Kobe's Best Shot of the Game

When the game is on the line, Kobe Bryant shines.

That's what happened earlier tonight when once again the Black Mamba showed Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat how dangerous and venomous he is in the dying seconds of the game.

Kobe Bryant is simply the best end- game operator in the NBA today.

Oh What a Circus!

Kobe Bryant once again showed us why he is currently considered as the best basketball player in the planet in his game against Oklahoma wherein he stole the thunder from Kevin Durant & Co. when he mesmerized the LA crowd with his brand of Showtime basketball.

The Black Mamba has proven time and time again that he is well above the current crop of players in the NBA. His complete arsenal of high- flying wonders, dazzling moves and unbelievable shot making is worthy of Tinseltown's adulation.

As teammate Lamar Odom would attest-

“You see him do things just fooling around with all kinds of shots in practice that you won’t normally see."

But you expect the impossible, because he’s not scared to take any shot from anywhere on the court.

So that’s why that’s the result. It’s never a bad shot to him. That’s his mentality. He’s not afraid to shoot it. He understands touch, getting the ball up and staying focused. His concentration is incredible.”

Here are the highlights of the said game wherein they shellacked Oklahoma en route to a 101- 85 rout highlighted by an unbelievable behind the backboard shot reminiscent of the shot that the great Larry Bird made about two decades earlier.

Black or White

Sammy Sosa is being battered left and right after he showed a “whiter” skin tone in the Latin Grammys several days ago which he attributed to a skin rejuvenation regimen. Of course, the former Chicago Cubs slugger is no stranger to controversy having been accused of using Steroids during his 1998 duel with another ‘roid warrior Mark McGwire to break Roger Maris’ single season homerun record of 61.

I think we should leave Mr. Sosa alone since he is now a private citizen even if we can have a case that at present he is obviously being blinded by the snow.

Stay Strong!

Yes sir! That was Kobe Bryant's message to the Filipino people in the aftermath of the devastation brought upon the Philippines by Typhoon Ondoy in his interview with Elie Seckbach of Fan House.

Reyes pockets trophy in Galveston One Pocket

Efren "Bata" Reyes edged Shannon Daulton 3-2 in Galveston to pocket the trophy and the $15,000 cash in the One Pocket event of the inaugural $1,000,000 Galveston World Classic in Texas.

He also pocketed $5,000 in a challenge match against his old rival Earl "the Pearl" Strickland wherein after a slow start he once again claimed the scalp of the temperamental American 15-11.

Surely, the old magic is back for the Magician as he now won his third major event in the last month or so.

Here's the third and deciding match of the One Pocket event in Galveston between Reyes and Shannon Daulton that I was able to watch live via InsidePOOLmag's UStream.



video credits: InsidePOOLMag

The Shootout at the SM Annex Corral

The Magician Efren “Bata” Reyes dug deep into his bag of tricks and Francisco “Django” Bustamante did not blink in their nerve- wracking showdown with the pair of Ralph Souquet and Thorsten Hohmann as the Filipinos won over their German counterparts in a classic shootout at The Annex of SM North Edsa Mall in Quezon City, the Philippines to win the 2009 PartyCasino.net World Cup of Pool and the $60,000 prize.

I watched the finals on live stream and was on edge for the entire game as both teams battled for every shot. It was a nip and tuck affair with a lot of safety battles that would test one’s wit and patience. The Filipinos were down early and had to play catch up as they found themselves trailing 9-7 in the race to 11 championship match.

But Django and Bata rose to the occasion as they finally regained their bearings to the delight of the highly- partisan crowd and frustrated the Germans with their superb shot making and safeties to tie the match at 9-9 and never looked back on their way to the championship as the expected blitzkrieg from their fancied opponents never materialized.

Django was in his usual steady self as he sank one ‘hard’ shot after another when his turn at the table came up and when he’s in his element he’s virtually untouchable. On the other hand, Reyes’ skill at making nearly impossible shots possible was a joy to watch. He was the same old jolly magician all over again. I am glad that slowly but surely Bata is getting back into the groove.

It was only fitting that Reyes took the last 9 ball out for the championship win to announce his return in the winning circle on the world stage. He was out of luck the last couple of years in various tournaments that he participated in and was mostly under the radar because of varying reasons. But 2009 proves to be a fruitful year for him as he earlier won The Manny Villar Cup Kadayawan Leg in Davao two weeks ago.

The win for the dynamic duo earned them another record into billiards’ history book as the only two- time champion of the elite tournament having won the inaugurals in 2006.



video credits: rvsicuan21/ CS9
photo credits: Joey Mendoza/ Philstar

Portrait of Artest as a Filipino

Ron Artest, the NBA Bad Boy more famous for his rap sheet (the infamous Palace brawl with the Pistons, remember?) than his rapping ability and now suiting up for the LA Lakers this season recently visited a Filipino family and guess what happened?

Not only did he liked the food and that old Filipino hospitality but also experienced the Filipino people's favorite past time- Karaoke.

And He did his time on the microphone with gusto, with a titanic effort of Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On.

Here's what he said of his experience from his old Twitter account, 96TruwarrierQB-

"the dinner with angelica and annmelissa and her family was good. the filipino food was unreal.:) tomorrow i will be choosing another fan!!"11:55 PM Aug 28th from web

"Go to thugraider37 to see Ron Artest singing Celine Dion but rapping it wit his Filipino family:)" 10:34 PM Aug 31st from web

And here's his tweet at his new Twitter account ThugRaider37-

"Should I let yall see me singing karaoke wit my Filipino family?"3:53 PM Aug 31st from TwitterFon




video credits: annamelissa

Looking Back: Magic Johnson

Magic Johnson is 50 years old and dang, I am old. He-he.

My friends and I grew up watching the Showtime LA Lakers in Bicol. We watched in amazement as Magic weaved his magic on the court with his dribbling skills, his shooting ability and his passing wizardry. That’s why I became a Laker fan because of Magic. And of course, you can add Kareem, Worthy and the rest of the boys.

I remember their epic championship battles with the Boston Celtics in the 80s even if they were on a much delayed basis. You see, we live in a remote town in Bicol and cable TV was unheard of back then. Also GMA and RPN, the two TV stations in the province, did not have the NBA on their regular programming.

Good thing, there were some enterprising people from Manila who visited the town twice a month to deliver the games and other films to the local video center who in turn rented the tapes to us for 10 pesos a pop.

Those were the days. And they were damn good old days.

The Korean Bug

The Powerade- Team Pilipinas’ game against Korea at the FIBA- Asia Qualifiers in China proved once again that unlike the Filipinos, the Koreans’ game have evolved into an even more potent one through the years.

And together with China, they will always be in our way, both formidable walls to scale towards our dream of regaining the Philippines past glory and the respect that goes with it in Asian Basketball.

And yes, they will always be there like a recurring nightmare, always capable of breaking the hearts of the Filipino basketball fans. It's tough but we just really can’t beat the bug from the time of the legendary Shin Dong Pa to the Busan Asian Games and now recently in Tianjin.

While the Koreans used to rely heavily on their outside bombs, they have now evolved into a more complete basketball team with both outside and inside threats. They are mobile, athletic and deadly whether behind the arc or inside the paint. They now have the capability to run the open court coupled with a reliably good defense to boot. They are also very rugged and physical, in fact, more than the Chinese if I may say and plays the game with a lot of heart and passion.

But the Koreans are beatable if we have the proper system in place. That is, a game plan suited for international basketball. The Powerade- Team Pilipinas is not the best team that we could have assembled for Tianjin yet they gave the Koreans all that they could handle and were even still in the hunt with less than 5 minutes of the game.

The Filipinos lacked cohesion and most of the time appeared to be lost on the hardcourt. Despite the numerous setbacks in the past, we are still very stubborn with our beliefs that the American style of play will bail us out in the end.

Obviously, Coach Yeng Guiao’s philosophy is not the right one in this kind of tournament. The way he shuffled his men were atrocious; it was obvious that there were no decent offensive set plays in place and no proper defensive adjustments were made at crunch time.

Another problem is, there is no go-to-guy during crunch time for the Powerade team. And the team lacked a real good point guard (e.g. Jimmy Alapag) and a consistent shooter (e.g. Ren- Ren Ritualo) that can hit the outside shot on any given time. Unlike in the PBA where they were relegated to the bench, pure shooters are always an integral part of any international team and rapid ball movement is always a must.

Also a team built on a rah-rah kind of philosophy maybe entertaining but it will not win ball games here. Sure, they have the fancy moves and dribbling wizardry but that’s it; more on form but lacking in substance, if you ask me. When the taller Koreans clogged the lanes, the fast breaking Filipinos were lost. They can’t even execute a proper pick and roll. And those who were given the license to shoot to open up the defense kept on producing bricks.

There were only three players who really showed up in the game. Mick Pennisi held his ground against the behemoths and Asi Taulava was a work horse despite the lack of stamina. Cyrus Baguio was a an energizer and a blur on the open court.

But the rest of the team needs to step up in order for the Philippines to advance in the next round or have a decent finish. They should always give their all and fight like there is no tomorrow.

And most of all, move the ball well to find the open man and of course, less dribbling will be a very good way to start.

Iris Ranola rolls in Oklahoma

Petite Filipina pool player Iris Ranola proved in Oklahoma that in pool, size doesn’t matter as she flattened every player thrown at her.

She defeated Janet Atwell 7-2 in the finals to win the Oklahoma State Women’s 9- Ball Championship which is part of the OB Cues Ladies Tour.

The next stop of the tour will be at Fast Eddie’s in Waco, Texas on August 29- 30th.

Power Failure: Powerade- Team Pilipinas

The recent debacle by the Powerade- Team Pilipinas at the Jones Cup showed that our basketball gurus in the PBA still did not learn from past experiences and conveniently forgot the lessons of the past. The problems that besieged the present team were the same ones that plagued the previous PBA- backed national teams as far back as the 2002 Busan Asian Games. It was déjà vu all over again.

They set aside the lessons learned in Busan and the promise of Tokushima as they once again went back to the old practice of forming an ill-prepared national team for international competitions. They proclaim to high heavens that they have the knowledge and feel of the game and yet their actions showed otherwise.

It’s painful for the Filipino basketball fans to see their National Team become the laughing stock of the tournament as they were massacred time and time again by their opponents. Teams toyed with the hapless Filipino professionals as they came to a rude awakening that their game is not up to par with their Asian neighbors as they were embarrassed and humiliated on the hard court.

It is quite obvious that while our neighbors have improved and adapted to the international brand of basketball to perfection, we Filipinos have been stuck with the delusion that our brand of basketball patterned after the Americans will still be superior against our neighbors.

The Jones Cup is just a microcosm of what ails our basketball system. There is no continuity in the so-called program coupled with the PBA’s half- hearted commitment to put their money where their mouth is, which only spells disaster to any international campaign.

The PBA has been very vocal in the past of forming a pool of players to represent the Philippines in international competitions. They averred that with a core made up of the best players in the league, the Philippines will be on the road of regaining back basketball respectability, if not supremacy, in Asia.

But after Tokushima, whatever happened to that core of players that Chot Reyes assembled?

For whatever reason, they disbanded it, formed a new one with different sets of players who are less talented than their predecessors and appointed a coach with a different philosophy and is not well-versed of how basketball is being played in his neighbors’ backyard. Back to scratch, I dare say.

If the Powerade- Team Pilipinas’ performance in the Jones Cup is a barometer of how they will play in the FIBA World Basketball Qualifiers in Tianjin, China this coming August 6-16, then the Filipino basketball nation is in for another heartbreaker.

Good thing, there’s the young Smart Gilas on the horizon.

The Lord of the Rings

• 3.7 ounces.
• 63 diamonds = 3.61 carats
• The face features six big diamonds, one for each Steelers Super Bowl win
• Seven smaller diamonds at the top represent the Steelers' seven conference championships
• Seven more at the bottom represent the Steelers 14 divisional titles

On one side-

^the player's name is displayed along with his number
^the Steelers logo
^the NFL logo.

On the other side is-

^the Super Bowl XLIII logo
^the score of the Super Bowl
^ Six Lombardi Trophies sitting inside Heinz Field.

Roger, I Heard You Loud and Clear

14 Grand Slam Men's Singles Titles-

3 Australian Open
1 French Open
5 Wimbledon
5 US Open


News Flash!
Federer Completes Career Grand Slam, Winning Elusive French Title

Amit Finally Hit It Big

Rubilen Amit of the Philippines finally scaled billiards Mt. Olympus as she trashed two-time world 9- ball champion Liu Shin-mei of Chinese Taipei, 10-4 and won the JBET.net World Women’s 10-Ball Championship at the Block at SM North in Quezon City.

The win made her the first Women's 10- Ball World Champion and now join the elite circle of Filipino World Champions that include Efren "Bata" Reyes, Alex Pagulayan and Renato Alcano.

It was a fitting win for Amit who started the tournament on a sad note with a 5-1 thrashing from World Number 1 Kelly Fisher. But she rebounded with wins over Julie Kelly of Ireland 8-4 and Hsiang Ling Tan of Chinese-Taipei 8-3 in the knockout stage.

In the quarterfinals, she took out the sting out of the Black Widow Janette Lee of the US rallying from a 3- rack deficit to eke out a 9-8 win and then easily won her semi-final match against Akimi Kajitami of Japan.

It was smooth sailing from then on as the 2007 Amway World Women’s 9-Ball Championship runner-up gained confidence which she brought into the Finals against Liu Shin-Mei of Chinese- Taipei and coasted to a surprising easy victory.

Her win earns her the $20,000 paycheck, the biggest of her career.

Dennis Orcollo victimizes Ralf Souquet in Predator Finals

Dennis Orcollo of the Philippines smashed Ralf Souquet of Germay 8-3 in the race to 8 finals of the 9th Annual Predator International 10- Ball Championships at the Reviera Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas to record one of the biggest wins of his career.

Earlier, Ralf Souquet, Alex Pagulayan, Warren Kiamco and Orcollo all marched into the semi-finals in different fashion.

Orcollo easily defeated Warren Kiamco 7-4 but Souquet spoiled an All Filipino Finals when he thumped Pagulayan 7-1 in the other semis encounter.

The 3 Filipino semifinalists in this year's edition was the most by any country in the history of the tournament.

FIBA Asia Champions Cup: Iran outlasts the Philippines 98-87

The young Pilipinas Smart Gilas team gave Mahram Tehran all it could handle at the 20th FIBA Asia Champions Cup. They led Mahram 46-44 at half time but the more experienced and taller Iranians behind import Jackson Vroman's 42 points outlasted the Filipinos 98-87 in an exciting dogfight that showed us a glimpse of the future of Philippine Basketball.

Now, you can only wonder if only the Philippines was able to send the entire developmental team to the tournament. Surely, Japeth Aguilar, Gian Chu and Rabeh Al- Hussaini could have made a big difference in the game.

Nevertheless, the Filipinos gave a valiant effort in its fight against the heavily-favored Iranians, the tournament-favorite to win the crown.


Here's the report from Iran Sports Press--

WABA champions Mahram started off slow, but steadily grew in strength and busted the enthusiastic bubble of Smart Gilas for a 98-87 to open their campaign in the 20th FIBA Asia Champions Cup on a winning note on Wednedsay.

Smart Gilas, who defeated Sangmoo on the opening day, thus suffered their first defeat.

American forward Jackson Vroman, MVP at WABA qualifiers when he donned the Saba Mehr colors, played all the 40 minutes of the game, and deservingly led the game in scoring as well as rebounds.

The 27-year-old former New Orleans Hornets player returned 42 points, with a 69% (16/23) success rate in field attempts, and collected 13 rebounds

Priest Lauderdale, the other NBA alumnus in Mahram ranks, played only the first half of the game, but during his presence proved tall enough for his 16 points and 11 boards.

Samad Nikkah, the captain of the Iran National Team at the Beijing Olympics last year, celebrated his return to the FIBA Asia mould with 19 points – all of them in the second half – and eight assists.

Smart Gilas, on the other hand, had an all-round attack.

Mark Barocca was the leader in scoring with 18 points and American import Chester Giles contributed 14 points as the Filipino developmental team kept their more fancied opponents on their toes for almost the entire first half.

Smart Gilas led the first quarter 24-16 and the first half 46-44, but against the more experienced Mahram the Filipino youngsters fell short in terms of the figures on the scoreboard.

“I’m very proud of the way my boys played,” said Smart Gilas coach Toroman Rajkov, under whose training Iran won the 2007 FIBA Asia championship and subsequently the 2008 Olympics.

“I’m in no way disappointed with our performance. They showed we have the attitude to play big opposition without any fear,” the Serbian said.

“In my opinion, Mahram is the team to beat for championship here. Therefore, keeping them under pressure for almost the entire game is an achievement for us.”

Rajkov’s received compliments from his Mahram counterpart, Mostafa Hashemi.

“They really scared us. Full marks to Toroman,” Hashemi said.

“We were caught completely off guard by their speed. We had to make a couple of changes in our thinking,” Hashemi said about resting Lauderdale for the second half.

“We are yet getting used to the condition. And their speed unsettled us. I hope we can learn from this and improve as the tournament progresses,” Hashemi said.

Scores:

Mahram 98 (Jackson Vroman 42, Samad Nikkah 19, Priest Lauderdale 16) bt Smart Gilas 87 (Mark Barocca 18, Chester Giles 14, Dylan Ababou 11, Marnel Baracel 11). Quarterwise Scores: 16-24, 44-46, 72-63.

FIBA Asia Champions Cup: Philippines downs Korea

“This game was more or less a knock-out for us as far as entering the quarterfinals is concerned,” said Rajko Toroman of the RP- Korea tussle.

The Philippines' Smart Gilas outclassed Sangmoo of Korea 90- 76 to jumpstart its campaign in Group A's opening game of the 20th FIBA Asia Champions Cup in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Mark Barroca had the hot hands on 10 of 12 shooting finishing with 20 points as he combined with American CJ Giles who had 19 points and 12 rebounds in ensuring the victory for the Filipinos and gain a step in its modest objective of advancing to the quarterfinals.

Ateneo's Chris Tiu had 11 points on his international debut while UAAP rival JV Casio of La Salle chipped in 11 points for the young Philippine National Team.

FEU's Marnel Baracael also finished with 14 points.



Smart Gilas will next face Iran's Mahram Tehran tomorrow in a highly anticipated match that will feature Toroman's past and present players.

The Black Mamba is Back

Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers is back on top once again at the expense of erstwhile ruler Lebron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

He reclaimed the crown that he once held in 2006-07 season.

The Black Mamba dethroned King James in terms of jerseys sold at the NBA Store and its website.

Here are the top 5 sellers of NBA Jerseys as released by the NBA yesterday--

1. Kobe Bryant
2. Lebron James
3. Chris Paul
4. Kevin Garnett
5. Allen Iverson

The Pacman invades Giants Land

When boxing and baseball met; they produced a hybrid.

A hybrid that combines the speed and power of that enigmatic whirlwind from across the Pacific and that of one of the oldest and storied franchises in baseball history.

No, forget the juiced- up android Barry Bonds who once reigned supreme in SF baseball land but it's all about the brown giant known as the Pacman now.

Meet the Pac- Giant



The bubblehead give-away by the San Francisco Giants when it plays the San Diego Padres tomorrow night at the AT&T park dubbed as the Flip err Filipino Heritage Night by MLB with reigning boxing pound-for-pound King Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao throwing the ceremonial pitch to the estimated huge Asian crowd.

This will be a highly- coveted memorabilia for many sports fan worth his salt but since I live on the other side of the coast, the only way I can get this is either to fly to the Bay Area for a night or just get 'em online. So, Ebay here I come?

Detroit Pistons' Spare Tires

The once proud and mighty Detroit Pistons were once again bamboozled and humiliated by Lebron James and Co. in Game 1 of the NBA Playoffs at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.

I will not be surprised if ever the Cavs will run over the hapless Pistons and sweep the series since the spirit and enthusiasm of the Detroit players were absent all season. Gone are the swagger of a confident and proud team. They're ripe for the taking by a very hungry and determined team.

So, what can a Pistons fan do?

Well, we need to take the ass-whipin' on the chin and look at the bright side. No, we're not talking here about the next season. We're talking about a way to cope with the embarassing decline of the franchise.

Thank God for the Pistons All- Male Cheerleaders, the Spare Tires, We Pistons fan can still have a good time.

So here's Hooper and his Spare Tires

Ever- GREEN!

Like a well- oiled muscle car, the Michigan State University Spartans stepped on the gas right after the opening tip and unleashed a lethal running game backed with a tenacious defense against the taller, bigger and heavily-favored University of Connecticut Huskies in Motor City.

In the drag race that ensued, the Spartans left the top- seeded Huskies eating the dust and clobbered their second No.1- ranked opponent in a row into submission with a hard-fought 82- 73 victory before the eyes of their adoring supporters in downtown Detroit's Ford Field.

The win put them on a collision course with the mighty University of North Carolina Tar Heels on Monday for the ultimate prize in College Basketball and to immortality.


Go GREEN!




UPDATE: The Tar Heels coasted to an easy victory over the Spartans 89-72 to win their 5th National Championship.

Too hot to handle?

NBC declined to air PETA's "Veggie Love" Super Bowl Ad because it "depicts a level of sexuality exceeding our standards."

I'm not a vegetarian but...



'Veggie Love': PETA's Banned Super Bowl Ad