Catch 22

     It finally happened. A week of speculation finally ended when the press conference confirmed that after 22 years, Tim Cone is stepping down as coach of the Alaska Aces of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).  Many have written a tribute to Coach Tim and while I may be tempted to write one, I feel like there is no topping the one written by Grantland's Rafe Bartholomew (which can be read here).  Instead, I have 22 sentences about Coach Cone.

1.  I have no official numbers to support this, Coach Tim's 22 years with Alaska is one of the top 5 longest in all of professional sports in all of the world. 


2.  Many credit Coach Tim as a pioneer, for bringing the triangle offense here, but he is also a visionary fashion-wise, as his long sleeve polo plus tie combo was later on copied by Chot Reyes, Perry Ronquillo, Joel Banal and Chito Narvasa.


3.  My first memory of Coach Cone is not a flattering one as I first saw his pic playing varsity basketball in short shorts in one of Romy Kintanar's half time shows.


4.  Coach Tim is only the 4th coach to achieve a grand slam in the PBA and he has the most titles with imports too.  


5.  Coach Cone may hold the PBA record for most assistant coaches since he had 6 in Joel Banal, Dicky Bachmann, Luigi Trillo, Bong Hawkins, Jojo Lastimosa and Topex Robinson.

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Throwing the Resign Switch

First of all, please follow me on twitter http://twitter.com/fiftypesotweets


     What is it about the world today, that when one bungles a task calls for resignation or replacement are immediately called for?  I have yet to give my full support to interim Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Jessie Robredo (probably much to the chagrin of my buddy Harvey Keh), but I would like people to step on the brakes a little on calls for his head.  People placed in leadership positions do have a lot of responsibility on their shoulders and they are expected to rise through tough times, but they are all human too.  If every leader who fouled up early in their careers were immediately replaced, we would have missed these greats:

Bethune "Siot" Tanquincen - The soft-spoken former UST Growling Tiger got a baptism of fire replacing PBA great Allan Caidic as Baranggay Ginebra's coach in the Fiesta Conference of the 2004 season.  Opening with an eliminations record of 4 wins and 10 losses, "THe Baranggay" fans grew restless and some grumbles even called for his firing.  After the debacle of the eliminations, Tanquincen's determination to impose his own system led to the emergence of Jay Jay Helterbrand and Mark Caguioa, aka The Fast and The Furious.  That translated to an improbable championship over Red Bull in that same conference.  Then, Siot led the Kings to the Philippine Cup championship right after that, giving the Kings its first back to back championship in history.

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Top 10 "Top 10s": Best Coaches

     Being a coach of over 10 years myself, I know all about how truly difficult a coach's job is.  A coach has to wear many hats, teacher, confidante, leader and sometimes even sponsor or benefactor.  Plus, everyone knows that  blame for a loss is always to the coach while glory for a victory is always to the players.  Coaching truly is a thankless job and these 11 guys are the ones I truly admire.


Parameters:  I've picked only coaches from sports that From the Fifty Peso Seats covers so coaching greats like Bobby Knight or Coach K are not eligible.  I've also put in half foreign coaches (coaches whose achievements were done internationally) and half local coaches. (FIlipino coaches or coaches where Philippines was the venue of their achievements)


10 (tie).  Rajko Toroman - Basketball

     This Serbian tasked to coach the Philippine National Team has already done wonders for our Smart GIlas team, but it would be premature to name him to this list for only that.  What people have to remember is what he did before we stole him.  Toroman was first tasked to coach the Iranian basketball team.  Within a few years, he assembled an Iranian team that defeated perennial Asian powerhouse China to emerge as Asian basketball Champions and a stint in the 2008 Olympic Games.  What I admire the most, though, is his patience in teaching.  Watch any game of Smart GIlas and you will see that he takes every opportunity to use game situations to teach his players, making every game a meaningful learning experience.  If he can bring the Philippines to the Olympics as well, his position would definitely jump up.  

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