The Long (and Hard) Road

     Recently, former Ateneo guard/forward Kirk Long expressed his desire to play in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).  Knowing full well that his American heritage prevents him from applying, he is apparently taking steps to get the PBA to make an exception to his case.

     Kirk, the son of Faith Academy pastor Jeff Long, was actually born and raised in the Philippines, where their family has spent their years spreading the word of God.  The younger Long joined the Ateneo Blue Eagles in 2007 and became an integral part of their unprecendented 4 championship run.  He also played 4 years of high school basketball, giving him 9 years of playing experience here in the country.

     This Long case is bringing back the arguments brought on when Alex Compton, another player of pure American heritage born in the Philippines, applied for the PBA as well and here are just some of my short (pun intended) random thoughts about this whole situation. 

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Besties (Part 1)

     Everyone who knows me knows that 2010 was a great year for me, possibly one of the greatest.  What I'm not sure of is if people know that 2010 was so great because aside from winning Lifestyle Network's Clash of the Toque-en Ones (and a future cooking show), this blog was voted as finalist for Best Sports Blog in the 2010 Philippine Blog Awards.  To celebrate, here are some of the blog entries from last year I'm most proud of. Click the titles to read the original articles. Do you have a personal favorite? Let me know!

8. Gee Thanks Mom and Dad

Synopsis: What happened when I spent time looking for weird names in sports? What I found was a treasure trove of fun. 


Favorite Lines from the Post: The irony for this former player and later on pitching coach (actual name was Calvin Coolidge Julius Caesar Tuskahoma Mclish) is that his father named him.  His father's name? John.

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Grand Slam

     Over the years, the Philippines seems to have lost its lofty standing in the international community, so much so that any stories about the Philippines, save for natural disaster or Manny Pacquiao stories, are written with certain detachment and generality.  These days, rarely are there stories that take a deep look into the Philippines, examine its rich, unique culture and at least give understanding its bewildering yet loving people the "old college try."  Pacific Rims, written by self-professed basketball junkie Rafe Bartholomew, is one such book.


     Arriving in the Philippines on a Fulbright scholarship, Bartholomew embarks on a singular quest to learn about the Philippines' obsessive love for basketball and what he finds is that this obsessive love has embedded itself in almost all of the country's elements.  


Play by Play


     The book displays Bartholomew's skill as a sports writer, as he recounts both the Alaska Aces' road to the Philippine Basketball Association's import-reinforced conference, and his own tour of duty as a ringer/import for a Boracay-based commercial team.  In both counts, he succeeds in getting the reader to heavily root for them by laying the proper groundwork.  He generously recounts his time hanging out with the Aces and its players, their insecurities, their struggles and their personal thoughts and dreams, leaving the reader no chance to not be invested.   Meanwhile, his tongue-in-cheek recap of his own travails in the heavily partial officiating of the Boracay commercial league is whether by design or not, the perfect microcosm of the proverbial Filipino hard luck story so prevalent in the country's long-running telenovelas.  By the time he recounts the respective big games of both teams, the narrative becomes a written version of Marv Albert's iconic play-by-play, leaving the reader breathless with anticipation during the recap and hopelessly spent by its end.

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