the result of our freewheeling, no-holds-barred discussion. Enjoy!

An audio-only version is also available here http://blip.tv/file/5014306

Crime and Punishment

No, this has nothing to do with the robbery/shooting that occurred earlier today at Greenbelt 5. (or the Dostoyevsky novel, for that matter)

Was going to write about the ongoing NCAA Final 4, as I was in the Arena last Friday watching the matchup between San Beda and Letran. The game turned out to be better than I expected with the Red Lions, 3 time defending champions, barely pulling off a win against the Rey Guevarra-less Knights, and advancing to the NCAA Finals in the process. Little did I know that while this was ongoing, action of a different kind was taking place over at the Araneta Coliseum.

Manic Monday

A lot of new developments have occurred since my previous post last week. Among these are:

The Ateneo de Manila Blue Eagles getting back-to-back UAAP basketball championships. Congratulations are in order for Norman Black and the rest of the Blue Eagles for asserting their might throughout Season 72, and for pulling through in the Finals against the gritty UE Red Warriors. With his "Back-to-Black" win, Coach Norman also improves his coaching record in the Finals against rookie coaches. As a sidenote, all my predictions starting with the Final 4 were on the money. Let's see if it holds up as the NCAA is set to start its own Final 4 matchups in the coming days.

Also, as an aftermath of the Ateneo win, online sports columnist Tony Atayde of InboundPass.com launches a sarcastic tribute to the Blue Eagles and a tirade against Hardball host Bill Velasco. Consequently, his post gets edited and Atayde goes ballistic, this time against fellow InboundPass columnists Chris Soler and Mike Abasolo. Last I heard, he "retired" his column but not before giving a parting shot to those who he had differences with. (interestingly, all the guys he hit in his column are my fellow NCAA panelists over at ABS-CBN Sports) 

Congratulations are also in order for my good friend FireQuinito who won as best sports blog in the Philippine Blog Awards. Good job, Jae! I think this calls for a celebration over a few rounds of beer. Hehe.

And.. just in a couple of hours ago, news  confirming what people have openly speculated about since last week: Burger King trades Japeth Aguilar to Talk and Text, which in turn, releases him to Smart Gilas. With this new development I guess all parties are happy now: Japeth, Smart Gilas, SBP, PBA, Burger King and Barako Bull (which got a piece of the action acting as a conduit team). With that we can probably write finis to the Japeth Aguilar saga... for now.

For Love of... the Game?

As mentioned in my previous post, the motivation to restart this blog was brought about by a desire to give my 2 cents on this entire mess involving the top pick in the 2009 PBA draft, Japeth Aguilar.  

For those who haven't followed the particulars of this case, it basically revolves around the question of whether Japeth should sign the contract being offered by the PBA team that drafted him (Burger King), or follow his declared preference and play for the Smart Gilas developmental team under Rajko Toroman. Of course, this comes on the heels of a sudden turnaround from his earlier commitment to turn pro and sign the 3 year, 8.5 million peso contract.

This issue has been complicated further after a report filed by Rey Joble of Manila Standard Today alleged that Japeth was offered by Smart Gilas a contract more than double the amount being offered by Burger King. Some have even suggested that such a report might be libelous as it tends to malign the reputation of the young cager. 

My take on the issue is this: in an ideal world, Japeth should be free to play where he wants to. Regardless of whether his motivation is the love of flag or money, that shouldn't be put into question. After all, it's his basketball career.