Tiu Tiu Train (of Thought) Part 2

     First of all, I'm inviting everyone to follow me on twitter, not just for the latest on sports, but on food and restos as well.  www.twitter.com/fiftypesotweets    

      Here's the continuation of my exclusive interview with Smart Gilas insider Charles Tiu.  This time, we get into his thoughts and preferences.


From the 50 Peso Seats: To celebrate From the 50 Peso Seats 100th post, 10 top ten lists were made.  What is your pick on Best Sports Movie?

Charles Tiu: (I) Haven't watched too much sports movies, especially the old ones but i really like sports movies in general. I'd have to say Remember the Titans or Coach Carter, which I've watched like 5x. (my pick: Hoosiers)


FFPS: What about Most Beautiful Woman in Sports?

CT: Most Beautiful? i don't know.. tough one.. i like Stacy Keibler of WWE or maybe (Maria) Sharapova! (my pick: Melina of WWE) 


FFPS: What about Best Monicker?


CT: Best monicker... Sir Charles.. 'cause i love Charles Barkley. (my pick: Dean of Mean)


FFPS: Do you play NBA Fantasy?  Who would be your number one pick if you get to
pick first?


CT: Yes I do, and I often help people out too! Kevin Durant.. though Chris Webber told me he'd pick Dwight Howard.


FFPS:  Who is your pick to win the NBA MVP this season?  Will Miami win it all this
year?


CT: Kevin Durant will probably win the MVP this year. I don't think Miami will win it all. I hope they do because I sure don't want the Lakers to win again. I don't see any team beating the Lakers out West this year and the closest team that could would be Oklahoma. Boston will be in the thick of things again.


FFPS: Would you care to predict the outcome of this year's UAAP?


CT: I predicted the final four teams right, even before the season started, when even lasalites doubted their own team. It will be a tough one that will probably need three games, but i sitll say Ateneo will be victorious. (CT was right. Ateneo completed a three-peat, beating FEU 65-62 in the second and final game of the title series)


FFPS:  Who do you think is the best basketball player to come out of Xavier High
School?

CT: I can't speak of those who graduated ages ago, but probably Joseph Yeo (individually, athletically and skills wise) but as a team player and career so far, it's hard to match Chris Tiu too (2 mythical fives in the UAAP, National Team Captain)


But if you ask who the best player was while playing for Xavier in high school, it would definitely be Eric Yao.


FFPS:  What's keeping you busy nowadays?  Any business/project you want to invite
people to?


CT: I am doing something for the 10.10.10 Run for the Pasig River. I would definitely like to invite people to join. You don't have to be runners or what; you can just walk. This is our statement to show that we care about our river and this will show the government that they better do something about it. 120,000 runners will be a world record and it will make the Filipinos look good again, amidst all the recent controversy surrounding us.


FFPS: Thanks for your time.


CT: Thanks!

photos courtesy of gmanews.tv,  fanpop.com,

Tiu Tiu Train (of Thought) Part 1

First of all, everyone is invited to follow me on Twitter.  http://twitter.com/fiftypesotweets     

     From the Fifty Peso Seats is honored to have an email conversation with Charles Tiu, one of Smart Gilas' insiders, who took time out to reveal news on Gilas, among other things.  In part one, Tiu finally details the real deal about Gilas, debunking some lies other newspapers have been concocting. (Note: The interview was conducted a week ago and all of the information has since been verified by the news)

From the Fifty Peso Seats: You've become an unofficial spokesperson of Smart Gilas, writing about them in the broadsheets and updating fans on twitter.  How did you get in this

position?  Did you volunteer or were you asked?

Charles Tiu: I don't think I am their unofficial spokesperson. I just happen to know a lot of stuff about the team, since I'm pretty close to coach and i follow them a lot, watch their practices and all that. And I really only update with things that i know are okay to be talked about already. Like (for) example Lassiter being AWOL. (Lassiter has since apologized to Gilas - FFPS) It came out only late last week in the papers but we knew about that a few weeks earlier. I didn't want any of those coming from me, because I am in no position to report that. I just also like to update people via twitter cause I feel that with the generation nowadays, they don't really bother reading newspapers much to get their news updates.

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Fleeting Dominance

     With the next two UFC pay-per-views featuring exciting, but nonetheless non-title matches for  main events, the five UFC titles are all safe for now.  Over a year ago, I wrote about how dominant all UFC champions were and how it might get boring if no one could defeat them.  Well, what a difference a year makes.  

     This year, four of the five dominant, god-like champions have all been revealed to be actually human.  Lyoto "Dragon" Machida, who was the fighter that was hit the least in UFC history, slipped and then got pummeled by Mauricio "Shogun" Rua.  Then, coming back from a debilitating bout with diverculitis, Brock Lesnar successfully retained his Heavyweight Championship, but not before he was pummeled in the first round by challenger Shane Carwin. Then, pound-for-pound king Anderson SIlva, was taken down, grounded and pounded by Chael Sonnen for four and a half rounds, before escaping with a "Hail Mary" submission less than 2 minutes before the final bell.  Finally, B.J. Penn, who had been barely challenged in the lightweight division since winning the title several years ago, lost not once but twice(!) to the diminutive Frank "Answer" Edgar.


      The question now becomes, "Why the sudden decline?"  Have those previously dominant champs lost something due to age or injury or is it a matter of the challengers figuring out how to defeat the champs?  

     Although champs like Silva and Penn are getting on in age, Lesnar possibly not fully recovered, and Machida finally encountering someone who wouldn't chase him, the two questions probably are the wrong ones to ask.  As Joe Rogan has constantly said, "Styles make fights," and I believe that was the case with all those four champions.  Each of them faced a challenger whose greatest skill posed as the champ's greatest threat.  Machida was a counter puncher, but so was Rua.  Silva may be the world's greatest striker, but Sonnen was the ultimate wrestler with excellent takedowns.  Lesnar is simple an intimidating powerhouse, but Carwin had unreal striking power.  Penn was a dominant force both with power and jiu jitsu, but Edgar was a whirlwind of a striker who Penn couldn't catch.

     Whether my theory is accurate or not will be known in the coming months, with each of the four champions mentioned getting significant tests.  Lesnar will meet fellow athletic wrestler Cain Velasquez, Silva will have his rematch with Sonnen, Rua will test his skills against former champ "Sugar" Rashad Evans and Penn attempts a welterweight comeback against Matt Hughes.  If they all come back and go back to their dominant ways, then the "Style Theory" holds true.  If not, then the UFC may be deeper than people think.  Either way, it will be good times for the UFC and fans like me. 

Peeking at the UAAP

     Being an absolute sports geek, it's pretty amazing that I've never paid for tickets to see a UAAP Basketball game.  Admittedly, I am not as obsessed a fan of the UAAP as I am the NBA, PBA or the UFC, but I have seen my share of games.  Recently, I got to watch two UAAP games and, thanks to the generosity of high school buddies Harvey Keh and Aly Yap, I still haven't paid for tickets.  


     Anyway, here are some thoughts I gathered while watching:

• Far Eastern University does have the deepest bench this season.  A number of their bench players would have started for other teams.  The question now is, can Coach Glenn Capacio maximize it?

• Eric Salamat has small hands.  This contributes a lot to him being a turnover machine and a volume shooter. 

• University of the Philippines doesn't need better players or better coaches.  It needs a ball handler to emerge as a leader, because half the time they can't get their plays to even begin.

• Aldrech Ramos is an absolute beast.  It's a shame that Far Eastern University guards RR Garcia and Terence Romeo went to the Allen Iverson School of Non-passing Point Guards.  Otherwise, Ramos would be averaging over 25 points a game.

• The UAAP crowd may yet be the biggest collection of non-basketball fans watching a basketball game (crouches to avoid a flying chair).  Watching the reaction of the crowd, I just want to grab the mic and remind them that a) not all calls will go your team's way and b) it is not automatically "luto (rigged)" if you think calls cost your team the victory.

• Coach Norman Black should consider playing with no centers at times.  I know he likes a traditional Center and Power Forward tandem and that works fine when Justin Chua is in the game, but other centers like Golla and Escueta are different stories.  He should go with Mico Salva and Arthur de la Cruz together instead.  These two have better basketball I.Q. than Golla and Escueta.

     On an unrelated note, I bought a couple of Fire Floss Buns from Bread Talk after the game and I had this observation:

• It might not be a good idea to buy French Baguettes (which they display uncovered near the entrance) at Bread Talk.  When I was there, I saw a woman pinch the bread with her bare hands several times and I'm not even sure she bought it.

Throwing the Resign Switch

First of all, please follow me on twitter http://twitter.com/fiftypesotweets


     What is it about the world today, that when one bungles a task calls for resignation or replacement are immediately called for?  I have yet to give my full support to interim Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Jessie Robredo (probably much to the chagrin of my buddy Harvey Keh), but I would like people to step on the brakes a little on calls for his head.  People placed in leadership positions do have a lot of responsibility on their shoulders and they are expected to rise through tough times, but they are all human too.  If every leader who fouled up early in their careers were immediately replaced, we would have missed these greats:

Bethune "Siot" Tanquincen - The soft-spoken former UST Growling Tiger got a baptism of fire replacing PBA great Allan Caidic as Baranggay Ginebra's coach in the Fiesta Conference of the 2004 season.  Opening with an eliminations record of 4 wins and 10 losses, "THe Baranggay" fans grew restless and some grumbles even called for his firing.  After the debacle of the eliminations, Tanquincen's determination to impose his own system led to the emergence of Jay Jay Helterbrand and Mark Caguioa, aka The Fast and The Furious.  That translated to an improbable championship over Red Bull in that same conference.  Then, Siot led the Kings to the Philippine Cup championship right after that, giving the Kings its first back to back championship in history.

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Uneducated

     I was supposed to write about Pacquaio's immense ability to forgive and how maybe he should make an exception with Antonio Margarito's cheating with hand wraps.  I hesitated because I wasn't sure if he should or not, but one thing I am sure of is that Pacman should not grace Floyd Mayweather Jr. with his legendary forgiving nature.


     In the now infamous internet tirade, Mayweather sullied up the world wide web with what Yahoo! Sports' Kevin Iole called, "a hateful, racist, vitriolic," rant, attacking Pacquiao.  Among his many points of attack, Mayweather called Pacman, "a yellow chump" and a "midget." He also talked about making Pacquiao "make him a sushi roll" and "cook him some rice."  Then, as if those weren't enough, Mayweather talked about Pacman never saying no to money and reiterated his belief that the FIlipino icon takes illegal steroids.  


     What is truly infuriating, however, is his supposed "apology."  Days after destroying whatever respect he may have earned over the years, Mayweather comes out to "apologize to everybody," claiming that he doesn't have, "a racist bone" in his body. He adds that he was "just having fun."

     That is how a world class boxer shoots himself and his legacy.  Mayweather has never been a popular figure here in the Philippines, with many believing he has continually ducked the opportunity to fight Pacquiao, but real boxing fans (even the ones residing here) have always respected his blinding quickness, his amazing boxing defense and his unbeaten record.  Not now though. 

     What kind of idiocy allows such garbage be spewed from one's mouth? Mayweather's words do nothing for his already struggling sport, one which has been incredibly good to him. His words are certainly unwelcome, in a time when hate still reigns in this world and racial divides have not been fully crossed.  His words are woefully inappropriate, in a time when everyone, even young children, could easily access the hateful rant of their boxing hero.  

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