Fight Night Looms Again

So it's all over the interwebs (especially on the local front) that Manny Pacquiao's fame has reached unimaginable heights by appearing on Time Magazine's cover (Asian edition). I mean, wow. Just wow. Manny's great, and after "doubting" him for two straight fights, I've learned my lesson and am confident about him emerging victorious after the Cotto fight. Still, that's why sports is sometimes so unpredictable -- any match/fight/game can go either way, especially in boxing, where one lucky punch can turn things around.

In the meantime, here's a New York Times article on the Pacman and his trainer Freddie Roach's relationship. A good read.

Now I'll just have to find a copy of that Time issue. Hopefully it isn't sold out yet.

Get Pumped

The new NBA season kicks off tomorrow morning here in the Philippines and I am fucking pumped as hell. It's going to be one hell of a season, and you know where I'll be most of the time: at Pounding the Rock, cheering on the San Antonio Spurs with Spurs fans from different parts of the world.

For now, I hope you get excited, too, with these two photos of a passionate Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili. Go Spurs Go!

Somebody Fix The Goddam Problem

Here are some links after the fallout of the Wynne Arboleda fan mauling incident:

Who gave the green light? - a spot-on article by Tommy Manotoc on the root of the said evil.

Rick Olivares PBA haterade - Rick is in a very bad mood. Watch out.


My thoughts? Glad you didn't ask.

• Personally, I agree with the suspension for the entire season, but for a lifetime? That's too harsh -- it totally closes the door on reconciliation and a chance to make good on his mistake. Nobody's too small to not get the opportunity to earn forgiveness. I sound like a priest. But seriously, let's try to act and think like real human beings here.
  

• The PBA is once again slipping. I think it hit rock bottom a few years ago then was on its way to recovery when several college stars went pro, but now, as a fan my interest continues to wane. And I'm a basketball fan of any sort of basketball game at that. I try to watch as much ballin' as I could, and you can rarely see my television set tuned in to a different channel other than Basketball TV. Now, if it's not Ginebra or SMART Gilas or some of the other players I like to see playing (Gabe Norwood, for example, and the Ateneo boys), the PBA officially turns me off.
  

• Yeng Guiao is an asshat. He epitomizes a ton of what is wrong with the local pro league. A lot of the bigwigs act like they know everything and refuse to be told how to run certain things. It's kinda similar to the company I work in. Everyone's so damn resistant to change and the accompanying risks that it carries. The coach and other PBA officials and coaches need to eat a good dose of humble pie. There are a lot of good suggestions out there on how to improve the league. You pro basketball suits should just learn how to swallow your pride and sacrifice your egos, and then we fans can decide if it's worth our while to patronize your little business venture.
  

• Good things will eventually, no, check that -- HOPEFULLY, come out of these incidents. Not only the Malice at the Palace: Philippine version, but also Japeth-gate. But like many politicians and the voting public, most of the time, we fucking never learn. We need to do something about that, people. As one Korean student studying english here in Manila wrote: "Filipinos need to love their country." Is it really as simple as that? Maybe.

Outside Insider

Last season, my daily routine in the morning consisted of checking (in no particular order... I like to mix things up a bit) Yahoo! Sports, Pounding the Rock, personal email accounts (3 in Gmail, 1 in Yahoo), ESPN and Fox Sports. Sometimes, if I remember it, I also check Sports Illustrated (especially the Tennis section and articles from L. Jon Wertheim).

Over time, I began bypassing Fox Sports, as I only read articles there by Charley Rosen and Jason Whitlock. For a few months now, I've also stricken off ESPN in that privileged list. That all began when they started tagging "Insider" to articles they used to release for free. Now, you'd be lucky to find an article written by John Hollinger or Chris Sheridan without having to fork over hard-earned money.

Personally, I like reading ESPN for the entertainment value (Bill Simmons is an idiot but he's someone most people want to be -- a blogger with relatively free rein to discuss stupid things, relate it to sports in a sometimes hilarious way, get paid and receive a lot of privileges), analysis and rumors. I used to actually regard the site as THE source for everything sports, but the recent corporatism it has been subjected to has forced me to look for other alternatives. I visited the site a few minutes ago because I was looking for some San Antonio Spurs news, and it just hit me that I haven't been to ESPN for quite some time now. The experience also resulted into something like being pissed at how the website is being run nowadays.

When the big wigs at ESPN began incorporating this Insider-wide change, I remember reading one of Hollinger's chats where to my delight,someone finally had the balls to question what the hell was happening to ESPN, restricting access to almost all of its content (thank goodness TrueHoop hasn't followed suit). John just said that's what the bosses told them.

I'm pretty sure readership has gone down with all this exclusive content revolution. It won't take a super sleuth to deduce that. And I'm also quite sure that the ESPN bosses told their writers something like, "Okay, fewer people might be able to read what you write, but this is also for your own good. People HAVE to give credit for all your amazing work by PAYING for what you write." Heck, they might've gotten Hollinger's approval by saying that this movement will pay for all his supercomputer bills.

I realize I'm threading a fine line here (which is constantly walked by those who work in the corporate world) between making a profit and giving the product (or content) that people want. I want to take part in the exclusive access that these ESPN writers have by reading what they write, but realistically, I feel it's not a fair proposition for me to pay for it. I mean, don't they get enough revenues for page hits and web ads? Guess not, and I'm just a complete cheapskate who wants to take advantage. Kind of like the saying, "You stick your hand out, and they grab the whole arm." And so the debate continues on and on.

Two NBA seasons ago, a friend shared with me his Insider account. I think I really made good use of it as I almost read every article with an "in" beside its title. Thinking about it some more, what the access just did really was to take up a little more of my time compared to when I didn't have that Insider pass. Nowadays, I don't even need to visit ESPN. The TWSS posts over at PtR is more than enough to fill two, three days, sometimes even a week, of internet reading. Sometimes, I even feel hoopshype.com is more connected to the rumor mills than the big sports websites.

Who needs Insider and other subscription-based sports websites? Maybe those who can't sleep at night when they see a "juicy" article that they can't read for free. Sports junkies who have enough cash to burn (like my friend, who earns a great deal of money). As for the third world-er that I am, no, thank you. I think the internet already does a good job taking care of penniless bums like me. If you ask me about NBA League Pass though, that's an entirely different issue, which I'll reserve for future discussion.

Championship Blues

Burnin' the sun with just a wave of your hand

The champagne bottles have been popped, the trophy has been raised up high and the cheers are slowly fading. The bonfire has been lit and after a few hours of brightening up the sky, fades into the sunrise. My alma mater is once again on top of the college basketball mountain, yet I am left completely underwhelmed by everything that has happened in the past couple of weeks or so.

I'm thinking this mainly stems from the fact of not being able to witness the actual title-clinching game live. For the past two championships, I've been physically present inside the Araneta Coliseum, exchanging high-fives with everyone and anyone in sight, shouting so hard until my lungs explode, and jumping up and down to our (my friends and I) favorite party music/cheer, "Go Ateneo!" I miss the feeling. Or rather, I missed that feeling. And I seem to regret not being there even more because this time and since a loooong time, the second "back" of the back-to-back titles were at stake.

Number two is the Game 2 beatdown. That was the last live game I watched, and it wasn't a pretty good experience being on the short end of a blowout. I can't even remember the last time my college team was run out of the court like that. To top it all off, I missed the post-game mass at school because my friends wanted to eat first, and I frickin' didn't have a car (which is still being repaired, as I speak). After one game, I suddenly transformed into someone I didn't wanted to become - the "fan" who's just there for the team in times of triumph, but abandons ship when the losing begins. Maybe that's a bit too harsh considering I've always been there before only up until that Game 2. But that's what I honestly felt while I was downing a bowl of rice in that Japanese restaurant we were cooped up in.

Then there was the storm that literally and figuratively threw off everything. I mean, seriously, who can celebrate to the fullest when you see that there are still people who are devastated and continue to suffer? Don't get me wrong, I'm not blaming anyone if they want to have a good time. Just saying that at least on my end, I guess when you become one of the victims it's easier to relate about the plight of other people, and it just becomes harder to find reasons to celebrate. Kudos, though, to all the people who helped and continue to help in the relief operations. Those fucking politicians who constantly rob this country can go to hell. Don't you even fucking dare say that your best interests are for the Filipino people.

I put a photo of Jessica Mendoza above because I think she, too, kind of contributed to this iffy feeling I'm having. Nothing of it is her fault, to make that part clear. But why am I including her in this?

A friend and I were talking about it after the bonfire, and we both agreed that she didn't seem right that night. She looked like she was suffering from a bad hangover. After all, she joined the basketball team the night before in what seemed to be an all-night booze-filled championship celebration.

Also, we agreed that she looked a little bit like a slut with her short shorts, while her female counterpart, Lia Cruz, was more conservative, wearing jeans and a jacket. Of course, when we first saw Je our hormones went crazy, and even went to overdrive after they showed a video of her getting doused by water and champagne. That was awesome, I first thought. But then the night wore on, and all I could remember was her saying to one of her male co-hosts, "Tsaka na, pag nakainom na" (Roughly translated: "Later, when I've had enough to drink"), which hinted of another night with the drunken beauty, Jessica Mendoza. I went home with that thought in mind, not knowing if I should be elated about the discovery that she's a bit of a wild child, or depressed because the smokescreens on her goody-too-cute image just disappeared.

Hell, I don't even know this girl, and suddenly why am I so affected? Maybe after two months, the post-break up effects with my ex-girlfriend of more than 2 years haven't quite subsided yet. Or maybe it's the secret romantic freak in me, whose image of the ideal girl kinda shattered into little shards of glass after a night of partying. Reading this little entry makes me feel pathetic all of a sudden.

I was with some friends last night, and one of them, a female, offered me some unsolicited "advice" about post break up syndromes. Her words of wisdom? "Break ups give you some sort of unspoken right (or license) to go out there and act like total shit. Do anything you want. ANYTHING." Maybe one of these days, I'll try that out. Maybe pick up a girl at a bookstore or a concert (definitely not at a bar). Do something that's crazy and yet something that I wanted to do for so long. Or maybe, I'll get in touch with Jessica and tell her what's on my mind, and then ask her if she has daddy issues.

Most likely though, the do-gooder, scared-to-take-risks persona in me will prevail and every idea I just wrote will turn into ashes. Happens all the time. And after everything I wrote just now, I'm convinced about something. Winning won't make the problems go away. Maybe I should tell every sports franchise about that.

To end, here's a song for Je. Because you know, even after everything, I'd still date her in a heartbeat.

Winning is Everything Thursday

It's Thursday. A twinbill of do-or-die games are scheduled later at the Araneta Coliseum, with both games involving teams that I deeply give a shit about. Here are some of my Ondoy-like muddy thoughts about them:


Ateneo Blue Eaglets vs. De La Salle-Zobel Junior Archers
Unlike their seniors counterparts, I believe the Eaglets are the less-talented team, but that doesn't automatically make the Archers the one with the deeper set of players. If Boris Aldeguer runs his starters to the ground again, we might have a chance. Or maybe not. I didn't have the luxury to watch Game 2, because for one, the frickin' Balls channel showed it so late. I got home at around 9:30 pm and the women's finals was still on, and it was still just the 2nd quarter. Another reason is that plainly, I don't like watching games when my team loses.

Kiefer Ravena, you are the man. Or kid. Unfortunately, the fate of this team lies in your surreal, beautiful talents. I think Mark Jackson always says this line like a broken record: "Big-time players make big-time plays." The atrocious 6 (or was it 8?) points in Game 2 wouldn't do. Ael Banal is good but probably a notch or two lower than Kiefer's genius. Where Kief goes, this team follows. Heck, he even makes Ice Reyes and Chuckie Dumrique look good.

Kiefer, I know you still have one more year of high school to go and you can just probably mail it in this year, and then take the championship next year. But the greats of the game do not act like that. Whenever there's an opportunity to win, they go out there, grab the opponent by the neck, slam them to the ground and take the gold home. Show us what you're made of.

And to the rest of the team: show these La Sallian dogs what the heart of an Eaglet (or an Ateneo High School-er) is made of.



Ateneo Blue Eagles vs. University of the East Red Warriors
The similarities to the 2006 fiasco (or robbery, whichever term you may want to call it) aren't really there, but there's one now that I just noticed, although this one concerns only myself. In 2006, that fateful deciding game was also held on a Thursday. I was in the office that time, unable to take a leave because a lot of stuff was keeping me busy. This year, it's the same thing. Three years ago, I watched in horror, through a little TV screen with a fuzzy signal in our public relations office, how UST took away what was deemed to be rightfully belonging to Ateneo.

However, that gritty and resilient Tigers team taught me that championships aren't really given as birthrights. I might be feeling the same "this is ours, we own this" type of vibe this season, but memories of that 2006 ghost bring me back to reality. I hope the Blue Eagles especially realize this, too. If not, it's Norman Black's job to make them to.

At breakfast this morning, my dad told me he thinks UE will win it. The reason? They look like they're the hungrier team. I give him a slight nod because I wanted to avoid further debate. I uttered a few curses in my head, and told myself that Ateneo will win this. Still, I wonder whether the Eagles' hunger will be enough to match that of their opponent's. True enough, sometimes the team that wants it the most wins it.

Win or lose (yeah of course, it's the school I choose!), I think I won't be able to go to the post-game mass. The daily commute is already difficult enough without a car, and the weather as of late has been horrible. I badly want to attend, especially if we lose. For me, being with the team during times of hardship gives a consoling feeling. Bandwagoning fans usually dilute that winning feeling by making the whole thing look like a sideshow. So for those who'll be able to make it, cheer the team on for me, and make sure to cheer with gusto, because simply speaking, there is no tomorrow. I also would've wanted my photo taken with uber-cutie Jessica Mendoza and my main man, the graduating Nonoy Baclao. But for now, I will just have to support the team in spirit.

Enough of the armchair analyses, beaches. It's fucking winning time. ONE BIG FIGHT!

Posting Like Mad

I'm back with an internet connection. Well, I was back as early as Thursday but the recent typhoon just really threw my entire life off the tracks, so I had to busy myself putting it back on the right path. I'm ready to post again.

No, wait, check that. I expect to post like mad in the next few days. I'm frustrated and openly concerned about the ass-whooping that the Blue Eagles received from UE. What they did to us cannot be ignored. For the first time this season, after 13 games, I'm really saying that it's time to get serious and finish the job. No reenactment of that 2006 championship fumble, please. Or else I will be the most depressed man in the world. (at least in my not-so-humble opinion) I want to fucking go Back-To-Black. I'll post a more sober view of the deciding Game 3 in a later post. Pramis.

I've finished the write-up for my personal account of the NBA Asia Challenge, but I couldn't successfully upload some of the videos on youtube because of sucky internet. Once I get those done, even the devil won't be able to stop me crapping on the interwebs with that post.

The typhoon ruined my supposed UAAP finals preview, so bye-bye with that. But I'll be replacing that one with posts from the Smart Gilas National Team vs. Powerade Pilipinas National Team exhibition game, and later in the day, some thoughts on the Blue Eaglets vs. Junior Archers finals series.

Now, I think I've laid out a neat blogging schedule for myself but for two days now, internet at home isn't cooperating. I need my ISP's help and of course, some semblance of blogging responsibility to be able to finish what I set out to do. Anyway, as we Filipinos like to say "Bahala na si Batman."

Let me leave you with some cute girl photos from Game 2 of the UAAP finals, because I like them and love looking at them. I love women, and I'm sure you do, too, so stop hating. And if you think that I'm just on the lookout for chicks and not all about basketball, then you can suck it.

Let's just say that I know this girl and that she's waaaaay hotter in person. Just flat-out hawt.

She's the one who took the photo of the other hot girl above. Dayum. Hot girls just flock together, don't they?

Last but absolutely not least, the cuteness herself, Jessica Mendoza (Ateneo's courtside reporter). Why oh why did we not attend the same batch in college?

Just Another Quick-Hitting Ateneo Blue Eagles Post

My man Japeth feeling the awesomeness
(Sorry for the thumbnail-like size, darn these photographers, they don't allow people to download the original photos. Sheesh.)

Okay, a week ago I just wrote about one of the greatest games I have ever watched. Yesterday's Final Four match with UST will also go down that list. Another incredible experience, and I feel very lucky and fortunate that Ateneo has been such a superb team these last two years. Some things of interest that make the match qualify for best game ever honors:

• Eric Salamat's "steal fiesta" - I've already said he's a joy to watch when he's on, and yesterday he put on a defensive showcase. In the 2nd quarter, there was one stretch where he generated like 4 or 5 straight steals, which is just plain crazy shit. Nobody's allowed to ballhawk that well. I love me some Man of Steal.

• Jai Reyes - Nonoy for President (a great site written by hilarious Ateneans, my kind of bloggers) mentions how Jai has proved them wrong about him not being successful in the big college leagues because of his height. Jainamite's floor leadership is at par with the best point guards in the league, and his shooting form and touch is just perfecto mundo.

Stroke of a genius.

• Nonoy Baclao - A healthy Nonoy is a beast. Two more games remaining in Noy's college career and already I am feeling that I'll miss him and his defense the most.

• Pido Jarencio's coaching - Or lack of. He just didn't have any sort of discernible strategy out there. Well, he's always effective in getting Rabeh Al-Hussaini in foul trouble (helped in part by Rabeh's childish bumbling) but other than that he's wasting the talent of his kids by playing that professional-style one-on-one basketball. Teach the kids some team play, coach. Either way, we're always going to enjoy Coach Norman whipping Coach Pido's ass, if ever Pido still sticks around for next season.
  

• Kirk Long's jets - Seriously, he has this videogame-like turbo button where he just literally flies past everybody down court. It's shocking to see in person.

• Dylan Ababou - He's a great talent and I'm both sad and glad that he already played his last game. The Smart Gilas team will need him. Thanks for all the tremendous battles, 'Bou, and good luck in your career.

• Being in Fabilioh.com - Haha, this is rather obnoxious, but our pictures in this game are much, much better than our photos when we were sb*ititting courtside. You can find it here, here, here and here (we're always a little hidden at the back, so don't mistake us for the old geezers) plus this one, the best shot we got:

Where am I in this? I'm not freely giving out my true identity, just yet.

As me and my buddies always love to say: WE'RE GOING TO THE FINALS!!! See you there Sunday. Or earlier if I find it in my lazy ass self to write that preview I was planning to.

JMDP Roolz America

Another non-American emerging? Yes way, tennis has really gone internacionale.

Wow. So another elite challenger to the throne has emerged. I promised before not to sourgrape this time because the person I'm rooting for lost, so congratulations to Juan Martin del Potro for winning the US Open and ending Roger Federer's five straight US Open titles. JMDP had an unbelievable run in this tournament, and is a likeable guy compared to say, one brash Andy Murray who couldn't even make it to the quarterfinals.

Anyway, I have some stuff coming up for this dead-water nook of the webspace. First, I'll be writing my hack, useless preview of the Ateneo Blue Eagles for the finals (yes, I am assuming we will get in despite still having to play the University of Santo Tomas Tigers... blame Pido Jarencio for that one), which I always have fun doing. Fuck the armchair analysts, you'll get all the analysis and whatever shiznit you'll need here.

Also, I figured to have regular features on "non-superstars" or yeah, as the title of this blog suggests, roleplayers, just so I can save face on my shameless out-of-topic sports postings. I'm still deciding on who to feature though. I already have a local athlete in mind, and another one who's from the NBA. Anyway, these all depend on my free time and more importantly, motivation. They need to make a juice or whatever stuff that pumps these motivation levels in your blood.

Since it's the US Open...

Check out this crazy, crazy shot here. Roger says it's the most amazing shot of his career.

Here's a great read on tennis' best rivalry at the moment, and provides a nice bit of information on how elite an athlete Roger Federer is:

"Roger's a sneaky-hard worker," Cahill said earlier this week. "He gets to the tournament and in practice all he's doing is trying to groove his shots, slap the ball around and hit some different spins. Little do they know, this guy's been grinding away on the back courts somewhere else."

I really like the idea of competition which brings out the best in athletes, how it motivates them to elevate their games. Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are unbelievable champions, and the rivalry has been kind of put on hold now because of Rafa's injury and just in, his recent loss to Juan Martin del Potro.

The Argentine is really good and could be trouble. Still, go Roger.