Fifty Peso Shots: August 2010

Some shots from the cheap seats:

• It's a good thing no one seriously considered the James Toney vs Randy Couture fight as a true "Boxing vs MMA" fight.  While Toney insulted not only MMA fans but boxing fans as well by coming into the fight out of shape, it was still obvious boxers would stand no chance against take downs, no matter their level of fitness.  Perhaps it's time people stopped trying to pit the two sports against each other and accept them as two different genres.

Read more

Gee Thanks Mom and Dad

     When parents name their children, I often wonder if they ever consider the possibility that their children could become famous.  If they do, they wouldn't name their children with weird-sounding names.  At least, I think they wouldn't.  These guys' parents, though, probably didn't think their children would be famous.  You'll know what I mean.

God Shammgod (Basketball) - This former Washington Wizard actually didn't like his name so much that he went by the name of Shammgod Wells during his high school playing days in La Salle Academy with Ron Artest.  When he moved on to Providence College, though, he had no choice but to use his legal name of God Shammgod, and the legendary name was born.  Unfortunately, his game was far less legendary and after a short NBA stint, Shammgod bounced around the world, including the China Basketball Association.

Read more

Grand Slam

     Over the years, the Philippines seems to have lost its lofty standing in the international community, so much so that any stories about the Philippines, save for natural disaster or Manny Pacquiao stories, are written with certain detachment and generality.  These days, rarely are there stories that take a deep look into the Philippines, examine its rich, unique culture and at least give understanding its bewildering yet loving people the "old college try."  Pacific Rims, written by self-professed basketball junkie Rafe Bartholomew, is one such book.


     Arriving in the Philippines on a Fulbright scholarship, Bartholomew embarks on a singular quest to learn about the Philippines' obsessive love for basketball and what he finds is that this obsessive love has embedded itself in almost all of the country's elements.  


Play by Play


     The book displays Bartholomew's skill as a sports writer, as he recounts both the Alaska Aces' road to the Philippine Basketball Association's import-reinforced conference, and his own tour of duty as a ringer/import for a Boracay-based commercial team.  In both counts, he succeeds in getting the reader to heavily root for them by laying the proper groundwork.  He generously recounts his time hanging out with the Aces and its players, their insecurities, their struggles and their personal thoughts and dreams, leaving the reader no chance to not be invested.   Meanwhile, his tongue-in-cheek recap of his own travails in the heavily partial officiating of the Boracay commercial league is whether by design or not, the perfect microcosm of the proverbial Filipino hard luck story so prevalent in the country's long-running telenovelas.  By the time he recounts the respective big games of both teams, the narrative becomes a written version of Marv Albert's iconic play-by-play, leaving the reader breathless with anticipation during the recap and hopelessly spent by its end.

Read more

A Rose By Any Other Name

     Almost everyone over the age of 14 has probably heard or read Shakespeare's line, "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet," or something like that.  Apparently, though, not everyone believes in it.  The team USA will send to the 2010 World Basketball Championships is devoid of the proverbial, "Big Names," like the trio of Lebron James, Dwayne Wade and Kobe Bryant.  More importantly, none of the members of the Olympic gold medal-winning team of 2008 will join the team.  This has resulted in loud moans and groans from American basketball fans, with some already writing the team off as, "doomed."  Is this version of Team USA really that bad?  


The Right Fit

     This year's Team USA may be devoid of big names and big centers, but what they have are a wealth of are long, athletic and lean bodies.  Players like Derrick Rose, Rajon Rondo, Kevin Durant, Lamar Odom, Andre Iguodala, Danny Granger and Rudy Gay all possess this body type, which makes switching at defense possible from the "1" spot to the "4" spot.  This will enable the team to play excellent trapping defense to cause turnovers, which will fuel USA's greatest weapon, the fastbreak.  Just ask China, who just got blasted by Team USA's run-and-gun game, 98-51.  Every year, Team USA always does most of its damage in transition.  The 2008 team did, and even the legendary 1992 Dream Team did too.  

Read more

Numbers Game

    While the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC), and sports "journalists" who couldn't be bothered to do research all hailed the appointment of Richie Garcia as the new Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Chairman, my stomach churned nervously.  Recently, the joint POC-PSC task force announced that the Philippines could send as much as over 200 athletes to this year's Asian Games.  While people see Garcia's appointment bringing about peace between the POC and the PSC and the eventual improvement of Philippine Sports, I only see more disappointment.  While that makes me sound like an old curmudgeon with, wait for it, "crab mentality,"  I'm backing it up with numbers.

Read more

Take Two

     Recently, one of my favorite blogs, "The Past and the Spurious," turned two.  In honor of tPatS and its mastermind, Tibibord,  I composed this post, brought to us by the number two.


So how has the number two inserted itself in sporting history?

• It's the number of Grand Slam titles Australian Pat Rafter won during his career.  He won back-to-back U.S. Open titles in 1997-98.

Read more

Poisonous Cocktail

     The line, "Sports and politics should not mix," has become a tired, old adage with everyone spewing it left and right.  While that may be a truth that cannot be denied, another field mixed with sports produces an even worse cocktail.


     When sports figures achieve a certain level of success and fame, the call from the movie world cannot be far behind, especially here in the Philippines.  What results is usually a poisonous cocktail, wreaking havoc on both the sporting world and the movie world.  With both these fields struggling in our country, shouldn't we ban the two from ever mixing?  If you need further evidence, take a gander at some of the culprits.

Wapakman (Manny Pacquiao and Onyok Velasco (Boxing) Benjie Paras (PBA Basketball), Krista Ranillo     

     Ring or court brilliance has absolutely no effect on making movies, as evidenced by this box office blunder.  Featuring not one, but two boxing champions, and a PBA great, the superhero movie was a super flop, gaining the least ticket sales in the 2009 Metro Manila Film Festival.  Pacquiao plays Magno, a dedicated father who, by virtue of an accident gains powers to become Wapakman.  Magno then struggles to balance his time with being a superhero and a good father to his children.  It actually features Wapakman fighting a giant crab and a villain with supersonic breasts.  Yeah, I know.  Making bad movies that earn very little seems to be a Pacman staple, but this one actually was worse, spawning a controversy with co-star Ranillo, causing his biggest spat with wife Jinkee yet.  It was probably the universe agreeing with me.

Read more