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

Rafe Bartholomew

4.30 · Rating details · 761 ratings · 71 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

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Hardcover, 400 pages

Published June 1st 2010 by New American Library (first published May 26th 2010)

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Dec 18, 2011 Nicolo rated it really liked it

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 it was amazing

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 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 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. ...more

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May 25, 2014 Ruel rated it it was amazing

A brilliantly written tome about the Philippines' infatuation with basketball. Fulbright scholar and hoops junkie Rafe Bartholomew delves deep into his topic, seemingly leaving no stone unturned as he tries to get to the heart of a nation's obsession. From playing pick-up games with the locals to following a PBA team on its quest for a championship, Bartholomew's story of living three years in the Philippines had me longing for a return trip back to my motherland.

I loved how he detailed the man ...more

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Nov 19, 2015 Joselito Honestly and Brilliantly rated it really liked it

How must you you live your life?

You can try having a lifelong passion for something you can never excel in. Filipinos are short and basketball is a tall man’s game but the number one sport in the Philippines is basketball. The American author stayed in the Philippines to do research for this book and try to figure our this mystery yet could only come up with a conclusion that should have been obvious right from the start: that the Filipinos’s love for basketball is no different from his own. Yet How must you you live your life?

You can try having a lifelong passion for something you can never excel in. Filipinos are short and basketball is a tall man’s game but the number one sport in the Philippines is basketball. The American author stayed in the Philippines to do research for this book and try to figure our this mystery yet could only come up with a conclusion that should have been obvious right from the start: that the Filipinos’s love for basketball is no different from his own. Yet the similarity ends there.

I am sure he saw it, but he didn’t say it (he had become friends with the who’s who in Philippine basketball—the rich, influential and powerful): the silliness of it all. Filipinos are short? No problem. Get some big American black players and naturalize them. So you see Philippine teams competing in international competitions playing with one or two big, black guys who can’t even speak the language. They seldom win games, mainly because even if they have one or two big fake Filipinos they compete with teams with ALL their players just as big and as quick and talented. The obvious solution to be competitive is to field an all-American big fake Filipinos, but the problem would be how to make it still look like a Philippine team.

Money is being poured into this hopeless sport instead of sports where Filipinos can compete with the world’s best without any natural disadvantage like billiards, chess or boxing. Fairly recently the country hosted an Asean basketball competition. The Philippine team kept on losing. But after each loss the newspapers, with the game on their headlines, would have write-ups in a tone that sounded more like the team was victorious (“The ____ team was stretched to its limits,” “The ____ team could only win in overtime,” etc.). The team didn’t win the tournament (placed second among teams from countries with little or no interest in the game) yet the players were feted at the Presidential palace and given one million pesos each.

Apart from the international schools where children of expats study, the Philippines has two most expensive universities—the Ateneo de Manila University (Blue Eagles) and the La Salle University (Green Archers). These are were the children of the rich and famous in the country study. Their alumni run big businesses, the government and anything in the country that has money in it. So when the teams of these two schools play each other in collegiate basketball, the perfumed set will come in droves and cheer their respective teams like it’s the NBA championships. Even the American ambassador to the Philippines would be there watching. And the quality of the game? Again, the author is very tactful. The proper word should be MEDIOCRE. But he didn’t say it, but you could sense he was having so much fun watching the farce—

“The game began, and when Ateneo secured the jump ball, the blue side whooped in joy as if big man Ford Arao had just hit a game-winning hook shot. The crowd’s feral enthusiasm was cranked up to soccer hooligan levels, even though the sloppy first-half play didn’t give either side much reason to cheer. La Salle’s backcourt, a pair of smurf-sized guards, T.Y. Tang and J.V. Casio (whose name sometimes appears as Jayvee and the abominable Jvee), were as abbreviated in height as they were in name. Time and again they drove into the heart of Ateneo’s defines only to miss off-balance runners or kick the ball out to three-point gunners whose shots rarely fell. Atone wasn’t much better. They pounded the ball into Arao and Rabeh al-Hussaini, effective but clunky big men who managed a few buckets despite shooting with a shot-putter’s touch. However dull the action, the fans preserved their fever pitch. They screamed for defensive rebounds, loose balls, and out-of-bounds calls that favoured their teams. When La Salle’s slinky six-foot-five Rico Maierhofer slipped free for a baseline dunk, the green mob burst into chaos.”

This is, however, a well-written fun read if you can forget for the moment basketball’s deleterious effects upon Philippine sports. ...more

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Feb 27, 2011 EOB rated it it was ok

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 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." ...more

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Feb 19, 2011 Barb rated it really liked it

Shelves: nonfiction

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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Jun 07, 2010 Benito Jr. rated it it was amazing

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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Oct 27, 2013 Lyden Orbase rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: Philippine basketball fans, Gatas Republic, Gin Kings fans

Shelves: personal-list, history, non-fiction, sports, best-reads

Philippines + Basketball = ♥

I had never heard of Rafe Bartholomew until I came across this book called Pacific Rims. Curious, how did a New Yorker find out how crazy Filipinos are about basketball? Who is this Rafe Bartholomew? I had to find out what he's saying about my country's favorite game.

Rafe Bartholomew wrote precisely what Philippine basketball is all about. He researched well, not forgetting even the tiny details. There are facts about PBA and the players that I didn't know until I rea Philippines + Basketball = ♥

I had never heard of Rafe Bartholomew until I came across this book called Pacific Rims. Curious, how did a New Yorker find out how crazy Filipinos are about basketball? Who is this Rafe Bartholomew? I had to find out what he's saying about my country's favorite game.

Rafe Bartholomew wrote precisely what Philippine basketball is all about. He researched well, not forgetting even the tiny details. There are facts about PBA and the players that I didn't know until I read Pacific Rims. As I went through, I kept muttering to myself, "why didn't I know that?" It's like after the many games I had watched, I realized I knew almost nothing about PBA.

The book also has a chapter allotted for the Ginebra Gin Kings. If they're not the best team in the league, they surely have the biggest fan base nationwide. And the most loyal fans, I should say. If anyone should write about Philippine basketball, it's mandatory that the writer at least acknowledge Ginebra and Sonny Jaworski. And Bartholomew didn't miss that part.

But Pacific Rims is not only about basketball. Readers will also learn some history and culture, a bit of politics, and much about Philippine society and the people. Furthermore, Bartholomew wrote not only with his knowledge in sports and journalism, but also with his heart. Especially with his heart.

I admire the author's sincerity in writing the book. Surely, there are dirty stuff connected to Philippine hoops. The business moguls that support teams out of sheer profit, politicians who use basketball for their selfish gains, game fixing, under the table deals. But all of it put together will still not prevail over this country's pure love for the sports.

I think all basketball fans will appreciate Pacific Rims, especially Alaska Aces fans. It brings back so much memories of the 2007 Fiesta Conference, when Alaska won the title. I love the Aces and I couldn't help smiling over and over. This book is funny (my friend thought I had gone mad when I started laughing so hard), nostalgic, informative, heart-warming, and inspiring. Most of all, Pacific Rims is about true love.

***
Quote from the book:

"The two dominant teams of the era, the Crispa Redmanizers and Toyota Tamaraws, spent the PBA's first decade locked in one of the most heated rivalries in Philippine sports history. Whenever they clashed, crowds upward of 20,000 fans jammed every seat, catwalk, and staircase in the Araneta Coliseum. At the very least, fans knew they'd be treated to a seesaw battle played by the country's finest ballers; and, if the spectators were lucky, they might witness a brawl." ...more

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Jul 24, 2013 Tom rated it really liked it

Shelves: non-fiction, sports

This book starts with the author's Fulbright Scholarship thesis: Why is an island nation in the Pacific crazy about basketball? The author mentioned he was partially inspired by Big Game, Small World: A Basketball Adventure by Sports Illustrated writer Alexander Wolff. Rafe Bartholemew goes into the history of the game in the Philippines, its fan culture, and even tags along with a professional PBA team, the Alaska Aces, sponsored by a dairy company. The best team name may be the Ginebra Gin Kin This book starts with the author's Fulbright Scholarship thesis: Why is an island nation in the Pacific crazy about basketball? The author mentioned he was partially inspired by Big Game, Small World: A Basketball Adventure by Sports Illustrated writer Alexander Wolff. Rafe Bartholemew goes into the history of the game in the Philippines, its fan culture, and even tags along with a professional PBA team, the Alaska Aces, sponsored by a dairy company. The best team name may be the Ginebra Gin Kings, sponsored by the well liquor. Oddly enough all of the pro teams are based in Metropolitan Manila, and they generally all play in the same arena. The PBA has interesting rules, with an All-Filipino season (or conference as it is called in the PBA), and a season where each team can sign a foreign player or import, assuming the player is not taller than the maximum allowed height. The PBA often had controversy of whether Filipino-American or other members of the Filipino diaspora were Filipino enough to be considered a non-import player. The locker room atmosphere between the native born Filipino players and the players from the diaspora presented a fascinating dynamic and a contrast in cultures.

The book is interesting, noting how basketball has intertwined with Philippine politics. For example, often times political largesse takes the form of covered outdoor courts built in the centers of many villages, rather than something a little more functional. Many PBA players had success getting elected, as senatorial seats are nationwide elections and the PBA alumni often have incredible name recognition. It also goes into the crowd culture, where often many of the teams have fan groups, sometimes led by people outside of the mainstream, like transvestites. The book gets into social history, politics, and the impacts of colonialism and occupation by Spain, the US, and Japan have affected the nation and how this is sometimes reflected in the game of basketball.

As a side note, one of the foreign players during the PBA season Bartholemew followed was J.J. Sullinger, a former Ohio State player, Columbus native, and brother of Buckeye/Boston Celtic Jared Sullinger. ...more

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Sep 05, 2011 Tom rated it really liked it

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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Jun 04, 2012 Chris rated it it was amazing · 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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May 04, 2012 Evan rated it liked it

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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Feb 22, 2011 Alex rated it really liked it

Beemen Ballin' in Flip-Flops was a deep dive into an obsessive basketball culture. It explored the history of this love affair, and also told the story of the author's time in the country researching, living, and balling with the locals. It dragged a little when it focused on the history, though those sections did provide a nice context for the modern madness of the infatuation. It hummed when the author told about his own experiences, like being a hired gun for a fixed local basketball tourname ...more

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Mar 22, 2012 Tyson rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: history, travel, sports

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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Oct 09, 2010 Rhona rated it really liked it

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. ...more

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Aug 17, 2016 Shawn rated it really liked it

Really liked the first and last third of the book. The middle third got a little long-winded for me with the author devoting too many pages to some topics.
But overall entertaining. Insightful, descriptive and humorous too.

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Sep 06, 2010 Peter Overzet rated it really liked it

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

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Jul 16, 2013 Matt Lieberman rated it really liked it

Having read and enjoyed Jim Yardley's Brave Dragons, which covered Chinese professional basketball, earlier this year I was eager to further explore the genre of "books about Asian basketball written in English," assuming such a thing was possible. Thankfully after some cursory research I learned about Rafe Bartholomew's Pacific Rims, which focuses on the Philippines' notable and somewhat-curious obsession with hoops. I finally got around to reading the book and believe that it is one of the bes Having read and enjoyed Jim Yardley's Brave Dragons, which covered Chinese professional basketball, earlier this year I was eager to further explore the genre of "books about Asian basketball written in English," assuming such a thing was possible. Thankfully after some cursory research I learned about Rafe Bartholomew's Pacific Rims, which focuses on the Philippines' notable and somewhat-curious obsession with hoops. I finally got around to reading the book and believe that it is one of the best basketball books I have ever read. Bartholomew, currently a senior editor at Grantland, provides an incredibly entertaining look at the country's fascination with the sport with a book that is equal parts fly-on-the-wall season chronicle, deep examination of Filipino culture (athletic and otherwise), and travelogue, all of it worthwhile.

Unless Bartholomew is lying to the reader, Filipinos are remarkably into basketball and the sport has found its way into virtually every aspect of life in the country. Soccer never really caught on, and basketball is unquestionably the nation's most popular sport. Courts can be found even in the most remote areas and are viewed as centers of social life, the country's ubiquitous jeepneys are often adorned with a random assortment of NBA team logos or just Jerry West's silhouette, and players in the very popular Philippines' Basketball Association (and some Americans like Clyde Drexler, who is revered by Filipinos for some reason) are cultural icons that hawk a plethora of products to consumers.

The fact that basketball is so huge in the Philippines is enough to make for an interesting book. If Bartholomew just traveled across the country and noted the country's prevalence of courts and games, how random NBA games from the nineties serve as midday filler on television networks, and the strong following for the PBA (the second-oldest professional basketball league in the world) he could have made for a decent read. Bartholomew goes far deeper in Pacific Rims, however, much to the reader's benefit.

A good bit of the book covers the 2007 "conference" (season) of the Alaska Aces, a PBA franchise led by American coach Tim Cone. This gives Bartholomew an excellent opportunity to describe the nature of idiosyncrasies of the country's major professional league. As was the case in China, Filipino professional basketball leagues do things a little bit differently than the NBA. Teams are limited to one "import" on their roster, though some cutthroat coaches will often bring in multiple foreigners to compete for a roster spot or hire a new import in midseason. Imports must also meet a height restriction, which appears to change from year to year and is far from impervious from abuse or corruption. Franchises are all run by business owners, leading to some unfortunate names such as the Burger King Whoppers and Rain or Shine Elasto Painters (the Alaska Aces are naturally named the Alaska milk company). There are musings about referee corruption and some fans are imbued with elements of soccer hooliganism. Bartholomew's sections on the league's history and his analysis of its present iteration are truly captivating reflections on how the professional game has been appropriated across the world. The author manages to develop a close connection with many Aces, especially their import Rosell Ellis, and he is able to provide a very intimate account of what turns out to be a rather exciting campaign for the team. Bartholomew possesses a very deep understanding of the game (he is a decent player who was recruited to play as a ringer in an amateur tournament in the resort island of Boracay) and his game descriptions are vivid, suspenseful, and entertaining.

In addition to following the Aces, Bartholomew devotes many pages to describing general life in the Philippines. He spent three years in the country on a Fulbright grant and was able to explore much of the country and its culture over the period. His hoops focus is not limited to the professional ranks, and Bartholomew plays many pickup games with various cross-sections of Filipino society and travels across the country (the PBA is based entirely in the Manila metropolitan area) to see that the national obsession extends far beyond the PBA's borders. These sections read more like travel writing, as he describes driving and biking across precarious terrain in pursuit of some court in the remote mountains, game where midgets face off against drag queens, or similarly-intriguing basketball attraction, and they are just as strong as the more conventional Aces chapters. Bartholomew also occasionally detours into discussing racial and cultural aspects of Filipino society, such as his guest appearance on a rather racist Filipino telenovela and the complicated relationship between the Filipino-Americans in the PBA and their countrymen. I felt that these off-court sections enriched the book more than anything else and provided a fuller account of Filipino culture.

In Sum

I highly recommend Pacific Rims to anyone interested in basketball or just learning about a foreign sports culture in general. You certainly don't need to be able to recognize former PBA imports like Cedric Ceballos or Darvin Ham to appreciate the book. Bartholomew can repeat himself at times and sometimes injects too much of himself into the book, but he ultimately has crafted one of the best basketball books I have read. The book's scope extends off the court to the sport's cultural and social impact and he is equally strong in covering both. Pacific Rims is ultimately a very well-executed book on a fascinating subject that is a pleasure to read.

8/10 ...more

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Jan 19, 2014 Daniel rated it really liked it

Shelves: non-fiction, sports

This is a book for people who love basketball and love reading about other people who love basketball. This book was for my teenage self who would wake up every Saturday, bike to the high school court and spend hours dribbling, shooting, and daydreaming. Perhaps I also had a special love for this book because, having spent 4 formative months in Manila I had a clear picture of everything Rafe describes. This is a book about Filipino culture through the lens of Filipino's favorite sport.

Rafe Bart ...more

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Apr 18, 2014 Adrienne rated it really liked it

The lengthy, breathless descriptions of basketball maneuverings could get pretty tedious to someone who isn't an aficionado of the sport already. And I'm always sketched out when someone who isn't actually an anthropologist just goes into another country and just starts making broad generalizations--even if they were there for three years. It's weird to be a first-gen and have some American go and describe your entire social class as "basking in the fruits of corruption" just because we're not a ...more

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May 22, 2017 Bookbed rated it liked it

Shelves: 2017, recommended-reads

"But why? Why are we so engrossed with basketball? Why are there courts in almost every corner of the barangay? Why do we see faces of basketball stars painted on jeepneys? Why are Tatay and Kuya so emotionally invested in this Finals, arguing every play and scolding anyone who dares change the channel?" Continue reading our post here.

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Aug 01, 2018 Brian Wadman rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Bartholomew does a pretty good job getting into the story of the Alaska Aces in some year (2004?) in the Philippines. I just wish he wasn't such a tool when I watched his CNN stuff afterwards. Totally distorted my vision of him and prevented me from buying his book about his father's bar. Sorry Rafe :) ...more

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May 30, 2020 Ray rated it it was amazing

More than just a basketball book, Rafe's insight into Filipino customs and culture paint a picture of life in the Philippines.

Interesting to read about the interactions and relationships of foreign born players with Philippine born players and fans. ...more

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Dec 28, 2017 Michael rated it liked it

Shelves: sports

Most interesting when it touches on aspects of culture and race. For example, what defines a Fil-Am? Someone born in the Philippines to Filipino parents and raised in the US who doesn't speak Tagalog? Or someone born in Manila to non-Filipino parents and raised in Manila? How Fil-Ams who acted Filipino were no longer "Fil-Am." But it felt a touch long. ...more

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Jan 08, 2020 Manny Munson-Regala rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

What a read

As a first generation Filipino-American whose a long-suffering Timberwolves fan, this dissection (and it’s more fun than that may sound) of Filipino culture, politics, economy and above all its love of hoops, hoops, hoops was a great, great read.

Be sure to also read the footnotes.

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Jun 13, 2018 che rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: basketball fans

Shelves: basketball

loved it for personal reasons, namely:
* Alaska Milkmen
* basketball
* Philippines
* basketball in the Philippines

and the fact that i can relate too much to all of the above.

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Aug 30, 2019 Benj rated it it was amazing

A fascinating look at the Filipinos' love for basketball. One has to admire Rafe's dedication to see his research through to the end. ...more

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Jan 31, 2013 Elizabeth rated it really liked it

Shelves: nonfiction, biography-memoir

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
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.
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Jul 10, 2012 Rai Keyri rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommended to Rai by: National Bookstore SM City Dasmariñas

Shelves: books-that-i-own, sports, entertainment

The last time I played basketball was before I graduated college in 2012.: Free throwing and driving to the net, half-court. I sold my undeflated Spalding ball with its shoulder bag wayback 2016 through olx.ph.

I'd rather practice Arnis-Kali-Eskrima (which is now Philippine's national sport and becoming popular in western world) or kenjutsu these days early in the morning than play basketball but I can still practice ball shooting in the arcade station in the mall.

I wish the author didn't focus ...more

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Apr 21, 2015 Aldwin rated it it was amazing

I can understand if this book does not become a best-seller because it's about the relatively lesser-known professional basketball league PBA (compared to other foreign leagues). The strength of this book though lies from the diverse stories as told by an American who was fascinated by the love and reverence of the Filipinos to this sport.

Similar stories can be read in the sports column of local newspapers. However, while these columns are rich in details, Rafe's stories captures the behind-the- ...more

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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.” — 5 likes

“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.” — 2 likes

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