The Pacman Share

Reports have come out saying that Manny Pacquiao will not fight Ricky Hatton unless he gets at least 60% of the share in revenues for the May 2 fight. After all, he is the pound for pound king! The Hatton camp has threatened to file a case about the issue claiming that Bob Arum had already verbally agreed to a 50/50 on behalf of Pacman.

It seems to me that because of the potential Great Britain PPV market, a 50/50 share is very fair. Team Pacquiao needs to look at the take home, not the share. Getting 60% or even 70% of a fight that will gross less than half of the Hatton fight will give you much less than 50% of something huge. The larger share vs take home only massages the pride, not the pocket.

Another option is to have a 60/40 share for Hatton in Great Britain, then 60/40 Pacman everywhere else. But I reckon even with the 50% share, Manny will still take home his largest payday ever. "Para sa Bayan!", but the Money doesn't hurt I guess.

PBA TV Coverage Workshop

"There will always be room for improvement" was the message imparted by Bobong Velez, the former head of Vintage Enterprises who spoke earlier this week during a 3 hour workshop hosted by Solar in their main office in Makati.  It was a philosophy that propelled the PBA coverage in the late 80's and early 90's into the best sports entertainment available on television.  He praised the current coverage and encouraged everyone not to be complacent to improve even more.

Norman Black addressed the group as well as an analyst stressing the importance of credibility and making sure that commentators have to know more than the viewers.   Andy Jao touched on the duty to know the rules of the league to be able to convey them to the fans.  Ed Picson talked about the roles for the anchors and analysts during the coverage while Quinito Henson imparted how crucial it was to be prepared for a coverage.

The producers, directors, the commissioner's office, Solar managers along with the oncam talents attended.  Among the talents who attended were:  Norman Black, Paolo Trillo, Mico Halili, Magoo Marjon, Patricia Hizon, Vince Hizon, Peaches Aberin, Ed Picson, Quinito Henson, Jason Webb, Dominic Uy, Richard Del Rosario, Reema Chanco, Anthony Suntay, Ceska Litton, Vitto Lazatin, Marga Vargas, and Mica Abesamis.

For the most part, we talked about what was good with the coverage and what else needs to improve especially going into the semi finals.

An Amazing Series

Some matchups are just made in heaven.  Even if you pit two good teams against each other, if the styles don't jive, it won't be entertaining to watch.  The San Miguel vs Barangay Ginebra quarterfinal series was one of those series where both teams just matched up perfect against each other.  

All three games went down the wire and all three games were so much fun to watch.  The heart, the hustle, the talent and the drama were all included in the mix.

Here's hoping for more perfect matchups in the semis and finals so that we can continue enjoying the best in sports entertainment!

2008: A Frequent Flier Year

I started this blog in 2008, a year which was one of the most fulfilling professionally. I thank everyone who was part of the journey and made it such a good year. I actually hate travelling (especially with the tighter security checks) but this past year was definitely the busiest ever as far a travel goes. I took 10 plane trips (5 International) mostly for work with a couple as vacation.

I was able to visit NEW ORLEANS for the first time during the NBA All Star weekend. It was incredible to see some of the remnants of Hurricane Katrina and was inspired by what the city has done to recover from the major tragedy. I had a minor side trip back to my hometown of CHICAGO where I was able to watch a rare Bulls victory versus the Denver Nuggets.

Then there was BEIJING for the Summer Olympics. It was without a doubt an experience I will never forget as a sports fan. To witness the redeem team play, the closing ceremonies live, and other events in track and field was amazing as a sports fan.

Another trip outside the country included SINGAPORE to join the Beermen and Tropang Texters in the first ever official PBA game there. Most of the Filipinos in the small island watched and made the trip so much fun.

There were a few other trips to MACAU, LAOAG, BATANGAS, BORACAY and CAGAYAN DE ORO which were all work related. There were also nice change of pace trips by visiting BAGUIO, BORACAY (again) and BOHOL along the way.

Despite my dislike for travel, I will just be thankful that I have the opportunity to visity all these great places mostly as part of my job. It really is a dream job for the sports fan.

Archers are National Champs!

Chris Tiu and Ryan Buenafe were not available for the Blue Eagles who beat the Letran Knights to enter the finals of the Philippine Collegiate Championship Finals. The Archers were missing Simon Atkins who beat NCAA champs San Beda Red Lions.

Props to JV Casio in his last game as an Archer. He has been one of my favorite players ever since he joined La Salle from San Beda high school. There is something about players and athletes who don't trash talk and still get the job done that I really admire and JV is the best at it. He does have the talent to play in the PBA because of his defense and his perimeter shooting.

Pacman Power (and speed)

I decided to attend the live viewing at Silver City since most of our sponsors and clients, media along with close friends were also going to be there.

I did win a bet with my father in law as I picked Pacquaio to win. I really thought Manny would win the fight by KO but did not expect him to do it in such overwhelming fashion.

The screens in the main hall were hard to see at first because of the sunlight. But some black backing solved the problem by the time the Pacman entered the ring. No problems in the Decagon as the screens were of the LED variety (see pic).

The beauty of watching with 5,000 other Filipinos is that you can hear and feel everyone's joy and excitement everytime Oscar's face snaps back from a punch from Manny. I think part of the uniqueness of the morning was to witness this many people be unified toward one desire... to see their hero win and represent them and their country with pride and honor.

Much has already been said about Manny's demolition of the Golden Boy and I just wanted to post a congratulatory shoutout to the Best Pound for Pound fighter in the world today!

PBA Singapore Game

The trip was only for the long weekend and we were very much looking forward to the first ever official PBA game in Singapore. It had been 3 years since I last visited the small island country and the progress was very noticeable. You can only hope and pray that the Philippines somehow gets some divine revelation to those who have the power and actually do right for the sake of their countrymen.

Smart/PLDT was one of the major sponsors/organizers and since MVP was also there, their team really seemed to have better benefits during the trip. They stayed at a better hotel, ate better food, and generally had a more comfortable time than the Beermen. It really helps to have the chairman join the trip.

The game between Talk and Text and San Miguel was actually pretty sloppy in the beginning with the Tropang Texters getting the upper hand eventually thanks to the outside shooting of Ritualo and Alapag. That simplifies the game too much but the bottom line, Ren Ren and Jimmy were clutch and you can't help but also be amazed by the effort of Jared Dillinger.

Just some of the Pix from the trip:

I had dinner with the San Miguel team at a place overlooking the man made wakeboarding location in the outskirts of downtown.

The Singapore Indoor Stadium was also a first class facility that seated about 10,000 people.

Good lunch at Boon Tong Kee with Mads Deguzman and dinner at No Signboard Raymund Miranda.