Cooking Up a Champion

     Chefs worth their salt always seek to modernize their dishes. They know its importance in order to stay relevant, hip and most importantly, competitive. Before this sports blog gets confused for a food blog, let me get into it now.

     One of the keys to modernizing a dish is to tweak the cooking method. After braising the adobo, you can choose to fry or even grill the meat. Change up the method and you change up textures and taste to improve the dish. As Coach Luigi Trillo stepped in as the Alaska Aces coach, he made it known the Triangle Offense would be back. What he did, though, was tweak it. Same principles but their offensive plays no longer always started at the post. A double high screen here, a cut there, it was clear this wasn't your dad's triangle. Even triangle pioneer Tim Cone admitted, "They're (Aces) doing things we don't do. He (Trillo) has made it into his own."

Read more

The Real Manny Pacquiao

     Everyone by now knows Pacquiao's story.  A terrible childhood littered with days of hunger and hardship, a left hand and a ferocious fighting heart that brought him fame in boxing, a partnership with Freddie Roach that produced championships in 8 different weight divisions.  Everyone knows about Pacquiao's lightning quick speed, powerful left hand and blazing hand speed. Definitely, everyone knows of Pacquiao's off the ring problems, including extra marital affairs and uncontrolled gambling.  Everyone knows Manny Pacquiao, Fighter of the Year, sure-fire Hall of Famer, congressman and one-time pound-for-pound champion.  

     Or do we? 

       The downside of fame, I've found, is never about the loss of privacy. Oh please.  It's not even close. The greatest problem is perception.  People will always have opinions of you.  Right or wrong, with evidence or without, you and your actions will be judged by people you don't know about and their opinions will be right, according to them.  They'll believe they know how you think.  They can name your innermost desires and think the way you think. They will judge you, they will love you, they will hate you and that will be that. 

Read more

No Hater Zone

     When Lebron James made his epic laugher slash middle finger, "The Decision," the sporting world seemingly split between haters and defenders.  Fans were quick to point out that James was well within his rights to leave Cleveland as a free agent, and the so called, "haters," who were calling for loyalty, respect and good taste, were deemed too "emotional." It just seemed like the two sides were constantly fighting with neither side getting the real point.  I weighed in on it, with one of my favorite articles , but I think mine didn't get the real point across either. 

     The Whore of Akron, written by Esquire writer, Scott Raab, does the best job by far.  Written throughout the year after James moved to the Miami Heat, Raab brings out a more complete picture of Cleveland's view of things.  He weighs in on the whole brouhaha, laying in facts, interspersed with his own commentary and coupling them with his own personal and family life.  Looking at the title, it would seem to be nothing but a novelized version of Anti-Lebron rants, but even if I'm a self-confessed Lebron "disliker," I was very glad to discover that it wasn't.  

Read more

Judging the "Chotness" of It All

     When the PBA changed the All Star game format back to a "Veterans vs RSJ (Rookies, Sophomores, Juniors)" this season, many assumed it was to take advantage of the rich rookie class that came from Smart Gilas.  While this may turn out to be a shrewd move, business-wise, an interesting by-product has come about.  Chot Reyes as, "national coach 2.0" may get an early aptitude exam as well.

     The Veteran All Star line up have been finalized:

Starters: Mark Caguioa, JC Intal, Mark Pingris, James Yap and Arwind Santos
Bench: Jimmy Alapag, Kelly Williams, L.A Tenorio, Sonny Thoss, Gabe Norwood, Gary David, and Alex Cabagnot

     The RSJ Team, meanwhile, will have:

Starters: JVee Casio, Marcio Lassiter, Chris Lutz, Dylan Ababou and Josh Urbiztondo
Bench: Japeth Aguilar, Mark Barroca, Mac Baracael, Rico Maierhoffer, Rabeh Al-Hussaini and Chris Ross

     Apart from the weird starting line ups which features no centers, no point guards on one side and two on the other, what is most interesting is that, it is like Smart Gilas 1 versus Smart Gilas 2.  The veterans features 10 of the 16 players Chot named to the new national team pool.  Only controversial choices Rico Villanueva, Jason Castro, Larry Fonacier (plus Ranidel de Ocampo) are missing.  Meanwhile, the RSJ team features seven (eight if Al-Hussaini is included) of the Rajko-trained Gilas ballers in their team.  Missing only are non pros Chris Tiu, Greg Slaughter and Aldrech Ramos.  Of course, since the line ups are not complete, it hardly gives us an accurate picture, but it does pose some interesting questions.

Read more

The "Most" List

     When I started this blog, I never meant for it to last this long, but a couple of Philippine Blog Awards nominations pretty much nudged me to continue writing.  This, believe it or not, is the 200th post of From the Fifty Peso Seats.  Not bad, eh? So here's the "Most" list, my quick compilation of the posts with the "mosts." Sorry. I just had to type it. 

Most Read: Top 10 "Top 10s" Most Beautiful Women in Sports

Link: http://fiftypesoseats.blogspot.com/2010/05/top-10-top-10s-most-beautiful-women-in.html

Highlight: The Melina ring entrance video justifying her number 1 position

Ana Ivanovic:placed 2nd in my list

     As part of my celebration in reaching 100 posts, I wrote 10 "Top 10" lists and this one was wasily the most popular, and easiest to write.  It helps that internet searchers find this post after searching for their favorite female athletes.  By the way, the first paragraph explains how I am not sexist by writing this post, just in case you're wondering.

Read more