Allured by the idea of an island nation full of people who love the game as irrationally as he does, American journalist Rafe Bartholomew arrived in Manila to unlock the riddle of basketball’s grip on the Philippines. On his unforgettable journey, Bartholomew spends a season inside the locker room of a Philippine professional team, dines with politicians who exploit hoops for electoral success, travels with a troupe of midgets and transsexuals who play exhibition games at rural fiestas, and even acts in a local soap opera.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. Pacific Rims is a journey into the world of Philippine basketball. From street corner games played by flip-flop-clad teenagers, where the losers buy RC Cola and plastic sachets of “Happy” Peanuts for the winners, to the country’s professional league, the Philippine Basketball Association, no people in the world love the game like Filipinos.

• Format: Hardcover
• Publisher: Penguin Putnam, Inc.
• ISBN: 0451229991
• Weight: 0.54 kg