It's good to know I'm not the only American writer with an odd fascination with Philippine basketball.On my recent Manila trip, I met up with Rafe Bartholomew, like me, an American working on a Filipino basketball-themed book. Except rather than accidentally tumbling into the subject (and the country) like I did, he actually intentionally applied for a Fulbright Scholarship to go to the Philippines and research basketball.
He followed the season of the PBA team the Alaska Aces (nee Milkmen) chronicling their efforts to become league champions. And despite his gloomy expression in the photo above, it was good to see his book will have a happy ending (see my posting below--spoiler alert!)
Rafe has written about Philippine basketball for the NY Times and Slate, among other places, so it's good to see there's a market for the topic. While my basketball-themed stories of the Philippines are in the context of a travel adventure, his writing concentrates on the sport itself. So I was happy I didn't have to kill Rafe off to protect my market, as he's a good guy. Hopefully next year at this time, our books will be linked on Amazon, saying "if you like this one...then be sure to buy..."
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