Interview with Star Sports' Georgina Chang

I caught up with Star Sports' veteran sports host Georgina Chang and here's what she had to say prior to the upcoming Australian Open. Thanks to Tammy David for facilitating this.

Rick: You've been hosting many an event for Star Sports for a long time now. How big a fan are you of tennis? Are you able to follow a lot of the tournaments?
Georgina: I played tennis when I was in school, but I was quite dreadful. I'm strong and often hit the ball far out of the court. Couldn't find anyone to play with me after a while. These days though, I play a mean game of Wii tennis! Yes, I get to see most of the tournaments on TV, like everyone else.

Rick: What are your favorite matches of all time? Does this make for easier reporting? How much preparation is there on your part for a Grand Slam event like the Australian Open?
Georgina: Ooooh! The 2008 Wimbledon final between Federer and Nadal last year had me biting my nails down to stumps! I don't commentate on matches, so I can be as biased as I like! For all events, I have to keep reading the press release and newspapers and talking to people to get inside information!

Rick: Do you think music and sports goes well together? Is that an advantage for sports reporters and broadcast journalists?
Georgina: Music and Sports are completely different content. For music and entertainment these days, there is plenty of leeway for presenters who are not interested in the content to be successful. As long as they look presentable, and project a fun personality, they can still be very popular with the audience. Sports operates on a whole new level. If the presenter doesn't know their stuff, the viewers can spot it and are quick to criticize. Credibility seems to be more important in Sports than in Entertainment coverage, probably since most serious Sports viewers are more mature and discerning.

Rick: Who was your best interview ever and why?
Georgina: My best interviews are usually with Roger Federer. He's been at the top for so long, is perfectly fluent in English and always game to answer anything with thought and spontaneity.

Rick: You are well versed in many sports. Do you have an athletic bone in your body? If so, what sports are you into – before and today?
Georgina: That athletic bone was active when I was a teen. I represented my school in gymnastics and soft ball. I was also into athletics, squash, dancing, and tennis. These days, going to the kitchen to hunt for food is the most extreme and athletic thing that I do.

Rick: Who are your favorite up and coming tennis stars?
Georgina: Dinara Safina is an absolute doll. She's unassuming, sporting and also humorous in a Russian kind of way.

Rick: What would be the ultimate dream sport to cover for you?
Georgina: Greek Island Hopping. What do you mean that's not a sport?

Ateneo Men's Volleyball Match 6: The Sum of All Their Fears

The Sum of All Their Fears
Ateneo vs. UP
25-22, 25-10, 18-25, 20-25, 24-22
by rick olivares

The late American journalist Dorothy Thompson once said that “The most destructive element in the human mind is fear. Fear creates aggressiveness.”

After thrashing the UP Maroon Spikers 25-10 to go up two sets to none, the Ateneo Men’s Volleyball Team was bouncing around their side of the court with absolute glee. Thinking their neighbor down Katipunan Avenue was out for the count, they let their guard down which of course, eventually allowed UP back into the match.

By the time the match had clocked to close to more than an hour and a half, UP had leveled matters at two and two and held the lead 8-2 at the turn of the fifth and final set.

There was a look of confusion, anxiety, and fear on the faces of JR Intal, Ed Ortega, and AJ Pareja. Could it be another case of history repeating itself?

Some seven months earlier, the two squads met in an Intercollegiate tournament and Ateneo took the first two sets only to see UP sent it to a deciding fifth set which they took after they had racked up a score into the 30’s. The Blue Spikers seethed and couldn’t wait to get back at UP.

The Maroons are a smaller version of the UST Men’s Team. While they aren’t exactly the tallest team, they make up for it with total team play. One is never sure whom to concentrate their defense because they all score. And their open spiker Michael Jordan Arda plays every bit like his basketball namesake as he piles in a ton of points while leading UP in scoring (he is number seven in the league). And today, he was raining points from spikes, blocks, and serves.

After racing to an early 3-0 lead in the third set, UP Coach Vip Isada urged his team to play tighter defense on Pareja which they did. With the Ateneo’s captain’s guns jammed, the two setters Ed Ortega and Rey Africa couldn’t find a worse time to falter in getting the offense going. “I think they got rattled,” said Ateneo Coach Oliver Almadro. “We all got rattled.”

As the momentum shifted the doubts and memories of the summer meltdown resurfaced. Even worse, “will history repeat itself?” thought Pareja. In the previous two seasons, Ateneo won their last couple of matches heading into the Christmas break; something that gave them confidence coming into the New Year. However, when the matches resumed in January, that was all she wrote and the team failed to chalk up another win.

As Teves misplayed a reception before the change court in the fifth set, he threw up his hands in bewilderment. “Medyo na frustrate ako,” he recalled of the moment. “Kailangan may magawa ako para tulungan yung team ko.”

The freshman out of Canossa Academy in Batangas scored the next three points off spikes to breathe life into Ateneo’s game. It was the lift the team needed as suddenly the team clicked once more. Ortega’s nifty drop shot edged Ateneo closer at 8-7 before AJ Pareja tied the match and seized the momentum back.

And perhaps in their watershed game of the year and Ateneo men’s volleyball, the team came together to win back the game and drag those monsters of doubt from under their bed and into sunlight screaming.

Xavier Señoren, the frosh out of La Salle Zobel who while raw isn’t short on spunk and heart, made up for an earlier net error by scoring a point off a check out on UP’s Mark Sagad that gave Ateneo a 11-10 lead. It was probably his best game in blue thus far as he added 11 points of his own to help the overall effort.

JR Intal was somewhat off in his offense but his defense at the net was crucial as were his 9 points.

Even after they blew a13-11 lead in the fifth set and was later a point down 21-22, the team kept their composure and showed their resolve as they clawed back from the brink of defeat to take their fifth win in six matches. Timmy Sto. Tomas and Pareja scored three points apiece in the stretch to give Ateneo a pulsating 24-22 win.

As the titanic battle concluded, Intal kneeled on the floor in both relief and exhaustion. “We didn’t give up,” he marveled later inside the team’s locker room.

Almadro perhaps drained by the long match that had taken two hours to play finished the contents of his energy drink. “They are finally seeing yung fruits ng hard work nila. Maganda ‘to for our confidence. Ang sabi ko lang sa kanila is huwag sila matakot at maging maingay sila sa court. Kailangan maging aggressive at sila mag-dictate ng laro.”

“Nakita naman natin yung resulta, di ba?”

Anatomy of A Skid

Anatomy of a Skid
Looking into the sputtering Boston Celtics
by rick olivares

Steve Kerr was the first former Chicago Bull to make mention of the record. In fact, he's become the tank topped version of the 1972 Miami Dolphins who year after year break out the bubbly when teams see their hitherto unblemished record -- their flirtations with an undefeated record -- come crashing down to earth.

Kerr was a part of the 1996 Chicago Bulls which smashed the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers' season record of 69 wins by winning 72 en route to the NBA championship (they finished 87-13 including the playoffs).

The Boston Celtics certainly looked to be on their way to getting to 70 after posting a 27-2 record heading into Christmas Day. Since then, they're at 29-9. The Cleveland Cavaliers who were the latest team to paste the defending champion Celtics have six losses; the same as the Lakers so no one looks to give the Bulls' record any challenge for the remainder of the season.

But what has happened to Boston? Everyone has their own theory about it and the prevailing theory is that they're running on empty as they had their foot on the gas pedal since Opening Day. There's truth to that but didn't Michael Jordan drive his team harder (after all they won two waves of three-peats) and that is significantly a more difficult feat?

But this isn't about His Airness and win-loss records. This is about the Boston Celtics state of health. I'm not going to buy into any theories about ageing because how does one age so quickly and in a matter of days? Pure hogwash and unintelligible babble. That is for folks who never played the game.

If you look at the 2007-08 NBA season, the 66-16 Boston Celtics were 29-4 on January 9, 2008. They lost their game to the Charlotte Bobcats that night 95-83. They went on to lose 4 of their next 9 games as they finished January with a 36-8 record. By the time February rolled around they won only 4 of their next 9 matches before they found their groove.

So this is nothing new. They're sputtering and are probably in need of spare parts to get them going heading towards the playoffs.

So Dr. Phil, er, Dr. Rick, what's wrong with Boston?

Okay, it's like this...

1) Opponents are stopping Rajon Rondo. If Kevin Garnett is the team's adrenaline surge Rondo is the team's fuel injection. Rondo was off to the races and he gave the Celtics a boost with those youthful legs. For a while there, I thought that he had stolen Rafer Alston's playground "Skip to my Lou" moniker because of his speed and moves.

Since the Christmas loss to LA where he was harassed into 3-12 shooting and a measly 6 points, the third year guard out of Kentucky has scored double digits in four of the next 8 matches and only was for a win. He has shot poorly in all those games save for one -- a loss to Washington. Rondo gives Boston another weapon and when he isn't shooting well, everyone else can double Paul Pierce and Ray Allen.

2) The bench. The only one who can shoot in this shameful bench is Casa -- Eddie House and no one will confuse him with Reggie Miller except on a blue moon. In the nine games since December 25, Boston's bench mob has been outscored 6 times. In the game against the Bobcats, only two of Charlotte's bench players put points on the board yet they still outscored the Celtic's reserves!

The scoring comes from different players and there is no one reliable enough to reprise James Posey who helped inside and out. Their lack of depth has forced Glenn Rivers to play his starters long minutes. When you think about it, they've been playing long minutes these past two years. At some point they will feel fatigue so are they tiring now? This team is one injury (from their starters) away before they freefall. And no, Stephon Marbury is not the answer. If Danny Ainge doesn't know that by now then he should turn in last year's Executive of the Year Award.

3) Their defense has taken a hit. If Boston was the number one defensive unit last year, this season they've fallen to seventh in the rankings. In the 9 games since Christmas, save for the Sacramento Kings and the Washington Wizards, the main man of every club they've play has lit them up for points. Kobe Bryant had 27. Stephen Jackson had 28. Lamarcus Aldridge had 20. Yao Ming scored 26. Gerald Wallace nailed 23. Wilson Chandler dumped in 31. And LeBron James scorched them for 38.

Can't win if the opposing team's main man lights them up.

At this point Danny Ainge has no one to trade for any help and who in their right mind would want to help the defending champions? They've already mortgaged their future to the Minnesota Timberwolves when they acquired Garnett so short of sending away one of their starters, they have no choice but to either look across the Atlantic for help or maybe convince Reggie Miler (they tried that last year albeit unsuccessfully) to trade his suit for Celtics green. There's Jannero Pargo and Carlos Delfino who are both playing ball in Russia. Pargo is said to be the target of the Lakers who are currently leading the league with the Cavaliers. Delfino they could use because Glen Davis is not the answer in the middle.

There are a lot of long shots at the moment but whatever it is, the Celtics need to do something or else they'll witness the coronation of a new NBA champ.

Bleachers' Brew #140 American Idol

(This will appear in my Monday January 12, 2009 column in the Business Mirror.
http://businessmirror.com.ph/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4363:american-idol&catid=31:sports&Itemid=65)

American Idol
by rick olivares

You can say that Charles Barkley had it coming. This time he was wrong and no one can doubt it.

Loquacious, quotable, irreverent, honest, and rough, Barkley was the heir to anti-heroes like Dirty Harry and Mad Max. He waxed controversial with his thought-provoking lament about athletes: "I am not a role model. I am not paid to be a role model. I am paid to wreak havoc on a basketball court. Parents should be role models. Just because I can dunk a basketball does not mean I should raise your kids." And he took the Wright Brothers one step higher when he tested the theory of human aerodynamics when he threw a person out of a bar window.

It’s a good thing that many choose to laugh at his quips and not really idolize him because if they did, they’re due for a serious letdown.

As a result of his Driving Under the Influence of alcohol charge, he is being suspended from TNT for a few weeks. And the media has had a field day in crucifying Barkley.

Mistakes like drunk driving are potentially hazardous not just for those who could be victims but even for those behind the wheel. One does not need to be a victim or related to a victim to feel angry. And there doesn’t have to be a victim for the guilty to be punished. It’s a case of why wait for the crime to happen?

It can also be the loophole one needs to boot out an undesirable. Such as the case of former New York Yankees executive Steve Swindal who was once tabbed to replace George Steinbrenner (since the Boss’s own sons weren’t involved in baseball) after his retirement from baseball. After his divorce to Steinbrenner’s daughter Jennifer, Swindal was one out away from being atop of one of the world’s great sports franchises. And he was out with only two strikes (the first being the divorce)!

Sports may have its hardcore and stringent rules but life certainly has its own and they can be much harsher even at the cost of being somewhat illogical.

I believe in fair play and in the law being just. A law doesn’t necessarily mean it serves justice but who am I to say that when I am not a lawyer?

If the screwy American justice system can offer chances of parole to such serious criminals like Sirhan Sirhan and Mark David Chapman, then people like Charles Barkley should be punished and reprimanded yet tempered with clemency. He fessed up for a first time offender and will deal with it. Ladies and gentlemen, he isn’t a murderer, thief, or a terrorist (although Kenny Smith may claim Sir Charles to be one on account of his tinged barbs).

The United States has a strange and ironic way of dealing with its public figures. -- build them up and tear them down brutally. Yet if someone admits they were wrong then they can forgive (depends on the gravity of the mistake or crime). It seems boggling because others like in the words of a friend, “Wall Street scammers and crooked politicians get away with fines and house arrest.” Now doesn’t that sound so familiar?

They chose not to impeach Bill Clinton for having sex with an intern inside the White House. Monicagate was misuse of authority and an illegal use of a weapon of mass destruction. And it begat the question, who was in a position of power?

As for Hilary Clinton, she lied. Not once, but several times about her trip to Bosnia where she said she landed under sniper fire. And she’s on video for the record. Not getting the facts straight as he husband spun it is horse hockey. And you want the position of the world’s most powerful permission in the hands of someone who can’t tell the truth? George Washington will roll over in his grave! I cannot tell a lie!

Yet they’re hanging around because they pushed the right buttons. They are public officials! Servants of the state and the people. It seems that the term “public servant” has come to mean that “the public are servants.” And that holds true especially in the Philippines.

Just because Charles Barkley isn’t a role model that doesn’t mean we can’t listen to him call an NBA game. I watch an NBA game not just for the action but also the color commentary and Barkley is one of the best.

It is a conundrum when you think that abortion is legal in the United States where the viability of a fetus is put at a couple of months and its permissible to have it removed. However you put it, there is still a life that is snuffed out. It’s a conundrum that they don’t value life even is such an early stage of gestation yet they have made a mantra out of leaving no man behind during times of distress or conflict even at the cost of other lives. And surely you have heard of the case of Michael Vick. Yes. Save the dogs but not the fetus.

Barkley and Vick are celebrated as athletes; put atop on pedestals. Yet on a driving under the influence charge and a gambling and illegal dog fighting charge, they are pilloried, suspended, and in the case of Vick, his life and career destroyed possibly even beyond repair.

No, I am not condoning, driving under the influence, gambling, and cruelty to animals. Seriously, are you afraid of a large black man that’s why we want him torn down? And what Vick did was wrong and he deserves to be punished. But not to the point where his life is nearly destroyed. Some will he say it was his own doing and some will say that the prison system does not rehabilitate and only hardens criminals. So what say we execute them all now, huh?

Who should go to jail? OJ Simpson and Jayson Williams most definitely. And yes, those guys who gave the false intel on Iraq that precipitated its invasion. Now that was either self-serving because I hear oil money, the dollar falling against the Euro, or another plot by war mongerers.

America does not need its troops to be sent to foreign lands to advance its interests. Desperate Housewives, the NBA games, and McDonald’s do a pretty good job at it. It is after all, the path of least resistance.

As a kid, I slept on a double decker bed. I stayed on top while my younger brother occupied the bed below. I covered my room from wall to wall all the way up to the ceiling with posters of Kiss, Led Zep, Bruce Springsteen, and Phoebe Cates. But the one pin-up that held my attention was that of Julius Winfield Erving swooping in for a dunk on the Los Angeles Lakers’ Michael Cooper. Actually I must confess I cut out the image from a copy of Sports Illustrated in the school library. I would have shorn off the picture of Cheryl Tiegs in a fishnet swimsuit that pumped up a million male hearts had not someone beat me to the dirty deed. But the Doctor … even before Michael Jordan, he made me believe that man could fly. If only for a few seconds.

As I grew older, the image of Dr. J would eventually be taken down and be replaced by the New York Yankees’ Reggie Jackson, the Boston Celtics’ Larry Bird, Jordan, and the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders (before I discovered the Philadelphia Eagles Cheerleaders).

For the longest time I was a Toyota, Ginebra, and Jaworski fan, but after the throat-slitting incident with Allan Caidic, I stopped being a fan. While in college, I wrote the Big J a letter after Ginebra lost in Game 2 of the 1986 Open Conference against Manila Beer. Nothing really but words of encouragement and ahem… some plays I diagrammed to help my team win. That Christmas, I not only received a personal Christmas Card from the Big J but a Ginebra jacket. I felt bad when he was booed during EDSA and in his return to the PBA after EDSA. The Big J was never been known to take a loss well and as his Ginebra team was being skewered by the Triggerman, I felt it was an unsportsmanlike gesture. And that is an understatement.

Barkley said that “A million guys in jail can dunk a basketball. Should they be role models?”

I eventually idolized people for their skills, feats, and achievements in the realm of arts, cinema, sports, and whatnot. I listen for their capacity to call and NBA game or to march their team down field with time running out and they need one Hail Mary play. But that’s as far as it goes and it’s hardly for their character because I would come away sorely disappointed. You know… human frailty. Often gets the best of us.

I may be wrong, but I doubt it.

More Sideline Slants

Now the New York Jets realize that signing Brett Favre was a mistake. The QB is holding his team hostage once more by taking his time on deciding whether to play or not.

The Chicago Bulls seem intent on trading away Joakim Noah. What a disappointing team! They should trade away everybody. Including the GM and the owner.

John Smoltz and Rocco Baldelli go to the Boston Red Sox. That's a huge signing for this team.

The rematch between Frank Mir vs. Brock Lesnar (who might be training in Randy Couture's gym for this match). I hope Mir kicks Lesnar into next year in traction to boot.

Sevilla striker Freddy Kanoute is fined for showing his t-shirt with the word "Palestine" printed on it in several languages after he scored a goal in his side's 2-1 win over Deportivo La Coruna in the Copa Del Ray. Why? It didn't say anything else? Should we fine David Beckham for wearing the Union Jack around him after his Real Madrid team beat Mallorca to win the La Liga? After all England kicked Spain's royal butt in almost every war in the previous centuries.

MLS. The David Beckham adventure in the US is officially a flop. Admit it.

New York Diary: The Innocent, the Lonely, and the River Street Shuffle

Note: From time to time, I post entries from a diary I kept sometime ago. I'm in the midst of editing it and putting it out in book form. It's about a life in the US and the struggle for a piece of the American Dream in post 9-11 NYC. I usually post stuff with a more sports' bent. This one has small bits of it but deals more with random thoughts that would pepper my mind and consciousness. I removed some parts from it. I have a lot of videos that I'd post but if I do, it will be in the11-11pages.

September 2004
Fall was here. In my faux macho cool, I thought that maybe I could still not go around with a heavy jacket. The moment I stepped out of the house and on to the porch, I felt the winter chill rattle my bones. I went back inside and got my jacket and beanie. Now I'm off.

I've got this crazy fear of heights. But the $20 seats are the ones I can afford. I choose to sit high up there in case of a foul ball, I'll see it coming and catch it. I once saw this girl in the seats behind first base and she got her jaw broken when a foul ball messed up her face . I sure as hell didn't want that to happen to me. So between the heights and a broken jaw, I figured the heights was something I could deal with. Just don't look down, Rick.

But what -- I must be like 70 feet high up? Who knows? All I know is that I can see the brownstone apartments outside the park and Muhammad Ali on this huge billboard. And I feel that this is one game that is going to extra innings and late into the night. I think about the hassle of going back to Jersey. The 99S bus will be moving to the higher platforms past 1130. And if the game ends real late then we'll have to move to the basement of the Port Authority. There are human clerks anymore at this time so I have to purchase a ticket from those vendo machines that are so old that it's almost impossible to read. You have to be commuting for ages to know which ones to press. The Path Train is out so I'll have to make do.

The crowd has thinned out probably hating the September cold or they figure they'll finish the game on TV. I think about it but instead I stay to finish the game that ends at 11:15. I join what's left of the pinstriped crush to hurry to the subway and back to midtown. Some yawn, a few chat about the game. Why I bothered is born out of a desire to watch every Yankees game I can and make up for lost time. It isn't practical but my answer is, "You only live once." There it is. In case you want to know, I never did keep the streak going. Economics, see? And later on, gimmicks.

I'm the only one into baseball as most of my friends are into basketball and football (soccer). So I'm alone again.

Call it escape if you want. I'm exiled in the Big Apple. I enjoy her myriad delights but there's a tug in my heart and in my soul knowing that it isn't nowhere within the vicinity of complete joy because I'm alone.

I tug at my jacket's collar and pull the beanie down low. Sometimes I think I'd never get bothered about it, but it does rankle me.

The funny thing about this time of the night is that all the illegal sidewalk vendors are out. Hawkers display pirated DVDs in the platform. If you notice it well, they're all atop a blanket. All the better for them to make their quick escape.

There's this -- I'm not sure if they're a brother and sister of bf/gf -- combo that I follow in the subway. The girl plays a violin while the dude strums and acoustic guitar. I once saw them underneath the Bethesda Terrace in Central Park where I took a video of them. They were playing an unbelievable version of Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons" during a beautiful summer day. And if you're not in the mood for love then you're probably dead .

I think about that. My boss's favorite album is Rod Stewart's The Great American Songbook Volume II. He plays it like several times a day and if you don't like it you will by day's end.

I stay awhile to watch then I figure now I'm late and I'll have to go to the basement of Port Authority. With the long lines, I'll probably have to wait another hour for the next bus. It's past 12 by the time I alight onto Times Square. It's humming with people. I think of Shibuya in Tokyo and Kimberly/Carnarvon Road in Tsim Sha Tsui. Night spots and neon. Alcohol, coffee, and a nicotine fix.

I plug into my ipod and load the soundtrack of Lost In Translation. Squarepusher's "Tommib" drones in the back of my head. If I smoked cancer sticks I'd light up one right now. The soundtrack is strangely disaffecting. Music for late night lounge lizards and lonely people. Yep, that's me. In the City That Never Sleeps yet I'm rushing home when I know I won't get any sleep. At best, what -- four hours? I wake up early anyhow then I'm prepping for work.

I'll need my rest and strength. It's only recently that I learned to skate. Once I learned how, I began to play hockey. Yes, play. I can play only I am not even good. I'm stiff and slow like an arthritic old codger. It doesn't come naturally. But I can play defense and stick 'em some.

Don't I feel like Jim Carrey in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind always talking to myself and thinking aloud? Plain thinking all the time. And Coldplay's Parachutes is now playing. Swell.

I'm sitting by my window sill. The pane is shut and I place my hand on the window. It leaves the print of my palm with some frost. God, it's cold. It's 2am and I can't sleep.

Ateneo Men's Football: Geometry Lesson

(This will appear in the January issue of the Loyola School Bulletin)
Geometry Lesson
by rick olivares

When one asks if there is one true great offensive/defensive formation in football let it be known that there is none. But the truth is both in and out there.

As straight and true as a Steven Gerrard strike from outside the box, teams win and lose playing their own systems that flex and change as the games and opponents demand it.

In Euro 2004, Greece won (if there is a shocker in pro sports then that must rank way up there) playing a combination of an ultra-defensive 5-3-2 scheme to a looser 4-3-3. Behind their back four, Coach Otto Rehhagel installed either Michalis Kapsis or Traianos Dellas as a sweeper making it even tougher for teams to get good scoring chances. They would frustrate foes with their defensive brand of football (that would sometimes morph into other formations) then pounce on their mistakes with a swift counter. Greece surrendered only four goals while scoring eight of their own. “If you want to win, you must avoid monotony and constantly surprise opponents,” said the German coach of the Greek side.

In Euro 2008, Spain won using a 4-2-3-1 formation that would have done the old Brazilian teams of Vicente Feola proud as they played an attractive brand of passing and attacking football. “Talento y caracter (talent and character),” as their manager Luis Aragones put it. “It is a system that will make the most of my players’ talents.” Incidentally, it is the same formation that the Netherlands under Marco Van Basten, Real Madrid under Fabio Capello, and Liverpool under Rafa Benitez employ.

If that’s the case, then why do not more teams utilize such systems? And if so, why don’t they win year after year?

A system of how players are aligned like chess pieces on the pitch and are also dependent on the players that man them. The system helps the players and the players help the system.

There’s an argument that it’s the players and chemistry that makes teams win and there’s truth in there.

But, the answer is quite honestly, teams win because of several reasons: the coach, the system, the players, chemistry, general health, and the quality of their opponents.

To say that Ateneo is in vogue is false and an opinion by heathens. The 4-2-3-1 formation is something that the Ateneo Men’s Football Team has perfected and employed for six years now. It first came as a suggestion to Coach Arnulfo “Ompong” Merida who was looking for a way to integrate the players coming up from the Ateneo Football Center. He had skilled players for sure but he didn’t have the thoroughbreds that schools like FEU and UST routinely parade onto the pitch.

He recalls being sold on it when he saw France use the formation with David Trezeguet atop the attack. But even saw it wasn’t easy selling it. “You need smart players whose speed of thought is crucial for the system to work,” explained the many-time champion mentor.

For the uninitiated, football is simply running around and trying to blast the ball into the back of the net. Yet perhaps like baseball, it is very intricate in how it is played. You could almost say there is a science to it.

There is a defensive mindset where they hope to steal the ball up high deep into enemy territory for a quick counterattack.

But just the same, they like to pass the ball back to create space and form those small and big triangles to find open teammates and thread the ball through defenses. It is a symmetrical and logical reason to field four forwards where even the playmaker can double as a second striker. It is predicated on quick passing before the defense can adjust and for quality time possession.

The back four adjusts to the offense where they form a box to augment the offensive or to repel any counter attack by opponents. They are even flexible to change midway to a flat 4-4-2 formation to protect their side of the pitch.

Any coach will tell you that it would be nice to dominate possession of the ball, but for a coach like Merida, it’s about the quality of their attack and over-all game.

Merida defies stereotypes. For those who have gone through him in high school Physical Education and as their football coach, he is an unlikely poet. Schooled in the Brazilian way of the Beautiful Game, he is every bit a student who tries to hone and perfect his craft. He watches, listens, and soaks in information like a sponge. If you let him talk about football, life, and people, he’ll be your own sports version of Paolo Coehlo.

He studies and reads not just football but everything. Life. Movies. Books. Magazines. Even basketball. “You can never stop learning,” he says. “If you look at the (Ateneo) Men’s Basketball Team, they talk about how their defense won a championship. That is true. And we, have to do the same. Of course, we need to score.” He’s gone to school in South America and Asia. He is perhaps the coach we need in the National Team but because of politics he is kept to Ateneo.

Praise be to God.

For opponents, ixnay Hallelujahs to “oh, crap” when you say “goal.”

There are few dangerous scorers in the UAAP that inspire fear in defenses and goalkeepers than Gerard Cancio (the others are FEU’s Jovanie Simpron and UP’s Andoni Santos). Blessed with good speed, skills to weave and ditch defensive stiffs, and a powerful right foot, Cancio is also a superb passer who can set up teammates.

Except Cancio will not be playing upfront but in the wings where with his speed and strength he can do a lot of damage.

The top striker position goes to freshman Anton Amistoso, he of the rare quality of toughness, field smarts, and a winner’s attitude. In almost every game before the start of the UAAP season, he scored a goal. Perhaps the true heir to the three-peat team’s Roger Lastimado who once he got inside the box… well, a goal is like the sun rising from the east.

The fearsome four forwards will be Jolo Peralta, Cancio, and the returning Kurt Alvarez at the wings. Gab Siojo and Fred Ozaeta are at the holding midfield position with the latter there to address any mistakes in the attack.

The constants in the back four are Migs Tuason who replaces Pat Ozaeta at the center and Team Captain Alvin Perez. Rookies Paul Cheng (Xavier) and Alejandro Rivera (De La Salle Zobel) will alternate with Derrick Candelaria and Luigi Meer at the wings.

Also on the team are Gino Tongson (in his final playing year with Perez), James Arco, Juan Gabriel Faustino, Cesar Kapunan, Mikhail Andrei Manglapus (the grandson of the late senator and Ateneo cheerleader Raul Manglapus), Kiko Meily, and Benedict Tady.

RS Mantos, last season’s best goalkeeper, remains Ateneo’s last line of defense.

The memory of last year’s finals loss to FEU is still fresh. While clearly a better unit than the one that got into the championship round, there are no clear favorites to win. There is no game one can take for granted. Every match will be tough and a grind.

“Playing the system is what got us to four finals appearances in the last five years,” summed up Merida. “All these years we’ve lost a lot of players. Syempre meron mga talented na pumapasok. But it is the belief in what we do and what we run that will get us through. Now all we have to do is take it and win it on the field.”


I WAS HOPING JAMES ARCO COULD COME BACK BY THE 2ND WEEK OF THE SEASON. AS IT IS, HE'S OUT. HE TORE UP HIS KNEE IN PRACTICE LATE DECEMBER. GET WELL, BUD.

Coming up: Ateneo's women's football, women's volleyball, and something totally different for the track and field team.

Conspiracy Theory #245 The Knicks have everything to gain

Donnie Walsh would love to deal Stephon Marbury to the Boston Celtics because it would torpedo the Beantown team's chances of repeating.

New Jersey, the Knicks' division rival have learned their lesson that teams automatically improve after they jettison the league's self-proclaimed best point guard and they are nothing if not better than when they Mis-Steph running the show in the Meadowlands. And besides they have Devin Harris.

The Knicks will patiently wait for LeBron James to ditch them Cavs. Why hasn't David Stern reprimanded James for that bit of illegal pandering to a team that wants him while totally disrespecting Cleveland? Well, he's going to New York and Stern is from the Big Apple where he grew up watching the Knicks.

But then again, Mike D'Antoni can talk to Walsh to send Marbury to San Antonio for Jacque Vaughn. That's revenge for the Spurs beating Phoenix in years past.

So where will the Marbury Man go? Wherever it is, the ultimate winner here will be the New York Knicks.

A New Era in the Bronx

Mark Teixiera is formally introduced as a New York Yankee. He replaces Jason Giambi at first base.

High-priced club. All-Star pedigree. can they win now?

A new era begins in the Bronx and the last remaining members of the Torre club in New York are Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, and Mo Rivera.

Ateneo Men's Volleyball: Paradigm Shift

(This will appear in the January issue of the Loyola School Bulletin)

Ateneo Men’s Volleyball: Paradigm Shift

by rick olivares
photos by ed ortega

For most teams, getting ready for a season begins with training. But for the Ateneo Men’s Volleyball Team, it began with a reminder.

Too long have teams – even with the women’s – taken the court with the mindset that “even if we lose it’s okay; we’re Ateneans anyway.” It’s totally ludicrous and smacks of misplaced arrogance.

For first-year Coach Oliver Almadro who played for Letran, he is all too aware of Ateneo’s long and rich history. And he isn’t even referring to its sports heroes but those in nation building.

A few weeks before the start of the UAAP season last December, the entire team went jogging a couple of times at Luneta across Baywalk all the way to the CCP complex and about.

Before they commenced their 3K run they stood right before the Rizal Monument. “It is fitting that we start our season right at the monument of perhaps your most famous alumnus,” opened Almadro who hoped to inspire his wards who assembled before 6am for the run. The team had that look of wonder and “oh, yeah.”

Little did they know at that time they were about to embark on something “historic.”

You have to love volleyball and be a sucker for pain if you want to play for the team. You can’t even hang the tag of “underachieving” for them because they haven’t achieved anything in more than two decades. The four total wins they racked up in the past two seasons are more than perhaps… hmmm… anyone lost count?

They would play games in Blue Eagle Gym, our virtual homecourt, yet the supporters of our opponents would greatly outnumber us by oh, 20 to 1. It didn’t help the scores were somewhere in the vicinity of those numbers. Obviously we were getting trounced. An automatic “W” for opponents.

Before the start of the Christmas break, the team had won four straight (they beat FEU for the first time in a decade and took them in three straight sets) and only their streak stopped when they faced the defending champions UST in a controversial match. Yet with two more matches to go, the team can go one up on their win total of the past two years just in the first round.

There is a noticeable change in the team now. They’ve become more of a singular unit as they’ve found common ground and a goal to aim for. Before their game against UST, they did something they never did before, scout their opponents. And after practice or games, they eat together and discuss the game some. “It also means a change in attitudes,” added team captain AJ Pareja who knows a thing or two about heartbreak. “We’re concentrating on winning games one at a time. Wherever we may go from here… well, that’s a long way from now.”

Even during the break the team continued to their workouts. In years past, the team would win their games before the break and fall apart at the turn of the New Year and the resumption of hostilities. “We’re conscious of that – our mistakes and shortcomings,” noted Pareja. “We want to break that.”

The tournament is a long way from being settled and the race is still pretty much wide open despite UST being a heavy favorite to repeat. Yet the team with new pick ups in Duane Teves, Rey Africa, Vian Seranilla, and Xavier Senoren have provided valuable support to Timmy Sto. Tomas, Pareja, Ed Ortega, and the vastly improved JR Intal. Tyrone Judes Casumpang, Leonard Christian Loo, Phillip Ian Layno, Kyle Matthew Ong, and Justin Tec round out the Blue Spikers.

The team would be even stronger had Mike De Joya and Julborg Africa suited up. As it is both are in the freezer because of academics. “That shows that you can not take anything for granted,” said Almadro with a touch of regret about the unavailability of the two.

For the Blue Spikers, they are sailing in previously unchartered waters. Before they had to learn how to win. Now they’ve tasted a little success, it’s how to keep it going.

“Pero take note… kahit hindi pa tapos yung season,” elaborated the coach. “what will make this year historic is not just what they are doing and trying to accomplish, but their newfound winning attitude.”

Now it’s time to make some history.


Here are the last games of 2008 on ateneo.edu:
http://www.ateneo.edu/index.php?p=120&type=2&sec=27&aid=6223

Kelly Williams on the new LeBron shoe

Thanks to Pam of Ogilvy for this.

Ateneo sports news

UAAP Baseball begins this weekend. Ateneo has a game on Sunday. Kirk Long is in the line up. The game will be at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.

The Men's Volleyball Team will resume its campaign this Sunday too when they play a strong UP team. The Women's Team will play DLSU also this Sunday afternoon. Both games at at the Arena.

UAAP Football gets underway on January 18. Team previews will come out next week.

As for the 2009 Ateneo Sports Calendars, they will be out this Friday (IN LIMITED STOCKS SO IF YOU DID NOT PLACE ORDERS YOU MIGHT HAVE TO WAIT A FEW DAYS) and we will have a booth at the SEC Field. Supposed to be we should have a booth by now but maybe this Thursday to promote and Friday to sell. But definitely by Friday. Those who cannot make it to ADMU on Friday check the blog for more details.

By the way, sign up to be a fan in our facebook account. Search for "Ateneo Sports Calendar." Thanks!

You looking for Ateneo basketball stuff? Sige next week.

Start out the New Year right, boys!

Liverpool beat Preston North End in the 3rd round of the FA Cup 2-0. They have a chance to bag three crowns -- the Premiership, the FA Cup, and the Champions League. Go Reds!

Die Jedi scum!

I joined the Galactic Empire and will henceforth be known as Darth Rick. After we're done exterminating those Jedi scum, we will hunt down all those smelly Jawas, wookies, and those cretins from Endor. And when we're done with that, watch out Trekkies. You've been warned pond scum.

This was how I was turned by the Dark Side, I was at the Pennsylvania Hotel (that's Madison Square Garden right outside the window) and was cracking jokes about the Emperor when Darth Vader happened by and didn't think I was funny. So there. My fellow writer Cedelf Tupas of the PDI was asking how in the blue hell that happened and I said when you're offered the Philadelphia Eagles cheerleaders, Ateneo championships, and a PS3 you don't say no. Bwahahahaha!

In case you're wondering what's inside the Thank You plastic bag I'm carrying, the contents are DVDs of Batman: Dead End, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Azumi, and a few books and magazines. The poster is The Cutting Edge. Moira Kelly. Whooooooooooooo!

A friend of mine was saying that he was physically in the office but mentally elsewhere. I said that was tough but I was in a bind because my mind was in a galaxy far far away.

Bwahahahaha

Bleachers' Brew #139 The Race

(This appears in my Monday January 5, 2008 column in the Business Mirror
http://businessmirror.com.ph/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4043:the-race-a-sports-fable&catid=31:sports&Itemid=65)

The Race
A Sports Fable
by rick olivares

One bright and sunny morning, four friends -- the elephant, the tiger, the lion, and the tamaraw were lounging around, watching pirated DVDs, and engaging in idle chatter.

“Hey, ya’ll,” ventured the lion. “It’s getting kind of boring around here. What do you say we all play a sport to find out who is the best among us?”

“That sounds fun,” nodded the tiger whose eyes gleamed with excitement. “But that begs the question -- what sport do we play that is a fair match for us all?”

“I say we play Muay Thai!” roared the elephant as his trunk flexed in a show of might.

The other animals groaned. “You have got to be kidding us!” protested the lion. “One kick and we’d all be flatter than the world!”

“The world isn’t flat; it’s a-round,” sneered the tiger as he folded his front legs.

“It is flat. Like your sports capabilities,” hotly retorted the lion!

“Them’s fighting words, lion. Put up your dukes, I say!” challenged the tiger who flashed his pearly-white mandibles as he went into a fighting stance.

“Will you all stop,” bellowed the elephant. “It’s supposed to be a friendly competition. If you want we can all meet in the octagon for some mixed martial arts fight and we can beat the snot out of one another.”

“Chill, dude,” said the lion who held his paws up in mock surrender. “We were just blowing off some steam.”

“So how about we play football?” wondered the tiger. “After all, it’s the world sport.”

“Good idea!” agreed the lion and the elephant as they produced a football.

“Not!” protested the tamaraw as the other three looked in his direction. “In my part of the jungle, we play basketball. So how about a game of one-on-one or 21?”

“But you’re small. I’ll beat you,” said the incredulous elephant.

“No, friend elephant,” cautioned the lion. “He may be little but he is fierce.”

“And talented like Kobe Bryant,” added the tamaraw who began to put on a dribbling exhibition.

“What’s that?” asked the elephant with a raised eyebrow.

“That’s Shakespeare, lad. Shakespeare.”

“Ah,” said the elephant as he understood that the tamaraw was infinitely more athletic and talented at hoops. “We plead no contest in the game of basketball as in the same manner you pleaded such for football. I say we play something else.”

“So just what are we going to play,” wondered the tiger who was growing impatient.

Twiddle thumbs. Twiddle thumbs.

“Eureka!” exclaimed the lion with light bulbs flashing above his head. “I know. We can just have a race -- to see who is the fastest.”

“Hmm. I was about to say that myself,” smiled the tiger. “I think it is good. After all, we all have four feet so it’s pretty much equal.”

So the four friends decided to have a race of a distance of two miles. They asked their friend the British lion to officiate the race.

Suddenly the tamaraw realized that he did not have the proper training or equipment to engage in a race. He called his other friend tamaraws to ask why his racing gear was substandard and incomplete.

“Brother tamaraw,” nervously said one. “I think the money was used to buy a condo unit in the most beautiful part of the jungle. But we can still ask either adidas or Nike for sponsorship in exchange for taxcuts.”

“That’s terrible,” growled the tamaraw. “We will call for an investigation of this matter when the race is done. Heads will roll I tell you. So for now we will make do with what we have.”

The four friends lined up at the starting line with intensity written all over their faces. When the British lion whistled to start the race, the four friends thundered out of the gates.

Since he was ill-prepared and equipped the tamaraw soon began to lag behind.

So the contest became a three-way race between the lion, the tiger, and the elephant. Just when it seemed that the lion would edge the others out, a metallic blur raced past them, knocked them around silly, and crossed the finish line.

The three friends wheezed and coughed for the metallic blur had kicked up quite a dust storm. When the visibility got better they saw that the blur was a car -- a Toyota.

“That’s not fair!” cried the tiger. “Japan’s national animal is a car.”

Rather than continue the protest which would probably fall on deaf ears, the three friends continued the race to see who would finish second and third.

Far behind, the tamaraw had resumed his race when he was stopped by his brother tamaraws.

“What gives, brothers? Why do you stop me?”

“This is a charade, brother tamaraw. This race is for amateurs. Let’s just form a pro running league in our country. That way we can make some money.”

Said another tamaraw, ”Actually, we also want to check if you are really of age to compete and if you submitted the correct records.”

“And while you’re at that,” added another one with a media ID, “We will check if you are truly male since we received some reports that you are female. You will have to go to UP and UST hospitals to check for your true gender. The international sports body demands it.”

“But I am a real male tamaraw!” vigorously protested the flummoxed tamaraw. “This is not right. This is a witch hunt.”

“We also received reports that your pep test results are fake…”




Author's Note: This is for my aunt -- Ninez Cacho Olivares who taught me to laugh at things even if they suck. She used to write her early columns in Bulletin and Inquirer using fables to take jabs at our sucky government.

With a nod towards Seabiscuit (you know which part?) and Aesop's Fables and apologies to Nancy Navalta, Roberto Palacios, and He Who Must Not Be Named.

Heartbreakers
14 Philippine Sports Tragedies
by rick olivares

You think your girl wrenched your heart when she dumped you for some other guy? Reality check, bud. It’s not the end of the world. But when the heartbreak is repeatedly inflicted upon the entire country – and for quite a spell now – that is something that grafts itself unto the national psyche and pisses us all off.

It’s like we’re the underdog of the underdogs.

Heartbreak is defined as “an emotion of great sadness caused by a physical loss of a loved one, something of great value, or an event related to disaster or sports competition.”

For this February, we are sharing with you 14 heartbreaking sports stories that we should remember like the Battle of Tirad Pass, Bataan and Corregidor, or even the Dos Palmas kidnappings.

There are a whole lot more but if you ask me, the single most heartbreaking story in our distinguished sports history is that after every regional or global event, we come home distraught with calls for an inquiry. Yet nothing happens. It’s the same old crap from the same old people.

But that’s the great thing about coming off the old year – we can still hope. These are but reminders and hopefully, we will all get better after this. We just have to suppress the heartache.

The Atlanta Heist (or How Onyok Velasco got robbed in broad daylight)
In 1996, the Philippines sent a 16-athlete team (we had an even larger contingent of officials and hangers-on) to the Atlanta Olympics. Mansueto “Onyok” Velasco was one of the few boxers on the team and in his lightflyweight class, defeated Taiwan’s Chih-Hsiu Tsai, Cuba’s Yosvani Aguilera, Morocco’s Hamid Berhili, and Spain’s Rafael Lozano in succession to make to the Gold Medal match and the country’s then-latest attempt to win it’s elusive first place finish.

Velasco was up against Bulgarian Daniel Petrov Bojilov. Throughout the games, the Filipino dominated his foes and won by a mile. But even as Velasco’s punches connected, they were automatically and incredulously awarded to the Bulgarian who thumped the shocked Filipino in points 6-19.

The protests fell on deaf ears and Velasco picked up the country’s second boxing silver medal since featherweight pugilist Anthony Villanueva won in Tokyo in 1964.

She or he (the Nancy Navalta Controversy)
She was on her way to sprinting towards athletic glory. She ran the 100-meter dash in 11.44 seconds and there was talk that Nancy Navalta was going to inherit Lydia De Vega’s mantle of the country’s fastest woman.

Or was she?

The whispers and insinuations about her true gender grew into a scream, one Navalta couldn’t deal with.

It was bad enough that she was born to an impoverished family in La Union then just as she found her chance to lifting her family out of their miserable state, she was questioned because of her manly build that included a whisker of a mustache, a flat chest, and muscled build.

She was made to undergo tests at the University of the Philippines General Hospital and the University of Santo Tomas before the Southeast Asian Games where she was pronounced as “genetically male.”

Local and foreign officials advised Navalta to cease from competing and to get on with “his” life.

She disappeared as fast as she made tracks in the athletic scene.

Do you believe in magic or luck? (Efren Reyes collapses in the 2006 World Pool Championships)
He is the Michael Jordan of billiards. A man so fearsome in his reputation for wringing out magical wins will sublime skills and steel verve. Such is it when cue artists are in a room with Efren “Bata” Reyes.

Yet in the opening day of the 2006 Philippines World Pool Championships at the Philippine International Convention Center in Manila, Reyes seemed to have left his bag of tricks at home against his young competitor from the United States, Tony Crosby who raced to a 7-4 lead as the packed venue groaned with every miscue and missed shot.

When all seemed lost, Reyes found his mojo as he leveled the match at 7-7 with some excellent shot making. Suddenly there was magic in the air as the now frenzied crowd smelled a victory. In the position to win the match as all he had to do was slot in the 9-ball, Reyes missed as the room fell deathly quiet.

A disbelieving Crosby couldn’t believe his good fortune as his jaw sank and he covered his face in disbelief. He took a moment to compose himself as he wasn’t sure if his eyes were playing tricks on him. But the collective anguish of all the spectators confirmed Reyes’ horrendous miss. The American sank the ball and the heart of millions of Filipinos.

A stab at our Seoul (How Korea breaks our hearts in the national pastime)
You can say what you want about the country’s fascination and passion for basketball even if we’ve lagged far behind in the international game, but this is the one sport that defines us. If Manny Pacquiao is the Mexicutioner, the Koreans are our tormentors when it comes to basketball.

1) During the 1986 Seoul Asian Games semi-finals, the Joe Lipa-mentored squad faced the host team for the right to play China for the Gold.

The Korean sharpshooter Hur Jae kept the Filipinos at bay with his three-point shooting. But the Philippine Team behind Avelino “Samboy” Lim, brothers Jerry and Harmon Codinera, the late Jack Tanuan, Allan Caidic, Alvin Patrimonio, and Ronnie Magsanoc launched into a spirited rally that saw them down by one point with the game’s conclusion a few seconds away and the ball in Korea’s possession.

Caidic poked the ball away from his man. The Filipino sharpshooter raced to his side of the court to go one on one with his guard as Samboy Lim trailed. Caidic went straight to the rack for a lay up when a whistle blew.

Instead of calling a blocking foul on the Korean, the referee whistled the Filipino for an offensive foul and with almost no time on the clock, the game went to the hosts. Recalled Joe Lipa of that call, “For me to say that the call was biased for Korea might sound self-serving so I’ll just say that it was very controversial.”

2) Sixteen years later at the Busan Asian Games, the Philippines met Korea – once more the hosts – for the opportunity to play Yao Ming and the heavily favored Chinese for the gold.

Olsen Racela drained a huge trey with 51 seconds left in the game to put the Philippines up 68-66. Korea missed on their next possession and Racela was fouled with 23.9 seconds left. The point guard for San Miguel Beer in the PBA has always been steady at the stripe with a 92% accuracy rate but on this Black Saturday in Busan, he inexplicably missed both shots that would have given Team Philippines a four point lead.

Korea rebounded the ball and worked the ball to Lee Sang Min who at the point was having his own miserable game as he tossed up brick after brick from three-point land. Min hit a trey of his own at the buzzer to give Korea the improbable 69-68 victory and a place in the finals.

Why don’t we start them young (The 1992 Little League World Series)
In 1992, the Philippines was represented by Zamboanga City in the Little League World Series held at Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

The team kicked serious butt and took names at the tournament and in the finals against Long Beach, California, the RP Team crushed the home squad with a seven-run first inning en route to a 15-4 rout. The Zamboanga team was crowned the 46th Champions of the annual event and they came home to a heroes’ welcome.

But not long after the victory, word filtered out that the team had used ineligible players including star pitcher Roberto Palacios. After an embarrassing investigation where it was indeed proven that several players were over-aged, the title was stripped and handed to the Long Beach team.

A Greek Tragedy (Toni Rivero and the Missed Athens Gold)
On a beautiful Monday afternoon on the 30th of August in the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics, Maire Antoinette “Toni” Rivero, bruised and battered after a grueling elimination round, needed was one more win to barge into the medal round. As expected, a hostile Greek crowd awaited the then-16 year old. The Greeks’ Sydney Games medal winner Michailis Mouroutsos lost in the under 58 kg category and that left Elizavet Mystakidou (like Rivero) their medal hopeful in the women’s under 67 kg event.

Even at that age, Rivero learned to block out the external sounds and focus on the match. And despite a thigh and hand injury, she was outpointing Mystakidou much to the shock and anger of the Philippine coaching staff and delegation. “I was getting some good hits but the judges were not scoring them,” she remembers like it was only yesterday. “But it was clearly a home court decision.”

Toni finished fourth and couldn’t contain her disappointment. She left Athens in tears but came back stronger with some great performances in the SEA and Asian Games. Mystakidou on the other hand, has never won in a major competition since.

The medal drought continues (the 2008 Beijing Olympics)
The Philippines sent 15 athletes to Beijing in dogged pursuit of the country’s first Olympic gold medal and very much like the ones that preceded them, they came home empty, humbled, and angry. The final showing of the Philippine delegation was said to be worst ever in the quadrennial meet.

The swimmers as led by Mark Molina it seemed were only good for the Southeast Asian Games even if they did break several national records.

Harry Tañamor, the country’s lone boxing hopeful shockingly lost in his first bout to a virtual unknown from Ghana.

In taekwondo, where the Philippines also pinned its medal hopes, Toni Rivero and Tshomlee Go never got past the opening round.

Although Wushu’s Willy Wang won a gold medal, it didn’t reflect in the standing as it is only considered a demonstration sport.

What made it even more tragic was the usual finger pointing and calls for inquiries that follow the Philippines after every international event. There is much talk but nothing ever really changes.

The Golden and Missed Opportunity (the Louie Espinosa Story)
Oscar De La Hoya considers him one of his boxing idols. The original Golden Boy to be exact.

Louie Espinosa is a two-time former world champion who finished his career with a 47-11 record with 26 KO’s on the strength of his powerful left hooks.

Unfortunately, like many other prize fighters, it was Espinosa’s career that soon got knocked down for good after he was duped by false promises, a meddling wife, and unscrupulous promoters. Espinosa instead fell by the wayside working odds jobs in the United States to eke out a living. The former bantamweight and featherweight champion made an appeal to authorities to procure his promised purse of $150,000 purse for successfully defending his World Boxing Council featherweight crown against Argentine Carlos Rios in 1997 in Koronadal, Cotabato. Rios was knocked out in the sixth round.

“I just want what I earned so I can rebuild my life,” said a disconsolate Espinosa. “It has been so long. I want my life back.”

When the Silver doesn’t mean anything (Anthony Villanueva and a loss that haunted him a lifetime)
It is rare that a father and son have a chance to represent their country in the Olympics. Jose Villanueva won a bronze medal in a bantamweight bout with Joseph Lang during the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics. And 32 years later, his son, Anthony had the opportunity to not only do the father one better but make the whole country proud.

In the gold medal featherweight match versus Russian Stanislav Stepashkin, Villanueva seemed to be ahead convincingly as he peppered his opponents with devastating combinations. Yet when the decision was announced, the Russian was named the winner prompting the veteran and late sportscaster Joe Cantada to scream into his microphone, “We were robbed! We were robbed!”

Villanueva was awarded the silver medal, the Philippines’ first ever in the competition. But years later, broken down and without money, he offered to sell his medal just to pay for his medical bills.

The Hometown Hold-up (Z Gorres finds out that homecourt advantage doesn’t mean anything in boxing)
In February of 2007, WBO Super flyweight champion Fernando Montiel, the orthodox fighter from Mexico entered the ring in Z Gorres’ hometown of Cebu where he took on the Filipino in a 12-bouter.

Strangely enough Gorres was twice deducted a point (in the 10th and 12 rounds) by referee Samuel Viruet – without any warning – that may have ultimately spelled the difference in the split decision awarded to the defending champion.

A Game of Nerves (The Great World Pool collapse of Roberto Gomez)
It isn’t easy to come to an opponent’s home country and take his heart, the World Pool title, and $60,000 in cash. But England’s Darryl Peach did just that by upending Superman as Roberto Gomez is nicknamed.

The Englishman wasn’t any pushover as he crushed Ronnie Alcano the previous year making a case for himself as a cue artist to watch. But down against Gomez 12-15, he began an unlikely comeback as Gomez lost a game of nerves because of overconfidence.
Gomez was easily breezing to a win, leading 15-12, but Peach responded and tied the match at 15-all.

The 31st rack, was taut and filled with suspense as both players seemed to succumb to their nerves missing one shot after another. Gomez inexplicably tried to finish off his opponent by rushing his shots prompting his to miss.

His crucial miscues allowed Peach to calm down and finish him off by taking the next two racks for the Grand prize. An emotional Gomez broke down in front of the cameras and was inconsolable.

Three strikes and we’re still not yet out (The FIBA Suspension and the chaotic basketball scene)
How it must gall the Golden Generation to see how far the mighty have fallen? From Asian champion to chumps. The Philippines has not only lagged far behind its neighbors in terms of the economy and development but also in the national sport that is basketball.

Although at best, the accusation that the pro league has been party to our decline in the world basketball scene is nothing but speculation. Maybe we refuse to simply accept that the world has passed us by when they put their minds to learning the game.

But as we tried to regain our past glories, we were slapped three times with debilitating suspensions that have not helped our cause. The first one was in 1963 after the Philippine government refused to allow the participation of communist bloc countries. The second came briefly in 2001 when warring factions vied for the presidency of the BAP. But it was the third – also a power struggle between different parties -- that was not only lengthier but even more damaging.

By the time the suspension was lifted after two years, the other Asian countries that we used to routinely beat, were now inflicting crushing losses to us.

Although the FIBA suspension has been lifted, all is still not well within the local basketball scene as there are those who still oppose the current leadership or even the involvement of foreign coaches in the national team.

Houston, you've got a problem

From the Houston Chronicle:

Mark it down. It was Jan. 2, 2009, 1:16 left in the third quarter, when there was a seismic shift in the Rockets' world, when the tectonic plates opened up and swallowed an era. The official play-by-play sheet simply says: Jamario Moon slam dunk. Anybody who was watching at the Air Canada Centre or on TV knows it was the precise moment that Tracy McGrady quit on the Rockets. Yao Ming knows it. You could read it all over his scowling face as he sat on the bench through the final embarrassing minutes of horrid game. Rick Adelman knows it. You could read it between the lines of his post-game comments when he said he would not talk about any individual performances. Ron Artest knows it. You could tell that a week ago when Artest dragged his sore and ballooning right ankle onto the court to gut out an overtime win against the Jazz when McGrady made himself a late scratch during the post parade. Oh, it was so much more than just 2-for-9 shooting and 4 points in 27 minutes. It was aimless shuffling around the court on offense and defense. It was standing five feet behind the 3-point line, feet rooted to one spot, and simply playing pitch and catch with the ball. It was Moon driving in from the right side of the basket and seeing McGrady stop running, practically hold the door open and offering to carry Moon's books home from school as he went by for a dunk that would have been more contested in the pre-game layup line. It was the body language from the opening minutes of the game to the bitter, pathetic end that screamed out loud that McGrady would rather have been any other place on the planet than on that court with that team. It is a waste of time and effort to go back over all of his empty promises and contradictions from the start of training camp or over his four-plus seasons in Houston. Just say this: He is an extraordinary talent - T-Mac - who is capable of taking your breath away. Yet as a competitor - Tiny Tim-mac - he can be blown away in a gentle breeze.

Winter Classic here we come!

Rick's plan:
1) Get in shape by losing that excess poundage and doing weights.
2) Practice ice skating once more
3) Try out for the Islanders' free agent camp after summer
4) Word is the next Winter Classic will be played at the new Yankee Stadium
5) With any luck, I'll be the first Flip to play in the NHL.

Pipe dream, huh? You have to understand why I love hockey. I learned how to play it at a late age but that never stopped me from playing a game I first saw on FEN.

Bag 'em. Tag 'em.

Is this how you feel after the New York Jets crashed and burned after a great start? Let's rub it in now that former QB1 Chad Pennington played the game of his life to lead the Miami Dolphins into the post-season against his former club in the Meadowlands.

Allez! Or Sing the Blues.

(This will come out in the January 6 edition of Business Mirror and my first article and blog post for 2009.
http://businessmirror.com.ph/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4127:allez-or-sing-the-blues&catid=31:sports&Itemid=65)

Allez! Or sing the blues.
by rick olivares

Do you still see Zinedine Zidane heading in Emmanuel Petit's corner kick to beat Brazilian keeper Claudio Tarrafel for a 1-0 lead at the Stade De France in the FIFA World Cup Finals of 1998?

Do you still see David Trezeguet scoring the golden goal off Francesco Toldo at the Feyenoord Stadium in Rotterdam to beat Italy 2-1?

Or do you see Les Bleus' freefall after Zizou's headbutt of Marco Materazzi that gave Italy its fourth World Cup?

The French National Football Team has fallen out of FIFA's top ten rankings. They're on the outside looking in at number eleven. They struggled in Euro 2008 and are once more stumbling in the qualifiers for the World Cup Finals in 2010 at South Africa. They just might find themselves farther down the ladder.

The Gallic rooster, the symbol of their football team, should begin crowing for the Fédération Française de Football (FFF) to wake up.

If you have followed Les Bleus you will know that they aren't a bit like Brazil, Italy, or Germany who can just trot out a team and they'd be in the thick of the fight in almost every tournament whether continental or international. They field a talented team that makes a run for a period of eight years before they're retired from international duty.

While France runs on a diesel-like engine and don't score too many goals, they've been blessed with some talented midfielders who have led them to victory. Michel Platini, Bernard Genghini, and Alain Giresse helped Les Bleus to the Euro '84 title and the Olympic Gold Medal in Los Angeles a few months after.

In the late 1990's it was the turn of Zidane, Patrick Viera, Didier Deschamps, and Christophe Dugarry to lead the squad to a World Cup triumph in '98 and Euro 2000. Just when they seemed primed for greatness, they fell of the radar by playing a lackluster 2002 World Cup where they failed to get out of the first round much less score a single goal!

That team had a last gasp in Germany in 2006 while featuring their future stud in Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich) who was then playing for Marseille. Since then, they've lapsed into what is turning out to be a dangerous pattern of post-World Cup Finals play by coming out uninspired.

In Euro 2008, utilizing a 4-4-2 formation, Les Bleus became ineffective when midfielders Claude Makelele (Paris St. Germain) and Jeremy Toulalan (Lyon) could hardly mount any semblance of an attack. With Viera getting older, the team stalled. If team manager Raymond Domenech understood his squad at all, he would have used either Ribery or Samir Nasri (Arsenal) in the manner that Rafael Benitez has made Steven Gerrard an even more dangerous player for Liverpool by playing behind Fernando Torres in a 4-2-3-1 formation.

In qualifying play for South Africa, France is in fourth in a six-country group. In those four matches, they've scored five goals and surrendered six. Only the top two will advance and if they harbor any dreams of advancing, they must win both matches against second place Lithuania in a home and away series beginning March.

It is a young team that Domenech has but he must cut through his personal politics and bring his squad together. He has at his disposal some of the world's best goal scorers in Thierry Henry, Nicolas Anelka Chelsea), and Karim Benzema (Lyon), the heir to Zidane. And he has a lot of talent – world class at that – to utilize. As it is, he’s gone on to pick feuds with players like Trezeguet and is hanging on to his job by a thin lifeline.

Henry has found his form in Barcelona where the Catalan club looks to unseat back-to-back titlists Real Madrid this year with a sound attack formulated by Pep Guardiola.

He has superb attacking midfielders in Ribery, Nasri, and Sidney Govou from the seven-time (going on their eighth) French Ligue 1 champions Lyon. He also has the up-and-coming Lassana Diarra (Real Madrid) who can play defense and lead the counter attack. AC Milan's Mathieu Flamini has a good sense of tempo with a mind for creating for teammates. And there's Hatem Ben Arfa (Lyon) whose speed from the left wing will soon see him snapped up by the bigger clubs and Bordeaux’s Yoann Gourcuff whose dramatic goal—his first international play – leveled the score at 2-2 in a World Cup qualifying match versus Group 7 leader Romania last October 11, 2008. The draw earned a stay of execution for Domenech who has been pilloried by the French media for his team’s poor play.

On defense, Marseille's Steve Mandana (who will be backed up by Atletico Madrid’s Gregory Coupet) is the starting keeper and even with only a few caps to his resume, he should get better. But to shore up their inconsistent defense (that largely depends on which side of the bed William Gallas get up from), they'll need to make a decision... start the former Arsenal captain or not. If Gallas remains uninspired, Domenech should start Bayern Munich’s Willy Sagnol, AS Roma's Philippe Mexes, Arsenal's Gael Clichy, and Chelsea's Florent Malouda.

Not all the blame, however, can be laid at Domenech's feet. The team is wanting in leadership; a void that has not been filled since the retirement of Zizou. And the French squad is clearly in transition as the old guard -- Zidane, defender Lillian Thuram, keeper Fabian Barthez, and midfielders Roberto Pires and Youri Djorkaeff -- have all hung up their national boots.

The onus now is on Henry or even Ribery to pick this team up. Who else when the rest of the squad is quite young?

France has never been a defensive-oriented team in the way the Italians or the Greeks are and if the team strikes early, it adds on to their confidence. Domenech would do well to stay away from his cherished 4-4-2 and get his team on the attack.

Because at this point when you're playing catch up for the last few buses (or airplanes to be more precise) to South Africa, you need to score some goals.


Note: Rick roots for the French National Football Team and says he became an uber fan with Zidane (who was still with Juventus then) leading them to victory in '98. He has French kits with Zidane (as with Real Madrid) and Jeremy Toulalan. He'd love to complete a collection of Patrick Viera, Thierry Henry, Karim Benzema, Youri Djorkaeff, and Franck Ribery. It is of coincidence that the French wear blue which is his favorite color next to brown. He is real upset the French Football Federation will sign up with Nike in a few years time. He feels that France and adidas are synonymous. If you want him to be eternally grateful to you (and subservient), get on his good side by helping him get French football kits.

If you're asking if he likes any other teams -- then you should know he also cheers for the Netherlands (Ruud Van Nistelrooy), Spain (Ces Fabregas), Argentina (Gabrielle Batistuta & Juan Roman Riquelme), and Brasil (Pele, Socrates, Roberto Carlos, and Ronaldinho). He had a chance to purchase a retro Franz Beckenbauer Germany kit but it was going to set him back by $110. He instead bought a Julius Erving Philadelphia 76ers jersey for $125. Go figure.