Blog Posts by Sid Ventura

You’re not addressing the real problem.

This was the opinion of Sen. Pia Cayetano with regard to the new two-year residency rule set to be imposed by the Universities Athletics Association of the Philippines (UAAP) on UAAP high school players who wish to enroll in another UAAP school. And if she had her way, she wants it scrapped completely.

The senator, who is the chairperson of the Senate Committee on Youth, Women and Family Relations, organized a public hearing to get the side of the league on the controversial rule, as well as hear from some resource persons and athletes affected by the rule. The Senate cannot directly order the UAAP to change its rules, and the hearing was done "in aid of legislation".

“I cannot say that this is for the best interest of the student if these are the practices that we are implementing,” Cayetano said. “I think it’s a given that the school would like the recruit to stay with them. But what is the reasonable amount of pressure or action that the school

Read More »from Cayetano asks UAAP Board to recall new residency rule

For someone who nearly got strangled, Arwind Santos sure knows how to forgive and forget quickly.

The Petron Blaze skipper, who bore the brunt of teammate Renaldo Balkman’s shocking meltdown Friday night, said the two have decided to bury the hatchet and concentrate on the bigger task at hand. In fact, it was Santos who even made the first move.

Balkman completely lost his cool in the dying seconds of the Blaze Boosters’ 73-83 loss to the Alaska Aces, confronting the referees and pushing away assistant coach Biboy Ravanes and teammate Ronald Tubid before trading shoves with Santos, who stepped in and tried to prevent the import from approaching a referee.

After Santos’ retaliation, Balkman grabbed the wiry power forward’s neck before they were finally separated.

Balkman has since apologized on Twitter for his outburst, singling out Tubid and Santos in his apology.

Apparently, in the locker room after the game, it was Santos who approached Balkman first to try and smooth things over,

Read More »from Arwind made first move to patch things up; Balkman to appear on TV

(UPDATE 4) Finally, local basketball fans will get to see NBA action live.

NBA Philippines on Tuesday announced that James Harden, Jeremy Lin and the Houston Rockets and Paul George, Roy Hibbert and the Indiana Pacers will face each other in a preseason game in October.

In a press conference in Manila, NBA Commissioner David Stern announced in a video message shown on a jumbotron that the preseason game will happen on October 10 at the Mall of Asia Arena.

"We look forward to putting on a great show for the Filipino fans," Houston Rockets coach Kevin McHale added also in a video message played during the media event.

Stern called Filipino fans among "the most passionate in the world."

Hans Sy, SM Prime Holdings president which owns the MOA Arena, added that Filipinos do love basketball.

"This love for basketball deserves no less than the biggest basketball league in the world. We have long wanted to bring world-class basketball in a world-class venue," Sy said.

ALSO READ: The NBA is probably Read More »from NBA coming to town: Rockets-Pacers at MOA Arena

Don’t take the rankings too seriously.

This, in a nutshell, was the stand of Azkals coach Hans Michael Weiss in reaction to news that the Philippines had just achieved a highest-ever ranking of 143 in the latest FIFA work rankings.

“I think we should be happy that we improved our ranking in the last two years,” said the German mentor, “but we shouldn’t be over-obsessed with rankings. A ranking reflects the current status, not necessarily the strength of the team in general. Some teams choose not to play matches and then they automatically drop in the rankings.

“We played a lot of matches. We took advantage of that. We became stronger for sure, but look at Thailand, for example. They have six World Cup qualifiers under their legs, and they were just beaten very narrowly by Australia. They lost in the last minute, 2-1 only. I think that’s a very, very decent result. So with this experience and with the homefield advantage, we will have to be prepared.”

Owing to their relative inactivity, the

Read More »from Weiss downplays Azkals' improvement in FIFA rankings

Japeth Aguilar’s American dream continues after the six-foot-nine former Talk ‘N Text big man was picked in the seventh round by the Santa Cruz Warriors in the 2012 NBA D-League draft.

Aguilar, who has been in the United States since August where he attended workouts with several D-League teams, was selected with the 13th pick in the seventh round, the 109th pick overall in the draft. He is now officially the first pure homegrown Filipino player to be drafted in the NBA D-League. Other Filipino players have suited up, though, in other American minor basketball leagues, most notably Vince Hizon and Bong Alvarez, who both saw action in the United States Basketball League several years ago.

Santa Cruz was one of the teams that invited Aguilar to work out, and apparently they were impressed enough with what they saw to tab him. The team had earlier promised Aguilar’s agent that they would draft him, and although initial reports had him going as early as the second round, in the end the

Read More »from Aguilar picked by Warriors in D-League draft

For the fifth and last time, Norman Black sat down in front of the media and talked about the UAAP championship he had just won.

Knowing this was a scene that will not be repeated next year, many of the questions asked of the amiable coach revolved around his legacy and what he had achieved in his eight-year coaching stint, during which time he transformed Ateneo into a collegiate basketball powerhouse and turned the university’s basketball program into the envy of others and the destination of choice for top high school prospects.

But before talking about his legacy, the multi-titled coach decided to thank all those responsible for his successful run, giving special mention to Manny V. Pangilinan, the business mogul who brought him in as coach and who abruptly cut ties with the school last month, and Paolo Trillo, the Ateneo team manager who was beside Black throughout his eight-season tour of duty.

Then he proceeded to answer this question posed to him: aside from the five

Read More »from Black leaves behind solid hoops program

(UPDATED) - Japeth Aguilar’s dream of pursuing a career in the American professional basketball circuit stays alive for the meantime after a National Basketball Association (NBA) Developmental League team promised to draft the former Talk ‘N Text center in the upcoming D-League draft.

According to Leo Balayon, the CalTech assistant coach who is supervising Aguilar’s skills training in the United States, the six-foot-nine Aguilar attended the tryouts of the Los Angeles D-Fenders and the Santa Cruz Warriors, and gave such a good account of himself in the Warriors’ tryout that the team said they would draft him.

“Basically both teams (the D-Fenders and the Warriors) invited him to try out,” Balayon said in an e-mail to Yahoo! PH Sports. “The D-Fenders did not have a coach yet when he was invited so it was not the best situation. Someone I know in the organization had brought Japeth to the D-Fenders general managers’ attention. We really appreciated that. So after a day, Japeth got an invite

Read More »from NBA D-League team keen on drafting Japeth

Butch Maniego, a pillar in the local sportscasting industry, passed away Sunday after suffering cardiac arrest. He was 50.

Maniego had been in poor health in recent years due to diabetes, and had been bedridden for almost a month before his demise, although there were signs he was getting better. In his Twitter account, he had said he hoped to be fully recovered in two months’ time. Just three weeks ago, he said in a tweet that he was “halfway to recovery”.

On his Facebook page, Maniego answered the “Works at…” portion with “name a basketball league here, and I had probably some involvement in it.”

And he wasn’t kidding. He got his first big break as an analyst for Vintage Sports in 1989, covering the Philippine Basketball Association games. He was part of a new breed of sportscasters hired by Vintage to do TV commentary for the pro league, a group that included the likes of Bill Velasco, Sev Sarmenta, and Ed Picson, among others. He developed an even-tempered, smooth style that became Read More »from Veteran sportscaster Butch Maniego dies