Heh

Just a couple of hours after the last post, Purefoods got eliminated from the ongoing Philippine Cup after laying a big fat egg against, ironically, Air 21. It got so ugly that during a timeout midway through 4th quarter, James Yap got into a shouting match against Purefoods assistant coach Koy Banal, after Banal chewed out Yap for a missed defensive assignment. Yap then threw a towel at Banal, who had to be restrained by the other guys on the bench from going at Yap.

Yeah, it was as bad as it sounds. At that point, the team was down by something like 20 points, and Yap had been carrying the team, scoring I think 28 26 points. After that, Yap went back on the court and basically stopped playing, just jogging up and down, and the rest of the team just played dead.

Now, I never root against any of my favorite teams, and there was no excuse for what Yap did, but I hope this is the last straw against the Purefoods coaching staff. They're the worst offensive team in the league (something that shouldn't happen with Yap and Kerby Raymundo in the lineup), they don't have any offensive structure, their defensive rotations are lousy, the in-game coaching is horrible, and they never seem to execute off timeouts. The body language by the players are terrible, and everyone looks like they'd rather be someplace else.

Meanwhile, the whole coaching staff is just full of it. Head coach Ryan Gregorio is quick to make excuses, while Banal, the team's "defensive coordinator" has been ineffective all conference. In fact, it was odd that Banal started going at Yap for the missed assignment when Raymundo and Peter June Simon were missing assignments all game long, and the defensive gameplan coming into the game was just horrible.

The whole coaching staff really needs to go. Man, I hope they finally pull the trigger on it. National team coach Yeng Guiao might be available.

Meanwhile, the second conference of the PBA won't be on until March. I need to find something else to get into until then.


UPDATE: GMANews.TV reports that Yap and Banal have patched things up. Gregorio still needs to be fired though. I hope they get Yeng Guiao.

Labels: basketball, purefoods, sports

- posted by jaemark @ 12/28/2008 09:16:00 PM   0 comments

The year in James Yap videos

As a Purefoods fan, I've learned how to live with James Yap as my team's MVP. Well, lifelong Purefoods fans have had plenty of practice; for starters, we've spent most of our days not just rooting for the Hotdogs, but the Tender Juicy Hotdogs. They renamed the team, but it hasn't gotten marginally better. The team was renamed the Purefoods Chunkee Giants, to promote the company's corned beef brand, and when it was time to go back to promoting hotdogs, management apparently liked the Giants moniker so much that the team is now known as the Purefoods Tender Juicy Giants.

That wasn't the end of it though. We still had to deal with stupid crap about Alvin Patrimonio (usually from the ignorant, unwashed masses), his being an overpaid crybaby, and his offcourt dealings, like his short-lived showbiz career (and even more short-lived affair with Kris Aquino) and insinuations about Nap Gutierrez being his boyfriend.

So yeah, you kinda let all that crap (Kris, Baby James, Hope, the whole K-Pop metrosexual thing) and concentrate on the basketball. And because I do spend an ungodly amount thinking about things like when the Giants' moronic coach Ryan Gregorio will finally be fired (I did a Google search for 'Ryan Gregorio sucks' and found an article that I wrote for Peyups.com four years ago) and wondering whether backup point guard Chico Lanete is mildly retarded (especially after he airballs another fadeaway 3-pointer with 18 seconds left on the shot clock, the 294th of his career).

Anyway.

The first video was a from a game against Red Bull last conference, as James Yap hits a fadeaway jumper from the top of the key with 0.7 seconds to go:



I remember watching this at my old apartment while my housemate Urk was having dinner. Even he let out a yell when Yap hit the shot. And because of the awesomeness of YouTube, here's a fan video of the play:



It's been an infamous year for Yap. He was in the middle of the controversy during the Philippine Cup finals against Sta. Lucia for being suspended for a game in the Finals after smacking Joseph Yeo in the face. Although, to be fair to Yap, wouldn't you like a chance to smack that smug look off Yeo's face too? Purefoods lost the game wherein Yap was suspended, and ultimately lost the series in seven games.

But no, Yap's craziest moment came during a brawl against Talk N Text during the last conference. He wasn't involved in the initial altercation, but he gave a sucker kick to Talk N Text's import Terrence Leather, which led to Leather chasing Yap all over the court:



Good thing he wasn't caught, because Leather was just about ready to take his head off. Leather got ejected, and Yap escaped with a mere technical foul.

It wasn't all bad though, because just recently, Yap had a highlight for the ages during their first game against Air 21 in the current Philippine Cup. Purefoods was down by three with the ball, and Kerby Raymundo had just missed a shot in the dying seconds. So Yap beat Arwind Santos for the offensive rebound, chased the ball to the corner, tiptoed the baseline and the sideline, and launched a turnaround, fadeaway three-pointer from behind the backboard to tie the game.

Read that paragraph again.

Yeah, it's as awesome as it sounds:

Labels: basketball, purefoods, sports, video

- posted by jaemark @ 12/28/2008 07:07:00 PM   2 comments

Pop teams

I'm, like, the biggest Purefoods fan, but even I'm surprised about the results of this survey from the Social Weather Station: Purefoods and Ginebra tie as most popular in PBA.

According to the article, while Ginebra is still the most popular team in Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon, Purefoods is way ahead in the Visayas and in Mindanao.

A lot of it might be because Purefoods' top gun, James Yap, is from Escalante, Negros Occidental, and played high school ball in Iloilo, but two other key players on the team are hardcourt legends from their early days in the south as well. Starting point guard Roger Yap was a star in the tough Cebuano commercial basketball before his "Samboy Lim 2000" days with Shark in the PBL, while Peter June Simon was Davao basketball's favorite son, starring for the University of Mindanao before becoming the top gun for the Davao Eagles in the MBA, winning Discovery of the Year honors during his rookie season.

Labels: basketball, purefoods, sports

- posted by jaemark @ 8/16/2008 02:30:00 AM   0 comments