Nuns, strippers, and hoops. What's not to like?

Rarely does one get to see strippers and nuns hanging out in the same venue. Not to mention dancing transvestites, cows, and a rogue bottle of ethyl alcohol doing a jig. Yes, it's professional basketball in the Philippines, and everyone comes out (no pun intended) to see the action.

Unlike the U.S., where teams have city affiliation, Philippine teams are pretty much all based in Manila. They have goofy sponsors, ranging from milk companies to gin distilleries, to a team called the "Beermen." Nice.

People were into the games, but not to the point of hooliganism. Fans brought English/Tagalog signs, and chanted songs to support their teams. One old dude with an extremely red face was standing up and spouting off a serious of insults which had our whole section in hysterics. I did catch his english commentary targeted at the "import" American player for one team: "You're no good! Return to sender! Your visa revoked!

Everyone was doing their own thing, unified by the common interest of basketball. They should integrate it into their national anthem or something: "From the farthest island, to the Sulu sea, together we'll dribble and pass and shoot for a three." (Ok, I'm still working on that.) Still, if you're looking to get the quintessential Philippine experience, skip the museums and go to a game while you're there.

Basketball banned in Manila?!

This just in: Basketball is banned in Manila! The national sport is doomed!! No, actually the headline refers to a recent ban on street games which block traffic. Good luck with that one.

Having just returned from Manila, I can attest they have a lot bigger problems with traffic than a few street games. Still, the article is pretty funny, especially the quote from the mayor which reminds people that "roads were constructed to provide easy access to motorists in going to and from their destinations." They're also "also designed to interconnect with each other to ease traffic flow." Thanks, mayor.

(I checked this headline in the local Philippine papers, and they don't include the goofy quote, but I still think the mayor may have said it)

Manila, Philippines (AHN) 8/20/07-- The mayor of the Philippine capital Manila on Monday ordered a ban on street basketball saying playing the popular ball game in the middle of the streets endangered both the players and motorists. Mayor Alfredo Lim directed Carlos Baltazar, the chief of Manila's department of public services, to serve notice to all village chiefs to enforce the ban.

The order also asks village chiefs to remove all basketball courts that have been put up in the middle of the streets or major thoroughfares.

Basketball is the most popular ball game in the Philippines and it is very common for basketball courts to be constructed in the middle of the streets.

But Lim said motorists have been complaining about the practice because some streets were rendered impassable after player shut them down from end to end when playing the game, especially if there is on-going "street ball tournaments." In some instances, fights have broken out between the passing motorist and the players.

The mayor is asking for the cooperation of basketball enthusiasts to heed the ban and allow motorists to pass along their streets because those streets belong to vehicles. He said the city government had constructed sports complexes in strategic places where basketball fans can play the game.

He further explained that streets, roads and thoroughfares were constructed to provide easy access to motorists in going to and from their destinations. They were also designed to interconnect with each other to ease traffic flow.

Basketball & Safari

On my recent Philippine trip I visited what has to be the world's weirdest African wildlife sanctuary: Ferdinand Marco's former game preserve on Calauit Island. There giraffes and zebras wander the Philippine countryside, sharing their habitat with local animals including deer, monkeys, some weird porcupine species, and really big spiders. The giraffe on the left is munching a mango. Apparently they love the fruit, which is good, because the staff has almost no money to provide for them.

And of course, there's a basketball angle to this story. The island of Calauit is remote even for the Philippines: it's off the northern coast of Palawan, which is itself considered the "last frontier of the Philippines." The nearest small airport is a bouncy 4-hour jeep ride away from the northern coast, from where you have to find a local fisherman with an outrigger to ferry you over. Generator power only runs four hours a day on Calauit, and no running water was to be had. But the night I stayed there, during the brief period of electricity, the staff gathered to watch a tape of the final basketball game of the PBA championships on the island's only TV.

Staff basketball games are held every Monday on the home-made (but regulation size) dirt court near the game warden's house, with the warden always playing his favorite position of point guard.

For the record, the island manager says the ex-dictator Marcos did not bring the animals to the island for him and his buddies to hunt. It was just Ferdinand's pure environmental concern for the fauna of Africa....

there's something about roundball

Is there really a market for a book about a clueless American learning about a foreign culture via basketball?

As I was wondering about the potential of my own book, I spotted this new entry into the rapidly expanding genre: Away Games--My Season of Misadventures in Czech Semi-Pro basketball. Nice.

It's not due out 'till November, but I'll be sure to snag a copy when it hits the bookstores, it sounds pretty entertaining: a sub-6-foot-tall law-school-bound collegian decides to take a year off and pursure his dream of playing basketball for whoever will have him.

And...another recent entry into the hoops-abroad market, written by an ex-NBA scrub by the name of Paul Shirley, is entitled: Can I Keep My Jersey?: 11 Teams, 5 Countries, and 4 Years in My Life as a Basketball Vagabond .

Reviews are mixed, ranging from "wildly entertaining," to "250 pages of complaining," so I guess now I'll actually have to buy it and decide for myself. I've seen some of his blog posts on ESPN.com, and they have some pretty amusing slice-of-life stories about playing abroad, and some good cameo appearances by "where are they now" NBA players surfacing in the Spanish D-League and other sketchy places.

Regardless of their literary merit or place on the best seller list, both these books show that there's something about roundball that continues to connect people from around the world.

Another Philippine Hoops Writer!

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..."

back from manila

Long blogging absence, but I'm just back from nearly a month in the Philippines, in which I gathered some local color for my book, researched a travel article for the SF Chronicle, and went to see game 4 of the PBA pro basketball championships in Araneta Colisseum, the venue for the famous "Thrilla in Manila" Ali-Frazier boxing match in 1975.


The game was another "thrilla" between the Alaska Aces (formerly known as the Milkmen, as they're sponsored by a dairy company) and the Talk-N-Text Phone Pals (sponsered by a cellphone service provider)

The Milkmen triumphed that night, and hung on to win the seven game series over the hated Phone Pals. Perhaps the Milkmen won because of the spiritual support of their cow mascot (above)? Or maybe by breathing some fumes from their Ethyl Alcohol mascot?!! (below)

Along with mascot-watching, the game and the fans were both good entertainment. Raucous supporters from both sides dressed in team colors, chanted and waved signs (written in both English and Tagalog--sometimes both in the same sign). Contrasting sign insults included "Talk-N-Text...No Signal!" and "Alaska...Breast Milk is Better!"

Following the game, in my typical clueless travelling style, I went out to catch the train back to my hotel in the business district of Makati. Nobody told me train service finished at 10PM. Then I marched out to the main highway of EDSA to suck diesel fumes for a half hour while I tried to catch a cab without success. It finally dawned on me to go back to the stadium and wait in front of the mall for a cab like all the other fans did. Amazing how that works...