For the love of Basketball

The Philippines has always been basketball country – it literally has become a part of every Filipino’s lives. You can tell just how popular the game here is just by going around Metro Manila and you’ll see basketball being played on every street corner 24/7. I’m one of those that played ball here almost every day. Friends would drop by my house just to invite me for a game of hoops. Never mind that we didn’t wear the best pair of kicks to ball on – our rubber slippers got us covered.

In 2005, an American from New York came over to the Philippines to do some research about the popularity of the sport. Rafe Bartholomew witnessed first-hand how big it (basketball) was here. He not only learned the history of Philippine hoops but also the Filipino language: Tagalog. Having spent 3 years in the country, he's now just as fluent as the locals with the language (I send him tweets on his Twitter account in Tagalog and he replies to me just the same – how cool is that?). His passion for basketball was no different from us Filipinos. Upon returning to the US, the great memories he brought home from a hoops-loving country was the main inspiration he penned the book now known all over the world as Pacific Rims.

In his book Pacific Rims, he documented the sport’s influence in the Filipino’s social life and politics. Having read the book, each of the topics discussed about basketball’s impact in our lives are all true – I can attest to that. Politics and showbiz, indeed gave color to the Filipino’s love for the game, Robert Jaworski and Benjie Paras are just a few of the former Pro-ballers that were synonymous when it comes to that. Speaking of showbiz, he had a short acting stint here in the country. He appeared in a local TV series based on a comic book called “Bakekang”.

I even learned that basketball has been here in the Philippines for 100 years. I never would’ve known that if wasn’t for his book. Rafe spent long hours of hoops research at Ateneo University’s library and he’d go there even during a storm – that’s dedication folks. Props to rafe’s book, I learned something new.

Inside the PBA

The PBA is the only Pro basketball league in the Philippines and Rafe got the opportunity of a lifetime to get up close and personal with PBA players and coaches when he joined Alaska to document the team and also further his research. Getting the accreditation of the PBA gave him a chance to learn more about Philippine hoops and the legendary import “Black Superman” Billy Ray Bates.

Paeng Bartolome

One of the best parts of the book that had me cracking up while reading. It’s true that Filipinos have this thing about “Filipinizing” words and names. Y’all gotta thank Alaska’s local players for giving Rafe somewhat the ‘honorable’ treatment of giving him a Filipino name. They came up with Paeng Bartolome, from his name Raphael Bartholomew – which is not bad – and it stuck since. That’s why I love being a Filipino.

Bato!

This happens a lot whenever I play street ball (before injuries caught up with me). You’ll hear the word “bato” – another Filipino word that means to throw – in almost every inbound play during a 5-on-5 game. He’d literally throw a long pass from out of bounds to a teammate that’s already at the end of the court to score a lay up. Even in PBA games, you’ll see plays like that – which is also to prone turnovers – but gives a lot of excitement to fans watching nonetheless. In his book, Rafe has heard that word was witness to passes like that while playing pick-up games here in the Philippines.

I could go on and on about Rafe’s Pinoy hoops experience here, all I can say is I had fun reading Pacific Rims. I enjoyed every page of the book. I have no doubt in mind that Pacific Rims could very well become one of the best selling books in the Philippines. Every hoops fan should get this book and guaranteed you won’t be disappointed. You’ll be laughing a lot especially about the Alaska players’ antics on Mang Tom. I was lucky enough to cop the last copy of Pacific Rims a couple of months ago – it was already the second batch of orders at the time, mind you.

Pacific Rims: Beermen Ballin' in Flip-Flops and the Unlikely Love Affair with Basketball is available at bookstores everywhere in the Philippines. Grab your copies now!

Want to meet Paeng? Rafe Bartholomew will be having a Philippine book launch of Pacific Rims on August 24, 6 pm @ Power Books Greenbelt 4. Get a chance to meet and have your book signed by Rafe himself. He pretty much deserves the celebrity treatment here. :)