tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-193868102024-03-08T02:07:32.068+08:00Manila VanillaWhat it's like to be a U.S. Fulbright scholar, basketball player, journalist, and the whitest man in Metro Manila.RafeBoogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00874925114779200772noreply@blogger.comBlogger186125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19386810.post-56398494655877126052010-05-01T10:06:00.002+08:002010-05-01T10:16:17.406+08:00Is this the end?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFzX8C_MHCut8vcNyN6fTfAugOtHcQ1HSsrArwwy-rgPZmp6DzargUHYEOJXr30QkJh6bKKMO_Eh049Hk0zNfkYiHpBBhpXQGbPbe2n6k0JXFkOre2HWhFqjcp-keylTFTAh95/s512/underthecourt.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 384px; height: 512px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFzX8C_MHCut8vcNyN6fTfAugOtHcQ1HSsrArwwy-rgPZmp6DzargUHYEOJXr30QkJh6bKKMO_Eh049Hk0zNfkYiHpBBhpXQGbPbe2n6k0JXFkOre2HWhFqjcp-keylTFTAh95/s512/underthecourt.JPG" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Man, this is tough. I'm moving to a more official website, <a href="http://rafebartholomew.com">rafebartholomew.com</a>. That means I'll probably be writing more, which is good, but this right here has so much history. You can actually see me grow from a fairly naive Amboy to a fairly less idiotic kano in each post. I'll never forget the nights I spent slapping <i>lamok </i>off my ankles while trying to come up with something entertaining to say. Or how I rushed to write something about the Karl Malone to Red Bull rumors because I knew if I waited an extra day, the fact that it was pure, unadulterated <i>bola</i> would emerge, and I wouldn't be able to imagine what it would be like to watch the Mailman play against the Express! This blog will always remind me of the best three years of my life. <div><br /></div><div>To quote a famous song: Manila Vanilla, <i>hindi ka namin malilimutan</i>.</div>RafeBoogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00874925114779200772noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19386810.post-45521953170123905202010-03-31T19:51:00.001+08:002010-03-31T21:08:28.373+08:00Haiti has jeepneys too!<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/js/pap/embed.js?news01n3d6fqe57"></script><br />My thoughts upon seeing this NPR/PBS Newshour spot on Haitian Tap Taps, which appear to be almost exactly the same as jeepneys.<div><ol><li>They have jeepneys, too!</li><li>They stole that whole idea from the Philippines!</li><li>Did the Philippines steal that whole idea from Haiti?</li><li>Which country was the first to start painting its <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Share_taxi">share taxis</a> with a semiotic salad of family references, religious homages and pop culture icons? And can Filipinos (and foreigners who care about the Philippines) continue to point to the jeepney as a unique example of Pinoy ingenuity? Ingenuity, yes. But is it unique if other countries have developed something so similar?</li><li>OK, my man in the video can paint, but does he also outfit Tap Taps with giant Mercedes grill pieces, longhorn skulls and horns that blare Star Trek phaser sounds in traffic? If not, then our Haitian friends still have a way to go before they can stand on equal footing with the Jeepney.</li><li>Part of me resents this kind of journalism. It smacks of foreign reporters who don't know much about the countries they get dropped into, so they do stories about whatever first grabs their attention. In the Philippines, at least, there isn't a Lonely Planet or Rough Guide that doesn't include a long, competent discussion of jeepneys, multicabs and FXs. And that's where it seems like these discussions belong -- in travelogues, in blogs of tourists and volunteers, etc. Take note, so when you read my description of jeepneys and basketball iconography, you can call me out for being a hypocrite. You'll be right. But what I hope I manage not to do is exoticize the jeepney. It's important to avoid the kind of tone that makes foreign readers feel like they're on safari: "The colorful natives enjoy riding in painted vehicles!" And while the NPR correspondent here doesn't do anything that egregious, I detected a whiff of that sentiment in his report.<br /></li><li>Finally, thanks to the Wikipedia share taxi entry (linked above), check out some of the names of the jeepney's worldwide brethren! The Albanian Furgon. The West African bush taxi. The Tanzanian dala-dala, which could work in Tagalog. The Costa Rican taxi pirata. They all sound so interesting. Exotic, even...</li></ol></div>RafeBoogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00874925114779200772noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19386810.post-14700281919223326122010-02-23T02:12:00.002+08:002010-02-23T02:33:11.444+08:00Bigatin na ako!No, not a Bigat10, although I once was one of those, as pretty much any tricycle driver in LP TODA can attest, but now I'm a real big-timer, because I contributed a <a href="http://freedarko.blogspot.com/2010/02/fd-guest-lecture-where-magaling-happens.html">guest blog to FreeDarko</a>. What's even more exciting is that the post focuses on some of the unique aspects of Philippine basketball, including <span style="font-style: italic;">pektos</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">pag-upo sa ere</span>, and <span style="font-style: italic;">larong buko</span>. Not to mention, pretty amazing video of Samboy Lim, the 1996 Ginebra team and Noli Locsin wanting to make bugbog all over Bonel Balingit's face. Only our imaginations can tell us how that might have worked out for Noli, but I, for one, would not want to step to big baby Bonel.<br /><br />The Samboy Lim video, by the way, is so sublime, it almost seems appropriate with musical accompaniment by Yanni. I've been watching it with breakfast every day for the past week, and I'm not tired of it yet.<br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/shz8xa9hnAU&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/shz8xa9hnAU&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br />Finally, if you aren't already reading <a href="http://freedarko.blogspot.com/">FreeDarko</a>, it's time to get your weight up, and if you haven't already seen their <a href="http://www.freedarkobook.com/">Macrophenomenal Pro Basketball Almanac</a>, you're missing out.RafeBoogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00874925114779200772noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19386810.post-25213484438220459292010-02-17T22:33:00.005+08:002010-02-20T06:16:52.827+08:00The Crispa saga continues (finally); some thoughts on Alaska<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxZKZBgJenZSLnspbegCxwyE1LrSm2yIwFAO5rrA6ZPG8aZgXqGFtRIi7wFIxI_gdZsIT0bjcYxCNrlIRFFhLgqPfeIqOfdhJlwhyGovu2E7vR6oVFwdL-EWUPbOJe6cV7mVR1/s1600-h/musetoss.jpg"><img alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxZKZBgJenZSLnspbegCxwyE1LrSm2yIwFAO5rrA6ZPG8aZgXqGFtRIi7wFIxI_gdZsIT0bjcYxCNrlIRFFhLgqPfeIqOfdhJlwhyGovu2E7vR6oVFwdL-EWUPbOJe6cV7mVR1/s400/musetoss.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />My apologies for the month-long hiatus. I have myself to blame, plus other deadlines and the fact that I'm scanning these Crispa images in on a hopeless HP home scanner that, combined with a mothballed Dell desktop, takes about 20 minutes to produce one of these images.<div><br /></div><div>But my oh my, is it ever worth it? As our journey through what we believe to be the 1977 All-Filipino conference continues, how's this for a comeback? A ceremonial toss between Ramon 'El Presidente' Fernandez and Abet Guidaben, who once owned a video shop called 'Abetamax.' I expect by morning in New York, I'll know who the lovely muse is. If you're expecting me to recognize martial law era starlets on sight, than I will disappoint you time and again. I was neither alive nor in Manila in 1977. </div><div><br /></div><div>Everyone looks positively effervescent in this shot, which seems normal for ceremonial tosses, but there's a reason I'm posting this "can't we all just get along" image right now. Earlier this week, my idol Jaemark wrote a post at FireQuinito that focused on the series of wise personnel moves--especially trades--that the Alaska Aces have made over the years. Jaemark's infographics are works of brilliant simplicity; they start with general PBA truisms like "Alaska has made some great trades" or "San Miguel Corp. sister teams have looted the talent of poorer teams in lopsided deals" and lets us see a chart filled with example after example proving those cases. He tosses in some welcome jokes and analysis, but in the end, the graphics say it all. </div><div><br /></div><div>I spent the 2007 import conference with the Aces and got to know the organization well. Even though only five players (six, if you count Tony dela Cruz, who missed that conference to play for the national team) from that championship team remain on Alaska's roster, I think I can add some perspective to Jaemark's analysis. </div><div><br /></div><div>One of the interesting things about Alaska in the past five years has been the feast-or-famine nature of the team. They're either world beaters, sweeping Ginebra en route to the current All-Pinoy finals, winning the 2007 import conference and losing seven-game series in the semis and finals to the eventual champions of the last two All-Filipino conferences; or, they're hapless, the picture of a basketball death spiral, as they've been in the past two import conferences. Why does a talented roster that plays well together seem to collapse every other tournament?</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><div>I think part of the explanation lies in Alaska's much-admired team culture. The Aces value continuity--most of the time, when they draft or trade for a player, they intend to keep him around for years and give him a chance to develop (they've been less successful integrating talented draftees like Aaron Aban and KC dela Peña than veterans). Alaska tries to run the team with the same wholesome values that you might associate with the milk company's brand image. This isn't just marketing, but a philosophy that comes straight from owner Fred Uytengsu. The times I talked to him, I got the feeling that the most important part of owning a PBA franchise, to him, was not winning championships but competing honorably. That means creating an atmosphere of trust and respect among teammates and coaches and following league rules on the salary cap and maximum salaries to the letter. Team Manager Joaqui Trillo, the lead negotiator in Alaska's contract talks with players, once told me that when players come to Alaska from other teams and asked about side contracts and extra bonuses, all he can do is chuckle and offer them an extra crate of milk. </div><div><br /></div><div>This team-building approach is refreshing, especially considering that Alaska's stiffest competition often comes from teams who pursue winning at any cost and assemble rosters like rival powers accumulating nukes in an arms race. But don't forget that when all is said and done, Alaska Milk Corporation is a business, and any money they don't spend on players' salaries enhances the company's bottom line or can be reinvested into the business. While I believe that the team is committed to honest competition for its own sake, there's no denying that this commitment helps keep the team budget under control. That's good for Alaska Milk, but what about the Aces themselves? It's a complicated issue for the players. Like any athlete, they're competitive and want to win every game. At the same time, they're aware that they're playing this sport professionally, and that the number of years they have to earn PBA money is limited. They're supporting their immediate families and usually extended families in Manila or the provinces. They have to be conscious of getting the best deal possible, because no one but themselves is going to look out for them. </div><div><br /></div><div>Sometimes, from this perspective, a player might wonder if Alaska's "family values" are really about being honest and playing by the rules or just a convenient justification for paying their players less than competing teams do. Team management's challenge is to find players who might not be thrilled to be making less than their peers at Talk 'N Text, but who nonetheless are such competitors that they'll play their guts out as long as their with the Aces. For players, it's much easier to buy into the team ethic during good times. When Alaska's on a roll, the team really does feel like a family. Willie Miller's pranks will have the entire team and coaching staff in stitches, players will show up unannounced at JoLas's summertime clinics for kids and step in as coaches, and you'll find half the team sitting around a bank of Monoblock tables at Metrowalk, drinking San Mig Lights and making <i>kuwento</i>. Players who came to Alaska from other teams or left the Aces to play elsewhere said that while locker rooms are always tight-knit, nothing compares to Alaska. </div><div><br /></div><div>In bad times, however, everyone seems more aware of the business side of basketball. The coaches, feeling like their jobs may be endangered if they don't produce wins, get short-tempered with the players. Fewer won-game bonuses come in, and players gripe more often and more vehemently about their salaries. They start to question the coaches' judgment: <i>Does a younger player deserve my minutes? Why should I lead the team if there are older guys to take that role? Why do we have to spend so much practice time on the triangle?</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>And so the happy family devolves into a dysfunctional one very quickly, and, using recent seasons as examples, almost irreversibly. I want to stress that I haven't been with the team during their last two, disappointing import conferences. Bottom line, I am an outsider speculating about what happened. But I was once an insider, and based on the understanding of the organization I developed, I think this analysis can be useful, if not definitive. There are other obvious reasons to explain Alaska's struggles in the recent past. In the 2008 import conference, they fielded 6-8 (and that's being generous) Randy Holcomb in a conference with no height limit. Alaska hoped that Holcomb, a superior slasher, would attack the basket and get bigger, opposing imports into foul trouble. Too often, he settled for jumpers, and Sonny Thoss had to defend legit 7-footers like Adam Parada and Chris Alexander. In 2009, the Aces hired Galen Young to keep Roe Ellis's spot warm while the former Best Import finished his season in Australia. Young turned old since we last saw him lead SMB into the 2007 semifinals, and Alaska started 0-4. Ellis returned and put up ever-steady numbers, but the team was already in a death spiral, and Alaska sputtered to an exit in the wild card phase of the playoffs. The right import can make a huge difference--look at how Shawn Daniels and Steve Thomas have turned Air21/Burger King from All-Pinoy also-rans to Fiesta conference contenders year after year. </div><div><br /></div><div>It would be crazy to blame Alaska's troubles in the past two import conferences on the team's balancing act of contracts and egos. So much more determines whether a team has a successful season. But if Alaska sometimes seems combustible and volatile, like they'll either be world-beaters or cellar-dwellers, it might be wise to consider how the team is dealing with its ever-present challenge of paying top players less than they could earn elsewhere and keeping them happy.</div></span></div>RafeBoogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00874925114779200772noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19386810.post-60574630464804384682010-01-17T07:58:00.001+08:002010-01-17T07:59:12.287+08:00Crispanatic Delight #2<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTTaCSSc1YularsdlGSYAG0LSmmsgUuP2ITT7LsL4xhMu3QOSFhpFetYnxVf6ZUzURtNMjQMCDbQ3JeEVQRzPQLUqundhyphenhyphenNvph2rp7zOrbBgmp71OuHTyWRhkDDHb9jKVabmm9/s1600-h/crispateam.jpg"><img alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTTaCSSc1YularsdlGSYAG0LSmmsgUuP2ITT7LsL4xhMu3QOSFhpFetYnxVf6ZUzURtNMjQMCDbQ3JeEVQRzPQLUqundhyphenhyphenNvph2rp7zOrbBgmp71OuHTyWRhkDDHb9jKVabmm9/s400/crispateam.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The second installment in my project to scan an entire Crispa yearbook and share it with the Net. Here, the Redmanizers are seen celebrating a conference championship. Early indications, which we'll discuss in subsequent posts, lead me to believe it could be the first conference title of 1977. Would any of my readers with deeper Philippine basketball roots care to give a full roster of the players, coaches, managers and other personalities in this photo? I see Danny Floro, Philip Cezar, Freddie Hubalde, Atoy Co, Tito Varela (kalbo!) and a few other recognizable faces, but I also see some faces I don't know. Educate me! I have <em>lugaw</em> on the stove. Gotta go check it.RafeBoogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00874925114779200772noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19386810.post-83316940981217212642010-01-08T20:37:00.001+08:002010-01-08T20:37:50.479+08:00A Crispanatic's Wet Dream<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoTRNIlbKN-OYpbSmxQf3gs2O1Gc3hczQtReUmGKjfG3QKBz1ckIC1ViCKU_CU0W9HOJx4EHoWAMqjwVColP1doIw936WgwXt7Z78tx31ptNoJF7qJyKYJIEGRSaXQQXowMxN0/s1600-h/hubalde.jpg"><img alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoTRNIlbKN-OYpbSmxQf3gs2O1Gc3hczQtReUmGKjfG3QKBz1ckIC1ViCKU_CU0W9HOJx4EHoWAMqjwVColP1doIw936WgwXt7Z78tx31ptNoJF7qJyKYJIEGRSaXQQXowMxN0/s400/hubalde.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />I don't know how many Crispanatics are still out there, but wherever you are, I have a treat for you. In late 2005, shortly after I arrived in the Philippines, I saw some kind of TV news lifestyle segment on Tiendesitas, the upscale Tiangge at the corner of C-5 and Ortigas Avenue, and decided to check it out. I will always remember that trip for two reasons. First, it was the day that the geography of the lower part of Quezon City clicked in my head. While sitting in a taxi headed toward Rosario, I noticed the road that takes you past Green Meadows and realized I knew how to get back to Katipunan from there. Later that day, foolishly, I decided to put my knowledge to the test, and walked from Tiendesitas to Green Meadows, then across to White Plains, past the Mormon temple, past the row of fertilizer and garden supply shops, up to Santolan, past Blue Ridge and now on Katipunan Extension, past Dannylicious and Countryside (oh the barbecue I missed that day!) over the flyover and finally into Loyola Heights and home. The trip took almost two hours but felt like seven. I realized by the time I hit the Mormon temple that I had set myself up for a miserable afternoon, but once I had committed to the trek, I refused to give up, even if it meant tripling my agony. It wasn't the heat or the exhaust fumes that did me in, but the fact that many sections of the walk I just described were woefully barren. There were no other pedestrians, just cars zipping past and taxis taunting me with their be-bopping horns. Often, I was just walking alongside high wall of a closed subdivision or an empty field or the air above the Marikina Valley. That view is actually quite splendid, but by the time I got there I was shuffling forward on little more than spite and didn't bother admiring the city.<br /><br />Luckily, when I got home, I had something special to look at. A beat-up Crispa photo album from the late Seventies that I bought from an antique shop at Tiendesitas, which is the second reason I won't forget that afternoon. At the time, I don't think I really even knew who the Crispa Redmanizers were or why they mattered. I just bought the album because it looked like an important piece of history. Given how sparse the photo and especially video record is of the early PBA, I do consider this album to be a pretty meaningful find. Even before I could recognize the players in it, before Toyota #7 meant something to me, I could look at this and feel the immense passion behind Philippine basketball, and I can still look at some of these photos and feel inspired. I'm going to do my best to scan them all over the next few months and post them here for the world to see, if anyone ever finds my blog.<br /><br />I'm not 100 percent sure what year this album is from. I could find out with a little more digging, but I bet some commenters will provide important clues. One possibly telling fact is that Freddie Hubalde is prominently featured in it. That leads me to believe that it's either a 1977 album, since Hubalde won the MVP that season, or it's a personal album made for Hubalde or one of his fans or someone in his family. As you can see, the very first photo in the whole album is a really nice portrait of Freddie, the only such headshot in the entire album. Enjoy reliving what many Filipinos consider to be the PBA's glory days.RafeBoogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00874925114779200772noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19386810.post-23727792670475128372009-12-25T04:21:00.002+08:002009-12-25T05:15:41.580+08:00Manny W. Pacquiao?<blockquote></blockquote>The news earlier this week that <a href="http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20091222-243362/Pacquiao-I-had-a-talk-with-God">Manny Pacquiao talked to God</a> about the great power he'd one day be blessed with reminded me of the recurring kerfuffle during the Bush years whenever George W. Bush would claim that God instructed him to make certain decisions as commander in chief. One of them, it appears, <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/13/AR2005101301688.html">was invading Iraq</a>. God, would you like to own up to that blunder?<div><br /></div><div>Anyway, now that Pacquiao is back on the campaign trail, albeit unofficially until the campaign period starts next March, his Holy tête-à-tête reminded me of Bush. Here's what Pacquiao told the 1500 lucky attendees at his 31st birthday bash in General Santos City: </div><div><blockquote></blockquote><blockquote>In my 31 years here on Earth, God appeared to me once and told me to have unconditional faith in him. I was not yet very popular and world champion when our God appeared to me and assured me of strength and power. </blockquote>Of course, the alarm bells don't sound quite as quickly in the Philippines when a politician says he's guided by God as they do here in the States. Many Americans were shocked by Bush's bald-faced Bible-thumping. We knew he was Born Again, but the idea that he would use his power in office do whatever his lord asked of him was disturbing to a country that has enshrined the separation of church and state in the bill of rights. Of course, I think the Philippines has some nominal devotion to this concept, but the inability to pass urgently-needed family planning and birth control legislation and the Comelec's ugly disqualification of the Gay Rights party list group Ang Ladlad on grounds of <a href="http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/lifestyle/11/12/09/comelec-says-gay-party-immoral">"sexual immorality"</a> seem to indicate that Catholic doctrine is in many cases stronger than lofty democratic ideals. </div><div><br /></div><div>I'm Christian and I'm looking forward to Christmas here in New York (sadly, there will be no queso de bola, no buko salad, no nothing at my noche buena this evening -- can you feel my <i>inggit</i>?), but I think important government decisions are better made by men and women who aren't driven by their unwavering faith in religious dogma that isn't necessarily shared by the citizens they serve. </div><div><br /></div><div>In other Pacquiao news, Manny took the <a href="http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20091222-243363/Pacquiao-defends-move-to-join-NP">oath of the Nacionalista Party</a> this week and made formal his alliance with <a href="http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20091219-242847/Poor-boys-once-Manny-goes-for-Manny">presidential candidate Manny Villar</a>, an event many people saw coming after Mr. Sipag at Tiyaga showed up at Pacquiao's Baguio City training camp to talk politics and showed up in <a href="http://firequinito.com/archives/211-Freddie-Roach-threatens-to-quit-over-Manny-Pacquiaos-meeting-with-Manny-Villar.html">HBO's Pacquiao/Cotto 24/7</a>. I don't know if it matters which candidate Pacquiao sides with. There's something heartening about knowing he's officially out of PGMA's Lakas-Kampi pocket, although who knows what kind of nasty crud lies hidden in Senator Villar's deep pockets. I am impressed by the sheer <a href="http://www.gmanews.tv/story/179919/pacquiao-party-turns-rivals-satur-bongbong-into-buddies">gonzo nature of Villar's Nacionalista slate</a>, which includes Bongbong Marcos, whose dictator dad imprisoned Junior's running mate, Satur Ocampo, as well as all-around lunatic Miriam Defensor Santiago and <a href="http://www.resiklo.com/">Mr. Resiklo, Bong Revilla</a>. Which Nacionalista Party candidate will dominate this week's Metro Manila Film Festival? <a href="http://www.pacquiaovideo.com/2009/08/wapakman-movie-trailer-metro-manila.html">Wapakman</a> or <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5v-7hoZ0BA">Ang Panday</a>?</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>RafeBoogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00874925114779200772noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19386810.post-608940101460361182009-12-15T10:57:00.002+08:002009-12-15T11:46:03.423+08:00Some links<blockquote></blockquote><blockquote></blockquote><div><br /></div>It's pretty rare that I do the links thing, but since I'm trying to update more frequently, it may become a habit. Unfortunately, I've botched one essential part of the posting links formula -- my stories are all pretty old. I found them on Friday and sat on them all weekend. However, lets hope that they can spur some thoughts and discussions of a more timeless nature.<div><br /></div><div><ul><li>Geoff Calkins, a sports columnist in Memphis, tries to <a href="http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2009/dec/11/talking-points/">talk himself into believing</a> in the Grizzlies, who turned in a couple of surprising wins recently over the Mavericks and the Cavaliers. I dig it; Memphis has some appealing young players. I've been a Rudy Gay fan for a few years now, and Calkins's effort hits a lot of the standard sports columnist notes, until he goes off on this rhetorical splurge: "[Fans have] also started to notice that -- hey, what do you know? -- some of the players on the current roster are easy to like. What's not to like about Marc Gasol, for instance? What's not to like about Zach Randolph or Rudy Gay?"<br /><br />Huh? Did he really just ask, without any trace of sarcasm, what's not to like about Zach Randolph? The guy might be the most maligned big man of his generation. Ask Ruben Patterson, whose eye socket Randolph broke back in the Jail Blazers heyday. Actually, I like Zach Randolph, but not in the honest-to-goodness fan's sense Calkins seems to be advocating, but because I like talented misfit players. Knicks games since they traded Randolph haven't been as much fun without Zach's couldn't-care-less three-point attempts.</li><li>A sad and slightly shocking story about James Lang, the 26-year-old D-League center who suffered a stroke the day after Thanksgiving. In college, I used to scour nbadraft.net. This was before Jonathan Givony had turned DraftExpress into a sterling, professional-style operation that routinely out-reported ESPN, when draft websites were a mess of garbled sentence fragments describing high school, European and African players I'd never heard of or seen before. The impressionistic sketches of these players' abilities and their tiny thumbnail headshots made the old draft sites about imagining a player's skill set more than absorbing an accurate scouting report. Surely, DraftExpress is an improvement, but I had more fun in the old days.<br />Anyway, I remember James Lang from those days, when he was just another thumbnail (I seem to recall a pointy, Boondocks-style blown-out afro in his headshot), and I was upset to learn about his health. It was hard to maintain an appropriately somber mood, however, because the <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/dec/11/facing-another-battle/?page=2">Washington Times coverage</a> of his story was so ridiculous. It includes quotes describing him as a "gentle giant" and a "special person" -- does this paper have editors? Where were they, and how did they allow these euphemisms for developmentally disabled people into the story? Beyond that, there are details about Lang hiding candy bars in his shoes and using an over-the-counter colon cleanser to shed pounds.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; "><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.5em; "></p></span></li><li>Then there's this, the New York Times' in-depth attempt at explaining the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/11/world/asia/11iht-massacre.html?partner=rss&emc=rss">Maguindanao/Ampatuan massacres</a> for American readers. I was impressed. It's something I would recommend to someone who knew little about the Philippines, the Muslim separatist movement in the South, the proliferation of warlords and private armies or the recurring trend of election-related violence. It's also heartening to see the Times giving Carlos Conde, their Filipino stringer, some room to flesh this out, even if I didn't see the story in my print edition of the paper. In the past, Conde has been stuck writing 300- to 400-word accounts of major events like typhoons, coup attempts and clashes between the AFP and rebel forces in Mindanao, while Southeast Asian correspondent Seth Mydans would be flown in to write the bigger, more meaningful pieces. That strategy didn't seem to cut it, since Mydans was spread too thin over several countries. Even before the Ampatuan massacre and subsequent declaration of martial law thrust the Philippines back into the international news spotlight, Conde penned worthy primers on the challenges of passing <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/world/asia/26iht-phils.html">reproductive health legislation</a> and <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/29/world/asia/29estrada.html">Erap's presidential aspirations</a>. I hope the paper, and Conde, keep up the good work.</li></ul></div>RafeBoogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00874925114779200772noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19386810.post-12537941929081844892009-12-08T14:53:00.001+08:002009-12-08T15:23:56.944+08:00Almost there!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYqdWPZyXvmx5k_kbdEwTufbxOGo7pG1Dd1n-XmoEYBwbGrC0tso9lzwww0b34AORAqvMwxQy_K5iP-v2T3VquCU82nkarqNRXQiaW0JIAT46bivDOeN81ziIuXKkd38Rxuz05/s1600-h/PacificRims.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYqdWPZyXvmx5k_kbdEwTufbxOGo7pG1Dd1n-XmoEYBwbGrC0tso9lzwww0b34AORAqvMwxQy_K5iP-v2T3VquCU82nkarqNRXQiaW0JIAT46bivDOeN81ziIuXKkd38Rxuz05/s400/PacificRims.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />This is exciting, isn't it? It's still rough -- the images, especially the back cover, are grainy and the text is maybe a tad corny, but that's how the flap copy tends to be. Chances are, when this book is released in June 2010 from NAL/Penguin, it's going to look a lot like this. I've always been a fan of this wire image of this kid about to take down this rim with one of his air <i>tsinelas</i> sliding off his heel. It's superimposed over a shot of a game I saw in Sorsogon. <div><br /></div><div>The book isn't quite done yet. My editor and I are still making some minor tweaks. But the heaviest lifting is done. It's based on an import conference I spent following the Alaska Aces from inside the team's locker room, where I witnessed the sublime basketball wisdom of Joel Banal (who may want to create a line of hoops-themed fortune cookies), the antics of Willie Miller, the intense planning of Tim Cone, the rat tail of Rey Hugnatan, a season-saving three-pointer from Dale Singson and much, much more. Along the way, I take lengthy detours to explore the historical milestones of the Philippine game, the impact of Billy Ray Bates and Norman Black, the quiet beauty of homemade hoops in the provinces, Crispa/Toyota, Ateneo/La Salle and even the Cebu Gems/Negros Slashers rivalry. And blended in with it all are a few personal scenes, things I experienced that were so rich that I had to work them into the narrative: My star-making turn in <i>Bakekang</i>, how I ended up reinforcing the Boracay Cockpit Arena Cockers alongside former Pasig Pirates PG Jonathan de Guzman in a local tournament, how I made a fool of myself in said tournament and much, much more.</div><div><br /></div><div>One thought on completing a project like this, which I might end up repeating a hundred times over the next year, is that what feels best about finally achieving this goal (or being so close that I can taste it) is not that I'm proud of myself, but relieved that all the people who so generously gave me their time and insight are actually going to see the product of that. These were not people without better things to do, they were many all-time great players and coaches like Norman Black, Tim Cone, Baby Dalupan, Philip Cezar, Atoy Co, Ronnie Magsanoc and many, many more. They spoke to me about their careers and their own loves for the game long before I had a book deal, and for years I was haunted by the possibility that I wouldn't be able to pull it off. Talk about <i>utang na loob; </i>this was mine. And I was thrilled and remain elated that the people and country who gave me so much would get to see an actual book about Philippine basketball that hopefully validates the time they gave me. (Of course, to properly pay down my debt of gratitude, I will be writing puff pieces about players and coaches' Brothers Burgers franchises for the rest of my days.) I look at this book as a love letter to Philippine basketball and the Philippines in general, and I hope when it's released, readers will feel that way too. </div>RafeBoogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00874925114779200772noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19386810.post-63104845966093589782009-10-31T01:31:00.004+08:002009-10-31T01:57:34.167+08:00Balunbalunan sure tastes nice on the Foreman Grill<blockquote></blockquote>There are so many reasons to adore Manny Pacquiao. In these <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/notebook?page=notebook/boxingoct30">recent remarks</a> to ESPN boxing honcho Dan Rafael, (in the sidebar), PacMan has given me one more reason to smile. In the spirit of Halloween, Rafael asked both Pacquiao and his November 14 opponent Miguel Cotto which boxer they'd most like to dress up as. Cotto said Muhammad Ali for all the obvious reasons. Here's how Pacquiao responded: <div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:11px;"></span><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I would be 'Big' George Foreman. Not only because it would give me an opportunity to win a world title in an eighth weight division but in a division I would never be big enough to grow into on my own. Plus, I would be big enough to play power forward in the NBA.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span><div></div></blockquote><div><br /></div><div>For the record, "Big" George is six-foot-three and a half. Now it's possible Manny may have trouble judging height for anyone over six feet, but even though George weighs enough to bump uglies with Rick Mahorn, he's still about six inches short of the standard height for NBA power forwards. Foreman's height, however, is spot on for the four position in another league Pacquiao may have heard of -- the PBA. </div><div><br /></div><div>Pacquiao's well-chronicled love for basketball is a constant source of amusement. HBO's video of his private games in Baguio -- the ones that drive trainer Freddie Roach crazy -- gives a hint of what kind of player Pacman is, and it doesn't look like he's a natural power forward. We see an awkward behind the back dribble and some hideous jump shot form, but like almost any Pinoy baller, he's a whiz at double-clutch lay-ups with plenty of pektos. (Basketball comes in around the 13:20 mark of this video.)</div></div><br /><object width="480" height="295"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/SB4IEQzm7uE&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/SB4IEQzm7uE&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="295"></embed></object>RafeBoogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00874925114779200772noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19386810.post-9256671414301059482009-10-19T09:53:00.004+08:002009-10-19T19:39:19.842+08:00Basketball/Ondoy pictures<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5Uyfe6J4JEY9q2x4EhWFcLDX6iduPTwv3wvCyFgVvSjXpxBTxErtnfgHgfAgsC_DSSdoz7BwB4ats1PJz6u7c0T-CpkxGE88w9B_XqUALKDI2fV8km0AsevgAu0i7o_CZIjvJ/s1600-h/04n090929_flood.jpg"><img alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5Uyfe6J4JEY9q2x4EhWFcLDX6iduPTwv3wvCyFgVvSjXpxBTxErtnfgHgfAgsC_DSSdoz7BwB4ats1PJz6u7c0T-CpkxGE88w9B_XqUALKDI2fV8km0AsevgAu0i7o_CZIjvJ/s400/04n090929_flood.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />I just wanted to share a pair of photographs that caught my eye in recent weeks, as I've watched the Philippines torn apart by typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng. There's not much that hasn't been said about the devastating loss of life and property the storms have caused, and it was particularly distressing for me to see pictures on CNN.com (it's <a href="http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-334032">number five in this slideshow</a>) of the street in front of my old house submerged in water that would reach my chest.<br /><div>Sometimes it's inappropriate to turn my one-track basketball mind onto subjects that are obviously much bigger than the game. I wrestled with that possibility and its associated guilt when I saw these photographs and felt a tinge of happiness at seeing basketball woven into the story of this crisis the same way it has become part of practically every facet of Philippine society. In the top photo, the scene is of grim resolve, people saving those few dear keepsakes that can be saved, while the bottom picture is just plain fun. </div><div><br /></div>Of course, the far more important stories are the crippling effects the storms have had on people's lives, the number of people who've lost their homes and who may be permanently relocated. That alone is a frightening prospect, a disaster lumped on top of a calamity, like finding someone who's been shot and stabbing them through the bullet hole. That's not to say that slums/informal settlements aren't a problem, or that they didn't exacerbate the floods by clogging waterways with shanties, kangkong and solid waste, but the idea of the government overseeing a mandatory relocation of the urban poor is horrifying. And then there's the more positive story of the thousands of volunteers who stepped up to help those hardest hit by the storms. I'm proud that a lot of my friends contributed and continue to give to these efforts.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDTJMKnmSSxb6CPN1tf8ndhicENR_e2rgRULRR9Fj0dXlzFIoWW4n1r8f87Gro53lD6tbMLAdvDlh7JIFu-tNp7Qa6fE7xluSq1Dnz7VlLJBWaAKPDG-oFgeS185FfCe5rrIF5/s1600-h/gen1hires.jpg"><img alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDTJMKnmSSxb6CPN1tf8ndhicENR_e2rgRULRR9Fj0dXlzFIoWW4n1r8f87Gro53lD6tbMLAdvDlh7JIFu-tNp7Qa6fE7xluSq1Dnz7VlLJBWaAKPDG-oFgeS185FfCe5rrIF5/s400/gen1hires.jpg" border="0" /></a><div style="clear: both;"><a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><br /></a></div>RafeBoogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00874925114779200772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19386810.post-34502344573404877642009-10-17T20:42:00.002+08:002009-10-17T22:39:10.011+08:00Spreading the blame: A note from a newly minted Wynne Arboleda fanOK that's a little too strong. I wouldn't call myself a new Wynne Arboleda fan after watching him briefly smother a PBA fan with assorted Hadoukens and Muay Thai knees. But I'm tired of the reflexive condemnation that follows anytime an athlete overreacts and confronts a fan, whether or not the scene becomes as grisly as it did in the Burger King/Gilas game. <div><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/GQhiBv92hdU&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/GQhiBv92hdU&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Full disclosure. I like professional basketball players. I like them more than the coaches and more than the fans. They are the people who made me fall in love with the game when I was eight years old. They inspired me to become a half-decent player, and even though I was never good enough to go past truly dismal college ball, I still -- by now you can officially call me deluded -- think of myself as an athlete first and fan second. My sympathies run toward the players. I felt bad for Ron Artest when the NBA gave him a season-long suspension after the Detroit brawl. Likewise, I already feel sorry for Wynne Arboleda, because it seems like people are already calling for his head, and he'll be sitting for the rest of the conference at least and I'm guessing longer.</div><div><br /></div><div>What gets me is that when the dust settles, everyone always points at the player and no one else. Yes, the player is ultimately responsible for his actions, but no one looks at the league, the franchises or the fans that through all the ingredients for a disaster into the pot and turned up the heat.</div><div><br /></div><div>For starters, step back and look at the history of Philippine basketball. Over the years, fans have always posed a greater threat to players and referees than vice versa. From Yco-Ysmael to Crispa-Meralco to Crispa-Toyota to Ginebra-Tanduay to just plain Ginebra (that would be from the 1960s until about ten years ago), fans felt entitled to express their disapproval with bad calls or dirty play by showering the court with peso coins, spent batteries, Monoblock chairs, water bottles, beer cans and other projectiles. Teams wouldn't enter an arena without enough beach umbrellas to make <i>payong </i>over the entire bench. I've heard that PBA players started covering their heads with towels on the bench because it took the sting out of peso coins. By many accounts, crowd violence over the years was just as bad if not worse in the college ranks, with rivalries like Ateneo-San Beda and Ateneo-La Salle leading to regular parking lot brawls.</div><div><br /></div><div>The point is that the atmosphere at big-time Philippine basketball games has always been wild and woolly, and I think it's fair to suggest that leagues -- MICAA, PBA, NCAA, UAAP -- have tolerated and even encouraged fan misbehavior. It spiced up games and brought in bigger crowds. </div><div><br /></div><div>In recent years the PBA has more or less eradicated the air of lawlessness that once predominated in the stands at Araneta or ULTRA, but the legacy is still there. I'd argue that this tradition is especially important in the Philippines, where basketball games have been a place for people to blow off steam and act in ways that would be unthinkable in their everyday lives. Yes, American fans also get drunk at NBA, NFL, and MLB games and do ghastly things, but they don't have martial law in their not-too-distant memories. Outside of the Big Dome, martial law-era PBA crowds were forced to live by the Marcos slogan <i>Sa ika-uunlad ng bayan, disiplina ang kailangan</i>, and if they missed curfew or failed to live up to that standard of "discipline," the consequences could be grave. Inside the Big Dome, on the other hand, they could expect to see Jaworski knee somebody in the gut or Rudy Kutch clobber somebody, an if they were truly lucky a full-scale brawl would break out. They could pepper the referees with peso coins, skirmish with other fans, and scream their lungs out with the filthiest invectives that came to mind.</div><div><br /></div><div>That release valve was probably a good thing. But these days, with the PBA striving to emulate the NBA's stuffiness and with the Philippines more than 20 years removed from Marcos's repressive dictatorship (OK, I'm aware of the PGMA parallels; let me skirt that issue for now), the power dynamic between players, fans and the league is changing. Some fans still want to blow off steam, primarily by heckling. The players can't be as rugged as they were in the Seventies and Eighties, because this is a modern league now, with "scientific" coaching and professional standards. The league wants the fans to have their fun and the players to remain beatific basketball machines, passionate only about scoring and defense, and impervious to whatever bedlam occurs in the stands. But if the league continues to allow fans to treat players like animals while expecting the athletes the athletes to "take it like a man," every once in a while a player will snap and react in a more primal manner.</div><div><br /></div><div>That's what happened with Arboleda, and what might have happened last year, if Danny Ildefonso's teammates hadn't restrained him in a similar situation. Which calls into question the league and the arena and security. After the beatdown, BTV courtside reporter Patricia Hizon asked why security didn't try to get between Arboleda and the fan. Araneta security told her they're <a href="http://twitter.com/patriciahizon/status/4915667977">not allowed to touch the players</a>, while PBA security said they're <a href="http://twitter.com/patriciahizon/status/4915611143">only responsible for the referees</a>. This is tragically predictable. Anytime something goes wrong in Philippine society, the institutions responsible calmly explain that due to some strange technicality or forces greater than all of us, it wasn't their fault. Recently, we've seen Pangulong Gloria calling the Philippines a victim of global warming in the aftermath of Typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng. Really? Global warming is a new phenomenon? It wasn't around when rains led to the 2006 Southern Leyte landslide? Or when Milenyo hit Manila? Or when Typhoon Reming caused mudslides that buried large swaths of Albay? And those are just the major natural disasters that hit the country while I was living there. In the basketball realm, when the late Sen. Robert Barbers asked government officials why suspected Fil-shams' citizenship papers were being rubber stamped, the Bureau of Immigration pointed to the Department of Foreign Affairs who pointed to the Department of Justice who pointed back to the B of I. The serial passing of the buck is as Philippine as the <i>tinikling</i>. When disaster strikes, it's never the fault of the people who are actually in charge.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>So it's Sonny Alvarado's fault that Tanduay and the government fixed his papers, just as all the blame for yesterday's incident will fall on Wynne Arboleda. Everyone will turn a blind eye to the other factors that lit the fuse for his explosion. The bad guys get punished, everyone moves on and nothing gets solved. </div>RafeBoogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00874925114779200772noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19386810.post-27233715429576558642009-10-11T09:32:00.002+08:002009-10-11T10:50:24.902+08:00Free Donbel (They did!)Quinito Henson's <a href="http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=513189&publicationSubCategoryId=69">Sunday column</a> heralding the opening of the PBA's 35th season reads like a fairly rote list of transactions and announcements for the upcoming season. But a close reading reveals some fabulous laugh lines. Since I'm a terrible blogger, let the fact that I'm actually posting something about the new season be an indication of how excited I am. And I'm 8,000 miles away.<br /><br />Anyway, more than any other line in Quinito's piece, this one killed me. It made me chortle a fine mist of Diet Coke on my keyboard and it broke my heart at the same time:<br /><blockquote>In the transition, several veterans were left by the wayside. Gone from the PBA are the likes of ... Topex Robinson (reportedly playing in Masbate).</blockquote>What? A PBA without Topex? I guess after Purefoods re-acquired Paul Artadi, they decided they didn't need two non-shooting midget point guards in their lineup. But it's simply criminal that no one signed Topex as a backup. He was a solid ball pressure/change-the-tempo backup PG, not to mention his nickname is an acne cream! Did James Yap put the kybosh on him because of his <a href="http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070221195722AAhT0hW">well-chronicled love of Vicky Belo facial products</a>? Now where will we find a 5-foot-6 guy to miraculously corral 3-5 rebounds in 15 minutes per game?<br /><br />But the truly bizarre thing about the Topex line is the mysterious, almost cryptic "playing in Masbate" line. What's he doing there? He's from Olongapo! Is he playing as an import in an Interbarangay tournament in Masbate City? Is he playing as a local? Seriously, he couldn't play for a Liga Pilipinas team? Did he <a href="http://www.rodeomasbateno.com/">join the rodeo</a>? It's only eight months until an election, I hope he gets out of there before the <a href="http://www.gmanews.tv/story/43437/181-rp-towns-consistent-election-hotspots">trigger-happy Masbateños</a> start licking shots.<br /><br />Topex, I want you back in the PBA where you belong. I remember I saw you the first time I visited a PBA practice, with Red Bull in 2005. You came over and said what's up to me right away. Maybe because you thought I was the new import. But anyway, I appreciated your kindness. I hope somebody brings you back, or that you set new records in bull-riding.<br /><br />Then there's this line:<br /><blockquote>Barako and Coca-Cola are the teams with the most veteran recruits. The Bulls picked up Aris Dimaunahan, Chad Alonzo, Gilbert Lao, Aljamal and Donbel Belano.</blockquote>Hallelujah! Donbel Belano is finally free from the Talk-N-Text reserve list. Let's hope the only man to ever log a quadruple double (points, assists, rebounds, steals) in the MBA still has some game left in his tank. The Phone Pals/Tropang Texters/whatever-the-hell-they-go-by-nows have been hording reserve talent for years, guys like Belano and Jonathan de Guzman who would be a joy to watch on some of the league's low-budget teams. Finally, Belano is free to share his swashbuckling, sidestepping talents with PBA fans again. (Sadly, there's a decent chance he made more money wasting away as a TNT practice dummy.) The last time he got to play consistently was during the 2007 import conference, when Jimmy Alapag left TNT to play for the national team. And Donbel tore it up! He was one <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YD8WhGqEFvA&feature=player_profilepage">toilet-bowl in-and-out miss</a> from pulling a Rudy Distrito (not <a href="http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/sports/view/20070318-55505/Rudy_Distrito_draws_manslaughter"><span style="font-style: italic;">that</span> kind</a> of Rudy Distrito!) in the last minute of game seven of the Finals that year. If his last-minute shot went down after rattling around the rim, Alaska might have lost. He's playing on Barako Bull with the rest of the blue-light special all-stars, budget-salaried journeymen from every corner of Philippine basketball, not to mention Alex Crisano in all his <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/21688246@N07/3073234027">tattooed, Rodmanesque glory</a>.<br /><br />One more line, the buried/misleading sports news item of the year. When Henson mentions the upcoming game between Burger King -- the team that made Japeth Aguilar the #1 draft pick in August, only to almost lose him to the Smart Gilas national team, then get him back two days before the season began by basically threatening to permanently blacklist Aguilar from the PBA -- and Smart Gilas. Here's the line: <blockquote>Fans are expected to come out in droves to witness Aguilar’s transformation from a Smart-Gilas anchor to a Burger King rookie.</blockquote>That's certainly one way of looking at it. If I were in the country, I'd be hoping to witness BK coach Yeng Guiao plant an elbow in Chris Tiu's neck, then send a band of his henchmen from the <a href="http://kengkeedee.multiply.com/photos/album/109/SM_Pampanga#photo=13">Thug Life Bar</a> at SM Pampanga to make parol -- Christmas lanterns -- out of Gilas coach Rajko Toroman's bones.<br /><br />Have a great season guys. I'd give anything to be there.RafeBoogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00874925114779200772noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19386810.post-18690552010162738152009-10-09T23:41:00.002+08:002009-10-09T23:59:27.038+08:00Revisiting Rudy HatfieldHas anyone looked at Rudy Hatfield's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudy_Hatfield">Wikipedia entry</a> lately?<br /><br /><blockquote><h2><span class="mw-headline" id="About_the_Man">About the Man</span></h2> <p>Rudy retired from Basketball to follow his true passion. Teaching innercity quadrapalegic kids the wonderful sport of dodgeball. He even became a big brother to one of the kids from his dodgeball team (Matt Groundstone). It was with his time with Matt that Rudy decided to learn the Appalachian art of whittling.</p> <p>"Rudy has really come a long way in his artwork. His unicorns easily sell anywhere from $500-$1500 each" says Sebastian Motiff (A whittling expert who has been seen on the Antique Roadshow in both the US and Canada).</p> <p>"When I whittle, its like I'm in a whole new world. Its a happy place with flowery meadows and rainbow skies, and rivers made of chocolate, where children dance and laugh and play with gumdrop smiles" said Rudy in his most recent interview.</p> <p>Rudy has since opened up his on boutique where he sells his unicorns, and has earned the nomiker "The Unicorn Whisperer". It was his wife,Bethany, who first called Rudy 'Unicorn Whisperer' after seeing how whittling those unicorn figures from wood, just seemed to calm the rage inside of Rudy. Bethany has been Rudy's biggest fan, supporting his whittling and aspirations of making it big in the Unicorn art world.</p></blockquote>Before the crazy rumor mill cranks up, let me state that I'm fairly positive Rudy "The Unicorn Whisperer" is a hoax. None of the names included in this description appear anywhere else on the Web. It also seems like the kind of joke worthy of Rudy Hatfield's unhinged sense of humor. I wouldn't be surprised if he wrote the whittling myth himself, and if it wasn't him then it's probably a clever fan's homage.<br /><br />For those who aren't caught up on Rudy Hatfield, he was the PBA's premier rebounder and garbageman for much of this decade. He was so good that I saw opposing coaches devote most of their scouting time to keeping Hatfield off the boards and keeping his energy from spreading to his teammates. Like that other great boardsman, Dennis Rodman, Hatfield had an eccentric side. He left the Philippines in the prime of his career to try out as a professional wrestler and then attend fire department training, because "they’re crazy enough to run into a fire when everyone’s heading out and I get to wear suspenders all day," he wrote in an <a href="http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=328149&publicationSubCategoryId=69">E-mail to Quinito</a> Henson. "Chicks dig guys in suspenders, if you smell what the Rock is cookin’." To give you an idea of what the H-Bomb was capable of, here's the YouTube video of his immortal post-game speech after Ginebra bagged the 2007 All-Filipino championship. Wherever Rudy Hatfield is, the PBA misses him.<br /><br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/9GlOxB7xBL8&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/9GlOxB7xBL8&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object>RafeBoogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00874925114779200772noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19386810.post-85080639568929743222009-10-04T23:19:00.002+08:002009-10-04T23:27:02.237+08:00Recycling my comments from FireQuinitoI admit it. I have a problem. I only seem capable of blogging when I've already responded to something at <a href="http://firequinito.com/">FireQuinito</a>. I have excuses: I'm writing non-stop to finish this book, and will return to blogging in about a month. I hope. Until then, if there's anyone who reads my blog but doesn't read FireQuinito (message to this reader: Baliktad 'yan! You should pay more attention to Jaemark, who actually updates FQ.), here is a comment I posted there about racial prejudices in the Philippines as they relate to basketball and some other things. I was responding also to Howie Severino's <a href="http://blogs.gmanews.tv/sidetrip/blog/index.php?/archives/393-Obama-and-Filipino-racism.html">blog</a>. My take only scratches the surface, but I'm not expert enough to really get to the bottom of this subject.<br /><br /><blockquote>It never surprised me that racial attitudes in the Philippines were a bit behind those in the U.S., since the Philippines has a much different racial history. Both countries have their baggage, but the States has to deal with the legacy of slavery, which is where racism against African-Americans comes from. There are relatively so few black immigrants or half-black Filipinos that it's not a surprise that the Philippines hasn't had to come to terms with that kind of racism.<br /><br />You definitely see it in basketball, where imports are lauded as athletes but viewed with a sharp-edged paternalism, where teams spy on their black American players to make sure they aren't running wild like the O.G. Black Superman, Billy Ray Bates. When imports are in public, people try to touch their hair or ask why it's so curly, ignorant racism that most players graciously ignore. It's like because most Pinoys see relatively few black people, they've never had to update their dated, racist attitudes about them.<br /><br />It's interesting that Howie Severino framed his blog in terms of Filipino-Americans, because of the generational divide in that group, where many older Fil-Ams exhibit the kind of racism Howie wrote about, but younger Fil-Ams identify with American youth culture, so much of which comes from black trendsetters. Plus, if they play basketball, their idols are black NBA players, and their teammates are probably black, too. I've heard young Fil-Ams say, sometimes with pride and sometimes with annoyance, that they're known as the blackest of the Asians, i.e. they're good at breakdancing, basketball, DJing, etc. It's a generational dichotomy that somebody who's done some real research will have to parse out better than I have here.</blockquote>RafeBoogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00874925114779200772noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19386810.post-55290685641005106282009-08-02T23:14:00.002+08:002009-08-02T23:21:39.159+08:002009 PBA Draft thoughts<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 13px; "><div><a href="http://firequinito.com">FireQuinito</a> has published the 2009 PBA draft results. Shame on Inquirer.net and PhilStar.com for not getting it up sooner. I know this story is lost in the bigger news of the week, Cory Aquino's death, and that should be everyone's lead story for a long time, but they should still be able to report on what's happening in the rest of the country.</div><div><br /></div><div>Anyway, this post is really a comment I left on FireQuinito, and assuming I still have any American readers, let me apologize to them right now: This is going to be a fairly impenetrable read, as it references and doesn't explain mediocre Fil-Swiss centers, the PBA's limit of five Fil-foreign players per team, and 2008 MVP Kelly Williams, brother-in-law, Lamont Charles Waters, who was drafted in the second round by Kelly's team, the Santa Lucia Realtors. It's nice to see guys I played with for a couple years at Reyes, LS Greenhills and Xavier getting a chance in the pros.</div><div><br /></div><div>Let the confusion begin:</div><div><br /></div>That Burtscher pick has to be the biggest 1st Round sucker punch since Isiah Thomas drafted Renaldo Balkman, and everyone made the "did he think he was drafting Ronaldo Blackmon?" joke. And both picks were made by my respective teams. I spent a lot of time with the Alaska franchise, but I can't pretend to know the thought process here. One trend is becoming clear: If you played for Cebuana Lhuillier under coach Luigi Trillo in 2007, you can sit on Alaska's bench for a while. They drafted Bono and now Burtscher, they've hired Nico Uy and Chris Viardo as practice players, and they took on Ariel Capus as a free agent. Now, all they have to do is pick up Macky Escalona and pluck Don Dulay from RoS, and the cycle will be complete. I don't get it, but there seems to be a trend. And, as Ariel Capus and Ken Bono will probably admit, Alaska is as good a place to ride the pine as any. It's one of the few PBA franchises where Fil-Ams and locals really seem to enjoy being around each other. In fact, although the franchise is known for using their "family" approach to lowball players during contract negotiations, the family vibe does exist at Alaska. Plus, you get to be around Jeff Cariaso, maybe the PBA's classiest player, and Willie Miller, certainly the funniest (although it looks like they could both be gone by next season, and if so, all bets are off). If Poch Juiño stays on in a reserve role, you get another top-10 hilarious guy to pal around with. And as long as Bong Hawkins is on the sidelines, hijinks will ensue. All in all, I imagine Burtscher will have a fine time watching these guys play.<br /><br />I would have tipped you on Charles Waters if I knew that he was no longer going by Lamont. He's in great shape, and he plays really, really hard. Doesn't have the greatest instincts, but he tries on defense and can be very tough to box out. He's also a good guy who won't mind playing limited minutes. Unless one of the undrafteds ends up killing SLR someday, you can't do much worse than that.<br /><br />So if TNT is picking up Nic and Kevin White, which Fil-Ams have to go? Ali probably isn't heading back to Coke so soon. Harvey? Would they move Jimmy to make way for Castro? Whoever is on the outs, I imagine they're pissed. Nobody likes to get kicked off that MVP gravy train. Double bonus! Triple bonus! House and lot! Free load!<br /></span>RafeBoogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00874925114779200772noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19386810.post-82526084774295901822009-06-28T10:16:00.002+08:002009-06-28T10:24:01.878+08:00Idol of the day: Patrick MichelsThree hundred and sixty-four days a year, my idol is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer_Se">Homer Se</a>. But today, I want to honor <a href="http://www.patrickmichels.com/">Pat Michels</a>, my old roommate. His <a href="http://www.texasobserver.org/article.php?aid=2720#">feature story</a> on a truck driver who was injured while doing contract work in Iraq (this does not at all do the story justice; read it!) recently won first place among small circulation weeklies at the national <a href="http://aan.org/alternative/dan_savage_announces_altweekly_award_winners__does__savage_love_live_/Aan/ViewArticle?oid=1225689">AltWeekly Awards</a>. Congratulations!RafeBoogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00874925114779200772noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19386810.post-59683211648751982772009-05-30T07:34:00.001+08:002009-05-30T07:48:08.874+08:00Hayden Joe!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZpdnjQODybs9GvxnTtcZnagS2XtRAd9qH55CaO8a-g7Jj6dWob-foDJDQ9N1pw0BCOB2w1c7K-yA-9Ic-L2jQj55ZoByXzVuU63zIPMKCxhrNxcRaBNHRLfbiQ4Z5Cntu0kus/s1600-h/Snapshot_20090529.jpg"><img alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZpdnjQODybs9GvxnTtcZnagS2XtRAd9qH55CaO8a-g7Jj6dWob-foDJDQ9N1pw0BCOB2w1c7K-yA-9Ic-L2jQj55ZoByXzVuU63zIPMKCxhrNxcRaBNHRLfbiQ4Z5Cntu0kus/s400/Snapshot_20090529.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />This <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/philippines/5400332/Philippines-gripped-by-actresss-affair-with-Doctor-Hunk.html">Hayden Kho scandal</a> has got legs! I circulated press accounts of the video (including a download link for the world's sexiest rendition of Careless Whisper) and ensuing brouhaha at Harper's Magazine, and within an hour editors were huddled in an office, laughing their asses off at the playboy-cum-plastic surgeon. One editor sent this out:<br /><br /><blockquote>There is something so innately hilarious about that video that you don't even<br />need the backstory to appreciate it. It's like they createda ridiculous Internet<br />meme of dancing-and-bad-singing and THEN happened to be incredibly famous and<br />venal just to make the meme supremely awesome, and to make it possible to enjoy<br />their humiliation even more.</blockquote><br />That <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeRSZZhY144">video</a> definitely has viral potential. Can it break through to computer screens in the U.S.? Time will tell. I've been watching for days and I can't get over how goofy it is. Hayden doing the Alyssa Alano and mumbling his way through the lyrics he doesn't know. Katrina being so maarte that she has to towel down his sweaty chest. Doesn't she know that a glistening chest is SIZZLING HOT! The Senate hearing is also precious, with one of the many choice moments coming towards the end, where Sens. Jinggoy and Bong (Resiklo ng Saudi!) struggle to understand the mechanism that allowed Doc Hayden to transfer video from his camera to his laptop. I hope this story makes it into Harper's <a href="http://www.harpers.org/archive/2009/05/WeeklyReview2009-05-26">Weekly Review</a> next Tuesday. <div><br /></div>RafeBoogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00874925114779200772noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19386810.post-69169619056190129412009-05-25T06:27:00.002+08:002009-05-25T06:36:28.015+08:00Good stuff at FireQuinitoFireQuinito is a very, very impressive Philippine sports blog, and I'm not saying that only because the guy who runs it reads my stuff. The blog's take on Philippine sports is funny and right. And, coming on the heels of my Pacquiao roundup, I'd like to link to <a href="http://firequinito.com/archives/60-Manny-Pacquiao-to-Communist-rebels-Stop-fighting!.html">FQ's take</a> on a classic Pacquiao post-fight development -- his being named a special intelligence agent by the DOJ -- which I'm kicking myself for not including in my post yesterday. Also, his reference to Anak ng Kumander is classic. MV and FQ may be getting lined up for a terrible movie-reference arms race, as I am determined now to work Katas ng Saudi into this blog by the end of the week. Hail Jinggoy!RafeBoogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00874925114779200772noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19386810.post-20174282052153948602009-05-24T01:08:00.001+08:002009-05-24T01:08:52.381+08:00Pacquiao RoundupI love Manny Pacquiao. Readers of my blog, if there are any left, will probably notice that few topics other than the Pacman can drag me out of hibernation and get me to post something new. Pretty much anyone who watches a Pacquiao fight ends up loving him as a boxer -- his hand speed, his punching flurries, the reckless abandon with which he fights, his improvisatory flair -- and you can count me among them. But my absolute favorite time in a Pacquiao fight isn't during the bout itself; it's the fallout over the next month, when Filipino politicians scramble to share a piece of his limelight and when Manny gets a chance to rest and indulge in hobbies like billiards, basketball, videoke and cockfighting.<br /><br /><table width="270" align="right"><tbody><tr><td><p align="right"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyGH9fx750atb8f_pz_pzrJ4CPzAVrhIgq8-Gff9WifNpP4LN0zvSQRkGfFqHPMAqidLYStgkb8KcsBhVMRhHHUNbrd-XmzAJIeN9dpeDVvnfN4q3hBF4hprzaLF_88oVsaxABmg/s320/4481_630855074212_113195_36980027_3801104_n.jpg" /></p></td></tr><tr><td><p align="left"><em>Representing on fight night.</em></p></td></tr></tbody></table><div>After the De la Hoya fight, Pacquiao brought to life the classic sports comedy scenario of the boss who puts himself on the court, when he decided to play semi-professional basketball with the team he owns in the Liga Pilipinas. He also accepted an honorary doctorate from Southwestern University in Cebu. After abusing David Diaz last year we got to witness the brief but charming Pacquiao/Kevin Garnett courtship. With June rapidly approaching, let's take a look at the tornado of hyperbole swirling about after Pacquiao's May 2 flattening of Ricky Hatton.</div><div><br /></div><div>Exhibit A) After Manny's victory, the Philippine department of health asked him to <a href="http://sports.yahoo.com/box/news?slug=ap-swineflu-philippines-pacquiao">consider remaining in California</a> with his entourage, rather than returning to the Philippines immediately, just in case a member of Pacquiao's posse had contracted swine flu in the States. The Philippines is always proud to be one of the last countries officially hit by pandemics. I remember when I arrived in the country for the first time, in November 2005, the first thing I saw was a giant blue placard that read WELCOME TO THE BIRD FLU-FREE PHILIPPINES! I wouldn't be surprised if the government was mocking up a new version of this poster for swine flu just around the time Manny planned his return, and I can imagine Health Secretary Francisco Duque (BTW, shouldn't his nickname be Frank Dux, like the Canadian-American martial arts champion portrayed by JCVD in the movie Bloodsport?) brooding over the fact that Pacquiao's victory parade, with all that hugging and high-fiving, and how it could ruin his swine flu sign. Pardon me, Franky, but your position here seems slightly myopic, given that 1) the Philippines recently slaughtered 6,000 pigs infected with swine ebola; 2) no one is fooled by the "no recorded cases" of bird/swine flu gag, just like no one believes it when entire provinces report zero crime for an entire year; 3) the country faces public health woes far greater than swine flu.</div><div><br /></div><div>Exhibit B) Laguna Congressman Edgar San Luis submitted a resolution in the Philippine House of Representatives that <a href="http://sports.inquirer.net/professional/professional/view/20090514-205063/RP-citizenship-sought-for-Roach">would grant Philippine citizenship to </a><a href="http://sports.inquirer.net/professional/professional/view/20090514-205063/RP-citizenship-sought-for-Roach">Pacquiao's</a><a href="http://sports.inquirer.net/professional/professional/view/20090514-205063/RP-citizenship-sought-for-Roach"> trainer</a>, Freddie Roach. This is a nice gesture; a little silly, but I don't mind the idea of honoring Roach with citizenship. However, since I tend to see events through the prism of Philippine basketball, where Filipino ancestry and citizenship is a very contentious issue, I also have to think of the Fil-foreign players toiling in the Liga and the PBL because no one will pay to fix their papers for the PBA draft. I think of former imports like Norman Black, a PBA hall-of-famer, who chose to spend his life in the Philippines and has played a vital role in the development of basketball in the country. Black still isn't a full-fledged Filipino citizen, although he could probably become one if he called in a few favors. And what about Alex Compton, the Manila-born American citizen who has been beloved by millions of Filipinos since 1998, when he arrived in the country to play in the MBA? Of all the Americans floating around the Philippine basketball world, no one loves the country more than Compton, who has become a fluent, even elegant Tagalog speaker, who stayed in the country even after the MBA folded and it was unclear how he'd be able to make a living. Freddie Roach, merely by helping Pacquiao become such a great fighter, has made a legitimate contribution to Filipinos' lives, but citizenship wouldn't mean as much to him as it would to these other Americans who decided to build entire lives and raise families in the Philippines.</div><div><br /></div><div>Exhibit C) Manny's money. Pera ni Pacquiao. How much of it does he have? What will he do with all of it? Who gets a piece of it? We've seen the stories about how Manny gives away rice and small wads of cash in General Santos City. My favorite was a <a href="http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=19825">Ronnie </a><a href="http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=19825">Nathanielsz</a><a href="http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=19825"> piece</a> on how Bob Arum, Pacquiao's promoter, wants to protect Pacquiao's money.</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 15px; font-family:verdana;font-size:12px;"></span></div><blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 15px; font-family:verdana;font-size:12px;">Arum said: "I'm not going to stick that money [fight earnings] in his bank. I am going to sit down with him and Jinkee (Pacquiao's wife) and guys like Lito (Atienza) and Chavit (Singson) whom I respect, and make sure he puts it some place where he can't get his hands on it."</span><br /></div><div></div></blockquote><div>Really? Manny's money will be safe in the hands of a boxing promoter, Lito Atienza and Chavit Singson? It's tough to come up with two slimier trapos (traditional politicians AKA corrupt dynasts) than those two guys. This is like Arum saying, "I want to protect Manny's meat locker, that's why I am turning it over to these two hyenas." </div><div><br /></div><div>Exhibit D) Finally, the main event -- politics. With national elections now less than a year away, much has been made of Pacquiao's potential in politics. He's openly stated his plans to run for congress again in 2010, and Lennox Lewis is out there writing columns saying that Pacquiao will be president. Most of what has been written is brainless hype. Pacquiao's mass appeal does have a ton of political potential. But it doesn't look like Manny himself is going to be the one who exploits it. Instead, higher-ups like Noli de Castro (ninong to Pacquiao's infant daughter, Queen Elizabeth Pacquiao), power brokers like Singson and Atienza, and even relatively clean, opposition politicians like Sen. Chiz Escudero and Pampanga Gov. Ed Panlilio seem <a href="http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20090513-204689/They-will-coalesce-with-Pacquiao-party-if">poised to campaign aside </a><a href="http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20090513-204689/They-will-coalesce-with-Pacquiao-party-if">Pacquiao</a> and ride his popularity to their own electoral victories. Pacquiao indeed has the fame to come out in the top-12 of a senatorial ballot, and perhaps to challenge for the presidency, but his political advisers (many of whom senators, senatorial candidates, members of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's administration and presidential hopefuls), for reasons that seem steeped in self-interest, seem to be steering him to more modest goals. </div><div><br /></div><div>The American press has picked up the political angle -- A USA Today story mentioned Pacquiao's plan to run in 2010 -- and they have accepted the fools' explanation of Manny's failed 2007 bid for Congress, when he lost the race for GenSan's seat to Darlene Custodio. As the story goes, Pacquiao lost because voters thought serving in Congress would interfere with his boxing career. They were looking out for him. How sweet. Actually, he lost because he made the mistake of challenging a political dynasty in a local election. This is a correction that really shouldn't need to be made, but Conrado de Quiros set the record straight nicely in an appropriately <a href="http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/columns/view/20090514-204889/Comedy">cynical column</a> in the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Pacquiao lost to Custodio because local elections are still about machinery, and Custodio's family has controlled elections in General Santos for generations. Philippine senators are elected nationally, so having name recognition like Pacquiao's could easily make him a lock for a seat. </div><div><br /></div><div>Every time Pacquiao fights, the chatter surrounding him becomes a little more unhinged, while at the same time the political side of the story becomes more realistic. Who knows what could happen if he fights and defeats Floyd Mayweather, Jr., at the end of this year.</div>RafeBoogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00874925114779200772noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19386810.post-1862895470897840692009-05-23T02:49:00.003+08:002009-05-23T02:58:19.250+08:00Conan's budget-cutting broadswordFrom yesterday's New York Times <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/21/us/21calif.html">article </a>on the California budget clusterfuck:<div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 22px; font-size:15px;"><blockquote>Facing a $21.3 billion budget deficit, Mr. Schwarzenegger is requesting a $6 billion loan from the federal government, and has proposed a variety of politically unpalatable cuts, including commuting prisoners’ sentences, taking away health insurance from some poor children, reducing aid to community colleges and eliminating a large chunk of financing for shelters that serve children and women who have been abused.</blockquote></span></div><div><br /></div><div>How much does Arnold wish he could return to the halcyon days of <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088944/">Commando</a>, when he blew up mercenaries, while riding in a yellow Porsche with Rae Dawn Chong, and still had time to share a soft serve cone with daughter Alyssa Milano?</div>RafeBoogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00874925114779200772noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19386810.post-52110241092380534842009-05-21T19:40:00.002+08:002009-05-21T20:00:52.598+08:00That wily Philippine NavyEarlier this month a lieutanant in the Philippine Navy, Nancy Gadian, went public with allegations that in 2007, top Navy officials skimmed funds from the 46 million-peso pot intended for the Balikatan military exercises. Balikatan is an annual joint operation between the Philippine and U.S. militaries. For a few weeks every year, soldiers get together to do public works projects and training. All that ditch-digging and handing out rice at schools must win a lot of local hearts and minds, because Balikatan is a perennial public relations shitestorm. This year, there were prostitution scandals breaking as soon as U.S. troops arrived, with papers reporting that local pimps and mamasans in the Bicol region were<a href="http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleid=455429"> busing in extra girls</a> to meet the Americans' demand.<div><br /></div><div>It is also unfortunate that Gadian's revelations are also unsurprising. Catching the top brass of any Philippine institution with their hands deep in the coffer is like discovering raccoons in your dumpster. What make this case of malfeasance entertaining, however, is the Navy's recent ultimatum to Gadian: <a href="http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20090521-206245/Ultimatum-to-whistle-blower-Yield-in-48-hrs">Turn yourself in to the Navy</a>, and we won't be forced to apprehend you.</div><div><br /></div><div>This woman is already in hiding, for good reason. The idea that the whistleblower will turn herself in to the institution she has outed is lunacy. That's why I like it.</div>RafeBoogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00874925114779200772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19386810.post-36389893243421513142009-05-19T18:55:00.002+08:002009-05-19T19:26:24.207+08:00Real-life Bakekang story!<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/BIlrVS1qvOI&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/BIlrVS1qvOI&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br />Thanks to one of my legion of fans, who remembered so fondly my role as Brad, the baby-slapping, domestic-abusing deadbeat dad on the GMA telenovela Bakekang during the tail end of 2006. For those of you who don't know, Bakekang was a prime-time soap opera on Philippine network television starring Sunshine Dizon and yours truly, although I definitely didn't receive second (or any) billing in the actual show. Dizon stars as Bakekang (a nickname that means something akin to an ugly duckling with no hope of becoming a swan), whose goal in life is to find a foreign baby's daddy to impregnate her with a mestizo, therefore attractive, child, who will then become a celebrity and make Bakekang lots of money. But Bakekang ends up having a drunken threesome with me and my African-American friend, and miraculously (impossibly, I thought until now) conceives fraternal twins by the two of us. I won't spoil the rest of the show. Actually, it would take a few thousand words to give just a bare bones description of the plot's Byzantine ins and outs, and I don't have the energy to write it all out. Let's just say that hijinks and drama ensue, and that many a tear is shed.<div><br /></div><div>The real news is that the <a href="http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article2434018.ece">two different babies by different daddies coming out of one mommy</a> at the same time scenario has just come true in Texas! Unfortunately, the source on this story is the UK tabloid The Sun, but before we reflect on The Sun's dubious reputation, let's allow ourselves to believe that miracles do happen, that Bakekang could actually have a shred of truth to it. Now I know never to question the logic of a telenovela. Time to go start downloading Totoy Bato in its entirety!</div>RafeBoogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00874925114779200772noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19386810.post-56683167888156648742009-04-27T23:51:00.002+08:002009-04-27T23:52:55.357+08:00This could end up on Best of CraigslistThe <a href="http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/zip/1142333259.html">papier-maché Michael Jordan</a> that's been sitting in the trash room of Harper's Magazine for the past 3 months, since the editor who owned it left the magazine. Of course, there's nothing "inexplicable" about the statue's tongue, but the mistake is forgivable in light of the brilliant reference to Mario van Peebles and <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Solo</span>. And no, I did not post this. I've been scheming on taking this beauty for myself, not thinking about how to get someone on Craigslist to claim it. RafeBoogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00874925114779200772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19386810.post-75126385143842698092009-04-22T14:00:00.002+08:002009-04-22T14:01:45.344+08:00Quick take on Thrilla in ManilaI got a chance to watch the HBO documentary <a href="http://www.hbo.com/docs/programs/thrillainmanila/index.html">Thrilla in Manila</a> tonight. I'm not sure if Joe Frazier's side of the Ali-Frazier rivalry was as untold as the documentary suggests it was. I've read a handful of boxing books, and most of them mention how unfair and malicious Ali's racial attacks on Frazier were. My father, a Frazier die-hard, had been telling me Ali was wrong to call Smokin' Joe an Uncle Tom since I was about twelve years old. But it was nice to see a nice, long take on the fight told mostly from Frazier's side, since the focus is so often on Ali.<div><br /></div><div>I loved seeing Araneta in there, as well as the random shots of the hazy Manila skyline. The best bit of Philippine trivia had to be the fact that Carlos Padilla, Jr., was brought in at the last minute to referee the fight. He's related to Robin Padilla, the country's current top action star -- and, if history repeats itself, a possible candidate for president someday -- although I haven't been able to figure out if Carlos Jr. is Robin's uncle or cousin. What's more, the documentary made it sound like Padilla was the best ref of all three Ali-Frazier fights because he was able to stand up to Ali and keep him from holding the back of Frazier's head. Imagine PBA refs being summoned to work the NBA finals! Chances are they wouldn't go down in history as doing the best job, like Padilla did, but at the very least they would make some memorably boneheaded calls, and goal-tending would become legal for a series, while players leaning in to draw contact on jump shots would be called for insane offensive fouls. If Rasheed Wallace ever fell on hard times after his NBA career and wound up in the PBA, I will move heaven and earth to be courtside to witness him lose his mind and give some referee an atomic wedgie.</div> <div><br /></div><div>Anyway, back to the movie. I would have liked to hear more from the Philippine side -- how did people respond to the two fighters, where did Frazier disappear to five days before the fight when he left the Hyatt to get some peace and quiet in the countryside. The documentary mentioned the outskirts of Manila and mountains, so I'm going to guess they took him to Antipolo, but there are a dozen other possibilities. I was interested to learn that Filipino fans in the Araneta booed Ali when he was introduced at the fight. In two weeks, had he been such a loudmouth that he managed to turn fans against him? Nothing kills an athlete's reputation in the Philippines like the label <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">mayabang </span>(conceited). Was the fact that he was openly feuding with his wife and parading his mistress around town a factor? The side of this story that's waiting to be told is the Philippine side. And when it is told, I hope and pray that the filmmakers or researchers or writers working on it will cast the net for sources wider than Ronnie Nathanielsz and Imelda Marcos. Nathanielsz makes sense because of how close he was to Ali, but Imelda seemed to be included in the HBO documentary just because the filmmakers knew that if you roll the cameras around her, she's going to say something crazy. Imelda obliged, with her oft-repeated boilerplate about how when people raided her closet, all they found was shoes and no skeletons. Never mind Imelda's other "closet," the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manila_Film_Center">Manila Film Center</a> (I'm using some poetic license here), where Imelda is responsible for more than 150 skeletons being buried in the structure's concrete foundation. Marcos also casts Nathanielsz in a different light, because in a documentary that uses just Imelda Marcos and Ronnie Nathanielsz as its Philippine commentators it becomes harder to ignore Nathanielsz' connections to the Marcos regime. Instead of focusing on his career as a sportsman and journalist, I was left wondering why the HBO filmmakers decided to push this Marcos revival. Did Imee hook them up with some cheese from one of the Swiss bank accounts? </div> <div><br /></div><div>But that's really a minor criticism. The movie is about Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali, in that order, and the Philippine details were the cherry on top.</div>RafeBoogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00874925114779200772noreply@blogger.com2