Pool Sharks

In the game of pool, nobody holds a cue stick better than the Filipinos. They live on the felt table like fish to water. They’re the best naturally- gifted pool players in the world hands- down.

This rag-tag group of men has put the Philippines in the sports' world map with nary a support from credit- grabbing politicos that our country is notorious for. Credit should go to the Puyat Brothers, Putch and Aristeo for having the faith in them early on when they realized the potentials of these “hustlers” in the cigarette-smoked filled local circuit and introduced them to the world that quickly embraced their “new” and exciting brand of pool play and thus, paved the way for others to follow.



Efren “Bata” Reyes, Francisco “Django” Bustamante, Jose “Amang” Parica, Alex “The Lion” Pagulayan, Marlon “Marvelous” Manalo, Rodolfo “Boy Samson” Luat, Leonardo “Rattlesnake” Andam, Dennis “Surigao” Orcollo, Lee Van Corteza, Ramil “Bebeng” Gallego, Santos Sambajon, Jr., Warren Kiamco, Antonio “Nikoy” Lining, Antonio "Gaga" Gabica and Ronnie “Calamba” Alcano ---

--They are some of the biggest names in the world of pool today.



Billiards is a game of concentration and calculations. It is an art form that can be seen in the way each player wields the cue stick and the grace of their stroke. It involves math and physics with accuracy, power and luck on the side.



To a pool player the adrenaline rush you derive from breaking the balls during the “sargo” can be likened to a cataclysmic orgasm and the serenity one feels while pocketing those colored balls can be Zen-like. No wonder, Filipinos love the game so much and nobody in the world can surpass the passion that they derive from playing pool.



Once upon a time, billiards in the Philippines did not have the same glitter as it is now today. It used to be the domain of shady characters, of drunks and gamblers, of the “estambays” and “basaguleros” as well as wayward students cutting classes from school.

I remember some of my friends in high school who would get the rap from their parents from playing billiards while skipping school and many of my friends nevertheless, endured the pain of the rod for the love of the cue stick and the thrilling affair with the felt table. I was never a good pool player and will never be. I was only there to watch my friends play and bet on the side once in a while.

These wet-behind -the -ears players trying and playing to look like the grown- up hustlers that they aspire to always elicited a laugh in my heart whenever I remember those good old days. It was a rite of passage for the most of us and that was before we went our separate ways after high school and took very different paths in life.

It was cheap then, just 75 cents a game and you can play the Filipino billiards’ staple in those days --the 15 ball- rotation and “karambola”; 9- ball oddly is unheard of then until the Magician wielded his magic in Cardiff, Wales in 1999 and pool playing is never the same again in the Philippines.



Today, the Filipino pool masters are the biggest draws whenever and wherever they compete; in the lucrative US Circuit, in pool-crazy Europe or their stamping ground which is Asia. They strike fears into the hearts of their opponents and they’re cool under pressure. They make shots that defy logic and make the casual observer literally and figuratively scratch his head in amazement!

For most pool players, beating a Filipino player in a tournament is an achievement in itself; it is the yardstick for every billiard players worth his/ her cue to say the least.

This year alone, Filipino pool players lead the way in money earnings among the pool sharks and they've won almost every major tournament in the world that they entered into to further cement their status as the best pool players in the world.

Here are some of the major tournaments won by Pinoy Pool Players this year.

World Pool Championships- Ronato Alcano

PartyPoker.com World Cup of Pool- Team Philippines (Reyes & Bustamante)

World Pool League Championships- Dennis Orcollo

IPT North American 8- Ball Championships- Efren “Bata” Reyes

IPT World Open 8-Ball Championships- Efren “Bata” Reyes.

San Miguel Asian 9- Ball Tour- Efren “Bata” Reyes

Bali 9- Ball Open- Francisco “Django” Bustamante

All Japan Championships - Lee Van Corteza

Asian Games 9- Ball Championships- Antonio "Gaga" Gabica

Tiger-rific!

The Detroit Tigers is World Series bound on a three-run homer by slugger Magglio Ordonez in the bottom of the ninth inning that shattered the 3-3 tied game in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series (ALCS) thus sweeping the Oakland Athletics dream under the dust bin of baseball history and in it earning the once woeful Tigers their first trip to the World Series since 1984 and thus becoming only the 8th wildcard to have done so.

Baseball unlike in the Philippines is America’s past time and is exciting to watch especially in October where the teams are going for all the marbles err, baseballs in this case and one can easily be caught in the bandwagon and carried by the euphoria of the post season without intending to be so. It is the hot topic in the cafeteria, workplace and anywhere else. It fills the headlines and TV shows and the airwaves. It is the flavor of the month, the staple of life, hamburgers and ice- cold beers notwithstanding.

I first experienced live Major League Baseball when the Yankees came to town earlier in the year. I was there when the Bronx Bombers bombed the Tigers out of their den that is Comerica Park. I was there when the Tigers clawed back from a sure defeat in the ninth inning and won the game, the only one out of four games during the regular season that they beat the star- studded Gringos from New York. But the Tigers had the last roar when they silenced their cannons and eliminated the highest - paid team in the MLB in the post season en route to the one-sided annihilation of the hapless Oakland A’s in 4 games of the ALCS.

And now, they’re going to the World Series and any sports fan worth his salt knows what is at stake here and any Tiger fanatic knows this is the culmination of a long and painful road to redemption for the team that ceased to be on the top of the sport’s hierarchy in Detroit and in the state of Michigan for years now.

But now, they’re back- literally and figuratively growling their way back to the top. And it’s a good thing for I love baseball being the first team sport I played before basketball lured me from the diamond into the hardcourt a long time ago in my sleepy hometown of Tiwi, Albay in the Philippines. But still, I never abandoned baseball where as a young kid back home, I played Center Field in the Little League games wherein I earned my Purple Heart being hit in the eye and earning myself a nasty black eye in the process courtesy of a fly ball and the high noon sun that blinded me and miss my mitt and the rest they say is painful history.

I also made it a point to watch baseball in the hallowed grounds of the Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila where the first home run was recorded by the Yankee Ironman himself, Lou Gehrig and the second one by the Great Bambino Babe Ruth when they made a trip to the islands in the 1930s when baseball was BIG in the Philippines. I was there whenever there’s a competition in the Southeast Asian or Asian levels and watch the Philippine National team win some and lose some to much superior teams from Japan and South Korea where once upon a time they cannot hold a baseball bat to them.

The Detroit Tigers is on a date with destiny and immortality and Tiger- mania is sweeping the Motor City not seen in 20 years. Whether they hurdle the National League Champion or not remains to be seen but I like their chances. They are not being called the never-say-die growling Tigers for nothing yo!

So, who’s your Tiger?


Hey, y’all welcome to Tigerland.


*Posted in Bill Blahs
C2006

Super Bowl XL

Super Bowl XL

All the roads and eyes of the football world will lead to Ford Field in the Motor City in Michigan comes Sunday afternoon for the last game of the football season.

So will it be the Pittsburgh Steelers or the Seattle Seahawks that will win the biggest prize in the biggest stage of the biggest game in football that is to be crowned as the Champion of the Super Bowl XL in Detroit?

Two very different but deserving football teams took a very different road on the way to the ultimate glory in football and booked themselves a ticket to play in Super Bowl XL in historic Motown.

While the first- timer Seahawks cruised easily against the Washington Redskins and the Carolina Panthers in the NFC, the Steelers had to go past the Cincinnati Bengals, won a wild one against the team fancied to win this year’s Super Bowl, the Indianapolis Colts and massacred a Denver Broncos team who hadn’t lost a game at home all season.

The Steelers despite being the lowest-seeded team in the AFC to reach the final game of the postseason were now installed by the odds makers as the slight favorite to win all the marbles by virtue of winning their last three post season games on the road and against hostile crowds and against teams with superior records is thus aiming for their franchise’s fifth Super Bowl title after their very successful Super Bowl run in the 70s.

The Seahawks on the other hand was installed as the heavy favorite to go to the 40th edition of the Super Bowl by having the best record in the NFC as they cruised against their rivals in the post season but found themselves being labeled as the underdog to win it all and will now have to prove not only to themselves but to the millions of football fans that they are the team to beat and destined to bring the fabled Vince Lombardi Trophy and the Football World’s Glory to Seattle for the first time.

A side show of the historic finals is the much anticipated match- up between Seahawks’ League MVP Shaun Alexander and the Steelers future Hall of Famer and Detroit Native Jerome Bettis as well as Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger’s vying for the youngest Quarterback ever to win a Super Bowl.

So will it be a new championship ring for the “thumb” for the Steelers to complete their so- called “five- fingers” collection or will it be a first for the over- achieving and Cinderella Men Seahawks?

So will it be the steaming Seattle’s Best Coffee or that ice- cold Iron City Beer that will flow endlessly when this is all over in Detroit?

Pittsburgh is definitely on a roll and should win it all but as they say, there is always the first time...

*Posted in Bill Blahs C2006

2005 US Open Quarterfinals: Agassi vs. Blake

The 2005 US Open Quarterfinals match between Andre Agassi and James Blake in New York turned out to be a classic of epic proportion and could very well be considered as one of the best tennis match that I have seen in a long, long time and there are only a few of them, so to speak.

The Elder Statesman of Tennis outlasted the younger speedy and sizzling Blake in a hotly-contested nerve-wracking five-setter where the winner was only decided in a tie-break in the fifth set with the final score of 3-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-5 (8-6).

The more than 2 hours and fifty minutes of intense see-saw battle that lasted into the wee hours of a cold morning at the prestigious Arthur Ashe Stadium at Flushing Meadows in the outskirts of the city that never sleeps was worth every money and time spent for the crowd who stayed and watched as the two protagonist waged war on the famed hard court! It’s a one for the books experience that will surely be cherished and never be forgotten.

James Blake, the first African- American to reach the Quarterfinals of the US Open since the legendary Arthur Ashe in the early 1970’s raced to an easy two-sets-to-love lead against the oldest player in the current ATP Tour.

Andre Agassi looked lost and bewildered by the dazzling speed and power of his 25-year old opponent, a native New Yorker from Yonkers although currently residing in Florida.

Blake was still ahead by Two Sets and a Break Point in the Third Set when Agassi, with his back against the wall, suddenly found his rhythm and finally woke up from his stupor by digging deep into his inborn talent and vast experience and egged on by the highly-partisan Big Apple crowd, the best returner in tennis history slowly but surely crawled out from the pits as he battled his lightning-quick foe in a fight for every point in every game in the final three sets.

It was the beginning of the end for Blake who was also known as the comeback kid of Tennis, who for a time was not even sure if he would be able to play tennis again. In 2004, he broke his neck, had a bout with shingles and overcame the death of his father to cancer as he resurrected from the dead of ATP ranking from his lowest of 210 to Number 49 and gained a wild card entry at the Open. His road to the Quarterfinals is a magical ride by itself counting this year’s No. 2 seed, Rafael Nadal among his victims until his run was halted by the ageless Andre Agassi.

With all the drama and suspense unfolding in the Open spectators’ eyes normally seen in a beautifully crafted Martin Scorsese movie, Agassi managed to came out alive from the war where many people considered the hard fought match as one of the greatest come from behind wins in tennis world’s best loved icon’s long and illustrious career for the simple reason that he is more known for leading the way rather than coming back from the grave as he began to pepper his Davis Cup teammate and fellow American with savvy and precision tennis.

But James Blake, the fighter in him, refused to budge an inch especially in the deciding fifth set tie-breaker as he repeatedly rose to the occasion and countered with his powerful serve and forehand to hold Agassi at bay but only for a time for this time Agassi won’t be denied as he snatched the match away from the game opposition for the final score that does not reflect the intensity of the game in the earlier sets.

It is only fitting that when asked after the epic battle, Andre Agassi told the still delirious and appreciative crowd, "At 1:15 in the morning for 20,000 people to still be here, I wasn't the winner, tennis was."

"I don't know if I've ever felt this good here before," very well said, indeed.

PISTONS prove they are worthy of Title

The Detroit Pistons officially are the new king of the NBA.

They steamrolled and ran over the favored Los Angeles Lakers in Game 5 of the 2004 NBA World Championship Series at the Palace of Auburn Hills. They brought the Larry O’Brien trophy back to the Motor City after 14 long years when Isaiah Thomas and his bad Boys won back-to- back titles in 1989 and 1990.

The road back to glory is not paved in gold and roses.

They took the road less traveled and persevered against the odds. The press wrote them off early as mere pretenders to the throne reserved only for the NBA’s royalty.

They were labeled as a crop of big-time chokers once and were pronounced just lucky to eke out a win over the Indiana Pacers in the NBA Eastern Conference Championships.

Many said the series would be lopsided in favor of the mighty Lakers and the Pistons would be lucky to win even once against them.

Instead, the Pistons did not roll over and die in the series. Their engines and batteries did not conk out as most people predicted them to. They showed the world that they’re made of much sterner stuff than what many of their detractors believed.

The 100- 87 final score in Game 5 said it all and showed their dominance of the series that left the Lakers stunned and the people in awe.
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The News- Herald
A Heritage Newspaper Michigan, USA
C2004

The Busan Debacle: Revisited

The PBA-backed RP Basketball Team lost a 68-69 heartbreaker to Korea at the semifinal match of the basketball competition in Busan, no-thanks to a miracle shot by the Korean Hotshot Lee who flicked the game winner in the dying seconds in a won-game for the Filipinos that could have bettered their performance four years earlier in Bangkok.

The game was close throughout with the RP 5 leading by as much as 10 points in the early part of the game. The Koreans made a run of their own wiping the lead and gaining the upper hand at the turn by two points at 34-36 behind the sniping of their ace-gunner Moon who top scored for the host in the first half with 12 points, most of them coming from beyond the arc. The game was fought practically from all angles with neither team gaining the upper hand until the Koreans made a spurt which gave them a six- point lead coming into the last 5 minutes of the hotly contested game.

From then on the Filipinos slowly clawed back into contention behind the hot-shooting hands of Olsen Racela giving the Filipinos a two-point edge 66-68 after his three point shot with less than a minute left. The Koreans regained possession but failed to convert in the ensuing play with Racela being fouled in the process sending him to the line for two gift shots. But the usually reliable point guard failed to deliver and muffed both his charities. The Koreans got the rebound with the game clock winding down as they raced down the court trying to connect a jumper but fumbled their shot with the players going after the loose ball in a mad scramble until it slipped past the hands of RP defenders into the waiting hands of the Korean hotshot who picked it up and made the game winner at the buzzer after faking Racela and Taulava into the air, thus the Koreans escaping with a one-point margin of victory.

Another mind-shattering defeat for the fancied Philippine National Team in the nation‘s favorite past time. Once again, another sorry loss for the books by the once proud and mighty RP Basketball Team in the 2002 Asiad edition cage Wars.

The RP 5 campaign even before the start of hostilities in Busan was hounded by bad luck since the beginning what with Ron Jacobs suffering a stroke just when he was to about start to build the team into a fighting unit. Then came the loss of RP top-gunner Danny Seigle to a freak accident in a game against the visiting Qatar National Team just days before they were about to depart for Busan.

The loss of Dynamite Danny was a big blow to the game plan of Coach Jong Uichico and the RP campaign. Seigle's loss left a big vacuum in the Nationals offensive rotation. Seigle was a versatile explosive player with a potent touch from the outside and a mean first step to the basket. Surely he could have made a difference in Busan.

The Philippines had a roller coaster ride in their games in Busan. They steamrolled passed the United Arab Emirates, walloped and chopped down the 7'9" Ri Myong Hun-led North Koreans before disposing the young Chinese-Taipei quintet. Their first real test came at the hands of the dead-shot Orimo and the Japanese National Team before prevailing in the end behind the hustle of Jeffrey Cariaso and the heads up plays of Dondon Hontiveros. Then the much anticipated match with the Chinese. Yao Ming and company proved what a formidable wall China is in Asian basketball as they walloped and massacred the Philippines into smithereens with plenty to spare and sending them and their illusion of putting one over the mighty Chinese crashing back to earth to set the stage for the ill-fated clash with the Koreans in the semis.

The rest is basketball history.

The Philippines playing listlessly and lackadaisically in losing to Kazakhstan in the battle for the Bronze medal is unthinkable. But to most Filipinos, where basketball is almost a religion, it is really immaterial. The tournament once proved sending an ill-prepared squad to battle the oppositions abroad is not a sure way of giving a good account of ourselves and that sheer talent alone is no longer enough to bag a medal much less the gold in the Asiad. They went to Busan with high hopes and entertaining illusions of finally ending the Philippines' 40-year gold medal drought in the Asiad; instead they came home with heads bowed, egos shattered and without pride. The RP National Basketball Team, with their prides battered and bruised, suffered in their debacle in Busan deserved far better than the tirades and ridicules that they got from critics at home who had nothing good to say while failing to appreciate the time, effort and sacrifices made by these players for flag and country. They gave their all but came up short though it was not entirely their fault. They went to the Asiad with high hopes to conquer the lords of the ring but were instead conquered.

So, as opposed to all the hooplas when they left for Busan, they arrived home with nary a whimper. We looked like Frodo Baggins and Co. when ranged against the Chinese though, but that was another story.

They have nothing to be ashamed of. What happened in Busan is now water under the bridge. They gave it their all but came up short. That is the reality. That's Life- and it must go on for the members of the RP team and Philippine Basketball but this time hopefully in the right direction.

What we need is an overhaul of the entire Philippine basketball system and a commitment for all the alphabet-soup governing basketball bodies to settle their differences in the drawing board and come up with a sound and solid basketball program.

Let us start somewhere, re-focus our goals and rectify the errors of the past. Let the PBA, being the premier basketball league, lead the way. Let them show us that fighting for flag and country is paramount to all including crass commercialism and the color of money.

We need to build a strong national team. We need to send them to international competitions to experience first-hand what it is like to play against the world's best teams. We need to do away with the NBA-style of play and instead use FIBA rules in every basketball competitions including the PBA. The Americans were no longer invincible in the game that they invented as evidenced when they suffered their worst finish in the 2002 World Basketball Championships in Indianapolis just a while back.

The present crop of National players can be the nucleus of our future National team. They’re young and athletic. They experienced how to play the international brand of basketball and learned their lessons. They will become better basketball players. I still believe that on pure talent alone, the Filipinos still rank first in Asia. The PBA should expand their commitment to Philippine Basketball. They should throw their elitist and isolationist attitude to the waste basket. It is not enough that we send our best players to the Asiad alone. We need to prepare and polish them to withstand the rigors of the competition. We need to send them to the Asian Basketball Championships (ABC) to earn a berth in the World Basketball Championships (WBC) to have the ultimate ticket to the Olympics. We should aim for the ultimate glory and not to be content in being champion in our playground that is the SEA Games.

We need to hire sports psychologists, just like what the Chinese and Koreans are doing. We need to have mental toughness and eliminate the fear factor. It is defeatist to say the least. In the game against China we played afraid and failed to execute our game plan. Against Korea, we withered under pressure. In the battle for the bronze against Kazakhstan, the hearts and minds of the players were not on the game. So we lost, it's as simple as that.

How about if we allot a conference every year in the PBA calendar with the members of the National Training Pool playing against the rest of the PBA squad reinforced by imports using FIBA rules of course or playing against visiting teams from abroad (e.g. Australia). If the Koreans and the Chinese can do it, why can't we? It's about time for our basketball officials to wake up from their deep stupor and avoid another nightmare to fall on our national team in the future. It's about time to put a stop to our embarrassment as the laughing stock and favorite whipping boy of Asian basketball.

So, let us correct our mistakes. All we need is the will to make it happen. It's not bad to dream as long as we give our best in following that dream. All is not lost in Philippine Basketball though. We can start now. We can make it happen… The ball is now in the hands of the lords of Philippine basketball.
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Posted in Opinyon- Pinoy
C2002


Here's the last 7 minutes of the Philippines' heartbreaking loss to the South Koreans--