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.

The Sweet 16 is Set

After many months of tournaments and qualifyers, we have the best 16 teams in the country ready for a winner take all National Championship tournament. Ateneo and San Beda of course are still the favorites but with the lose or go home format, it promises to be an exciting set of games.

The most interesting matchups for me in the first round are the two Cebu teams going up against the two UAAP powerhouses UE and DLSU. Another one is the FEU/JRU encounter. This is exactly what we wanted, to see how the UAAP/NCAA top teams fair against the rest of the country's best.

Good luck to all the teams!

The Filipino Flash

I got to spend some time with the Champ, Nonito Jr. while he was here last year. Solar hosted a few weeks of his stay as he got to know more people from the mainland together with then girlfriend Rachel. The couple was able to attend different promotional events, our Christmas party and generally had a great time with family and friends in Manila and Cebu.

Congratulations to Jun on winning his 2nd Title Defense against the South African and although I've seen the Champ in better form, he was certainly good enough last fight to still be called a champion. Champions are athletes who win even when they don't bring their best on a given day. They find a way to still win because we will not always be at our best night in night out.

There were some articles that came out from Manny Pinol and Recah Trinidad insinuating a rift inside Team Donare. I am not privy to the private happenings inside Jun's inner circle but it seems Nonito Sr., had some not so good things to say about Jun's new wife Rachel. I do hope it all gets resolved as "The Filipino Flash" is the next best thing after Manny Pacquiao in the world of Philippine boxing right now. From what I gathered, Nonito Sr. and Rachel Marcial were both positive influences on Jun's life during our time together.

Belair Cup Champs!

Our Residents Team (Gray) for the Belair Inter color overall tournament won last Monday. Congrats to the team. In this photo includes Erick Reyes, Wowie Evangelista, Brent Javier, John Hall, Larry Lebron, Andro Torres, Midas Marquez, and Mico. I had a hand injury so I couldn't play. Beetle Lichauco our honorary coach is also part of the picture along with Mr. Ramirez, whose commercial team we beat to win the championship.

Report on the Business of Basketball in the Philippines