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.