Pacific Rims: Beermen Ballin' in Flip-Flops and the Philippines' Unlikely Love Affair with Basketball

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Pacific Rims: Beermen Ballin' in Flip-Flops and the Philippines' Unlikely Love Affair with Basketball

4.31 of 5 stars 4.31 · rating details · 218 ratings · 36 reviews

Welcome to the Philippines, where the men are five foot five, the everyman's Air Jordans are a pair of flip-flops, and the rhythm of life is punctuated by the bouncing of a basketball.

Rafe Bartholomew arrived in Manila with little more than a Fulbright scholarship and an urban legend that Filipinos loved basketball more than anyone else on the planet. He'd heard that the l...more

Hardcover, 400 pages

Published June 1st 2010 by New American Library

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Dec 18, 2011 Nicolo Yu rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: sports

I couldn’t help but admire the author’s dedication to delve into the psyche of nation’s almost absurd love for basketball. He really dove into his subject and he probably would have gone native after experiencing what the Philippines had to offer. He ate the food, inhaled the smog in his daily commute and played hoops with ballers who wore flip-flops. Along the way, he moonlighted as an actor for an episode of a tele-novela, became a contestant for a noon time show and witnessed during a small t...more

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Sep 07, 2010 Dottie rated it 5 of 5 stars

I first learned of Pacific Rims when I stumbled upon a youtube video of the author promoting his book in Filipino. Rafe Bartholomew spoke my mother tongue in a way that would put some of my schoolmates to shame. I had to replay the video to confirm that not only was he speaking Filipino with a barely there American accent, but his grammar was also nearly flawless. I know firsthand that it’s not an easy feat to learn a foreign language, much less master it in a way that would earn the locals’ res...more I first learned of Pacific Rims when I stumbled upon a youtube video of the author promoting his book in Filipino. Rafe Bartholomew spoke my mother tongue in a way that would put some of my schoolmates to shame. I had to replay the video to confirm that not only was he speaking Filipino with a barely there American accent, but his grammar was also nearly flawless. I know firsthand that it’s not an easy feat to learn a foreign language, much less master it in a way that would earn the locals’ respect. That kind of mastery takes a significant amount of dedication and passion. The fact that he spoke so eloquently in the language that I am so intimately familiar with convinced me that I had to read his book. It was the least I could do to show my appreciation for how he not only chose to write about an important facet of Philippine culture, but also embraced it as his own.

First and foremost, this is a book about basketball. The fact that it is about Philippine basketball only makes it marginally more interesting for me. You see, I am not an avid hoops fan. I do enjoy watching games once in a while, but that is certainly not reason enough for me to proclaim my love for it. Like every Filipino, however, my life is intricately connected with it. When I was 11, I came to school with my hair in pigtails with twisted rows. It was a cool hairstyle my yaya came up with that morning. As soon as I got inside the classroom, my classmates started shouting “Iverson!” I had no idea who or what Iverson was at that time, but the name stuck with me for the rest of fifth and sixth grade. I never wore my hair that way again. When I was 12, I realized where I wanted to go to college while watching a televised basketball game with my father. The match was between the De La Salle Green Archers and the Ateneo Blue Eagles. When I was 16, my girl friends and I swooned over pictures of Chris Tiu, who at that time wasn’t quite the sensation he would later turn out to be. He wasn’t the best player but he was the best looking, so we didn’t really care. Two years later, when I was 18, I came into my History class and saw Chris Tiu sitting in the last row (why oh why did I have to be seated in front?). It was unbelievable. He ended up joining our class for one semester. That same year, I learned that a basketball ticket is worth more than a couple of hundred pesos. It costs a couple of hundreds and six hours of falling in line. Basketball is also a big part of my family’s life. My brother had always been fat until he lost half his weight by playing with construction workers and drivers in our subdivision’s basketball court almost every afternoon. He and Papa used to play in the mornings, when Pa would execute these fancy turns that were inappropriate for a man of his age and weight, until his back gave up on him and he had to stop most of his physical activities. It was good while it lasted, though, even if Papa did suck. It gave them something to do together.

I remembered all these things and many more (like the time a basketball hit me in the head right on the spot where my barrette was clasping my hair, the barrette broke and my hair was ruined) while I was reading Pacific Rims. The author’s description of makeshift courts in alleys, pickup games in every corner, short men doing incredible layups, and frenzied crowds screaming like there’s no tomorrow (or in my case, like there’s no school tomorrow), proved to me that he not only witnessed these things, he somehow understood them. Pacific Rims would have easily been a dull book if it wasn’t for Bartholomew’s passion for his subject. It was so palpable that it was jumping off the page. He is a basketball addict; he confesses this early on. But he also comes from a very different environment, a different country, a different culture. It would have been easy, even understandable, for him to pass judgment; but I love how he wrote about our culture’s idiosyncrasies with respect, often even with fondness. He was only supposed to stay in the Philippines for a year; he stayed for three. Safe to say, I liked the book but I love the author. I can’t help but admire a man, a very young one at that- he’s only in his 20s, who would drop everything that is comfortable to travel halfway around the world and take chances in a country that is battered by bad press and travel bans. That’s something a little short of heroic in my eyes.

Thanks to Pacific Rims, I’m a little more aware of my basketball infested environment. There are some mornings when I’ll be reading the newspaper in our living room and I would suddenly hear that familiar sound of someone dribbling a ball. I would look outside the window and see a group of kids in old flip-flops on their way to the court. I would think, “This is how we play in the Philippines.” And it doesn’t even matter that we are a country of poor, short people. What matters is that there is a ball and there is a ring practically anywhere. We can work our way around everything else, for the love of the game. (less)

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Feb 24, 2011 Bee rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction, philippines, basketball

Part travel writing and part history, Pacific Rims is the culmination of the author’s journey to the Philippines in search of why basketball is popular in a country where men’s average height is 5’7.” Maybe shorter. Rafe Bartholomew learns how the game was introduced to the country and that the Philippines was once a basketball powerhouse. He travels the countryside and discovers courts made from scraps such as a discarded car’s hood. Basketball, he finds, is everywhere and is popular across the...more

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May 11, 2012 Evan rated it 3 of 5 stars

I really wanted to give this book 4 or even 5 stars because I enjoyed reading it that much. I'm taking 1 star away for each of the following reasons.
First, I think I may have a bias. Part of the joy of reading this book was I was familiar with the settings and people [I have lived in the Philippines for the last 12 years]. I have watched many PBA games and played ball on courts ranging from the well-lit, covered courts with breakaway rims to the home-made backboards nailed to trees. I have been...more

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Jun 26, 2011 Dale rated it 4 of 5 stars

The first thing I thought when I picked up this book was, "Why didn't I think of that when I graduated from college? The "that" is author Rafe Bartholomew's 3-year stint in the Philippines studying the country's passion for all things basketball (he was a Fulbright Scholar, which well explains why I didn't do that.

Not since Have Jump Shot, Will Travel have I read a book that so well expresses the sheer joy of playing basketball and watching it be played by people who love the game. The big surp...more

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Jun 30, 2012 Chrissy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sports

This book was all I hoped it to be. It gives a thorough insight into Phillipines' basketball culture from the professional league to the most rural areas with kids playing on a homemade hoop. The author is a very passionate hoops junkie who received a Fulbright scholarship to spend 3 years living in Manila. His enthusiasm for basketball and the likewise enthusiasm he enlightens us from the Philipines is contagious. Several times I had to put down the book to go shoot hoops myself to fix the itch...more

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Apr 23, 2012 Ann Louise De Leon rated it 3 of 5 stars

Bartholomew described in his book vividly, how national identity and American import basketball sport have become intertwined like strands in the double helix of Philippine DNA. Heto ang isang Kano nagpaka Pilipino at sumulat ng libro tungkol sa kakaibang pasyon sa larong basketball. Ito rin ang salamin ng lipunan na kung saan ang mga mamamayan (na hindi katangkaran) ay may ibang pagmamahal sa basketball kaysa soccer o football.

I couldn't help myself admiring this Filipinized American.I am amaze...more

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Feb 05, 2013 Elizabeth rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography-memoir, nonfiction

I laughed out loud and giggled uncontrollably more times than I can remember ever from reading a book. I love the author's glib style, tongue in cheek quips and unique insight take into this Philippine basketball culture, all of which are sprinkled across a massively interesting historical and narrative look at the sport.

I should say, I'm no a fan of basketball. But with it being inextricably entwined with our culture, I am familiar with and have experienced most of what is described in the boo...more
I laughed out loud and giggled uncontrollably more times than I can remember ever from reading a book. I love the author's glib style, tongue in cheek quips and unique insight take into this Philippine basketball culture, all of which are sprinkled across a massively interesting historical and narrative look at the sport.

I should say, I'm no a fan of basketball. But with it being inextricably entwined with our culture, I am familiar with and have experienced most of what is described in the book, and it is pleasantly refreshing to read an outsider's take on things. I've never really thought much about the fact that there's a basketball court (and more often than not people playing on it) every few kilometers or so. Reading this book feels like having someone look into a mirror with me and point things out about myself I hadn't noticed before or that I knew was there but didn't think much of.

Being generally uninterested in basketball, I figured it would be more of an anthropological study, but wittier. It definitely does not disappoint. There is something enjoyable for both basketball fans and non fans alike. (Although I do just gloss over the detailed accounts of games that don't seem to be connected with the overall cultural context/study). The author comes up with perceptive commentary and analysis of the national obsession with hoops, backed-up with with historical research and his own first-hand experiences.

That said, this book could do with more than a bit of editing. There were several confusing passages that easily could have been written in a much smoother way. I'm usually a fan of footnotes, and I do enjoy most of them in this case, but the author's use of them starts to feel egregious halfway through the book. Not to mention that the footnotes are indicated by small stars that are extremely difficult to see instead of standard numbers, so I found myself squinting back through the page to find what the footnote is referring to. Wasted a lot of reading minutes that way. And the narrative did lose a bit of steam by the last hundred pages, lacking a real cohesive ending. An enjoyable read nonetheless.
(less)

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Mar 26, 2012 Tom rated it 4 of 5 stars

I took a class once in college titled "Baseball and American Life." My professor, a 19th and early 20th century US history expert, used the lens of baseball's evolution to teach us critical themes in American development. I thought it an exceptional class, primarily, i think, because I bought wholeheartedly the "baseball as history" argument.

"Pacific Rims" is the Philippines' equivalent of some of the works I read for that college class. It tells the story of the author's immersion in Filipino...more

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May 27, 2011 EOB rated it 2 of 5 stars

Such a fantastically rich subject, and so squandered in the hands of an egregiously and sometimes willfully ignorant author. This could - and should - have been a very different book, if the author had even a passing knowledge of Philippine history, or any investment in the subject beyond (a) being a frustrated wannabe pro baller with idiotic hopes of 'stepping in' to a PBA game; (b) apparently liking to date Filipino-American girls, which he basically offers up ~80% of the way into the proceedi...more Such a fantastically rich subject, and so squandered in the hands of an egregiously and sometimes willfully ignorant author. This could - and should - have been a very different book, if the author had even a passing knowledge of Philippine history, or any investment in the subject beyond (a) being a frustrated wannabe pro baller with idiotic hopes of 'stepping in' to a PBA game; (b) apparently liking to date Filipino-American girls, which he basically offers up ~80% of the way into the proceedings (vomit.) He wears his smirking laziness and privilege as proudly as Colonel Qadaffi wears those fucking glitter epaulets: no shame and no perspective.

These two stars are basically rewarding that the book exists and was commercially available to me. But those two stars are grudgingly awarded in light of things like the following:

- He admits freely and often that he (in so many words) scammed his way into a research grant so he could hang out with basketball stars (& maybe get a chance to play!) and is unabashed in talking about how he misleads and _actually bribes_ his way into maintaining his funding.

- Yes: Bribes. He wrote about this! Do you know how little research funding is available to the PI, and what the consequences are _supposed to be_ for breaking the Foreign Corrupt Practices act on a US State Dept grant? Result: no consequences for whitey, just some jokey BS about 'that's the Philippines for ya'.

- During his "research", he gets a gig playing the extremely abusive Aspirational White Love Interest in a local _Ugly Betty_ variant TV show. It's much worse than I describe here. His take on the experience: "I felt kind of weird about it! Race stuff is weird! Oh well!"

- Among the worst: he talks extensively about the central role of bakla / queer fans in the PBA and regional competitions. And then spends twice as long talking about how he was too uncomfortable around gender-noncomforming people to actually shake hands or speak to any of them. Read: "I am too much of a homophobe to do the ACTUAL RESEARCH WORK THE STATE DEPT IS PAYING ME TO DO. But I am still somewhat of a good person for noting that for the record, right?"

And so nearly every opportunity for insight comes and goes like a Homer Simpson "Dental Plan - Lisa's Braces" internal monologue. The guy buries the lede like it's his fucking job.

He'll write almost a chapter's worth of material on the fraught relationship between African American 'import' players, Fil-Am imports, and Filipino local players, and work that in as a sidebar to a bigger chapter on circumventing recruiting rules. Or he'll let slip a couple of sentences about the dissemination of team sports as a military project of the US occupation continued by the Marcoses during an intro, and never even note that as interesting.

The Aesop at the end of this is: "the Philippines is kind of messed up, but it produced a unique kind of basketball which is kind of cool, so it's all good, I guess."(less)

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Jul 29, 2010 Benito Jr. rated it 5 of 5 stars

When I was growing up in the Philippines, every guy in my neighborhood played basketball. As a writer one is trained not to use absolute terms like “every” or “all,” but this is surely a statement of empirical fact. Maybe those guys were too busy now, or their knees, like mine, had given way in middle age, but at some point in their lives, they had picked up a ball and chucked it through a hoop. And in every neighborhood, there was one. Even I can still remember the makeshift basketball court ne...more

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Jun 27, 2011 Trishia rated it 4 of 5 stars

Philippines + basketball = bought

This is one of those books that instantly hooked me in because I love reading about the Philippines and basketball is my favorite sport. Needless to say, I approached this book with bias.

The book attempts to find out why Filipinos love basketball. I wondered why the bootleg Game Boy cartridge from the Philippines had the Indiana Pacers logo on it, but I never took the incident seriously until I read Pacific Rims.

Why participate in a sport that requires height (w...more

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Jul 11, 2012 Edu added it

This book is a great in-depth observation of a nation of basketball fans from another basketball fan's point of view. Why does a nation whose population is so vertically-challenged love this big man's sport? The author, Rafe Bartholomew (now of Grantland.com), tries to answer this through his research, and while doing so, came up with a book that thoroughly (and entertainingly) explains Philippine culture. I also really like the way Rafe packaged his three years worth of insights and framed it w...more

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Aug 13, 2012 Krizia Anna rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: rafe-bartholomew, book-club

If you are Filipino and a hoops fan then this is definitely a book for you. It's funny and fun to read. For a foreigner, he got to know the Filipinos so well. A lot of positive and negative write ups about the Philippines but over-all it something we Filipinos can be proud of and can also improve on. I find myself searching for Youtube for some of the games he featured and getting to know some of the PBA players on a personal level. This is really a great find and a great read.

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Jun 02, 2012 Bomalabs rated it 5 of 5 stars

I spent a whole Saturday reading this book, and I couldn't put it down. It was that good. I really admire how I think he was able to cover all aspects of Basketball in the Philippines, from Crispa-Toyota, Ateneo-La Salle, the PBA and MBA..and offered some objective glimpses of Filipino life. It wasn't pretentious nor academic, it was entertaining but knowledgeable. I loved it. I don't regret spending 400 pesos for this. :)

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Dec 27, 2010 Eron Salazar rated it 5 of 5 stars

I am no writer nor critic. I can only approve that the four selections of reviews at the back cover say it all.

I maybe biased as a Filipino, but you can't blame me for recommending this book. If you're a fan of Pinoy basketball, you should definitely read it. If not, try and you will be able to see the "soul" that Rafe Bartholomew is talking about.

Basketball, society, entertainment, politics - all intertwined in a personal conquest. I laughed. I loathed. I felt pride, elation, disgust, shame -...more

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May 02, 2013 Dunedee Malazarte rated it 5 of 5 stars

This one right here is an awesome book about basketball! Never really was a fan of the PBA until I finished reading this book. Thank God Bartholomew took the time to come to the Philippines and write this beauty. I know most people I know who love basketball aren't avid readers but I just have to recommend this book to you guys.

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Oct 09, 2010 Rhona rated it 4 of 5 stars

How interesting to see my world through a foreigner's eyes. He accomplished the almost impossible - made me want to watch basketball again. I admired how the author was able to pin down Pinoy things with clarity and clever insights.

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Oct 07, 2012 Mrlunch rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In Pacific Rims, Fulbright Scholar Rafe Bartholomew spends a year in the Philippines examining Filipinos' love of basketball and, in the process, gives us a wonderfully informative and insightful key to this Asian country's culture.
As a basketball junkie, I picked this book up thinking it was going to be an entertaining sports read. And while it was that, it was much more. Using basketball as a lens, Pacific Rims ends up being really good travel writing touching on Filipino culture and history-...more

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Apr 02, 2012 Tyson rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: history, sports, travel

Great book on the current history and state of Philippine Basketball and their love of the game. The author never really seems to get to the heart but he does a pretty good job of trying to get there. Anyone who loves the game or wants to get a peak at the love affair Pinoys have for the game this is the book for you.
Recommended.

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Feb 19, 2013 Rudolph Alama rated it 4 of 5 stars

linking our country's affinity with basketball, Rafe Bartholomew gives a brand new perspective to our very complex but colorful nation.

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Dec 22, 2012 Benjamin De la fuente rated it 5 of 5 stars

Most entertaining sports book I've read in a long time, and also an insightful look into the Philippines and its people.

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Jan 19, 2012 Gieson rated it 4 of 5 stars

The book starts off well but peters out toward the end. Best part of Pacific Rims is Chapter 7 on Billy Ray Bates. It's hard to believe that stuff he did actually happened. The book reminds me of why I like basketball and why the hardwood is almost like a Utopia for people who live under a corrupt government.

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Oct 14, 2012 Alex rated it 5 of 5 stars

I don't even like sports books, but this really captures the uniquely Filipino love for the game.

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Oct 15, 2011 Leif Garinto rated it 5 of 5 stars

I'm not a basketball fan (probably one of the .00001 in this country), so Rafe's account became my sort of initiation to the world of Philippine basketball - it's highs and lows, the general craziness of it all, and how we made the sport uniquely Pinoy. However, despite the title, Rafe's book isn't a mere account of basketball in the Philippines, but rather a bold, brutal look at its society, where the sport plays a huge part. Humorous yet unflinching in its honesty, Pacific Rims stands out as o...more

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Sep 06, 2010 Peter Overzet rated it 4 of 5 stars

Rafe's immersion in Phillipine basketball culture has yielded a phenomenal book.

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Sep 12, 2010 Pturingan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, sports

I'll write a proper review for this when I have time. But for now, let me just say that this is a fucking great book. If you are a Filipino and you love basketball, you will absolutely enjoy reading this book.

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Aug 30, 2010 Pau rated it 5 of 5 stars

Enjoying this book so far. Author tends to romaticize the subject matter a bit, but it's forgivable considering the alternative is to paint the Philippines in a much harsher light.

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Jan 28, 2011 Ela Kaimo rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites, owned

A great read, even for those who aren't big fans of basketball. Laugh-out-loud hilarious.

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Jun 02, 2011 Glennsky rated it 4 of 5 stars

Surprisingly darn good read.!! If you're into Pinoy hoops, you need to read this.

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“Philippine culture was clearly different. It wasn't the fan's duty to remain aloof in the presence of stars; it was the player's responsibility to show gratitude to the average Filipino.” — 3 people liked it

“Watching Castro, whose tiny hands looked like marshmallows, hoist the ball from his waist and through the hoop seemed like the human equivalent of an ant lifting fifty times its body weight.” — 1 person liked it

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