New York State of Mind?

I can't say I feel bad for Lebron James for falling short again of winning an NBA Championship despite having the best record during the regular season. It almost felt like he expected today's game to be his last this season. There was no yelling at teammates, emotional outbursts, and even an outpouring of emotion from the debacle. At least not that I saw while watching on TV.

I'm not the type of person who believes in karma but every once in awhile I think there might be some truth to it. I was in Macau 4 years ago when the Orlando Magic played the Cleveland Cavaliers at the Venetian. As part of a media contingent, we did have access to some players and some functions during while the teams were there.

One thing that stood out in my mind was how aloof Lebron was and how he was untouchable to anyone outside of his own entourage. Here's a guy who's never proven anything (and still hasn't) in his professional career acting like the God that he probably thought he was because he was being treated like it by everyone around him. We were all able to talk to all the players including Dwight Howard who was uncredibly accomodating along with NBA commissioner Stern. During official functions, Lebron would always just drop by for 10 minutes, surrounded by 4-5 bodyguards, and not talk to anyone outside his teammates or the commisioner's office. So it was difficult to even steal a photo as one of the bodygards covered every angle to get close to the King. After all, he was the main attraction, the guy all of us wanted to see, King James of the Cavs.

I thought to myself, this guy if he doesn't start to appreciate how good he has it, will not become one of the all time greats. Ok, maybe I'm being too hard on LBJ and he's still young enough to realize that having his current attitude of entitlement will not get him to the top of the mountain, nomatter what title is bestowed on him. Or maybe he can't help it since everyone around him treats him like he doesn't have to work for anything anyway. Whatever the reason, the deep down fire and desire is not there to win right now and he better find a way to get it if he wants to be more than a Dominique Wilkins who was known for athletic ability and that's about it. He definitely doesn't want to take over the title "best player never to win a championship".

Lebron is the most talented player in the league. Heck maybe of all time. If he ever finds the heart, the respect for the game and the fans, and the overall gratitude, maybe he can enter the same realm as Michael, Magic, Larry and Kobe, the true modern day basketball greats.

Is Mayweather a PR Genius?

Mayweather put on an awesome technical display of boxing yesterday as he dismantled Sugar Shane Mosley to remain undefeated in his professional career. But outside of the boxing purists who enjoyed every single second of the technical display, everyone else probably was bored to death watching the fight.

I liken it to the San Antonio Spurs led by Tim Duncan who won championships without any flare or excitement compared to Magic's showtime and the Jordan/Pippen show. Same result, just a difference in how it was done.

But when all is said and done, yesterday's hyped fight probably exceeded the 1M PPV mark at $65 a pop along with over $11M in gate receipts. I doubt many of those who watched felt they got their money's worth. I'm glad I didn't pay to watch the fight. But even if we all knew that Floyd isn't really an exciting fighter, we all still wait in anticipation curious what will happen.

It's because of what Money Mayweather does and says in between fights. He knows how to push the right buttons, to excite, piss off, and get every interested in his uninterestng style. I think he is a genius at getting people to pay attention. Over the top statements and unexpected moves keep people guessing and really glued to what he does.

So whether the Pacman/Mayweather fight happens (and it probably will), Floyd Mayweather will figure out how to keep people interested in Floyd Mayweather.

Movement to Make a Difference

We at the National Geographic Channel had been planning the run since the regional directive of doing something for Earth Day. We needed to start a movement. We needed to raise awareness on what each of us can do for climate change. We needed people to start caring more for our planet.

It is so heartwarming and very refreshing to have achieved all we set out to do this morning. The sea of humanity wearing the same shirt whether black (for 10K) or grey (3K and 5K) along with green bandanas was just an awesome sight to see. You get inspired thinking and planning on how to move people and get them to care. To see it happening in front of our eyes gave me goosebumps. This is why I signed up to work for the National Geographic Channel. We made a statement to the world that we do care and are willing to sacrifice (waking up at 4am plus donating P500-P700 is a good start for sacrifice). We had to print extra shirts to meet the demand.

We got thousands of pictures of the runners hodling a cardboard pledge to do what they can to help battle climate change in the NatGeo village after the run. It certainly is a great sign for a movement to get people to care more. We will post all these pictures to inspire thousands of others. All of us have different capacities to impact climate change. Some are in a position to impact thousands or even millions. Others, just themselves or their household. Whatever it is, the important thing is that all of us does our part.

I hope if you ran, the experience was good for you and you felt the unity and inspiration. We will follow through with the Design Against the Elements project and make sure we build that first third world disaster resilient community. For all who weren't able to make it, making a difference is a lifelong process and I hope you get to be part of the next one.

Let's not wait for the next disaster to start making a difference, it just takes too much resources and effort. Let's do what we can now. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

NatGeo Island Sweep

Most people go to Boracay for rest, relaxation and of course to party the night away. So it was refreshing to see the number of volunteers who showed up when we organized a beach cleanup event to raise awareness on the need to sweep our most popular beach.

Many groups have organized beach cleanups before and this one is no different. I guess the main difference is that we were able to get many groups together to really have a show of force and make a statement. There had never been a cleanup in Boracay this scale before. Different groups were able to do it but no more than 100 people at a time.

So you can imagine the inspiration generated when over 400 people showed up to volunteer to clean the Island. From tourists, the locals, foreigners and Filipinos, everyone had so much enthusiasm and energy on a Sunday after all the parties were done.

So three straight days of events for the FOX International Channels. Thank you to all who attended and made it happen.

FOX Votes Earth

Last Saturday, March 27 at 8:30pm to 9:30pm, billions across the globe participated in a high profile statement about Climate Change. "Vote Earth" was the campaign and with an idea that started 3 years ago, Earth Hour was again implemented where everyone was encouraged to shut down the use of energy and electricity for one hour.

It just so happened that we were having an event in Summerplace in Boracay Island so we decided to be part of it and shut down the lights. We had a great event the night before and were getting ready for another on the 27th. I guess this post is really just as a "feel good" statement since it really will take a lot more that a 1 hour shutdown to save our planet but every little bit counts.

Before the party started, we turned off all the lights at 8:30 (actually most other establishments weren't able to), had a prayer for mother earth, then started lighting bio-degradable lanters that was released into the Boracay sky one by one. I think many noticed the lights out and really walked on over to participate as well. Tribu Manila started their cool set after the lights were back on at 9:30pm.

So we can at least say that Boracay was part of Earth Hour.

TV5 Para Sayo Kapatid

Although we do have quite a number of Free to Air channels right now in the Philippines, there is practically a duopoly as far as viewership is concerned. ABS-CBN and GMA corner about 3/4 of eyeballs when it comes to watching television, and they pretty much get the same share of TV Advertising Sales.

Last night was a re-launch of TV5 after Mediaquest, the media subsidiary of PLDT bought the station late last year. A Malaysian group had actually re-launched the channel less than 2 years prior renaming it from it's original identity "ABC5". After mild success in ratings wasn't converted into revenue, the Malaysians pulled out and a new dynamic group from the telecoms giant has stepped in. There has been buzz about the aggressiveness of the new TV5 so I wanted to get a glimpse of what they had to offer. A new logo, a cool station ID, a commitment to upgrading facilities, and solid shows for the masses was what they unveiled.

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The new direction looks promising. Although they do have their work cut out for them, it is very refreshing to have a third player who seems to have a legitimate shot at becomming a challenger in the network wars. There were times when I did feel like I was watching a noontime variety show but I guess they really had to make the point that formidable personalities are on board ready to challenge for the top. Dolphy, Maricel Soriano, Ruffa Gutierrez, JC De Vera, Vic Soto, and Joey De Leon were just some of the heavyweights who performed last night. Paolo Bediones and Ryan Agoncillo hosted the affair which seemed to last over 3 hours.

The most impressive part for me was the fact that it seems there is finally a commitment for a major upgrade in infrastructure. This I think has been overlooked by all who want to be a major player. All the other channels try to do it by content only and not take care of the reach and distribution of the signal. With the resources of Smart/PLDT, it is actually believable that it might happen in this case.

I was a little dissapointed that the initial plans don't include sports but I guess you can't do it all at once. So good luck Sayo Kapatid, I hope your entry into the big leagues benefits the Filipino TV viewer in general.

"The Event" Uneventful

I'm not sure what's more embarrassing, running/defending just so you won't get hit or fighting your ass off but getting knocked out swinging. Today's fight between Pacquiao and Clottey didn't really get me as excited as the Pacman's previous fights but I was still curious as to how it was gonna go down as Joshua had never been knocked out. As far as PPV is concerned, Clottey never really had a big following (like Delhoya with Americans, Hatton with Brits, and Cotto with Puerto Ricans) even with his home country.

Clottey, scared that Pacman's quickness will overwhelm him, chose to cover up all 12 rounds to minimize any damage. Of course, if your arms are defending your face, they cannot be out punching so he had no chance to score any significant points. The Pacman won easily.

To be honest, I was really frustrated after the 3rd round and the fight bored me to death. At first, I really thought the African was just feeling out how strong Manny's punches were in the beginning, then attack after he was able to determine that he can take it. But then, he did the exact same thing in the next 9 rounds! Even with his coach telling him "you're losing every round" "you gotta let your hands go".

In the post fight interview, he said he was never hurt and that he could take Manny's punches. If that's the case, then he just cheated all of us fans out of a good fight. "The Event" as it was hyped certainly did not live up to its billing. We say these guys are warriors and train and risk their lives in the ring. There was only one warrior in the ring today and it wasn't Joshua Clottey. Their "risk' is rewarded with millions of dollars. Can't you at least take a chance instead of playing it safe and taking home your million dollar paycheck?

There's an old saying that goes "No Guts, No Glory". Now we know why Joshua Clottey has never tasted true glory. The irony of it all is that he came into the fight nicknamed "The Hitter".