Asian Journal- The Filipino-American Community Newspaper

MANILA—A quick glance at Rafael "Rafe" Bartholomew, author of the recently released book Pacific Rims: Beermen Ballin’ in Flip-Flops and the Philippines’ Unlikely Love Affair with Basketball, one would think he is one of those American guys who has fallen for the irresistible charms of our native land and he has no qualms of showing it.

At the book launch held at Powerbooks in Greenbelt, Makati City last Tuesday, Aug. 24, he seemed to be having the time of his life, never failing to throw a smile at anyone who looked at his direction. Donning a light gray Philippine Map shirt, faded blue jeans, Niké Zoom Rusher sneakers and a yellow-colored power balance wristband, Rafe appeared like he was perfectly blending in. In retrospect, he is hardly a stranger in the country—some even dub him as an "honorary kababayan." Thanks to a grant awarded to him by the Fulbright Scholar Program, he was able to spend time in the country back in 2005, immersing himself in the local basketball scene and the Filipino way of life in general.

Still, skeptics would insist he’s just taking us locals for a ride, humoring us with his delightful command of colloquial Tagalog, and that once all the media blitz for his book is over, he would go back home to his sweet city of New York, never to mention anything about the Philippines ever again.

Well, it turns out that he does have more Pinoy in him than we could ever hope for as he relates a story which happened while he was back at home in NYC in Valentine’s Day last year. The fast-food giant Jollibee opened a branch at Woodside, Queens, its first ever in the East Coast, and in the bitter cold weather (it was February after all), Rafe stood in line—along with hundreds of Filipino-Americans—for almost five hours just to get his hands on a Chickenjoy. If that is not enough proof of his love for things Pinoy, then what is?

"A large part of my heart and mind and essence or soul, whatever you call it, belongs to the Philippines," he tells sports broadcaster and columnist Bill Velasco, who happens to be one of Rafe’s personal friends, during a brief Question and Answer at the launch (where he had a book-signing session afterwards).

He also reveals that he’s picked up on a lot of Pinoy mannerisms which he unconsciously exhibited back home, and it made for some awkward situations. Having gotten used to riding the MRT here, he said that he found himself standing too close for comfort next to people in the New York subway.

"People looked at me like,’What are you doing?’" he says, laughing. "When I raise my eyebrows randomly at people in the street (a Pinoy way of saying hello), they think like, ‘Psycho!’"

Thankfully, there are other things truly Pinoy he brought back home which do not register "crazy" on the mental scale.