non sequitur

• UP beats Ateneo. Therefore, UP will be this year's UAAP Champions.

• Joshua Saret of JRU scores 89 points with 14 treys, 11 boards, 12 assists, and 13 steals. Therefore, he is better than Kobe Bryant.

• Team Pilipinas struggles in Jones Cup. Therefore, we are the worst basketball team in Asia.

• Stephon Marbury "streams" himself on the Net for 24 hours. Therefore, he is crazy. (Oh wait, this last one might be true).
  

tough luck

Want to earn money the fastest way?

Bet against me.

I have officially sunk to the lowest of lows in the betting game (and I'm not even talking about the odds game here, just plain old me-against-you bets). Somehow, all the teams I've been picking this year have found a way to screw it over and over again.

To name a few, I chose Boston over Orlando, Houston over LA, Denver over LA, Orlando over LA (Game 4), and Ginebra over SMB.

And in the several instances wherein I backed out of bets, the team which I was supposed to choose went on to win (case in point: Orlando over Cleveland, Ateneo over FEU).

Anyway, the best part of all these losing is that you get to have the feeling that you're really going to win the next one.

The worst part of it is that you get to have that feeling several times before it finally comes true (if it does come true).

But I'm not giving up now, mind you. The pro-leagues may be over, but there's still lots of games to be played on in the collegiate ranks.

Lots of games to be played on equals lots of games to bet on equals more chances of breaking out of this losing skid.

You just wait and see.

thank god for mike baldos

If not for his sudden ineligibility, we wouldn't have seen Eman Monfort and his six treys last night.

And I bet this won't be the last time I'm gonna thank him for (inadvertently) allowing the return of the 4-foot-10 spitfire.

suicidal attempt

(Photo taken from wikipedia.com)

Saturday's pick-up game was one for the books.

You see, I've played in quite a number of games where we were literally demolished by the opposing teams, but this one tops them all. Better yet, this one TRUMPS them all.

Welcome to Philippine Army Basketball.

One Saturday morning, we found ourselves looking for opponents at a gym in Fort Bonifacio. Because of the low turnout of players, we were basically aching to challenge every single biped with a hint of testosterone who passed our way.

And after more than an hour of waiting, we finally found some "worthy opponents." Actually, we found more than just opponents--we got ass-kicking and humiliation to the 97th power as well.

Just imagine a bunch of long, athletic, pseudo-6-footers, with biceps five times our legs, and endurance of a horse--or maybe six horses--running at you. Yes, it's those guys who do pull-ups in their sleep, jog to Baguio for warm-ups, and eat combat lessons for breakfast, going up against a group of, well, guys who can barely go up a flight of stairs without swearing to high heavens.

And the worse thing (as if that ain't bad at all), is that this basketball team from the Army got skills. Plenty of them actually. One of the privates went like 24-for-25 from the outside. One showed one-on-one moves that could easily put to shame a lot of pro ballers. Another one was running fastbreaks as if he's chasing the MILF. While the rest, were either happy being on the receiving end of alley-oops, attempting dunks, or swatting shots that came within a two-meter radius.

Those guys weren't even playing serious ball out there. It was so bad we could have cut the arms and legs of two of them and they would have still murdered us by a huge margin. (I don't think I need to elaborate any further now, I'm sure you get the picture).

Simply put, it was a massacre --a demolition job like no other. It was a beating so bad you start thinking of alibis the moment you step on the floor.

At least, at the end of it all, I got something to blog about--and some newfound respect for the protectors of our land too.

As for them, they probably would have had a much better time--and a better workout at that--doing a thousand one-hand push-ups than playing us that morning.

a motivational speaker is born

Remember the time when Paul Artadi couldn't hit a shot from outside four feet?

Well, those days are now as historic as the time Magellan killed Lapu-Lapu (or was it the other way around?).

Artadi, who three years ago can be beaten by a blindfolded chimpanzee in a shooting contest, suddenly gained newfound confidence in his outside shot ever since joining Ginebra (or ever since sporting that mini-mohawk, whichever came first).

He still won't win a three-point shootout, but the lightning quick pointguard can now make defenders pay for leaving him open from 18 feet out. And to think that people gave up on him and his pro future after being the butt of all jumpshot jokes known to man.

I'm not saying this just because he's on my favorite team, but his shooting improvement is really nothing short of tremendous. Most of the time, I just accept that a player will never be able to do this and that in his career, but this guy proved me wrong. He proved all of us wrong.

And someday, when you need someone to talk about how "practice makes perfect" or how you should "never say never," hiring him to tell his story won't be a bad idea. Or maybe, you can just go ahead and submit his to some inspirational magazine out there.

temper your expectations, people

(Photo taken from insidesports.ph)

Japeth Aguilar went to Western Kentucky to play Division 1 ball and everyone seems to have expected him to return as Kobe Bryant.

Now don't get me wrong here. I'm not hating on the kid. In fact, I'll be the first to salivate over Aguilar's tremendous upside.

But the hype generated by the media over his US NCAA stint is simply insane. The moment he was accepted into the Hilltopers roster, he was already being penciled in as NBA material.

Creating hope for the millions of basketball-crazy Filipinos is one thing. Creating a myth is another.

So before we proclaim "savior" now that he's back to try out for the National Team, let's also not forget a few facts, shall we?

First, the former Blue Eagle was often injured in his 2-year stint at WKU (he actually spent 3 years there but was reshirted in his first year). This could have prevented him from reaching his full potential as he was only able to play a grand total of 17 games, while barely logging double digits in minutes.

Second, for all the talks of him bulking up in the States, he remains reed thin. For someone who plays forward/center, he sure could use at least 10 more pounds.

Third, despite his superior athleticism, amazing hops, and impressive wingspan, his offensive game still needs a lot of tweaking. The 6'9-phenom has a natural flair for defense, particularly in blocking shots, but until he adds a go-to move in his arsenal, and perhaps, a more consistent perimeter game, he's not going to be as dominant as people imagined him to be.

The good thing despite all these, is that Aguilar is only 22. He still has lots of time to build on his game and be the player the media is touting him to be.

But it also wouldn't hurt to keep our expectations a bit more grounded.

three-in-a-row

Kelly Dwyer of Yahoo Sports seems to have drunk too much Haterade these past few days.

First, he criticized teams trying to sign Jason Kidd. Next, he mocked Detroit for adding just Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva. And then, he lambasted Portland for chasing Hedo Turkoglu.

Three separate articles. Three different stories. All in one day.

I'm not saying that Dwyer is out of his mind here. Dude really has valid points--and good ones at that. What I do not seem to understand though (after realizing that he wrote all three pieces) is that he appears to be expecting every single team to catch the best fish out there.

Of course, in the real world, that is not possible. It never will be. Basic law of supply and demand (or maybe even just plain common sense) would tell us that if there are 3 prizes and 30 competing parties, not everyone will be be able to get hold of them, right?

And in this race for the best free agent pick-ups, someone has to settle for second-best, third-best, or even ninety-seventh best.

That is just the way it is. And that is just the way it will always be.



(LATE EDIT: Make that four.)