Bash 'em up in Fenway

Now that the Yankees have taken the series opener in Boston with a 20-11 win, the head-to-head match up this season is 8-5 in favor of the Red Sox. New York has narrowed the gap in that match-up and have opened up a 7 1/2 game lead for the American League East title.

There were tense moments as the Yankee relief pitchers Damaso Marte and Sergio Mitre gave up several runs to Boston in the last inning but the Bronx Bombers didn't let up the assault as they poured it on until the ninth inning. Nice win for starting pitcher Andy Pettitte who is now at 10-6 while Boston counterpart Brad Penny is at 7-8.

Good luck to them

The RP Discovery Women's National Team with Mayor Jejomar Binay. To Binay's right is Haydee Ong, Head Coach and to his left is Cynthia Tiu, Team Manager. RP Women’s team will compete in the 23rd FIBA Asia Women's Championship from Sept 17-24 in Chennai, India.

Have fun, guys!

The 76-45 New York Yankees are in Boston for a weekend series with the 69-51 Red Sox before heading home to the Big Apple. The game is tomorrow morning (Manila time) but first some members of the team are off to watch a concert by the recently reunited band Creed. It might not sound like it's a big deal but it's all about camaraderie. Earlier during the year, the team went to watch NBA games and the senior players have been picking up the tabs for team dinners. And there are the new traditions in the clubhouse where a replica WWE Championship belt is passed to the best player for every Yankees win. Then there's AJ Burnett's cream pie facial on the player chosen by the TV panel as the best player. It's easily the closest team they've had since 2004. Let's go, Bombers.

Halikinu Radio Episode 7

Episode 7! Wow. So we've been at this for almost two months now. Last night was a more laid back show. But it was okay nevertheless. With Lia Cruz and Kamae De Jesus and student assistants Aussy and Chi.

My old love team partner er, courtside bud, Kamae. The rains and traffic along EDSA prevented her from arriving on time. Photo finish, girl.

Lia makes a point. Yeah we believe you! Kamae looks on while I make a cameo appearance.

The mystery voice last night was none other than Executive Producer Ralph Aligada. We were short-handed coz Mhel and Chuck weren't around.

With our Get Blued guests Ken and Em.

Hey, if you need filling materials for your construction purposes, you can always get some at Araneta Coliseum.

These ladies kick major butt

Did anyone see this fight between Gina Carano and Cristian Santos at Strikeforce? I was rooting for Carano although she lost via first round TKO. She'll bounce back though. Jeez, Women's MMA isn't some side show carny. It was bleeping brutal.

KG is feeling the Blues

It may come as a surprise to many of you that NBA star Kevin Garnett is actually a big fan of England’s Chelsea Football Club, one of the top soccer teams in the U.K.’s prestigious Premier League. As a tribute to KG’s support for the team, adidas and Boston shop, Bodega, have teamed up to put together an interesting Kevin Garnett x Chelsea pack full of cross-branded goodies. In addition to a Chelsea jersey that sports Garnett’s name and number, there will also be a Chelsea scarf with the Bodega logo printed on one side and the team’s crest on the other. Last but not least, a special Chelsea edition of KG’s TS Commander LT shoe has been created in a royal blue and yellow color scheme with a soccer ball pattern etched into sections of the midsole and Chelsea’s lion crest proudly featured on the tongue label. The pack will be available exclusively at Bodega beginning on August 29th, so don’t hesitate because supplies will be very limited.

My new Affliction

Back in school, one of my prized possessions was a Vietnam War era US Bomber jacket that I had purchased in Dau for quite a sum of money. It sure kept me from the cold but it was a bitch to wash and dry.

I amassed a collection of US military gear and the only thing I have left is a gas mask that I once wore to some heavy metal festival in the States that nearly knocked me unconscious. This other guy I met got Joey Jordison of Slipknot to carve his name on his back using a razor blade. That was wicked! But try wearing a frigging gas mask in a place filled with metalheads and not much air to breathe. Anyways I think the only thing that survived the intervening years in my authentic Desert Storm cammo bush hat (the bomber jacket is now with my brother).

I then switched to basketball jerseys of which I was able to collect a lot. I have since stopped but I do wear them at home or during the rare occasion when I play now or when I jog.

My fave collection now are football jerseys where I collect more than my Liverpool tops. Someone asked me if I have a Man United jersey and I said no. If I wish I had one it would be Ruud van Nistelrooy’s. And I almost did get one but my loyalties to the Merseyside squad prevailed.

What I am getting into now are those Affliction shirts that are real cool. They’ve got this heavy metal and Gothic feel to them that really appeals to me. I have to admit that I used to frequent those Goth shops in St. Mark’s and purchased quite a few shirts, books, and CD’s. I even attended a Goth festival! If you all think I wore black stuff and eyeliner well, I didn’t! Bwahahaha. I did wear black t-shirt goth band Love Spirals Downwards though.

But I love those Affliction shirts as much as Triple H’s WWE gear. In my trip to Recto and Quiapo the other day, I saw a whole bunch of knock-offs being sold at affordable prices. Pretty cool, I must say. I'll check them out soon. Late tonight (Thursday) when I go to Halikinu Radio for our weekly show, I’ll either wear an Affliction shirt or my Death Cab for Cutie tee (okay, they're not heavy metal or Gothic but DCfC is one of my all-time fave bands) that I got during one of their concerts I attended (Siren Music Fest).

Excerpts from stuff to come

I have to juggle several things at the same time. There’s my day job, then finishing the script of a documentary and another something for TV, then writing stuff for Business Mirror, Ateneo, Rebound, and doing public relations work that I’d rather not talk about.

God! I need a vacation. Suddenly, Singapore seems so long ago. Halikinu radio is a welcome relief. I think it’s only then that I am able to laugh out loud. Not that I am saying that l don’t. Some things are just tough now. I wish for other things I cannot have at the moment. So patience, grasshopper.

I hate to say this but I could be gone for a week as there is a possibility of interviewing tennis stars Rafael Nadal, Marat Safin, and Wilfred-Jo Tsonga among others. So if I go we’re going to test that theory that some have espoused that Ateneo wins when I’m around. Now before you have a cow that was a frigging joke, okay? So chill.

I am really happy with the four pieces I wrote for the second issue of Rebound which is more feature oriented.

Here are excerpts:

From The Renaissance Dogs, Part IV of my NU Bulldogs series that began in Business Mirror:
Rookie guard Kokoy Hermosisima, out of Holy Cross in Davao sat outside the players’ quarters and watched assistant coach Rico Perez put some of the Team B players through their paces. Their two Cameroonian players – Joe Nlepe and Jean Embe -- who are completing their residency are getting better with their English. They have no choice because not many speak French in Manila let alone in the Sampaloc campus. Hermosisima was excited about what he saw despite the here and now. As he stood up, he left a mark of his sweat on the wall that he leaned on. He wiped it off with his shirt and laughed, “Baka marumihan. Bagong bago.”

From Tamaraw Drive, a story on the FEU Tamaraws:
School officials are of the mind that Baracael had nothing to do with any foul play on the court. “If you asked me about a week after the shooting that Mac might have had something to do with it, I might have said yes. But after several months, think about it,” said Mark Molina who paused to let his words take effect. “Why comeback at all? Wouldn’t you rather quit and disappear? But the kid loves the game and wants to improve and make it to the pros to help his family. That says a lot about his character.”

From The Gospel According to Marvin Hayes:
“Puro na lang pag-subok,” he recalled but without any hint of someone with a chip on his shoulder. “Tanong ko nga – kelan ‘to titigil? Kailan ako makakaahon sa problema?”

From Jan Colina: With Basketball Comes Great Responsibility:
Falcons head coach Leo Austria knows what his precocious forward is capable of doing on a daily basis and like the rest of the team, oft dispenses fatherly advice. “Si Colina. Napaka-unassuming na bata. Maganda yung attitude at talagang hard worker. Ganyan talaga may ups and downs, but as long as he keeps to his goal kayang kaya. Tignan mo naman – 6’3” lang ang height niya pero easily so far, he’s been our most consistent performer. Product ng hard work ‘yan. Who knows kung saan siya makakarating with that kind of determination.”

From my first column outside Bleachers’ Brew in Business Mirror is called: From the Parking Lot. Unlike Brew that is somewhat story oriented, From the Parking Lot is more opinionated. The title was inspired from those long three-pointers that some players (like Don Don Hontiveros) take.
An excerpt:
Everyone realizes the supposed cash cow that college basketball is so there are a bevy of pre and post tournaments. Some run concurrently against one another yet hardly draw the interest of the big schools that opt to use it as training ground for their bench and reserve players. As for crowds, the nearby Zagu stall draws even more paying customers.

The writers for the second issue of Rebound include aside from myself: Chris Soler (ADMU), Mike Abasolo (SBC), Sid Ventura (UP), Martin David (ADMU), Reuben Terrado (DLSU), Mia Domingo (JRU), and Trish Roque (UP). Photographers are Raddy Mabasa (UP), Bob Guerrero (ADMU), and Juane Escudero (DLSU). Editors are Mike Yu (ADMU), Chuck B. (ADMU), and Pia Boren (SBC). This is a fun bunch!

Over at the NCAA side, damn. I still owe Boris Aldeguer and Richard del Rosario a sit down. Dino Aldeguer, if you are reading this, I’ll get around to doing the Perpetual Help story! Promise! The College of Saint Benilde piece is fucking hardcore.

Sa pros…. Working on a Ginebra San Miguel story.

So how do I finish all that? I have no frigging clue.

Then there are a pair of Ateneo volleyball stories – the Women’s and Men’s teams that should be ready in a few months’ time. The women’s in particular features Gretchen, Fille, Dzi and Jem. Why is taking a little long… well, it was done last March but it needs updating.

And lastly there’s this multi-part series titled “Tokushima.”

Kayo na bahala what you want to infer from that.

Liverpool in the Pressure Cooker

Liverpool in the Pressure Cooker
by rick olivares

With about a week to go before the 2009-10 season of the English Premier League opened, Manchester United Manager Alex Ferguson baited his counterpart from Liverpool, Rafael Benitez. The Red Devils, 18-time domestic champions and winners of the last three, despite losing attacking midfielder Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid and striker Carlos Tevez to rival Manchester City, had tied Liverpool for the lead in titles and gave Ferguson smug satisfaction to see their rivals “knocked off their bleeping perch.”

The Merseysiders played their best season in the Premier League yet owing to a freefall from January to February this year where they drew seven home matches, United was able to take the lead and win the title by four points. They had their best shot,” continued the Scot. “I don’t see them accomplishing that again this year.”

It has been nineteen years since Liverpool last hoisted the league title and the pressure to regain it is building.

Now that Benitez has lost midfielder Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid, that’s one less of the last three components of their side’s Champions League roster of 2005. And the remaining holdovers are team captain Steven Gerrard and central back Jamie Carragher and as good as the duo are, time isn’t on their side.

With Liverpool in dire financial straights, Benitez has resisted the urge to trade barbs with Ferguson and instead downplayed his team’s chances by saying that winning the league title is only a possibility and not a certainty.

The fifth-year gaffer knows his squad is weakened despite the arrival of defender Glen Johnson from Portsmouth and AS Roma’s playmaker Alberto Aquilani who is on the injury list after ankle surgery.

True enough in their season opener versus Tottenham at White Hart Lane, the Reds were outplayed at the midfield and took a 2-1 loss. The final score could have been higher had former Liverpool striker Robbie Keane fired better volleys at keeper Pepe Reina.

Benoit Assou-Ekotto made the visitors pay with a 25-yard blast after a botched clearance by Liverpool’s defense to open the scoring right before the end of the first half. A great run by Johnson inside the Tottenham box led to a penalty when Spurs keeper Huerelho Gomes brought down the English internationalist. Gerrard promptly blasted home a shot for the tie but before it could reinvigorate Liverpool, Sebastien Bassong headed home a Luka Modric corner shot at the 59th minute that proved to be the game winner. There would be no Liverpool minute – called so for the Reds’ penchant for late match goals – as the Spurs were solid.

It wasn’t until Yossi Benayoun entered the match in the 68th minute where Liverpool found a semblance of order in their attack.

The discombobulation in the midfield makes it even more imperative for Aquilani to return and immediately contribute. In Aquilani, Benítez believes the Italian playmaker can support Steven Gerrard in the attack and leave Javier Mascherano back as the lone holding midfielder. Aquilani’s breakneck pace and superb passing can speed up the attack. And the absence of that kind of game was evident in the game versus the Spurs in the season opener.

"The two players we have signed, they are players with quality," Benítez said of Johnson and Aquilani. "We needed a little bit more quality at right-back and we got Johnson. Trying to find that extra quality is difficult. Aquilani, Andriy Voronin and Johnson are three players with game intelligence and quality going forward that can all help in that manner."

If Voronin can replicate his superb season with Hertha Berlin last year where he scored 11 goals and continue the great poise that he displayed during Liverpool’s pre-English Premier League tune-up matches in Asia and Europe, he will ease the scoring load on Torres and Gerrard. The duo only paired up for 14 matches last year but nevertheless combined for 14 and 21 goals respectively.

And the onus is on Dutchman Ryan Babel and Frenchman David Ngog to contribute significantly this year or else Benitez will be forced to seek some financial help from Liverpool’s beleagured owners Tom Hicks and David Gillett to get some help in the January 2010 transfer window.

In his last statement before the season kicked off, Benitez said, "We know the situation. If you talk about the title, everybody is saying we have to win it [the title] this season. But I don't think so. We have to be realistic, we want to be in the top four and to be contenders. I was asked the same questions this time last year and I said we wanted to be in a good position come January. We were, and we stayed in a good position all the way through to the end of the season. We have to have that same approach this season, taking it one game at a time and seeing where we are at the end of each week. People will say I'm always saying the same thing, but it has to be like this."

Al-Hussaini gets 2nd UAAP Player of the Week honors

UAAP PRESS CORPS PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Rabeh Al-Hussaini
Ateneo Blue Eagles


Al-Hussaini, the reigning Most Valuable Player (MVP), averaged 28 points in the last two games for his second Accel-FilOil Player of the Week honors from the UAAP Press Corps.

He scored 30 points in the Blue Eagles’ 80-75 win over University of the East last Thursday tying the season-best mark made by University of Santo Tomas’ Dylan Ababou last month.

He followed it up by amassing 26 points in an 81-65 blowout victory against archrival De La Salle last Sunday to cap off the week that saw the Blue Eagles take the solo lead in the standings with an 8-1 win-loss card.

The six-foot-six Al-Hussaini said that playing in his final year in the UAAP is doing wonders for him this season as he emerged as a strong candidate for another MVP plum because of his play over the week.

"Hindi ko na iniisip 'yung mga statistics ko. Iniisip ko lang na last year ko na kaya binubuhos ko na ang lahat," said Al-Hussaini.

Ateneo coach Norman Black commended Al-Hussaini's play since he can now adjust to the defense being given to him.

"I'm happy for him. He’s being double teamed and even triple teamed in the previous games. He struggled lately not just because of himself but the defense being put up against him. We had big games last week and he stepped up," said Black.

Al-Hussaini also averaged 7.5 rebounds and 2.5 blocks in the last two games proving his potent all-around game as Ateneo’s big man.

Al-Hussaini’s numbers outshone those put up by Far Eastern University's Aldrech Ramos and UE's Elmer Espiritu for the weekly plum given by sportswriters covering the UAAP beat.

PBA releases lineup for 2009 NBA Asia Challenge

http://businessmirror.com.ph/home/sports/14731-alvin-allan-to-play-vs-nba-greats.html

PBA Releases lineup for 2009 NBA Asia Challenge
by rick olivares

Alvin Patrimonio and Allan Caidic lead the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) greats team that will battle National Basketball Association legends in the 2009 NBA Asia Challenge on September 11 at the Araneta Coliseum.

The other PBA greats on the team are Benjie Paras, Kenneth Duremdes and Ronnie Magsanoc. They will be joined by active players Wynne Arboleda, Arwind Santos, Sonny Thoss, Willie Miller, Japeth Aguilar, Joseph Yeo, Dondon Hontiveros, Enrico Villanueva, Jay-R Reyes and Marc Pingris. They will be coached by Yeng Guiao.

“We will show the NBA that we are also strong,” said PBA commissioner Renauld “Sonny” Barrios.

The NBA contingent will be bannered by All-Stars and greats Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the former Milwaukee Buck and Los Angeles Laker who will coach the American side; Robert Horry, the former Houston Rocket, Phoenix Sun, Los Angeles Laker and San Antonio Spur who won seven titles with three teams in a 16-year career; Dominique Wilkins, the Atlanta Hawks’ Human Highlight Film; Tim Hardaway, the player with a killer crossover and a former Golden State Warrior and Miami Heat guard; and Vlade Divac, one of the best-passing big men during his time with the Los Angeles Lakers, Charlotte Hornets and Sacramento Kings.

They will be backed up by players from the NBA’s Development League. The Dunking Divas and Sly, the Silver Fox mascot of the New Jersey Nets, will also be on hand for the day’s entertainment in the largest NBA event in the Philippines.

“It’s a great way to kick off the upcoming PBA and NBA seasons,” said Peter Chanliong, Chief Operating Officer of Solar Sports, the organizer of the event. “We’ve got the best fans outside the United States and we hope that this will mean greater interaction between the two leagues and us. And this could be the start of something big.”

http://bleachersbrew.blogspot.com/2009/08/nba-greats-to-play-pba-counterparts.html

Limping home. Team Pilipinas loses its final match of the FIBA Asia Men's Championship to finish at 8th place

Bring on the heartbreak. And this time, it wasn’t a buzzer-beating three-point shot but a fast break layup by Korea that sent Team Philippines limping home 82-80.

The RP Team had the ball with 18.3 seconds left and the score tied 80-all but missed all three of their attempts including undergoal stabs by Jared Dillinger and Sonny Thoss.

South Korea rebound Yang Dong-Geun banked in a layup with 1.7 seconds left to give them the marginal basket.

The Philippines’ last time out gave Korea the opportunity to slip in 7’3” Ha Seung-Jin to bother Jayjay Helterbrand’s inbound that somewhat disrupted the last-second play. Helterbrand got the ball to James yap whose heave from 30-feet badly missed.

The RP Team doubled up in tears. A sickening feeling that we know all too well. During the 2002 Busan Asian Games, South Korea’s Lee Sang-Min dropped a killer trey from the deep left corner at the buzzer to break the hearts of the Philippines 63-62.

The RP team settled for eighth spot in the 25th FIBA Asia Men’s Championship.

SOUTH KOREA 82 – Oh 31, Kim 15, Kang 10, Lee 9, Yang HJ 9, Yang DG 6, Lee DJ 2, Bang 0, Joo 0, Ha 0, Kim 0.

RP 80 – Baguio 17, Thoss 5, Raymundo 14, Dillinger 9, Taulava 9, Santos 6, Norwood 5, Yap 3, Helterbrand 2, Aguilar 0, Pennisi 0.

Quarters: 19-26; 42-43; 62-62; 82-80

Ateneo Blue Eagles Game 9 Hammertime

Hammertime
Ateneo 81 vs. La Salle 65
story by rick pic by mike yu

Knock #1
The problem of the Ateneo Blue Eagles is that they either start slow and finishing strong or they start strong and finish weak.

They already showed signs of their blitzkrieg when they turned their previous match with the UE Red Warriors into a track meet but they relaxed their killer instinct in the final two minutes; a boo boo that they nearly paid for. This time however, they got off to a terrific start, and at the end, never let there be any doubt as to who is the current top dog in this rivalry.

There were to be no ambushes this time as Ateneo, immediately dropped the hammer on the Green Archers. The starting unit of Nonoy Baclao, Eric Salamat, Kirk Long, Jai Reyes, and Rabeh Al-Hussaini torched their counterparts with a huge 60-16 difference that for once, they didn’t need their bench to get them on the right track.

And if La Salle thought that they could pull the same stunt twice with Joshua Webb getting away with a bunch of freebies, Yutien Andrada stymieing Al-Hussaini, and Hyram Bagatsing making clutch plays then they were about to get the full measure of the defending champs.

Knock #2
Another so-called problem of the Blue Eagles is the alleged predictability of the offense. You know… dump the ball to Al-Hussaini and wait for him to score or find the open man or give the rock to Eric Salamat and Ryan Buenafe and get the hell out of their way in a pro-style isolation game.

On days when it doesn’t click it’s ugly ball all right, but when the team is firing on all cylinders they are bleeping devastating. On this day they pounded their foes from inside and outside in what was easily their best game of the season so far.

They showcased their passing game where Salamat and Buenafe would drive the lane and find Al-Hussaini on a dime drop. They waited for La Salle’s double team to arrive and when it did, the ball was whipped out where the Blue Eagles hit threes with devastating effect.

When they racked up the lead, the took care of it and relentlessly attacked never allowing DLSU back in the game. The only time La Salle scored consecutive unanswered points was late in the fourth quarter when they hit for six in a one minute and 29 second stretch. Even so the score was a robust 73-56 in favor of the blue and white.

So, could the same be said about the Green Archers?

During their round robin warm-ups, almost their entire squad went up for smashing dunks; a sign of how pumped up they were. But that was about as aggressive they would be all game as there would be not much of a clear lane to the basket for them.

And with their press not working, they went to an old play where they ran two or three staggered screens to free up their shooters like PJ Barua, James Mangahas, and Samuel Marata. It’s the same thing they used to run for Ren Ren Ritualo, Joseph Yeo, Mac Cardona, and Jayvee Casio. And the Blue Eagles made a commitment to chase the shooters and get a hand in their face at all times. They were to run through and around screens – switch if possible -- and stick to their man like glue. If possible find out what deodorant their man was using (if he was at all).

Unable to get their shot off and bereft of players who could create space for themselves, La Salle’s offense bogged down. They were only able to put points on the board with almost four minutes gone by and they came from the stripe by Webb who earned the infinite ire of the Ateneo gallery for his leaving his antics and shoe prints on Bacon Austria’s side.

If he was allowed to run wild in the last game, this time he was held to half of his former output of 26. The points were scattered and almost inconsequential.

Knockout
Ateneo on the other hand was well on its way to running at every opportunity. And when they went to a halfcourt set, they whipped the ball around for Reyes, Salamat, or Monfort who rifled in trifectas (Juami Tiongson tossed up his own late in the match).

Al-Hussaini nailed those feathery jumpers, jump hooks, and up and under shots over Ferdinand, Andrada, Barua, and Bringas who were in big trouble almost immediately as the reigning MVP was challenged by their rugged defense in the last game.

He bumped Andrada, damn near faked him out of his high tops, and pointed a finger at Bringas who engaged other Blue Eagles in some trash talking.

Yet even as they dealt the Green Archers a stinging and painful 81-65 loss (they are now 0-6 in the last two years), Ateneo Coach Norman Black told his boys when La Salle called for time with the match almost over: “No yabang.”

And they shook hands with their foes, sang the alma mater, faced their crowd when it was La Salle’s turn to sing, and ran to the dug out all yelling, “One Big Fight!”

Ateneo 81 – Al-Hussaini 26, Salamat 11, Salva 10, Baclao 9, Long 8, Reyes 6, Tiongson 5, Monfort 3, Chua 2, Buenafe 1, Sumalinog 0, Golla 0, Austria 0

La Salle 65 – Barua 16, Webb 13, Villanueva 10, Tolentino 6, Marata 6, Mangahas 4, Bringas 3, Andrada 3, Malabes 2, Co 2, Mendoza 0, Ferdinand 0, Bagatsing 0, Atkins 0

Cheesy

The bummer

Powerade Team Philippines bowed out for a top three, fourth or fifth spot in the 25th FIBA Asia World Championship here when they keeled over and died without much of a fight against Qatar 83-65 yesterday. They needed the win if they wanted to avail of a possible seat wild card berth for slots to the World Championships in Istanbul.

The RP Team (damn damn damn) trailed early at 10-2 and never fully recovered. Qatar hit 6 of 11 triples in the first half to go up 49-32.

Should I continue…?

The Philippines attempted a measly six foul shots in the first half and only connected on three. In stark contrast, the Qataris went 13 of 20 aside from picking up an 11-0 advantage in second chance points.

The shooting percentage in the first quarter alone was pathetic – 12 of 38 overall with 15 missed three-pointers. The Philippines finished at an atrocious 8-41 from the airport.

Scores:
QATAR 83 – Ali SA 23, Elsayad 13, Abdulla 11, Mohammed 9, Saeed 9, Salem 9, Abdulla MS 3, Daoud 2, Ali 3, Ismail 1, Abdi 0, Musa 0.

RP 65 – Raymundo 12, Dillinger 9, Baguio 8, Norwood 7, Helterbrand 7, Santos 7, Yap 6, Pennisi 5, Taulava 2, Aguilar 2, Thoss 0.

Quarters: 23-16; 49-32; 66-40; 83-65

Email from Seattle

This is from a friend -- Mark Visda who is currently in the United States:

Hey Rick,

I know you're a huge baseball and New York Yankees fan, and I figured I'd just share you with some thoughts I had from watching my very first live baseball game: 2nd of a four-game Seattle Mariners home stand against the Yanks. I'll just put this in bullet points so it won't be so difficult to read. Do correct me if I'm wrong with some of my observations. I'd appreciate the real fan's perspective so the next time I watch, the experience will be better for me.
Rick: Hi, Mark! Glad you’ve decided to give baseball a try. It is of all the major sports the most traditional. If there is one sport that is so-stats heavy and dependent then it’s baseball. Let's not delude ourselves; if any sport should be called "The Sweet Science" then it's baseball. Boxing is just trying to beat the living shit out of another human being. And oh, Seattle is a really nice place. Check out the coffee shops near Pike Place or have a cuppa by Puget Sound.

Mark: A lot of intervals / pauses happen during the game. I think that's why it doesn't really make me interested to watch it on TV. There are a lot of "rest" periods - the changeovers, after every pitch, when the manager or catcher goes up to the mound, when the pitcher throws to the bases just in case someone plans to steal a base, etc. These are kind of augmented when watching live because you don't have the ticker and the stats and all the other stuff they show on TV during these intervals. But the fans are rabid enough throughout, and the field announcer talks a lot to promote stuff and play games to keep the fans engaged. The music is also used with some subtlety, they don't blast it like they do in NBA arenas or in Araneta.

Rick: Of all the major sports, it is only basketball where the scoring is to borrow an over-used cliché “fast and furious.” All the others, American football, football, hockey, and baseball take a while to put points on the board. The breaks are short and are usually timed with commercial breaks. And there are no TV timeouts. The game is like chess where the managers try to counter the other team’s moves.

Chnageovers are obvious – they take the fields for offense and defense. But that’s only a minute. The game between pitcher and batter is fascinating. It’s both mental and skill. The pitcher tries to outwit the batter with the stare down and the way he stands on that mound. Like that one where the Seattle pitcher tried to fool Mark Teixiera with a slow pitch that the Yankee first baseman did not fall for. He deposited it in the upper deck in the eighth inning that won it for NY. You might want to check out the picture above where Seattle fans point to where Tex's HR landed as outfielder Ichiro Suzuki walks past the warning track.

Some pitchers tug down their caps so the batter doesn’t see his eyes. He also does that so the first and third base coach of the opposing team do not catch the eye signals. The manager goes to the mound for a variety of reasons – to check on his pitcher, to advise him on what to do, or buy time for the next pitcher to warm-up (because he only gets five official warm-up pitches on the mound before the batter takes to the plate), and they throw to first base to remind the first base runner that “I’m here buddy and I haven’t forgotten you.” The runner tries to distract the pitcher from trying to strike out the batter. The defensive team adjusts their alignment depending on where the runner is and who is at bat.

The stats they show on TV are usually also showed on the huge TV screen in the outfield. I love what the PAs do to make the game more fun. I loved singing and dancing along with the crowd at the middle of the fifth inning at Yankee Stadium when the groundsweepers would do their famous "YMCA" routine. I tremdously enjoyed singing along to "Take Me Out to the Ballgame during the 7th inning stretch. Incidentally the best "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" is at Chicago. And you will find more families at baseball games than any other sport. American football is something best watched with your buddies, basketball with some cool chick, hockey if you’re spoiling for a fight (exag of course), and football with your best mates coz you want to sing loud and proud.

Mark: The baseball field is huge. Walang sinabi ang Araneta or any other stadium natin sa Pilipinas. My cousin and uncle told me Safeco was one of the better fields around in the MLB. Since it's the only field in the US that I've been to (I did see the Anaheim Angels' field when I went to California, but only on the outside), I can't compare it with anything. It was really nice to me, though. We got pretty far out seats (it was under the big electronic board, behind area where the left fielders stand) but there are areas that are closer where you can watch, with the catch being that you have to just stand up. And there were so many stores and food stalls to look into. They even had a play area for kids.

Rick: Safeco and Camden Yards in Baltimore are nice parks. I haven’t been to too many either as I usually watch at Yankee Stadium. Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park, Wrigley Field, and Dodger Stadium have so much history in them so going there is always a treat. You should try to go to Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park (although don't root for them Red Sox). It's a must. And if you have time, take the bus trip for the Port Authority in midtown Manhattan to Cooperstown for the Baseball Hall of Fame. Cooperstown and the Naismith Hall of Fame gave me mondo goosebumps. And oh, baseball fans are more stat conscious that any other fan of sports.

Mark: In connection with that, for the casual fans who don't bother watching the entire game glued to their seats, they can just lounge around the place, walk and look at stuff. We left our seats after the 6th inning and went to the viewing area just below the Yankees bullpen. I got pretty good shots of Mariano Rivera warming up before he closed out the last inning. Speaking of Rivera, he's really famous, huh? When he came to the mound, lots of cameras were flashing and people were cheering... because apparently, there are a lot of Yankees fans. I'm guessing not just in Seattle but everywhere else. They're kind of like the Lakers I guess, very high-profile. Although Alex Rodriguez didn't play, Derek Jeter was there, and Johnny Damon was also right in front of my view. Mark Teixeira also hit the winning HR so maybe I should consider myself lucky, eh? Hah

Rick: Yeah there are lots of Yankee fans everywhere. I figure same with the Red Sox because they are the most visible and popular. The most famous and sellable baseball cap is the one with the interlocking “NY” in front. And we’re not just talking about North America.
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Mark: The fans here in Seattle love their team. This is just a generalization I'm making, I know, but it's nice that people still come out to watch the Mariners even though they aren't legit contenders. They like the Seahawks too, and my cousin says the Sounders games are usually sold out. And oh, they had the Sounders vs. Barcelona game here a couple of weeks ago and I missed it because I was on a road trip. I wanted to see Messi! Dang it. Too bad they don't have the Sonics anymore.
Rick: Yeah the Sounders are amazingly filling it in. I asked my friend Miggy to either get me a Sounders or Colombus Crew jersey. I used to collect NBA jerseys but not anymore. It’s the football jerseys that I’m getting now and not just my Liverpool (no Man United please).

Mark: America is a pretty wasteful country.
Rick: Most definitely. That’s partially why they are in a recession.

Mark: They love Ichiro and Ken Griffey Jr. The latter, they call him Junior, for short. It's sad though that the team has to rely on a veteran on the downside of his career to win games. I feel like Junior has been in baseball since forever. He did hit the game winner in that 14 (?)-inning marathon against the White Sox though. Nice. My cousin told me too that Nintendo is a part-owner of the Mariners, and that's why they paid a lot to retain Ichiro, and keep that Japanese flame burning.
Rick: When I think of the Mariners, I think one of their best teams was when they had Alex Rodriguez, Griffey, Tino and Edgar Martinez, Randy Johnson and the others who were there. They’ve hit hard times since their 114-win season. I’m glad that fans stick to their team through thick or thin. I get the same question when people ask me why I am a New York Islanders fan. Since it’s hockey, I drop my gloves and pick a fight. Hahahaha.

Mark: That's it for now. I'm just on a three-week vacation here and it's my first time in the US. It's been great. Hopefully I can go back and watch baseball again and some NFL and MLS. Fuck David Stern, now I can't watch the former Sonics. Anyway, great stuff with the blog as always, especially with the ADMU UAAP recaps. More power to ya, man.
Rick: Have fun, dude. Enjoy it. I was just talking to some sports scribes yesterday during the UAAP games and they were talking about Makisig folding up and other sports not doing well. The simple answer is we are a small country and cannot support too many endeavors. And like people didn’t see that coming. C’mon, who watches them? Their channel is high up in the numbers because Sky Cable isn’t dumb enough to lump them with the other sports channels because that means competition for them. We’re too Manila-centric with people in the corporate and advertising world who don’t know jack. That’s why outside the PBA and UAAP every other league and sport is hard-pressed. Boxing, billiards, and bowling to an extent can survive but that’s not for all. Others survive because they have a patron. The V-League cannot even make a career for its players.

With some good friends

Inside the FEU locker room this afternoon, I chatted with Glenn Capacio and his staff about the Reil Cervantes suspension, the non-suspension of some guys, the national team, and stuff. Finished my interview with Mark Barroca for the next issue of Rebound and chatted some about Smart Gilas' participation in the PBA and their tournaments in the Netherlands and Dubai. I've became good friends with Mark (and JR Cawaling) even before I got the choice assignment to follow the national team. But the trip abroad where sama kami in spicy food and hoops cemented that friendship. Incidentally, I wrote about Mark's crossover move.

Happy birthday to JR Cawaling. Guess you had a good day coz your team won too, huh? Sige kita kits with sina Dylan (Ababou) sa 2009 NBA Asia Challenge.

Camp Sundown shines in the Bronx

Camp Sundown shines in the Bronx
The Yankees' best game this season came after the lights were dimmed
By Rick Reilly
ESPN The Magazine
This column appears in the Aug. 24 issue of ESPN The Magazine.

The team facing Yankees ace A.J. Burnett a few weeks back at Yankee Stadium has to go down as the oddest in baseball history.

For one thing, it plays only at night. The players have no choice. Even one minute of sunshine can kill them.

They're from Camp Sundown, in Craryville, N.Y., and they live life on the other side of the sun. All of them have the rare disease known as XP -- xeroderma pigmentosum. If kids with XP catch the slightest UV ray, they can and do develop cancerous tumors. Even fluorescent lights fry their skin like boiling oil. Most of them don't live to be 20.

So how could they take the field at Yankee Stadium? Because this was 3 a.m. Superstar right-handers should be tucked into bed by then, yet there was Burnett, throwing Wiffle-ball splitters and chasing down line drives.

There is no cure for XP. If you're born with it, you're one in a million. There are only 250 known cases in the U.S. Until Camp Sundown was founded 14 years ago by Caren and Dan Mahar, whose daughter Katie has the disease, few of these kids had met anyone else with XP. For most of them, Yankee Stadium was the first MLB ballpark they'd ever seen -- and probably it will be the last.

Getting here wasn't easy.

To make the seven-foot trip from the front door of Camp Sundown to the curtained bus with double-tinted windows that took them to Yankee Stadium, all the XPers had to wear hats, tinted eye shields, vats of sunblock, turtlenecks, long-sleeve shirts, long pants and gloves. Even with all that, they ran.

Because they couldn't leave until the sun was almost down, and because it was a three-hour drive, they knew they'd be able to see only the last couple of innings of the game. But then it rained, causing a more-than-two-hour rain delay. While the rest of the crowd cursed, the campers rejoiced. How lucky can you get? The bus arrived just before the first pitch. "It was almost like the game was waiting for them to show up," Yankees GM Brian Cashman said. "That kind of gave us goosebumps."

To get the kids out of the bus and into their VIP suite for the game, Yankees media-relations director Jason Zillo -- the man who dreamed up the whole night -- had to take them on a rat's route of back staircases and tunnels to avoid any fluorescent lights. After the Yankees beat the A's 6-3, the stadium lights had to be dimmed to 30 percent. Once they were, all the kids came running onto the field with smiles that could've lit up the Bronx.

"It's cool to be part of this," said Burnett, whom Zillo forced to leave at 3:15. "And it's kind of mind-boggling. I can't imagine if I couldn't take my children outside."

Eleven ghostly-pale XP campers took the field, including Yuxnier Beguebara, who is coming up on 71 operations, and Kevin Swinney, who has had over 200, and the rest of them, grinning through faces operated on so many times they seem to be covered in plastic. Feel sorry for them if you want, but they have one thing most kids will never have: For one night, the Yankees' field was theirs.

They high-fived Derek Jeter, ran madly around the bases and wallowed in the instant carnival the Yankees had set up -- from the magician to the bouncy castle to reliever Alfredo Aceves strolling the yard, strumming his guitar while Cashman sang the Police's "Message in a Bottle." For one night, at least, these kids found out they are not alone in being alone.

Not that they don't play baseball at Camp Sundown. They do -- at midnight, to the accompaniment of owls and bullfrogs -- against the local fire department. "We're pathetic," says Caren Mahar. "But we always play."

By 3:30, it was time to go, and there was no time to waste. They had to make it back to Camp Sundown before sunup. Welcome to life lived like a vampire.

On board the bus, Katie Mahar, 17, was whipped. Her hearing is down to 50 percent, and her vision is going fast, and her words are starting to lack vowels. But anybody could understand her as she kept saying, "That was a blast! What a blast!"

And I keep thinking of my friend Jason Zillo and the 14 years it took him to make this night happen.

"I saw one little girl," he said afterward, exhausted. "When the centerfield wall opened and the whole carnival started coming out -- she just started jumping up and down, over and over. She wouldn't stop, she was so excited. People wanted to thank me. But that's all I needed."

And you thought the warmest light came only from above.

Kick-off

It's time. Time to knock Man United off their damn lofty perch. Let's go, Liverpool!

Halikinu Radio Episode 6

After every episode we usually get a group shot along with our guests. Napagod na kami with our U2 pose. Bwahahaha.

Was lead host for the last episode. It was supposed to be Portia but we made a last minute switch because we moved the guests to next week. Who will they be? As of now, it's the former Ateneo courtside reporters Patty Laurel, Lia Cruz, and I'm not sure if Chinnie Canivel can be there. Will find out. Hey you can all go down to the station to meet them and Martin.

Our guests this week were from Alay Ni Ignacio, a group that works with public high school kids. The student at the right is Cris Lacdao, younger sister of my former Guidon editor and good friend Martin who is a professor in Boston College and die hard Red Sox fan. Miss all those hoops and baseball chat, Martin. Hopefully hopefully sooner that we all think we'll jaw at one another at Fenway and at the Stadium.

We keep tabs on Mhel's one-liners. Yna started that and we had Cam continue it. This time kung sablay yung joke we deducted a point from him. The "you know" is Chuck's and infectious.

Guess what -- we're hoping to get Kris Aquino on the show. Hahahaha. Kris vs.Mhel. Man that would be a riot. Smart money has it on Kris. Bwahahahaha