Bleacher Talk

Bleacher Talk May 27, 2007 Pistons and Spurs Show If you aren't happy with the current match-ups of the NBA Playoffs, blame it on the Golden State Warriors. They were the ones who prevented us from watching a Dallas-San Antonio series. You can also add Detroit to the blame list for doing everything almost effortlessly, getting the job done even if they had to go through a scare against the Bulls. The Pistons even had the luxury of playing lousy ball and still came out on top over Cleveland in their ongoing series. In sum, after a high-octane first two rounds of the playoffs, it looks like the excitement, following and hype being produced by the Spurs-Jazz and Pistons-Cavs series isn't up there as expected. And so I ask. Are the playoffs getting “boring?” Hmmm. A San Antonio–Phoenix clash would've been a better conference finals match-up, di ba? And in a way, the playoffs set-up wasn't “fair” to the Bulls who ended up facing the Pistons so early. Thus, the jury is out on...

Bleacher Talk May 21, 2007 What’s Up Cebu Basketball? What’s happening to local basketball? As I write this, I feel a sense of de ja vu as I’ve decided to write about a topic that I also discussed around a year ago today when I was worried about the state of local basketball. Talking about local basketball these days brings up a mix of questions, kudos and concerns. If you take the viewpoint of one who has followed the local basketball scene since the 70’s, you can’t help but be worried. Why? If you talk about local ball today, the only topic to discuss is collegiate basketball. The CESAFI and the Partners Cup series remain to be the only leagues “alive.” But both are essentially one and the same set of teams using different league names or “titles.” I take my hats off to CESAFI Commissioner Boy Tiukinhoy and lawyer-sportsman Merong Estenzo for doing their share of putting up a league other than the CESAFI. But I just can’t help but say that there’s something missing in local ball: the...

Bleacher Talk May 13, 2007 What’s Next for Boom Boom? When “The World Awaits” came to a close, more questions than answers were raised. Was that it? We all waited for this? Where was the promise of explosions that had the world waiting? Did Mayweather deserve to win/lose? And on and on and on. But we don’t want to dwell on these, do we? There’s a more important question that needs to be answered and it doesn’t even deal with the uneventful main event. We’re talking about the best fight of the night! We’re talking about one of our very own. What’s next for Rey “Boom Boom” Bautista? Is he for real? Is he ready for that world title fight? Is he still being fed patsies? Will he be the next world champ this year? Don’t look now, but the Philippines waited for May 6 to have their questions answered, and I’m not sure if anyone was disappointed with what they saw. Boom Boom Bautista is for real, and he’s the next big thing to come out of Philippine boxing. Believe it or not. I have to admit th...

Bleacher Talk May 6, 2007 Worth the Wait? When an event says that the world awaits it, then it’s got to be something really big. And so when “Pretty Boy” Floyd Mayweather and Oscar “Golden Boy” de la Hoya clash in the year’s biggest fight at around noon today, all of us boxing fans will finally get to watch what we’ve been waiting for ever since the fight was announced. At the end of the day, the big question that we’d like to ask is if it was all worth the wait. But before anything else, we ought to issue a warning. Just because the event is called “The World Awaits,” don’t expect the fight to be a top candidate for “fight of the year” or to become the most talked about fight in boxing history. Let’s discuss why. For starters, the fight is not going to be a “bakbakan” or rumble that fight fans always look forward to when two giants clash on top of the ring in the same way that Manny Pacquiao and Erik Morales slugged it out in three episodes. It’s not going to be like the Juan Manuel M...

Bleacher Talk April 29, 2007 Playoffs Twists and Surprises The NBA season’s first round of playoffs has produced a combination of twists, surprises and expected’s, and has done a great job of making the playoffs a must-watch affair. While many tune in late in the playoffs to see who will eventually clash in the finals, missing this year’s first round could mean a lot of “sayang’s” when they find out what has taken place so far, and we aren’t even halfway through the different series yet. The biggest story out of the first round has to be the way the Golden State Warriors have played against the Dallas Mavericks. When I found out that the Warriors had taken Game 1, was I surprised? Not at all, knowing that if there was a coach who knew how to beat the Mavs, he would have to be Don Nelson. After all, didn’t Nellie once handle Dirk Nowitzki and company before (and this includes Dallas Coach Avery Johnson)? While many predict that the Warriors won’t eventually win the series, they are prov...

Bleacher Talk April 14, 2007 (Note: This was published in The Freeman on April 14, 2007) Pacquiao Drama What else is there to mention about the Pacquiao-Solis fight today? With virtually all boxing websites, local TV, and the print media giving the Pacman so much media space, one might say that we’re getting an overdose of the Pacman. But one thing that we’d like to discuss is how the Pacquiao story has now taken a soap opera type of twist, characteristic of the biggest names in showbiz or the entertainment world. For starters, it has now been confirmed that Pacquiao is already among the biggest names of the boxing world. Although he’s fighting a Jorge Solis who is not at the level of an Erik Morales, Marco Antonio Barrera or a Juan Manuel Marquez, the Pacman is getting so much attention from the international boxing media. From where we sit, it looks like he’s getting so much more media coverage for this fight compared to his previous clashes with Morales and Barrera. By “so much,” w...

Bleacher Talk April 8, 2007 Pick when to Peak Question: What kind of an NBA fan are you? Are you a Dallas, Phoenix or Detroit kind of fan (team) that stays hot all year round all the way to the playoffs? If you are, I guess you’re tuned to the NBA all year-round, from the off-season all the way to the NBA Finals and back to the off-season. You probably watch at least 80% of all the NBA games shown on TV every week and are a trivia quiz on every department of the league. Or are you a Miami, Chicago, San Antonio or Denver type of fan (team) that plays through a season in a “calculated” manner, going through the motions of playing through the regular season and choosing when to peak? Whether or not they’re doing this deliberately is another story altogether. I ask this because I’m admittedly the latter kind of NBA fan. As the off-season and season-opening games kick off, I’m not yet “tuned in” completely, and will rely on the sports pages and TV sports news for updates on the NBA. I’ll mo...

Bleacher Talk April 1, 2007 MVBA, NBC & Regional Basketball They’re back. They’re solid and won’t go down. Regional Basketball. Just when skeptics and critics (like yours truly) refused to believe that a national league involving different regions with a home-and-away set-up would survive, not one, but two leagues are proving that regional basketball is very much alive in the country. Within weeks of each other, the National Basketball Conference (NBC) and Mindanao Visayas Basketball Association (MVBA) kicked off its respective 2007 seasons. While we praise both leagues for being persistent and focused on its efforts to promote regional basketball, we can’t avoid asking why they have to exist as separate leagues. I have also wanted to ask both leagues how they’re doing from the financial or business standpoint, but I don’t think I’ll ever get a clear answer on that. And since they’ve insisted to launch their respective tournaments, we can’t help but compare both leagues. If one tal...

Bleacher Talk March 25, 2007 Honorable Judges? One of the most stressful moments of a boxing match is when the fight goes the full route. When the final bell is heard, you can hear TV commentators say, “Well that’s it fight fans. The boxers have given it their all, and it’s all now in the hands of the judges.” “In the hands of the judges. “ Why don’t I like that line? For boxers, it’s so hard to imagine how the winner of a match has to be decided by three different persons who are sitting there and not doing any of the punching. “I’m here doing all the punching and receiving of punches and I have to wait for the ring announcer to see if I won, “they’re all thinking at the end of a fight. For the fans, the lull after the final bell becomes a time of anxiety especially when the fight is a close one. They’re left hanging since they won’t know the winner of a fight until the official announcement is made. On the other hand, the other sports events that they watch (basketball, 9-ball, badmi...

Bleacher Talk March 18, 2007 ABS-CBN vs. GMA in Boxing? March 18, 2007 was a date we were looking forward to around six months ago when it was announced that this date was booked for the much-awaited rematch between Manny Pacquiao and Marco Antonio Barrera. That was then. But while we’ll still take time out to watch the fights over TV, we’ll do so with a different twist this time now that Pacquiao is not in the ring. As boxing fans eagerly make their own forecasts and analysis, there’s a welcome development in boxing that has gone quietly unnoticed, but which could explode to become something as big as a Pacquiao-Barrera (or Marquez) rematch. For the first time in a very long time, it now looks like local TV’s biggest giants are now looking to be more involved in boxing. Ladies and gentlemen, this is TV’s main event of the year. Fighting out of the blue corner, a TV giant fighting out of Kapamilya stable, presenting ABS-CBN! His opponent fighting out of the red corner, from the Kapuso ...

Bleacher Talk March 11, 2007 Can We Make it to the Olympics? I guess it’s never too late for anything, or is it? The Philippine team that will attempt to bring the tri-colors of the nation back to the Olympics after 34 years of absence has been officially announced. Members of the team are guards Jimmy Alapag, Jayjay Helterbrand, Mark Caguioa, Dondon Hontiveros and Renren Ritualo. The forwards are Danny Seigle, Rudy Hatfield, Tony de la Cruz, Ranidel de Ocampo and Kerby Raymundo. The centers are Asi Taulava and Mick Pennisi. The team’s alternates are Enrico Villanueva, Rommel Adducul and Rafi Reavis. The team was officially made known to the public in a simple press briefing, but the impact of the announcement has rippled throughout the country as a sign of victory for the now-united basketball family. With the BAP-SBP finally getting an official recognition from both the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) and FIBA, the country is back as a “legal” basketball member of the internationa...

Gejon Trounces Thai Manila – Eriberto “Yuka” Gejon relied on his superior skills to score a lopsided unanimous decision win over a tough Visan Sor Suchanya of Thailand Saturday night at the "Rambulan Sa Sulaiman" at the Rajah Sulaiman Park in Manila. Judges Romy Yulo and Cris Odulio both scored the bout 100-91 for Gejon, while Henry Verniz scored the bout 100-90, giving the Wakee Salud boxer a virtual shut-out win. Although the scores indicate that it was a one-sided affair, Gejon had to overcome a game and stubborn Suchanya who was both tough to hit and put away. Suchanya took in every punch that Gejon threw and managed to land a few punches in between exchanges. Gejon had difficulty scoring through Suchanya’s peek-a-boo defense in the early going, but finally found his mark when his right uppercuts started to land consistently. Each time Suchanya pressed the action and get up close, Gejon used a right uppercut to open up the Thai’s defense and stop him on his tracks. And w...

Bleacher Talk March 4, 2007 Class Act: “This is corporate.” They say that the level of success or greatness of an event can be measured by how much talk the event is able to generate a day or more after the event takes place. Obviously, the longer the period of talk, the greater the event was. Conversely, no post-event talk means no success or the event was a downright flop. Now when will people stop talking about the “Moment of Truth?” When will all “oohs” and “ahs” finally die down? It’s still very much fresh and hotly discussed in the many different conversations of both boxing fans and the ordinary people. And controversy or not, it’s also very much a hot topic among boxing journalists most especially in cyberspace. Not bad for a card headlined by a world championship fight that isn’t even at the level of the big stars of world boxing. But as talks, stories and forums will dwell on the Montiel-Gorres controversy, the scoring of judges Raul Caiz and Chuck Giampa, the two one-point d...

Bleacher Talk Feb. 26, 2007 Moment of Truth Kudos, questions, doubts, expected results and surprises. This was the over-all mix of "reactions" when the "Moment of Truth" finally ended close to midnighton Saturday.Before anything else, KUDOS! I take my hat off and take a deep and reverent bow for what I thought was the country's best planned, organized and executed boxing event in the history of the sport. It was so perfect that I couldn't notice anything that went wrong. From the pre-event activities to the press conferences, media tie-up, accommodations for the visitors to the actual event, everything was so smooth. With Sammy Gello-ani running the show (and the support of the guy they call ALA), ABS-CBN coming in as a media partner, the city government doing its share, Golden Boy coming in from the outside (to Cebu, not Manila), the tremendous support of the Cebuanos and the boxers giving us top-level performance, everything was just perfect.The event deli...

Bleacher Talk Feb 18, 2007 World Class Moment of Truth Cebu has always been proud of being world-class. Our economy and over-all business environment is said to be one of the best in the country. Our export and tourism industry have placed Cebu on the world map. And our service industry has stood out above the rest. World class! But are these all that we have? There’s so much more to make Cebu world-class and the sports industry is no exception. Sports also plays a major role in helping build Cebu’s image, and this department still has a lot of room for improvement. While we have proven to have produced world-class athletes, the jury is still out on our capability of hosting world events on a regular basis. We’ve hosted many international events in the past such as a some events of the last Southeast Asian Games, a world championship in practical shooting, an international marathon, an arnis tournament, an international dancesport competition and a few basketball tournaments laced with...

Bleacher Talk February 11, 2007 Is it Unity at last! or Unity at Last? This is a tough question to answer as both statements with an exclamation and question mark were my first reactions at the Unity Congress held at the Dusit Hotel last Monday. While everything from an observer’s view looked good and politically correct, the skeptic in me couldn’t help but ask if all this was for real. Will the Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP) and Samahang Basetkbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) finally settle down as BAP-SBP and stay this way forever? Was Go Teng Kok really shaking hands with Manny Pangilinan (MVP)? Was that Graham Lim quietly seated at the back of the ballroom almost going unnoticed? Wasn’t that an odd collection of officials at the presidential table with MVP and Go flanked by lawyer Boni Alentajan and Bernie Atienza to the left, and Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, Junjun Capistrano and Marivic Añonuevo to the right? Was FIBA Sec-Gen Patrick Baumann’s visit worth it? While the Cong...

As a "frustrated" photographer, I attempt to take picutres of my favorite subject (sports). Here are some from the RIFA Cup. At left: Kiko Villamor of the SHSJ Boys 97 team works betwen two Southridge defenders in the championship game. Right: JM Acebedo-Kwan, the little "big guy" with the biggest heart is a year younger than his SHSJ Boys 97 teammates, but proves that he can play with the big boys. Right: I'm obviously a fan of my son Popoy who plays for the Ateneo Boys 97 team (obvious ba?). Here he is eluding a Southridge defender. He'll be re-joining his former teammates at SHSJ next schoolyear (06-07).

SHS-J WINS A GOLD & 2 BRONZES AT RIFA CUP Makati - The Sacred Heart School Jesuit (SHSJ) football teams snatched a championship and two third place finishes at the RIFA Cup held at the Colegio de San Agustin (CSA) campus in Makati over the weekend. The SHSJ Boys 97 team won the Boys 1997 age group with a nail-biting 3-2 win over PAREF Southridge via penalty shoo-out. The SHSJ Boys 95 and 96 teams copped third place in their respective age groups to assure the three-team delegation of a podium finish in the school’s first-ever trip to the RIFA Cup. The championship match ended in a scoreless draw although SHSJ controlled the tempo of the match and had more shots on goal. The Cebuanos bungled two close scoring opportunities and had to settle for the draw and a penalty shoot-out to decide the championship. Both teams were tied at 2-all at the end of the penalty shoot-out of three kickers per team. JM Acebedo-Kwan and Kiko Villamor delivered the goods for SHSJ. This set the stage for a...

Bleacher Talk January 28, 2007 Dayo Have you ever heard of the term “dayo”? Unknown to many fans, it’s actually a common term in sports. “Dayo” refers to a visiting team or athlete who travels to compete in a place away from his home turf. Although it traces its roots from Tagalog, it’s also accepted here in the South. I find the topic interesting especially today as three football teams of the Sacred Heart School-Jesuit (SHS-J) compete for the first time in school history in the RIFA Cup that is being held at the Colegio de San Agustin (CSA) campus in Makati. SHS-J is competing in three age groups: boys born 1995, 1996 and 1997. The 1996 team played yesterday while the 1995 and 1997 teams play today. Traveling to play in different places is nothing new. The most popular and recognized version of the dayo concept is the NBA’s home-and-away format as well as the one practiced in big league football in Europe. Boxing is also another classic case where a hometown hero is always pitted aga...