We be jamming

Here's an old photo of the late reggae legend Bob Marley just having fun. Marley was a huge football fan. Not sure though of what club he rooted for but he was a fan of the world game.

Two of my favorite albums of all time (and they have a nice place in my CD collection) are Legend and Exodus.

The deluxe editions of both albums are worth the price since the previously hard to find alternate versions of "Waiting in Vain" and a few others.

UAAP Football News

I haven't seen the sked yet but it's like this:

De La Salle has the twice-to-beat advantage against UST in the Finals for the Women's Division. Yesterday's match between UST and FEU was the only bearing one in their bracket. FEU had to win in order to make the finals but the scoreless draw saw UST get in because of goal difference.

Ateneo and FEU will play for the high school crown after a 1-1 draw yesterday morning. The home team gets the twice-to-beat advantage for a similar reason to the women's tie-breaker for yesterday's game.

I guess you can say that FEU's football program is one of the tops now (aside from UST too don't you think). Their teams made the high school and college finals and narrowly missed the women's collegiate finals as well. In yesterday's game between UST and FEU that had no-bearing at all, the Tigers won 3-1. FEU rested almost all their starters. Among others, Glester Sobremisana was the only starter who played significant minutes. UST on the other hand started many of their usual players but shifted them around. They moved Dave Basa -- who wore the captain's armband -- to attacking mid. FEU started well and scored a goal early on. They could have added a couple of others but misplayed their shots on goal. UST got going and even without Christian De Juan, a legit candidate for rookie of the year and MVP, as well as Johnson Lee, and they scored two goals in the second half to win. I'm going to predict it here -- UST will take away the lion's share of the season awards.

Games are this Thursday with Women's and Men's playing in Erenchun Field. The high school game is at Ocampo Field.

Good last games for a couple of Green Booters. Kim Smit, last year's team captain was beginning to suffer cramps but he mustered just enough on a nifty cross that beat the offside trap by UP. Teammate Eric Romero-Salas cut right and booted the ball in as a surprised Gabby Tañada was unable to do anything. After the half, starting DLSU keeper was replaced by Martin Villaflor, also playing his last game. Patrick Deyto played a field position for the third time this season and nearly got a goal. Villaflor played well and stopped some scoring chances for the Maroons. Deo Segunial is a workhorse upfront for UP. Without the suspended Ayi Aryee, he's been having a hard time.

Ateneo Volleyball: Endings & Beginnings

Endings & Beginnings

The goals were not easily attainable – a Final Four berth. Ateneo’s volleyball teams did one better as they both finished third.

words and pics by rick olivares

The game for all intents and purposes was over. The Far Eastern University Tamaraws had come all the way back from a set down to go up 2-1 and were 20-13 in the fourth set.

After being assessed for a wrong serve in the second set, the Tamaraws went on an 8-2 run to seize the momentum and level their Final Four match at a set apiece. They used another 8-2 run to take the third set and started the fourth with an 8-0 run. The Ateneo Blue Spikers had collapsed in a big way. Nothing seemed to work in their favor. The Tams ran quick plays leaving Ateneo unable to block much less receive.

With a serve by FEU captain Rodolfo Labrador, the Ateneans worked the ball to AJ Pareja who unleashed one of those powerful spikes of his. The Tams’ Kirk Beliran blocked Pareja and he pointed at Pareja. However, the ball remained live and the Blue Eagles’ setter Ed Ortega ran it once again by Pareja who hammered down an even more powerful smash that dropped right in front of Beliran for an Ateneo point. Pareja pointed his fingers at the Tamaraw in a shooting motion. It was 20-14 still in favor of FEU.

It was an act of final defiance against the cocky Morayta team that upped their trash talking after they took the second set. Ateneo would only score three more points as FEU closed them out 25-17 to advance to the championship round against the defending champs UST. In his act on a field of UAAP play, Pareja served one more time and had scored two points in his team’s last stand.

Five hours later, it was déjà vu all over again but this time, it was the Ateneo Women’s Team that was staring at a three-set sweep and elimination in the Final Four.

Save for Kara Acevedo who was the only Lady Spiker who got significant playing time when Ateneo made the Women’s Final Four for the first time two years ago, no one else had been here. And the nerves showed. They were committing uncharacteristic receiving errors in the first set and were unable to mount any serious offense. As coach Roger Gorayeb called the first timeout in the opening set, he asked his girls one thing – “Nine-nerbyos ba kayo?” Someone answered, “Coach, first time kasi.”

And that was all one needed to know. Even after scoring a point that wasn’t emphatic, Dzi Gervacio looked at the bench and mouthed a “sorry.”

“Bakit ka magso-sorry?” wondered aloud Gorayeb. “Gawin mo ang dapat.” They didn’t respond and the Lady Spikers fell horribly 25-12.

They had a chance to even things up as they shook of the jitters. But a few errors here and there, they lost a heartbreaker 25-22. UST two sets to none.

With the score 19-13 in the third set, Bea Pascual served for Ateneo. A wag from the UST crowd yelled, “Uwian na!” and the Tiger faithful lapped it up.

But the Lady Eagles rattled off five straight points to make a game of it. But it was a case of a little too late. What was characteristic of the game was the Lady Eagles would bury themselves in a deep hole before mounting a last ditch rally. If they rallied in previous games, their endgame magic ran out this time around. The Tigresses won 25-20 and advanced to play defending champions De La Salle. Pascual, in perhaps her final game for Ateneo, presided over that final run.

Andre Joseph Pareja is the first official recruit of the modern Ateneo volleyball program. Simply put, he was offered a full scholarship. At 6’4” he was highly recruited coming out of high school in Lourdes. His older brother Paolo was already playing for Ateneo but there were many more reasons why he chose to go to Loyola Heights as opposed to another zip code.

AJ caught the tail end of a nine-year streak of 0-14s. That’s 126 consecutive losses for the kings of the pain. Somewhere the NU Bulldogs of UAAP basketball know the feeling.

With somewhat better recruiting, better training, and better coaching, the Men’s Volleyball Team was beginning to shed their doormat status. From having zero wins, Pareja’s team slowly and excruciatingly won 2, 3, then ultimately, 9 games as they cracked the Final Four last season only to have dust them off in straight sets. This year, they went a notch higher to finish third place albeit with an 8-6 record. It was their best UAAP finish since 1981 when the Men’s Team lost to UP in the finals.

After the Far Eastern University Tamaraws ended his team’s fairytale run, Pareja was asked to say a few words in front of his team. The light atmosphere prevented any goodbye tearjerker speeches. And Pareja, who was hardly able to practice this year because of his med school studies, left one parting challenge. “Sana ituloy niyo yung sinimulan natin dito sa program natin.”

Bea Pascual played for her Colegio de San Agustin team where her height helped her dominate the high school game. Former team coaching assistant Edwin Leyva, who had been scouting her for some time, invited her to Ateneo. She passed the entrance exam but before she could join the team, Leyva had departed.

Pascual wasn’t one of the first recruits. That honor went to the batch of Karla Bello, Patty Taganas, and Charo Soriano. It was a sharp contrast to the recruiting woes of the men’s team for the women’s game has always been deemed the more glamorous and watched one. After all, that’s what the V-League has done – place women’s volleyball on the map of Philippine sports.

When the women’s team made the Final Four two years ago, they were without Pascual who suffered an ACL injury during a match against Adamson. The following year, she made team captain and come the second round when her younger teammates faltered, she strapped the team on her back. They missed the Final Four largely because they lost five heartbreaking five-setters.

Those loses were largely because of their inexperience and this time, as they made the Final Four with a win (two years ago, the Lady Spikers received an unexpected boost when La Salle forfeited some matches because of a technicality on Jackie Alarca), it played a huge factor in their match-up with battle-tested UST.

Playing perhaps her final year, Pascual got better as the tournament went on. She was named Best Player of the Game twice. And coupled with the maturity of last year’s Fab Four recruits – Dzi Gervacio, Fille Cainglet, Jem Ferrer, and Gretchen Ho -- and veterans Kara Acevedo and Steph Gabriel, their 10-4 record and third place finish was the best ever showing of an Ateneo team in the school’s entire athletic history. They finished the first round at 5-2 and second in the standings. They opened the second round with two straight loses before blitzing the rest of the league with a five match win streak.

Unlike the men’s team, the scene at the women’s dugout was a little more heart-rending. It wasn’t so much that they lost but how they lost it. Clearly, they didn’t bring their A-game. The girls didn’t say much as the team officials gave their terse assessment and profuse thanks for a job well done. After the final huddle she embraced a few teammates and reserved a long one for Ferrer. The two of them communicated well with one another and directed much of the team’s game.

They aimed for the Final Four but they got a bonus and placed third. At once, it was a good year with a bittersweet ending.

The Men’s Team was losing Pareja, libero Vian Seranilla, and utility Justin Tec.

The Women’s Team was losing Pascual, Gabriel, Averil Paje, and Misha Quimpo who did not play a minute in the game. Paje gave quality minutes in her brief stint on the floor.

As the Men’s Team made its way out of the San Juan Arena’s back entrance, by happenstance, members of the team that won the first game after their nine year Dark Age – Mike De Joya, AJ and Paolo Pareja, Renchie Veracruz, and Juan Carlo Dulu couldn’t help but notice the coincidence on being together again. They had their picture taken outside.

As the Women’s Team made their way out of the San Juan Arena’s back entrance an hour after the game had ended, they were surprised to see a huge crowd of fans who had stayed behind. Most of them were students from UST, FEU, Adamson, and La Salle. After rooting for their school team, their second favorite squad was Ateneo. The fans asked to have their pictures taken with them or their autographs or both. It took another 30 minutes for them to get done. Their achievement and third place trophy secure, this – the adoration shown to them – was their consolation.

For AJ, Vian, Justin, Bea, Misha, Averil, Steph & Oliver.

This story also appears in ateneo.edu

Bleachers' Brew #197 From the streets with no names

Photo taken at Amici Missouri cor. Connecticut in Greenhills Saturday, Feb 20. With the team and Congressman Miles Roces, a friend of my pops and someone I used to lengthily interview on sports and boxing when I was with Solar Sports. This column also appears in the February 22 edition of the Business Mirror.

From the streets with no names

by rick olivares

A football with a circumference of 68-70 centimeters weighs anywhere from 410-450 grams. The inflated ball, machine-stitched and bound using leather, plastic and synthetic material, is kicked around a field for at least 90 minutes.

Incredible as it may sound, that ball, of which the world sport takes its name from, is also known for its miraculous and healing powers. It inflames passions, inspires visions of glory, and interestingly enough, plays Make A Wish to street children.

There are currently 11 street children named to the Philippine National Team to the 1^st Deloitte Street Child World Cup in Dunbar, South Africa from March 14-23, 2010 in Durban, South Africa. Before they all cracked the lineup, their collective journeys were on the highway to neverwhere or sometimes the streets of Manila.

Ladylyn Ampe hails from Davao. After her parents separated, her father relocated along with her to his hometown of Quezon while the mother moved to Manila. She couldn’t quite take the separation and she ran away one day to be with her mother. Aided by a Davaoeño, Ladylyn found her mother but the euphoria of the reunion soon died down. Her mother was now with another man and when she wasn’t around, he would routinely beat her up. It continued until she could no longer take it and had to run away once more. But the mean streets of Manila aren’t without its share of urban predators. Mercifully, a social worker found her and took her to the Nayon ng Kabataan where she found refuge and respite from a world that continued to crumble around her. Ladylyn watched the older kids play football everyday and one day tried it out and became good at it. So good that on the Street Child team, she plays striker. But that’s not the only thing she’s good at. Through schooling at the center, she enjoys the baking and cooking classes. She’d one day like to become a chef. As much as she’d want to cook for others, her dream too as well, is to prepare a fine dining meal for her parents, whom she prays for everyday and that they’d all be reunited.

Names are powerful stuff. They let you in on who a person is and can be. He goes by the name of Blue Shark; wholly different from the one-named Brazilian wunderkinds. It sounds more like a gang moniker. If you hear that his mother team is Muntinlupa United FC, a team composed of the children of convicts and jail guards of New Bilibid Prison; one can assume that. It’s far from that. “Blue” is because he always wear shirts of that color and “shark” because he is blindingly fast. He used to sleep in a nipa hut with six other persons, rise before the crack of dawn to sell pandesal from a local bakery, and then play football in the afternoon. Once he was done playing with boots that are heavily taped up to keep them together, he would use his earnings to pay for a bath at PhP 15 a pail. His daily meals were provided by the bakery.

John Robert Gaerlan, previously known as Blue Shark, with his team from Muntinglupa.

During the formation of the Street Child team, he tried out and made it. He was moved to Tuloy sa Don Bosco where he not only found a new home, but new friends, and a chance at education. Even better, his MUFC coaches have located his mother and sister and have brought about a happy reunion.

While receiving a back massage Anton Cancio, a licensed chiropractor, and one of the team’s benefactors, he is beginning to feel like a real person with a real shot at better life. After his five-minute session is done, he plops down in the waiting room as his teammates have their own and browses through some magazines. He is learning to speak in English and that is good. “My name is John Robert Gaerlan,” he says. “It’s not Blue Shark.”

Jayson Simangan is a 16-year old lad from Mandaluyong City. He left home with his older brother Joey to beg in the streets. They were so poor that they most often had nothing to eat at home. They left whatever small comforts they had to take a chance on the streets and busy highways just for a morsel of food. The brothers would rummage through garbage bins for things that could also be sold in junk shops. A social worker found them and took them to Nayon. Jayson has thrived in the new surroundings, sleeping in a real bed, eating’s meals three times a day, and finding a place on the SCWC Team. His older brother seemed to prefer the freedom of the streets and returned to it, leaving a hole in Jayson’s heart. Joey just wishes him good luck when the team leaves for South Africa. It pains Jayson and he steels himself, refusing to let strangers see what eats him up inside. But he will not let go of the opportunity to make something for himself and now, for his country. He feels a pride that never before burned inside him.

The stories of the team all run along parallel lines. They rend your heart and leave you thinking of what you can do. Life may have been difficult for these kids but who would have figured that a ball, a football, would give them a renewed sense of hope to take on its challenges?

The Street Child World Cup, is a seven-a-side tournament with six boys and one girl on the pitch at all times. The age category is 14-16 years old. The team is composed of 11 players from acknowledged centers and clubs like---Tuloy sa Don Bosco Street Children Village, Nayon ng Kabataan, Manila Boys Town Complex, Philippine Christian Foundation, Gawad Kalinga, The Tondo Futkaleros, Football Club of Leveriza and Muntinlupa United FC. Two of them might not be able to make the trip to South Africa in time because of problems with their papers. The team’s original team captain was crushed when it was discovered that he was overage when his NSO papers arrived. The upside is during the search for his papers, it led to a happy reunion with his family that is an even bigger blessing.

The Philippine Team, as coached by Jess Landagan and leaves on March 12, 2010, is composed of team captain Erica Mae Inocencio, John Robert Gaerlan (defender), Ladylyn Ampe (striker), Noriel Pineones (midfield), Mario Titoy (midfield), Raymond Ilona (right wing), Jayson Simangan (defender), Roberto Orlandez, Jr. (goalkeeper) and Lorelyn Cabanayan (striker) along with reserves Jonah Garrido and Gerry Boy Joaquino.



Team sponsors: Freddy Gonzalez, Damian & Laura Dunn, Sandy Moran, Monchu Garcia, Miles Roces, Iñaki Alvarez, Manuel de Jesus, Mike Camahort, Robs Delfino, Carla Ramsey, Fernando Pena, The Football Alliance Group, Dicky & Cathy Rivilla, Sarah McLeod, Stephen Davis, Dolores Cheng, Stone Baptist Church and Danny Moran. The team’s major sponsors: Deloitte, Angus Lawson Memorial Trust, Deutsche Bank, Mitre, Whitehouse Scientific, Amos Trust, Bayanihan National Dance Co., Tesoro's and Amici pizza pasta.

The Philippine Street Children team is organized and co-managed by Craig Burrows and Ed Formoso under the auspices of The Henry V. Moran Foundation.

Muchos gracias to my good buddy Ed Formoso. It's okay, Ed. Nobody's perfect.

You also might want to read this on the Muntinglupa United Football Club that i wrote last year.

To know more about the Street Child World Cup, click on this.

Big Bucks Knickerbocker

Tracy McGrady in his debut with the New York Knicks. 26 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, and 1 steal in 32 minutes of action but the Knicks fell 121-188 to the streaking Seattle Supersonics. Oh, sorry. Oklahoma City Thunder. Now it's time to get some wins. Hey, T-Mac. The Knicks' colors look good on you.

Photo by Nathaniel Butler of Getty Images.

More cheating from the golf course

In a recently concluded golf tournament, an official of a professional team and his group were caught cheating. It seemed that all scored par (three shot 44 while one hit 45 on a certain difficult course under difficult playing conditions) and the scorecards they turned in all had erasures. Upon further investigation, one of the caddies confessed that the scores were altered. They had two choices --- disqualification for signing the wrong scorecards or the matter goes public. These cheats chose the former of course. Now these guys are going to be expelled from their respective clubs. That, I'm sorry, isn't enough. You were inches from having your faces and names in the major dailies. Anyways, the story is going around anyways as the players from the tournament have learned of the cheating incident and they've been telling people "Did you hear about this shit that these guys pulled?" So you've been had.

UFC 109 Some good fights but I'd say it was Relentlezzzzzzz

I missed UFC 109 Relentless on fight day because I was busy. So last night, battling drowsiness, I plopped in a disc of the fight, hoping to stay awake a bit more. Had to do something and I was loosing to Mr. Sandman. Thank God, in a battle of trashtalkers, Matt Serra knocked out Frank Trigg in the first of the undercards. So much for everything that you said in your pre-fight, Frank. Maybe now, you'll just talk about training your ass off coz Serra had you glaze-eyed. Disappointed that Dan Miller couldn't get the job done against Demian Maia. The Brazilian got the win only because he got a few takedowns but he couldn't even do serious damage. Zzz. Mick Swick. Zzzzzzzzz. Woke from my stupor when the Chael Sonnen-Nate Marquardt fight was on. It was interesting for its technique and guts. A worthy and exciting second main event where Sonnen won via Unanimous Decision over Nate who never gave up and tried his darn best to steal a win. And really, that was the best of it because Mark Coleman should have stayed retired. The non-fight/Main Event between him and Randy Couture was like seeing Jerry Lawler, Rick Flair and the other WWE Legends try and regain their wrestling glory when time has clearly passed them by. When Coleman arrived at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, the site of UFC 109, he looked so bad ass that he could beat the living crap out of anybody while eating raw meat. Instead... lumbering comes to mind. Sorry. Slumbering. Relentlezzzzz. And it only proved that Randy Couture, Captain America himself and God bless this man, can still beat up 40somethings but should lay off freaks like Brock Lesnar. Disappointing too that the Antonio Nogueira fight with Brandon Vera did not push through. Make or break, Brandon!

Now what I'm waiting for is UFC 112. BJ Penn!!!!!!

If we can't get the media on our side, let's become media ourselves!

I support our Men's Football National Team. Yes, despite its problems. But being objective about the Philippine Football Federation, these guys are a piece of work. It seems that almost everywhere you turn to these days even in sports agencies there are massive problems from wanton incompetence to corruption. The PFF... man. Moving on, in the picture above, I don't know how you can call a tourney successful when you drew the opposing side. And what they left off that article was how our national team lost 2-1 to a college team in Taipei (that had six national players) and hardly practiced for the match. In basketball, the nationals lost to a team of actors and the whole NSA blew up. I'm not trying to put the team down, but the PFF and whoever wrote this should be a little more accurate. They still have not addressed the issue of the Fil-fors flying in only before a tournament. Kinda hard to work on chemistry and teamwork when you only have half a team then the locals are relegated to the training pool.

And then there's this guy. There are rumors swirling about this guy but I won't get into that. But this statement I will. Evaluation of the Football Associations? Mr. Tsai, start with the PFF's backyard before you deign to begin this housecleaning of yours. And who are you? You show up all of a sudden or is it this long association you have with the NSA President? And "eliminate the bad grass?" That is an implied threat to those who have questioned your president and his lack of transparency and poor management. And there's that "God" statement. Please refrain from that especially when used in a story that props up such a controversial sports association. It belies a messianic complex even if you allude to your success in life. I should remind you that in Nazi Germany, the Wehrmacht had inscribed on their belt buckles -- "Gott mit uns." Translated, that means, "God is with us."

The Tiger Beat.

Tiger Woods will be making his first public statement in almost three months and you can watch that this coming Saturday Feb 20 at 12 midnight on ESPN. And as is everywhere from the National Enquirer, US Weekly, and other similar ragloids, there will be analysis and specualtion on the press conference and everything related to Woods' actions. The picture to the right is a recent one taken of the golfer jogging near his home.

Aside from his affairs, marriage, and future, here's what Woods could say:

1) Scott Disick (Kourtney Kardashian's partner who was just caught having an affair)-- Never keep numbers of other women on your cellphone.

2) Jesper Parnevik & Ernie Els -- Just you wait til we face on the greens. I'll kick your butts!

3) I didn't take steroids like Mark McGwire.

4) Can we talk about Sarah Palin instead?

5) I enjoyed James Cameron's Avatar.

6) My car crash wasn't because I was trying out for NASCAR.

7) The Orlando Magic need to add another player if they want to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers. Their trade for Antawn Jamison -- now the Eastern Conference is theirs to lose. I live in Orlando and I want the Magic to go back to the NBA Finals!

8) Anyone want to talk about the Winter Olympics?

9) Golf anyone?

10) Hello.Hello?

Seriously now, I hope he gets back and really kicks everyone's butts. What Tiger did was wrong and well, being a celebrity, he became media fodder. He can only blame himself for it. But now, after this, just get back on the course, and like Kobe on the NBA hardwoods, just be this silent assassin and win more cups.

Wanna see Norman Black play against his Blue Eagles?

Hoopla Dream Game

5:30 – 7:00 pm (Blue Eagle Gym)

Exhibition game between the 2009 Ateneo Championship Team and ABL team composed of Ateneo coaches and ex-players. Click on the image to enlarge it.

ABL Line-up:

Norman Black, Mon Tioseco, Bong Ravena, Bajjie del Rosario, JP Erram, Paolo Dizon, Marco Benitez, Rainier Sison, Norman Penola, Leo Austria, JP Cabero, Macky Escalona, Sandy Arespacochaga, and Joe Silva.

The 2009 Blue Eagles will most likely will be without Rabeh Al-Hussaini who underwent minor ankle surgery recently.

Who's in the House, New York?

More than a decade ago, I wondered why it was so difficult for the Chicago Bulls to keep its championship nucleus together. I only read of salary cap concerns and re-tooling. That soap drama continues for four years until the off-season of 1998 when most of the players never did go back. Didn't management think that this club wasn't going to win a fourth straight title? Jerry Krause and other basketball analysts point out to the Boston Celtics of the 1980's; a team that was kept together longer than need be, they opine, until they were broken down and had no trade value.

The was definitely more to the issues than what was let on. Some of it surfaced early on when Krause's obsession with winning a title without MJ was revealed as well as problems with PhilJax and the others.

I guess the operative term here would be, management can be "boldly unsentimental."

Cut to today as I sifted through the day's early news reports, with no real intention of writing anything, I did think back to the Bulls and two unrelated points to ponder.

One, the New York Knicks are trading Nate Robinson to the Boston Celtics for La Casa Eddie House. And two, why did the Detroit Tigers trade away Curtis Granderson to the New York Yankees?

Granderson might have not had a stellar year with the Tigers but what did the Yankees see in him that they were obviously not willing to keep World Series hero Johnny Damon? Detroit might think that Granderson didn't hit very well last year. Might I remind them that Damon didn't hit too well two years ago for the Yankees. In fact, he was well on his way to retirement without even finishing his contract with New York until he came alive last year. It was possibly a bad year in Detroit and with all the penny-pinching, they save on several cool millions. But does this mean that mediocrity will continue in Motown? After all, they did finish 88-77 and lost 6 of their last 10 games.

Granderson, who doesn't have an ego the size of the Empire State Building, on the other hand, will fit well with these good vibe Yanks. He does excellent off field work in the community. But again. Detroit is not New York.

So much of the Yankees' title team was not re-signed. Hideki Matsui, Chien Ming-Wang, Melky Cabrera, Jerry Hairston Jr. and now, Damon. While in Hong Kong recently, one media person asked Yankees GM Brian Cashman why they went to Japan and China, an Asian Tour, when none of their Asians were going to be kept on their current roster?

Cashman's answer was nothing was set in stone. But if ever, the two players would pave the way for more Asians into the team. Pundits called it an act of hypocrisy.

I thought some more and wasn't Hideki Irabu the first Japanese player on the Yankees team? Boo Boo as he was called by the players after the Hannah Barbera cartoon character didn't last very long. So did Kei Igawa who came in with much fanfare. And Wang, their ace for two seasons until that base running injury that kept him on the shelf for the past two years, is gone too.

The point here being was (and unlike the dysfunctional player-management relations in Chicago in the 1990s) that it wasn't a simple matter of money but they were evaluated on whether they would be able to contribute to the team's quest for a 28th World Series title. Johnny Damon played a great season last year but before that, he was miserable in the last couple of years. After reading Joe Torre's The Yankee Years, it made me understand why. There was on and off field issues including health, focus, and of course money.

Granderson was an upstanding citizen and player in Detroit yet he was traded. I figure they didn't think that first baseman Miguel Cabrera's issues with alcohol were a big problem.

So did the Yankees fleece Detroit in its acquisition of Granderson? Time can only tell more so since the Yankees haven't had a really good record in its acquisitions in recent memory until the past year.

And so what about Nate? If Eddie House was that much of a favorite of Mike D'Antoni in Phoenix so why was he let go to the New Jersey Nets after one year? It was a mistake, rued D'Antoni. Casa was and has always been a positive albeit a sensitive presence in the locker room like Cliff Levingston when he was with the Atlanta Hawks and Chicago Bulls. "Good News" was how they called the athletic but awkward forward out of Wichita State. So House can maybe give that dour Knicks locker room a breath of fresh air. But I do have to ask this, although it just crops up now --- does Donnie Walsh and Mike D'Antoni honestly believe that the oft-injured Tracy McGrady is the answer to their problems? The crisis continues at MSG long after Isiah Thomas. Reality show. Reality bites.

What I am thinking of here is that maybe it has D'Antoni isn't really much of the aww-shucks-but-I'm-not-a-saint manager when he was with Phoenix. Got that right. Maybe we should have paid more attention. He has been a little more ruthless in New York. A Player's Coach? Not at all in NYC. So is it a case of "when in Rome..." here?

It does free Robinson from the doghouse and as for Casa, he will only live out his purpose as long as he can drain those outside shots of his.

This season will answer all those concerns about Nate, House, D'Antoni, Granderson, and Detroit.

---------

So how do I see New York's batting order?

LF Curtis Granderson

SS Derek Jeter

1B Mark Teixeira

3B Alex Rodriguez

C Jorge Posada

RF Nick Swisher

2B Robinson Cano

DH Nick Johnson

CF Brett Gardner

Does Granderson move to CF so Randy Winn starts at LF? Or are they willing to go with Brett Gardner who doesn't have that hot bat but can throw the ball some? Remember CF is the most hallowed piece of real estate in Yankee Stadium.

The Yankees didn't issue the uniform numbers this spring worn by two key members of last year's World Series championship team, Damon (18) and Matsui (55), who both left as free agents. Other numbers not in use include those of former manager Joe Torre (6) and former players Paul O'Neill (21), Mike Mussina (35) and Bernie Williams (51).

But Brian Cashman, you should have signed this guy.

Happy Birthday, Michael Jordan!

Happy Birthday, Michael Jordan!

The best there was. The best there is. The best there will ever be.

Open by Andre Agassi (from the Washington Post)

Pro tennis could teach the mafia about omertà. Although dozens of champions have chattered away to ghostwriters, their memoirs have generally remained silent about the game's seamy realities. Presented to the public as clean family fun, an upscale entertainment for the country-club set, top-level tennis is actually played by the physical and emotional mutants of a misery machine that leaves them too ill-educated or psychically damaged to understand what has happened to their lives. Like most victims of abuse, they'd rather not talk about it. So it's both astonishing and a pleasure to report that Andre Agassi, who was castigated for an ad campaign saying "Image is everything," has produced an honest, substantive, insightful autobiography.

True to the genre of jock hagiography, it has its share of stock footage -- total recall of famous matches, the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat and an upbeat ending. But the bulk of this extraordinary book vividly recounts a lost childhood, a Dickensian adolescence and a chaotic struggle in adulthood to establish an identity that doesn't depend on alcohol, drugs or the machinations of PR.

Agassi was born in Las Vegas to a brutal Iranian immigrant, a former Olympic boxer, who forced his four children to play tennis. As a pre-schooler, Andre began hitting balls on the backyard court for hours every day. School, friends, social life and especially thinking were considered distractions by his father, who terrified the entire family. But while his sisters rebelled and his older brother, Philly, finally lacked the killer instinct, Andre became his father's obsession and whipping boy -- one who was expected to whip other boys and unsuspecting men on court. His father pitted him at age 8 against suckers, including football great Jim Brown, who foolishly bet $500 that he could beat the kid. Before junior tournaments, Mr. Agassi fed his son caffeine-laced pills. Later, he tried to turn Andre on to speed. At the age of 12, Andre traveled to Australia with a team of elite young players. For each tournament he won, he got a beer as a reward. Then in the seventh grade he was shipped off to the Bollettieri Academy in Florida, where his tennis flourished, but his life turned feral. Drinking hard liquor and smoking dope, he wore an earring, eyeliner and a Mohawk. Nobody objected as long as he won matches. The academy, in Agassi's words, was "Lord of the Flies with forehands." Since the press and the tennis community still regard Nick Bollettieri as a seer and an innovator whose academy spawned dozens of similar training facilities, Agassi's critical opinion of him may shock the ill-informed. But in fact, Bollettieri is the paradigmatic tennis coach: that is, a man of no particular aptitude or experience and no training at all to deal with children. With no time and certainly no encouragement to get an education, Andre stopped school in the ninth grade, which is about average on the circuit.

With the possible exception of boxers, tennis players have less formal schooling than any other pro athletes. In addition to blighting their lives and leaving them vulnerable to agents and hangers-on, this severely limits their options. Again and again, Agassi laments that he hated tennis from the start -- he claims he hates it still -- but felt he had no alternative and no talent to do anything else except turn pro at 16. Judging by the record books and his tax returns, this decision seemed to make sense; Agassi went on to win eight Grand Slam titles and tens of millions of dollars. But the personal cost, as he makes clear, was catastrophic.

With no idea who he was, he found himself defined by publicity campaigns and articles by sportswriters who couldn't have guessed what he was actually up to and probably wouldn't have reported it even if they had. Lonely and depressed, he drank a lot, just as he'd been doing since adolescence. In a stranger effort to relax, he lit fires in hotel rooms. Nothing apocalyptic, just a bit of pyromania between matches. Petrified that his hair was falling out, he took to wearing a hairpiece, which gave him yet another thing to worry about during big points. What if his rug fell off? He drifted into a relationship with Brooke Shields but knew the marriage was doomed when she made him wear lifts in his shoes so she could wear high heels on their wedding day. Not surprisingly, he began to lose focus, lose the capacity to care and finally lose tennis matches. He played the game like a man with a plane to catch, and spectators and even the Davis Cup coach publicly accused him of tanking.

Now that drinking and lighting fires no longer dulled the pain, he turned to snorting crystal meth. Of all the admissions Agassi makes, this may be the one that causes the most controversy. People will debate whether the drug ruined his game or was in fact what allowed him to come back when his ranking fell out of the top 100. But whatever the doping reveals about Agassi, it says far more about the Association of Tennis Professionals and its drug program. When Agassi tested positive at a tournament, the result was never made public; he was never suspended; and the ATP ultimately accepted his bogus claim, sent by letter and supported by no evidence, that he accidentally drank a spiked soda. While not without excitement, Agassi's comeback to No. 1 is less uplifting than his sheer survival, his emotional resilience and his good humor in the face of the luckless cards he was often dealt. In the end he made some inspired choices, not simply by marrying Steffi Graf, starting a charitable foundation for the education of poor children and finding a terrific ghostwriter in J.R. Moehringer, a Pulitzer Prize winner, but also by refusing to put pressure on his kids to play tennis.

On Ateneo Women's Football

Now that the Ateneo Women's Football Team's season is for shit, I'd like to take the time to implore (take note, I said "implore" not "demand" and there is a goddam difference) that we see Kylie Misa and Gold Jacinto play meaningful minutes in their final two games of the tournament. It's their final year for crying out loud. When your graduating players come back for another year and invest a lot of themselves into training, camps, and whatever goes with a year in the varsity, I think they, unless they are proven malcontents or really lousy players, should be given time. This is not the pros where there's always another team one can transfer too. But that is a basketball analogy. Here, with no real pro football league, one's career is usually over at the end of their collegiate career.

The campaign started well with a 2-2 draw against FEU that they should have won and a 1-0 loss to DLSU but it has been downhill from there. And frankly, after the poor results in the last few years, the benching and removal of Belay Fernando and Francesca Gutierrez from the team for strange reasons last season, and other similar crap this year, the repeated blowouts where we have been outscored 16-0 in the last three games, I figure that it's time for change.

In a chat with a former member of the team who defended the staff, the issue here is not who makes sacrifices, what the coach's decisions and strategies are, or if the players do not do their part. The bottom line is wins and loses. Hell, John Flores won his second UAAP championship with the Ateneo Women's Basketball Team and a bunch of miscreants ousted him within weeks. So how much more when there are more Ls than Ws?

Of course, it isn't always the coach's fault. The players can be held accountable for it as well.

But since I've opened the lid on things let me say this -- the opposition has very one simple play against us -- a run through a flat back four where the striker has the speed to beat the defenders. UST scored five goals using that play and as for FEU... you know what I mean?

Against FEU today, Kylie and Gold played. And adjustments were made at the half but then we were already down 5-0. The two helped immensely and we went on the attack. But the game at that point was to hold FEU to five goals and nip at the lead. It was a case of being a little too late.

Speaking to a player from another team, she said, "Ateneo has Yvette (Gaston), Monica (Santos) and others but they can't get a win..." Her voice trailed off. Fill in the blanks.

When something is put out there for public consumption, they have to hear both the good and the bad. It cannot be cheer for the team all the time. We do not live in a world of "yes men." And it's not a matter of mindless or blind support. Of course there is unwarranted criticism. It isn't right but it does happen and needs to be understood in the proper context. And keep your head on straight, just because we're calling for change that doesn't mean we do not like whoever is at the helm.

Understand that if this were the corporate world, that person on top would have been fired already. So okay, this is sports and short of an unmitigated disaster, short of being Real Madrid that spews out managers like they had a factory line rather than a football club, there is somewhat of tolerance level for not getting results. If a team fights hard but is still unlucky in the end, then it is forgivable to a point. Unfortunately, you're only good as your last win. And when was that? Against UP last year? But they turned the tables on us this season, right?

In my opinion, it's time to reload, Ateneo.

What I've been following in the Vancouver Winter Olympics Part 1

I haven't been really able to watch the Winter Olympics as much as I'd want but I did make time for these:

Seth Wescott -- what a comeback to win the Snowboard Cross as he rallied at the final turn to temporarily overtake erstwhile leader Mike Robertson of Canada while in the air then a final burst of speed to win by two feet! As I understand it, Wescott, who also won the event in the 2006 Winter Olympiad in Turin, Italy, the first time snowboarding became an Olympic sport. Lots of drama here as Wescott didn't do well in the time trials. As it was in Turin, he brought along the American flag that was given to him by his grandfather who was a serviceman during World War II. He tucked inside his vest during competition and brought it out after narrowly beating Robertson.

The Russians pairs in figure skating. Russians have brought home the gold since 1964 but massive errors by Vera Bazarova and Yuri Larionov, Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov, and their final bets, Yuko Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov all fell apart. One mistake is all it took especially for Kavaguti who lost her balance early in their program. The Chinese on the other hand were darn good and near flawless. They had their near spills but not as bad as the Russians or even the German pair of Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy.

Now I'm waiting for Ice Dancing and the US pair of Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto.

Caught only on the internet snippets of Team USA's 3-1 win over Switzerland in Men's Ice Hockey. The Americans are darkhorse contenders in the tournament. What I'm really looking forward to is the match between Canada and Russia. Sidney Crosby and Scott Niedermayer versus Alex Ovechkin and Alex Radulov. Although both teams didn't figure much in Turin, they are much better this time around. And they've been at it in the last two World Hockey Championships. Canada may not win the overall medal haul but this is the one event they hope to land a gold and anything else is a disaster of epic proportions. Bring it on, guys!