A Valenzona comes into his own

This appears in the Thursday June 10, 2010 edition of the Business Mirror.

A Valenzona comes into his own

by rick olivares

The four-peat is officially over. The San Beda Red Cubs reclaimed their throne last season. The San Sebastian Staglets didn’t even make it to the championship round. The Letran Squires did.

Raymond Valenzona took a knee as he watched his young Staglets team battle down the wire with the FEU-FERN Baby Tamaraws. His squad eventually eked out a win but it didn’t exactly leave him brimming with glee for he just knocked out his alma mater in the quarterfinals of the FilOil Badolato Cup.

Valenzona played the two-guard spot for the Baby Tams in the early 90’s alongside Joko Diaz. When he moved up to the senior squad, his teammates were Celino Cruz and Ronald Magtulis and they won a UAAP title before De La Salle went on a four-peat of their own.

Never did Valenzona think that he’d get into coaching. He played in the PABL where he hoped he’d get drafted in the PBA. However, the head coaching job for the Stags opened up and upon the prodding of his father – coaching great Turo Valenzona – Raymond relented. “Akala ko sandali lang ‘to. Temporary kung baga. But eto na. Propesyon na. Lahat ng natutunan ko sa mga naging coach ko eh naghanap rin ako ng sariling diskarte.”

Raymond knows that in any discussion about coaching his father’s name will always crop up. “Ako hindi ako nagsasawa marinig yung comparisons,” he related. “Grabe in naman yung na-achieve niya. Sana ako rin makarating doon. Sana.”

Perhaps he felt the need to underscore the validity of his profession, Valenzona noted that some of the players he went up against – Sandy Arespacochaga of Ateneo and Mon Jose of La Salle to name a few – have also gone into the coaching profession. “Ganyan talaga kapag mahal mo yung laro. Gusto mo ma-involve kung saan man kesyo sa pag-coach, pag-manage, o kaya tournament organizer.”

The task of building a title team was easy. He recruited those that San Beda didn’t get. After all, there are more than enough blue chip players to go around – they aren’t just hyped up.

And he won with some of talented players who would go on to star for other colleges – Eric Salamat, Paul Lee, Raphy Reyes, Argel Mendoza, Ryan Buenafe, Arvie and Mark Bringas, Almond Vosotros, and Yutien Andrada to name but a few.

Has he ever been under pressure to make his players move up to the senior Stags team?

Not really. “Wala naman kami magagawa kung gusto nila lumipat.” admitted Valenzona. “Syempre yung kumukuha Ateneo at La Salle. Bakit hindi di ba?”

His players, those who are now in the college ranks oft call him for advice. They may be wearing Ateneo blue, La Salle green or UE red but they will always be his Staglets. Valenzona confesses that they call to ask for advice on their careers or to share what’s been going on with them. The coach wouldn’t have it any other way. His players may be scattered around the metropolis but Valenzona makes it a point to check on the box scores on how many Salamat scored, how many blocks Andrada got and so forth. “Kasanayan,” he admitted. But of all the hoopsters who have played for him, the one he singles out as the best of them all is Ryan Clarence Buenafe.

“Iba yung basketball IQ niya,” he gushed. “Ibang klase.”

“Si Ryan dapat alam mo kung paano kausapin or gamitin. Ayaw niya mag-practice. Tatamad-tamad yan. Kasi yung laro madali lang sa kanya. Pag-game na, alam mo na ready na siya. Kaya niyang patayin yung kalaban sa iba’t-ibang paraan.”

There are no Buenafes in his Staglets team this year. But what his young bucks do have is the imposing forward-guard tandem of Gino Jumao-as and Ram Pante. The two have already drawn interest from other schools.

Right now, Valenzona cannot worry about that. There’s the Fil Oil tourney to finish and the NCAA season is just around the corner.

Not only has he been bitten by the coaching bug but he’s also hooked on winning. “Syempre hindi tayo nagsasawa sa championship. Malaking tulong kasi ngayon assistant ako sa Excelroof (to Ato Agustin) at medyo madali mag-recruit. Lahat gusto maglaro para sa ‘yo.”

This ain't no Zombieland, it's Soccer Aid

Soccer Aid is a UNICEF charity event where two teams -- England and The Rest of the World -- that are comprised of retired football stars and celebrities play a football match. In this year's staging of the event, the two teams finished regulation at 2-2 with England's goals coming from former Liverpool player Jamie Redknapp and Manchester United striker Teddy Sheringham and the Rest of the World's scores coming from former LFC defender Sami Hyypia and Welsh professional boxer Joe Calzaghe (imagine that). As the match went into penalty kicks, actor Woody Harrelson, scored the winning blast for the Rest of the World team (7-6 in the PK shootout).

Some of Harrelson's celeb teammates included Michael Sheen (The Damned United) and Mike Myers (Austin Powers). The football legends who played for the Rest of the World squad included Zinedine Zidane, Henrik Larsson, Luis Figo, and Jens Lehmann.

For England, they had boxer Ricky Hatton (who scored a goal in Old Trafford but hey, he is a Manchester City fan) and Damian Lewis (of Band of Brothers and Life fame)! What a thoroughly enjoyable match!

The match was held at Old Trafford. The photo below was taken from Yahoo.

The Blue Babble Battalion is looking for a few good men and women

The Ateneo Blue Eagles beat the Adamson Falcons in Fr. Martin Cup action

Inside the hot and humid St. Placid Gym at San Beda College, the Ateneo Blue Eagles, in their first bit of action since returning from training in the United States last Friday, turned back the Adamson Falcons 61-54 in the Fr. Martin Cup.

Leo Austria's boys started out on fire as they grabbed a 12-3 lead in the 1st Quarter but the Blue Eagles tightened up on defense and battled back behind their second unit that was led by Ryan Buenafe. As they clamped down inside the paint, Ateneo took 24-23 lead at the half in a low scoring affair. Emman Monfort played great defense as he singlehandedly stopped four Adamson fastbreaks either by ripping the ball away from Alex Nuyles or blocking a Falcon shot from behind.

Come the 3rd Quarter, Jason Escueta pounded the ball inside and got Adamson's Austin Manyara in foul trouble. With the Kenyan center out, Ateneo threatened to blow the game wide open as they raced to an 8 point lead 36-28 time down to 5:14 in the 3rd. But the Falcons weren't done yet.

The Falcons came roaring back behind Eric Camson who hit a jumper to give Adamson back the lead 51-49. Scarcely had the cheers in the throats of Adamson supporters died down when Eric Salamat drove the lane and fished a foul from Camson for an and-one. 52-51 Ateneo.

The Falcons missed three free throws down the stretch and a lazy pass by Jerick Cañada was picked off by Frank Golla that pretty much ended the Adamson threat. The Blue Eagles won a tough tough game against the Falcons 61-54.

Adamson's Fr. Martin line-up is without Jan Colina, Janus Lozada, Mike Galinato, and Lester Alvarez while the Blue Eagles have fielded the same line up for both Fil Oil and the tournament named after the late Jesuit priest who played a large role in the development of basketball locally. The two teams will play again tomorrow at the San Juan Arena in the knockout FilOil Quarterfinals.

The cover of the fourth issue of Rebound

Here's the cover for the new issue that will be out in the first week of July. We toyed with the idea of putting other teams like San Sebastian but it didn't work out. Hopefully, next time. SHAMELESS PLUG TIME! Please pick up a copy of this. And back issues are still available. Email me if you want to get some. Muchos gracias.

Aside from myself my other colleagues from inboundpass (Mike, Chris, and Sid) and Mike Yu have chipped in some great stuff. As I mentioned before, I have a story on Joshua Webb ("Mad dogs and Joshua Webb"), JP Erram and Jason Escueta ("The Second Coming?"), the Letran Knights ("Die Hard"), Smart Gilas ("That Old College Try"), my team previews on La Salle and Letran and my third piece for my From the Parking Lot column.

On another note, we're also looking for other contributors. Send your samples to my email above.

Got Time?

If it's a quality magazine with World Cup related stories then pick up this issue of Time magazine. Although the American edition has more features, I am not complaining. After all, the mag costs PhP120 only. The special feature runs 32 pages with some great writing and awesome photography. And there's this very interesting feature on the Spanish national team. You gotta read that. Makes me shake my head. But nevertheless, man, I am so stoked for the World Cup. Get the NBA Finals over with, dudes.

Rondo Power

Last week's issue of Sports Illustrated.

If you subscribe to SI through Emerald Headway, every issue will cost you PhP300. If you buy it at Magazine Exchange like I do, then they sell it for PhP525. Ibang klase yung mark up price. So go figure. I'm getting a subscription.

2010 World Cup Notes

This appears in the Tuesday June 8, 2010 edition of the Business Mirror.

2010 World Cup Notes

by rick olivares

There are 30 referees assigned to the 2010 World Cup.

6 of them are teachers by profession.

3 are businessmen.

3 are seeing service with their countries either as a policeman, fireman, or a naval officer.

2 are lawyers.

Only 3 of the 30 are into football full time.

There are 28 different nationalities among the referees with 2 each coming from Mexico and New Zealand.

9 of them had previous experience officiating in the World Cup and only 2 of them having worked two Finals – in 2002 (Japan and South Korea) and 2006 (Germany).

13 referees are at least 40 years of age. The youngest is 32 years of age and is from Uzbekistan.

- 0 -

It is reported that Ivory Coast star Didier Drogba has undergone successfully surgery and could play in the World Cup finals. That is some good news for the beleaguered Elephants as the Ivorian team is nicknamed. Not only is Drogba their leading scorer in the qualifications with six goals but also he is the reigning African Player of the Year and a double champion with Chelsea in England (the Premiership and FA Cup). That means Drogba should be coming into the World Cup in imperious form.

In their first appearance in the World Cup Finals (Germany), they weren’t able to get out of the group stage as they lost in two successive 2-1 games to Argentina and the Netherlands. But the Elephants salvaged some pride when they exited Germany with a 3-2 beating of Serbia & Montenegro.

Aruna Dindane who scored two of the goals against the last match ever played by a combined Serbia & Montenegro isn’t in form heading into South Africa. Dindane who plays striker for Lekhwiya in Qatar has only played in one match and scored on goal for Ivory Coast in the qualifiers.

With Drogba possibly out for the first game in Ivory Coast’s Group C – the Group of Death as it features Brazil, Portugal, and dangerous North Korea – it will fall unto Kader Keita, Didier Zakora, Salomon Kalou, Bakary Kone, and brothers Yaya and Kolo Toure to lead Ivory Coast.

This is a squad that has a knack for obtaining good possession of the ball but Drogba doubtful and a suspect bench, the starting eleven will have to redouble their efforts if they want to make it onto the next stage. Keita and Kone should step up.

- 0 -

Could Thierry Henry be Les Bleus version of David Trezeguet in this World Cup? Trezeguet, the Juventus striker who has made a living poaching off defensive lapses fell out of favor with French boss Raymond Domenech during duty in Germany. If Trezeguet helped secure France’s Eurocup title in 2000, he was one of the goats in the 2006 Finals as he missed his penalty kick that allowed Italy to close it out 5-3.

Henry, after a sterling first year in Camp Nou following a move from Arsenal, found himself on the bench this year with Barcelona. Although the Catalans retained their domestic title and won three others, Henry, scored only four goals in 22 appearances for the club. And he didn’t make things any easier for himself and France when his “Hand of God” moment helped France secure a 2-1 aggregate win over Ireland to send them into the World Cup Finals in South Africa.

The outcry was swift and damning. Although FIFA and France showed that “Fair Play” is nothing more than a catchy slogan when they refused a rematch, Henry has been stripped of his captain’s armband and will be sent to the bench.

Save for their run to the Finals in 2006 that was largely because of the will of Zinedine Zidane, the French have appeared sluggish and far from the dangerous and free flowing form they demonstrated. With Karim Benzema not making the squad, it falls to Nicolas Anelka and a trio of gifted midfielders in Franck Ribery, Yoann Gourcuff, and Jeremy Toulalan to make everyone forget the sainted Patrick Vieira who is no longer with the team. Lyon goalkeeper Hugo Lloris will be minding the net as Fabian Barthez has retired. Lloris, an exceptional goalkeeper will be facing dangerous and heady players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Didier Drogba (if he does make it back from injury).

Bleachers' Brew #212 Advocating Instant Replay

This appears in the sports pages of the Monday July 7, 2010 edition of the Business Mirror.

Advocating Instant Replay

by rick olivares

“Players, coaches and referees all make mistakes. It's part of the game. Video evidence is useful for disciplinary sanctions, but that's all. As we've always emphasized at FIFA, football's human element must be retained. It mirrors life itself and we have to protect it.”

Thus declared FIFA’s Urns Linsi in 2005 on the football body’s decision not to use instant replay except for post-match disciplinary review. Point taken but I wonder if Linsi’s statement also encompasses the controversial, incompetent and downright shady.

One year later after FIFA’s justifying themselves, Argentinean referee Hector Elizondo gave Zinedine Zidane a red card in the World Cup Finals when he didn’t even see the Frenchman headbutt Italian Marco Materazzi. While it is the correct call, how did Elizondo arrive at that conclusion? Did he listen to the Italian players who immediately crowded him to report the incident (I never root for the Azzurri who have made an art out of diving and complaining). FIFA has denied that its fourth official (who watches in the video telecast) advised the ref on the field but go figure. And in last year’s Confederation’s Cup, referee Howard Webb changed his decision from a corner kick to a penalty kick that changed Brazil’s fortunes in its match against Egypt.

Early in the week, controversy reared its ugly head once more in the sports world when an umpiring gaffe cost the Detroit Tigers’ Armando Galarraga a no-hitter in Major League Baseball. Thus far, MLB has only used video technology only to verify home runs such as the dinger by New York Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez in last year’s World Series against the Philadelphia Phillies or the one that was taken back when the Tiger’s Brandon Inge’s swat went foul. In both cases, the replays were correct and no complaints were forthcoming.

In the case of Gallaraga’s lost perfect game, how referee Jim Joyce missed a runner getting clearly thrown out is beyond everyone else.

I am not advocating the total use of instant replay for strike zones in baseball or fouls in basketball among many sports because that is going to cause so much wrangling, debate and headaches that at the end of the day we’re all going to need more than an aspirin.

In certain quarters of the pro tennis tour, they use instant replay to ascertain balls that straddle the sidelines. So what’s wrong with adding instant replay to getting the call right on the base paths?

Teams should be rewarded for their achievements and not penalized by human error unintended or otherwise.

Instant replay will during matches: 1) ensure that the correct call prevails, and 2) prevent “judgement calls” of the suspicious nature and somewhat curb game fixing. For post-game analysis, it should be used assess officiating and certain plays.

There is another argument that instant replay takes the spontaneity out of a game and that it takes too long eventually killing the momentum. Excuse me, but nothing kills the momentum more than a bum call. Remember when Jimmy Connors went on a tirade against the umpire in his 1991 US Open comeback against Aaron Krickstein? “You didn’t see the goddam ball! Get out of the chair. Get your ass out of the chair. I’m out here playing butt off at 39 years old and you’re doing that. My butt! You’re a bum!”

Luckily for Connors, he recovered and beat Krickstein but if he didn’t then there would have been hell to pay.

Some also say that the use of instant replay changes tradition. Whoever said that should be sent back in a time machine. Sports has seen a lot of changes through the years. In basketball, you have the invention of the 24-second shot that saved the pro game from boring people to death. In baseball during the 1970’s and 1980’s, closers like Goose Gossage and Sparky Lyle regularly came in for the seventh inning and lasted all the way to the ninth. Now, a closer is someone who just pitches the ninth inning.

I sat in a post-game analysis during a UAAP basketball tournament two years ago and while I appreciate the dedication of league officials to improve the quality, I was shocked that no video was used to show the refs where they erred. They simply discussed the matter then went out and made even crappier calls.

In another UAAP match four years ago, with the outcome determined with a couple of seconds left, a player missed a free throw using a different stance. One never changes his free throw stance. Sure he could have short-armed it but not change it. And they were in the lead and even a defensive rebound and a desperation three would have not changed the outcome. That my friends is point shaving. I brought it up to the commissioner but nothing ever came of it.

What about the non-calls?

Refs do not have to blow the whistle to alter the outcome of the games? Case in point, in the Fil Oil match between Mapua and San Sebastian last Friday. The Cardinals’ Allan Mangahas kicked in the afterburners for a breakaway layup when a Golden Stag trying to play catch up pushed him out of bounds. The referee was at an angle where he could see what was going on and he didn’t blow the whistle. Instead, the ball was awarded to San Sebastian. A few plays later, Mangahas was once more shoved out of bounds – this time by two Stags – and the same ref who was covering the out of bounds lane called it as a case of going out of bounds again! Holey Moley! Lightning does strike twice.

It’s one thing to swallow the whistle and make the mistake of not calling a foul but when there was clearly one but for that to happen in succession smacks of every unprintable word.

And wait ‘til you get to the international game where the rules are subject to the interpretation (when they shouldn’t be) by a multitude of people who don’t belong there or who are possibly on the take.

Baseball has always the “tradition” card for their stubborn refusal to change. It’s simply a part of the game’s culture, they say. For people living in a time of instant gratification, they sure as hell make it difficult to accommodate something that could greatly improve the quality of the game.

I say that if video technology was used better… then Diego Maradona would have been red carded for his “Hand of God” goal against England. Ireland could be going to the World Cup in South Africa. The 1972 US Men’s Basketball Team would be rightfully Olympic Gold Medalists. And Armando Galarraga would have his no-hitter.

Picture below: Umpire Jim Joyce and Detroit Tiger pitcher Armando Galarraga one day after the infamous imperfect perfect game.

Getting ready for Halikinu Radio Season 6

We had a pre-production meeting last night in Katipunan Avenue for the 6th season of Halikinu Radio. It's a leaner team this year with only myself and Chuck Araneta the holdovers. Evee one of our student production assistants joins us as one of the three regulars. Mhel Garrido will be there when his sked permits. Other than that, we will have a few guest hosts come the season. We're on a new time slot -- 8-9pm Thursdays over NU107 beginning July 8. Aside from the guest hosts, we hope to snag some surprising guests for interviews. There! We're keeping our fingers crossed. If they do accept the invite, it's going to be a doozy.

Yuri Foreman sees his title slip away to Miguel Cotto

The Yuri Foreman-Miguel Cotto fight was bizarre for the way it ended and even weirder the way sports writers gave their account of the match. I thought that Foreman, the former junior middleweight champ, was leading on all scorecards (in a fight that wasn't a classic or great one) until he slipped in the seventh round and hurt his knee. I guess I saw it differently coz the judges had Cotto leading on all scorecards. How was the possible? It was him getting rocked. if ever, he only took Round One and the latter ones after the former champ hurt himself.

The Associated Press and ESPN's Dan Rafael crowed about how great Miguel Cotto looked and boxed. He did. Only after Foreman's unfortunate injury that totally killed his mobility. He was a sitting duck and Cotto knew it. The Puerto Rican redoubled his efforts and his punches began to find their mark.

I thought that Foreman was splendid and showed a willingness to mix it up and take some chances. During a clinch he was always quick to exploit openings although I guess he found out that Cotto is a hard man to put down. Cotto surely threw some haymakers in there and I think Foreman even lost his mouthpiece at one point but the fight was going the champ's way.

Until that slippage. Curiously, not one of the reports mentioned anything about Foreman's constant slipping. If you watch the fight closely again, you will also notice referee Arthur Mercante Jr. almost lose his footing as well.

Of course, that is hardly Cotto's fault and the title is surely his now. But this is one fight that deserves a rematch. The pace totally changed after that slip. One thing is for certain though Cotto has a problem with mobile and quick punching fighters.

So why are the write ups that way? Simple. His handlers are already packaging him for his next fight and a huge pay day.

And oh, ABS CBN, next time choose better fight commentators. There were times when I thought I was watching a Manny Pacquiao fight.

FilOil Quarterfinals Sked

The quarterfinals cast is now complete. After San Beda dusted off UPHDS 100-76 during Saturday's games, that allowed the La Salle Green Archers to catch the last seat on the bus. And in the main game, Adamson crushed the top seed dreams of JRU 71-62 and that allowed San Sebastian to finish number one in Bracket B and avoid the Red Lions who are just smoking.

Nothing in the world is free.

Reading the feature on Lionel Messi in Sports Illustrated (May 31, 2010), author S.L. Price revealed that when the magazine asked Argentina coach Diego Maradona for an interview, the football's great's assistant replied that they'd do it for €100,000.

That reminded me of an incident several years ago while working with Solar Sports, I asked an NBA player (prior to the Finals that he was going to be playing in) if we could do an interview. His agent replied, "Sure. For $8,000 per question."

In last year's FIBA Champions Cup, some of the Iranian players said they'd only do an interview if they got paid. One of the Middle Eastern writers was miffed and cussed them in his own language.

Pacific Rims is out

Rafe Bartholomew's book Pacific Rims is out (thanks for letting me know, Sanjeeb) and it costs around PhP 950. Check it out! Yahoo!

The local Jim Joyce? Nah. Not even close.

I was joking with Manila Bulletin's Jonas Terrado during the Mapua-San Sebastian game today at the FilOil Invitational when he said, "Na-Jim Joyce yung Mapua."

I laughed at the remark. In case you've been living under a rock the past few days Major League Baseball is in the midst of debate and controversy over the blown call by Joyce who called a runner safe when he was clearly out. It wasn't a simple mistake. It cost the Detroit Tigers' Armando Galarraga a perfect game! That means 27 batters up; 27 batters down without having reached first base.

After the laughter died down, I told Jonas, "At least Joyce has some integrity. And while Joyce's error was a huge huge mistake these guys... (the FilOil tournament refs) are superduper incompetent."

They blew so many calls that it cost the Mapua Cardinals the game in regulation and in overtime. Case in point. The Cardinals' Allan Mangahas drove to the basket during a fastbreak play and was pushed from behind (he also got smacked on the head) but no call was forthcoming and the ball instead went to San Sebastian. Then later still, Mangahas had the ball again in front of the Stags' bench when two Baste players pushed him out. The ref instead whistled the Cardinal for stepping out of bounds. Those are just two and there were a lot. In the first quarter, a Cardinal drove to the basket and was fouled as the basket went in yet he was whistled for an offensive foul (how could it be when his legs were taken out from under him). And they totally missed Calvin Abueva attempting to kick a Mapuan and another instance where he nearly took out another Cardinal by collapsing on his knee.

Cardinals coach Chito Victolero was soooooo pissed. As was Koy Banal.

I stopped counting at seven blown calls. I'm sure the refs were in double figures in blown calls. A triple double maybe. Bwahaha!

Then the game after was an even bigger joke. Not to take anything away from the La Salle Green Archers -- they played well. But the Arellano University Chiefs played like they were some inter-barangay team and maybe that's disrespect to an interbarangay team but the Chiefs didn't look like a college team. They played dumbass hoops by throwing up stupid shots with no rebounders or even hope. They thought the ball was some hot potato and they forgot to put on gloves or even use tongs. The Green Archers were just waiting for them to self-destruct. La Salle should have run them off by a 100 points. They should penalize teams for dumb play. What's disappointing is that -- this team is better than that. I've seen them play before on so many occasions. Bad day at the office? Maybe but we were all bored shitless at the media room and the bad play was so glaring that everyone went inside to log on to Facebook or play some computer games.

You know that baseball rule in the UAAP where if you're up by 10 at the end of fifth or sixth inning then they call it off? Okay, maybe they can launch the mother of all comebacks so calling off games after being down by 50 is not happening. But after the half, La Salle hiked their lead to 34 so I left.

Somewhere in the world a baby is being born, there's a cock that will crow, some couple is necking, cancer is claiming another life and Didier Drogba will not play in the World Cup.

Thank God next week it's win or go home time. Enough with the crappy play.

On Rafa Benitez' departure from Liverpool

So Rafael Benitez is gone from Anfield. If you've been following Bleachers' Brew you'd know that I've been highly critical of the Spaniard for the last several years (even dating back to Liverpool's return to the Champions League final where they lost the rematch to AC Milan). I did so because I thought that their system and substitution patterns had their obvious flaws. Yes, they have been a consistent top four finisher in the English Premier League but they could have gone further.

There's nothing wrong with sticking to a certain formation and style of play. To say that 4-2-3-1 is the most superior is erroneous. Teams win using different formations and at the end of the day, I'd say that it boils down to the way players make quick adjustments and decisions on the field, their mindset, training, focus, talent, and health as well as the decisions a manager makes. This is especially common to football (Grant Wahl: it's football, okay?) and basketball. The criticism levied towards the triangle offense employed by Phil Jackson is when it falls apart, then the plan was to give the ball to Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant to make it happen.

Maybe I'm an advocate of making use of what available talent there is and finding how to best harness that. In the case of Brazil, we're about to see what happens on a bigger stage when Dunga ditches the samba for a more controlled tempo that suits Kaka (hey, he played on a boring AC Milan team and had trouble playing in the blistering pace that Cristiano Ronaldo prefers).

One of Benitez' sins was his signing players then blaming management that he didn't have enough funds. Dude, you got these players! Even this season with the acquisition of Alberto Aquilani, Glen Johnson, and Maxi Rodriguez -- what happened? As much as I despise Manchester United, I'm not going to go trashing Alex Ferguson. Reds fans hate him because he's tied 'Pool for the most number of top flight domestic titles. That was unthinkable two decades ago. In that time, the Red Devils have become perhaps the world's most popular team. More than Real Madrid, Barcelona, AC Milan, and -- gulp -- Liverpool.

I think that was looking to blame others for one's troubles. He found Liverpool ownership a convenient target and the fans towed that line too (sure management left the club in debt and screw them for that but Benitez is part of team management and it doesn't look good for someone considered a manager to be sniping). And c'mon, when he won that Champions League, that was still with Gerard Houllier's team! In 2007 in Athens, that was more or less his squad already and well, they lost. And he should have put in Peter Crouch a lot earlier! You create your luck on the pitch not by hoping that lightning will strike twice.

The cracks in Liverpool were beginning to show following the departure of Benitez' longtime assistant Paco Ayesteran. And last year, Rafa thought that he'd spur his team on when they were on top of the Premier League by bashing Ferguson. The horrible December 2008 and January 2009 eventually told heavily on the Reds' title campaign. How many draws was that? That cost them the title. And what did he do? He continued to rant and go back to his belligerent ways. That in my opinion was unbecoming of a manager. At the end of it all, Manchester United won again -- their 18th title. This season they wanted to shove it down our Scousers' throats with a 19th but Chelsea and well, Liverpool played spoilers.

And now in a World Cup summer, Liverpool will avert its gaze somewhat to the fortunes of England where it has Steven Gerrard in national colors. Pepe Reina and Fernando Torres will be wearing the Spanish colors while Javier Mascherano and Maxi Rodriguez suit up for Argentina. There's a possibility that El Niño (Torres) could leave now that Benitez is gone. What they should do is immediately snap up another manager -- Martin O'Niell is still a possibility and so is King Kenny Dalglish -- to give the club some footing this early.

Nevertheless, I want to say thanks to Benitez for his six years at Anfield. Last summer, there was a huge banner brought by my Indonesian friends to the Kallang Stadium that had a sign: "Deep down inside us we all do believe that he'll take us back where we belong."

He did. And we should be ever grateful for Istanbul. But it looks that the laborious task of salvaging that wounded pride and bringing back glory to Anfield lies elsewhere. There's a new kit sponsor (Standard Chartered) and a new boss coming in. There's the rite of renewal and spring flows. Life goes on and we're going to hear those chants from the Kop.

Thanks, Rafa Benitez. Good luck in Milan.

And the Yankees are going thataway!

Now the New York Yankees have almost their entire lineup back. Only Designated Hitter Nick Johnson is still out after undergoing wrist surgery that will keep him out for about another 45 days at the most. Even without their full lineup, the Bronx Bombers were doing some major damage to the opposition until that series against Detroit at Comerica. It was against Minnesota last season where the team went on a tear that separated them from the rest of the league. Is this homestand against the Baltimore Orioles where they repeat the feat? After their 9-1 win against the hapless Orioles, the Yankees are 7-3 in their last 10 matches for an overall 33-20 record, second best in baseball behind the Tampa Bay Devil Rays who are 2.5 games ahead.

Right now, I'm concerned with their pitching. The ace of the staff, CC Sabathia has been in a funk but thankfully AJ Burnett, Andy Pettitte and Phil Hughes have done well. And even Javy Vazquez is rounding out into form. And with Alfredo Aceves still out, maybe the Yankees need another pitcher to bolster the staff. Anyone available? At the risk of heresy, I'm pulling for Pedro Martinez. And then there's Roy Oswalt.

Great reads

The Sports Illustrated issue (May 24, 2010) is one of the best issues this year from cover to cover. The main feature are the World Cup stories written by Grant Wahl (The Beckham Experiment) where he profiles Ivory Coast's Didier Drogba, Brazil's Kaka and they more serious game as espoused by Dunga, and USA's Clint Dempsey. The photo feature on different countries reminds me of what Der Speigel did for the 2006 World Cup. The photography is nonetheless good.

The feature on Drogba is especially riveting as Wahl depicts a man who through a simple game can change the fortunes of his country that has been wracked by civil war. If you saw Invictus then you'll know what I mean. Reading through the special features, I thought SI and Wahl nearly scored a game winner here except for the fact that he calls the game "soccer." C'mon, Grant. That's why the US hasn't really won anything. You can't even call the game right. Still that's just a wee bit nitpicking. Is it? Hahaha.

What I like about the mag now are the new gen SI writers. Only SL Price (his feature on Justine Henin is probably the best written about this enigmatic tennis player) is the only one left who's been around. Well, there's Phil Taylor who has taken the back page column from Selena Roberts (thank God she's out). Lee Jenkins has a great feature on Grant Hill while Albert Chen gives props to what Nolan Ryan is doing over at Texas with the Rangers. Thank God, someone noticed. Old school noveau!

Another mainstream mag with World Cup features is this month's Reader's Digest.

On the subject of magazines, SLAM has His Airness on the cover again! Rick Telander of the Chicago Sun Times and a Chicago Bulls beat writer contributed a story. Telander in case you're not familiar wrote one of the best basketball books ever Heaven Is A Playground. A tome about inner city hoops that has been reprinted once more. I saw a copy in Border's in Orchard Road. So if you're in the Lion City, you might want to pick this up. I think Telander eventually wrote a sequel and a movie was made based on the original book.

Telander also wrote Year of the Bull (about the 1996 NBA champs) and did the intro for the Chicago's 1998 championship video.

The NBA Finals on Solar TV & BTV

If the Los Angeles Lakers hold serve in the first two games, it's theirs. If Boston takes a game then look to the Celtics to take it in 6.

DLSU bares “Heroes” theme for UAAP Season 73

DLSU bares “Heroes” theme for UAAP Season 73

by rick olivares

The media briefing for the 73^rd staging of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines was held yesterday morning at the North Conservatory wing of the De La Salle University, this year’s host school.

Bro. Bernie Oca, FSC, Board Representative of DLSU unveiled the theme “Where heroes are made.” In line with the theme, a photography contest will conducted for all accredited media.

Season 73 will kick off with the traditional colorful Opening Ceremony at the Araneta Coliseum on July 10, 2010 that will kick off not only the Men’s Basketball tournament but also the school year-round competition in 15 sports.

The University of Santo Tomas was last year’s general champion; their 11^th consecutive. In basketball, the centerpiece of UAAP sports, Ateneo de Manila University made it back-to-back in the seniors and juniors division while Adamson University took the women’s crown.

Bro. Oca also announced that the San Juan Arena and Ynares Center in Pasig City will also serve as alternate venues for the basketball games.

Aside from the first ever media briefing, one of the novel innovations by the host school will be a closing ceremony. “Traditionally, the closing ceremony was only attended by the athletes who will be receiving awards,” declared Bro. Oca. “What we also want is to end with a bang. Like how they do in the Olympics. There will be a street dancing competition in addition to a drumline competition although this will have no bearing in the standings.”

The referees for the basketball tournament will come from the Philippine Basketball League.