A Walk to Remember, from here to Hillsborough

If you are a Liverpool FC fan, the date of April 15 will resonate with you.

On that day in 1989, 96 Liverpool supporters lost their lives due to a human crush in a FA Cup Semifinal at Hillsborough Stadium. An additional 766 were injured from the disaster. It traumatized the community so much that it pretty much is a matter of fact that the Reds would rather not play any games on that date.

23 years on, Liverpool is faced again with a FA Cup Semifinal. This time, it will be at the iconic Wembley Stadium on April 14, where their Merseyside rivals Everton will be their opposition (the match is scheduled at 730pm in Manila).

There will be a moment of silence to mark the occasion, with a laying of flowers by the captains of both squads (Steven Gerrard and Phil Neville). A moment of silence will also be marked in the other semifinal (Chelsea vs Tottenham), with both teams wearing black armbands to commemorate the event. Liverpool also commemorated it last Saturday in their Premiership match against Aston Villa, which was the last match at Anfield before the anniversary of the tragedy.

Now there are a few Liverpool supporters who will be conducting a fund-raising campaign this weekend by running 76 miles from Hillsborough to Anfield. In solidarity with that effort, the Liverpool community in the Philippines a.k.a. the KOPinoys, will have a run of their own on Sunday, April 15, the anniversary of the tragedy. To be held at the University of the Philippines' Sunken Garden, the KOPinoys will be going around it seven times to approximate 15 kms (which is 9+6). There are no fees to be charged, the only request is to be clad in Liverpool gear to participate, as photo documentation of the whole event will be forwarded to the different Liverpool sites.

The meeting place is set at just outside the College of Business Administration at 6am. The run is to begin at 615am. Make sure to bring water bottles for this event.

I applaud the effort of the KOPinoys, led by Rick Olivares, for making this initiative.

The Promotion / Relegation Conundrum

Tonight, club football in the Philippines resumes, with the Philippine Air Force Phoenix facing Pasargad FC at the University of Makati. Thus, the resumption of survival at the top and having to avoid the concept of relegation. As of the moment, this is the Division 1 table as it stands:

Division 1	GP	PTS
Global FC	9	21
Loyola Meralco Sparks FC	8	19
Kaya FC	8	18
Stallion Gilligan's FC	7	14
Phil. Army Fritz & Macziol FC	9	9
Phil. Air Force Phoenix FC	7	8
Nomads Auction Manila	8	8
Green Archers United FC	8	7
Pasargad FC	7	5
Phil. Navy Red Juice FC	9	4

And this is the current table for Division 2, which will resume action on Saturday night:

Division 2	GP	PTS
Pachanga FC	11	31
Diliman Victory Liner FC	11	29
Cebu Queen City United FC	11	25
Agila FC	11	21
Laos FC	11	15
Union Internacional Manila	11	14
Team Socceroo FC	11	14
Forza FC	11	12
Dolphins United FC	11	10
Manila All-Japan FC	11	7
Lions Meltique Beef FC	11	7
Sunken Garden United FC	11	6

Note that the bottom team in Division 1 and the bottom two teams of Division 2 are highlighted. They are the ones who will be relegated. Now who will replace those particular teams? The champion of Division 2 will be promoted to Division 1 to replace the last place team. As for the Division 2 cellar dwellers, since there is no Division 3, the current set-up (barring any changes from the UFL Executive and / or Technical Committee) is to find teams who participated in the UFL Cup to come in and replace the relegated sides.

With regards to this, earlier today, Bonnie Ladrido, drafted on his website a position paper presenting a possible revision to the relegation process pertaining to Division 1. Specifically, the revision in question is looking at two teams being relegated from Division 1 to Division 2 and the top two teams from Division 2 to Division 1. The third-worst team in Division 1 would then face the third-best team in Division 2 in a 2-leg format, with the winner gets to earn its slot in Division 1.

The logic of this, according to the paper, is to ensure the UFL is aligned with how other football leagues are set up, citing how other countries conduct similar relegation schemes. In addition, it also expounds on the value of increased competitiveness within the league with this particular scheme, as it would make for better storylines and a larger magnitude of drama at the end of the season.

Based on the current standings, the application of the proposal would show that Navy and Pasargad will be automatically relegated, with Pachanga and Diliman automatically promoted. The Division 1 play-in game would then involve Green Archers United and Cebu Queen City United (a tantalizing possibility especially if one of the legs is going to be held at the Queen City of the South).   

It is important to note though, that Mr. Ladrido is part of the management team of Diliman FC, the 2nd team in Division 2, but he did make it clear that this paper is the end result of a collaborative effort amongst the Division 2 teams during a Technical Committee meeting, and that it was his responsibility to write the paper. In addition, even before his team was included in the league, he already recommended such an expansion to the UFL management. He did stress that the decision still rests with the UFL as to amending the rules and that the clubs are to abide by them whether the position paper is accepted or not.

Reading the paper would make you nod your head in approval to what the essence of what it is, and so for football fans in the Philippines, it is something that the United Football League should look into, among other things, in its development alongside the growth of the sport in our consciousness.

Skip Bayless getting owned

I only manage to listen to ESPN2's morning show First Take via podcast, so I know who Skip Bayless is from listening to him and via his twitter (@realskipbayless). He takes pride of his hometown team, the Oklahoma City Thunder. But he is absolutely critical of one guy in the team, Russell Westbrook. Almost each and every time he takes potshots at his shot attempts, his turnovers, his decision making... And then one time, he decides to share what he knows about running a team as a point guard to illustrate what Russell ought to be doing.

But then, a local blog in Oklahoma decided to do some digging. And it leads to this gem from Jalen Rose on First Take yesterday.



Of course, this was after Kevin Durant got sick and tired of constantly having to hear about this stuff.

So, I thank you, Jalen Rose. As you always say at the start of your Grantland podcast... "Power To The People, Give the People What They Want."

Viva Filipinas Futbol

The short film above was directed by Nikki del Carmen and co-written with Mia Marci. You are probably familiar with the voice over (that is of course, Ebong Joson a.k.a. The Blue-Haired Fanatic).

This is their entry to a contest sponsored by the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF). The theme of the contest  is about what is your "view of Asia and Europe’s connections of the future, the diversity of the now and the interesting challenges of a small world with big populations."

This is what they wrote alongside the clip:

Football is the best representation of the relationship between Asia & Europe. European countries like Spain, Germany, England and France lead the sport, however, Asian Countries such as Japan, China and South Korea are starting to become household names with regards to the Sport.

One's national team struggling to reach the heights of being the best in the sport shows how its country's ideals towards moving towards the future, creating healthy competitiveness as well as friendly relationships between country towards one goal...the love of Football.

You can like, tweet or G+1 Nikki's entry here.

Asian 5 Nations Rugby in the Philippines

Are you ready for people to score a try? The best way to learn a sport is observing. This is probably the closest thing to high quality rugby. One should try and take advantage and watch these games at the Rizal Memorial Stadium. Besides, Filipinos are competing, so it is an opportunity to express our pride, admiration and nationalism.

Hopefully, I have the chance to watch these matches. These four teams comprise Division I, which is one tier lower from the Asian rugby kings (Japan, Korea, UAE, Hong Kong and Kazakhstan).

Of Claiborne and Wonderlic

There has been much ado about how LSU defensive back Mo Claiborne got a 4 on the Wonderlic, as broken on PFT. The Wonderlic has been the means to determine the mental aptitude of a player. This is best known for tests on quarterbacks, but all draftees normally take this exam during the NFL Draft Combine. Why is this highlighted on quarterbacks? Mainly because it is the position that depends highly on mental skill and critical thinking.

Should we really care about the Wonderlic? In the modern era, players prepare for the Wonderlic like how high school kids here prepare for their SATs or for the college entrance exams, they practice and do mock exams. It does not exactly reflect the true aptitude of the player, as noted by Greg Gabriel of the National Football Post. In addition, Morris has a learning disability and has been working really hard to ensure that is not a hindrance to his effort being a student athlete and kudos to LSU trying to help him overcome it. It can partially frame your idea of a draftee, but it should not be the be all and end all of it. Scouts, GMs and coaches have to go through game tape as well as doing their own due diligence

Anyhow, it produced an interesting retort from CBS Sports' Gregg Doyel, to which Mike Florio responds to.

It really does not matter for Claiborne. He's going to be a Top 5 pick in the upcoming draft. See why below.

Kaka's Wonder Goal

It's amazing what the sport of football does, especially with magical stuff like this goal above.

(h/t to Mocksession)

Lebanese scores 113 points by himself

 

It is said that an individual scoring 100 points is one of the toughest things to pull off in today's game, but yesterday in the country of Lebanon, someone just did.

Mohamed El Akkari pulled off such a feat and then some, scoring 113 points for Moutahed in a 173-141 win over Bejjeh in the Lebanese League. Considering that this particular league only plays 40 minutes instead of the NBA's 48 minutes (FIBA rules), seeing this kind of a scoreline is insane.

The 6'2" guard shot 40/69 from the field and 32/59 from long distance, adding a solitary free throw to boot. According to someone's calculations (which are off by two points upon checking), He scored 18 in the 1st (off of six 3's), 15 in the 2nd (off of five 3's), 48 in the 3rd (including 13 threes) and 30 in the fourth (including eight 3's)

He had been averaging 7.6 pts, 2 rebs, .9 assts and 1.1 stls in 23 games, averaging a shade under 20 minutes, before his offensive explosion. He is probably their best three point shooter at 31.4%, thus his preference of shooting threes.

Moutahed had been toting an under .500 win-loss record in the Lebanese Division A, wallowing in the lower half of their division, just beating an opponent that has a worse record than they do. In addition, Bejjeh did not have their best players with the team, due to a pay dispute involving some of them.

Since Wilt Chamberlain pulled off the century mark in the Association, there have been players who also managed to pull off such a feat, namely the late great Drazen Petrovic in Croatia before being ported over to the NBA, a couple of Filipinos, Lou Salvador in 1923 (scored 116 in the archaic rules and probably peach baskets of Naismith) and now-incoming college freshman Jeron Teng in 2011 (104 in a HS game) and a couple of Americans playing in the Philippines (Michael Hackett's 103 in 1985, Tony "The Hurricane" Harris' 105 in 1992).

Now let's see Kobe try to outdo that. (h/t to Deadspin, BDL, and others)

Update: ESPN trying to update, but gets caught not proofreading its articles.

Blog Outsourcing - April 2, 2012 edition

Greetings and Welcome to Holy Monday.

Yesterday, was Palm Sunday, and thus marks the beginning of Holy Week. For most Christian nations, it is an opportunity to think and reflect on things. In the Motherland, usually, people retreat to the provinces and take advantage and schedule vacations. Especially on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, where the country virtually shuts down on its own.

Just one game left in men's college basketball's main course, the NCAA Tournament. It has a palindromic feel, as it is UK vs KU. Yours truly finished an embarrassing last place. Shame on me. But look who is currently on top. 5 players finished with over 1000 points. There is currently a tie as of the moment with Mikey and Billybawl at the lead, but the former has the Wildcats and the latter has the Jayhawks. In fact, he is the only one of the pool who has Bill Self's team winning the tournament.

Here forth are the links after the jump:

Deconstructing Coach Chot's PBA selections

SMART-Gilas 2 head coach Chot Reyes announced his 16-man PBA Pool for the Gilas 2 earlier this week. These are the following individuals:

From Talk N' Text: Jimmy Alapag, Jayson Castro, Ryan Reyes, Larry Fonacier, Ranidel De Ocampo and Kelly Williams
From Alaska: LA Tenorio and Sonny Thoss,
From Petron: Alex Cabagnot and Arwind Santos
From B-Meg: James Yap and Marc Pingris
From Powerade: Gary David and Marcio Lassiter
From Rain or Shine: Gabe Norwood
From Barangay Ginebra: Enrico Villanueva

He has yet to announce the other half of the pool consisting of the players who are not yet in the PBA, led by Chris Tiu from the Gilas roster. Current Air 21 import and naturalized Filipino Marcus Douthit is also in, even with the planned naturalization of Denver Nugget and recent Manila visitor JaVale McGee already in the works.

I am not surprised with the six players from TNT, because those guys are the ones he's most familiar with, being their coach. Plus, they won the 3 of the last four conferences, and you cannot argue with that success. I am relatively surprised with JVee's non-inclusion, as well as Enrico's inclusion. Then again, a naturalized player will man the slot for at least 30 minutes, so that will be the least of our concerns.

What can we expect: a lot of small ball, transition, open court offense, something that has been en vogue as of late (look at Team USA under Coach K). We have designated gunners with Yap and David alternating in the role. There is an emphasis as well with defense, led by Marcio, who did such a great job for SMART-Gilas last time out, and Larry for TNT. You'll need someone who knows Chot's offense, so the entire TNT PG corps will do that for him. Sonny is an upgrade over Asi for the back-up big who can play alongside naturalized slot man. Think our backcourt's small? Ryan and Gabe can handle it. Even Larry can do it in a pinch. Marc is like Udonis Haslem. Arwind is like Josh Smith, even with his bad habit of shooting threes poorly.

It is important to stress this info out: Chot did express that the pool will remain fluid, so guys can play their way in or out of the pool.

Blog Outsourcing - March 26, 2012

It's another Manic Monday.

So, the Final Four is set. Congratulations to Kentucky, Louisville, Kansas and Ohio State. The establishment once again reigns in the NCAA, as a SEC, B1G, Big East and a Big 12 team asserted their claim. Kentucky is filled with boatloads of talent, which Cal will reload, and reload he will until the NBA pries him away. Standing in his way is a familiar nemesis in Rick Pitino and his Cardinals, the champions of the Big East. Then we have Bill Self against Thad Matta on the other bracket. Maybe we will see the drama we're normally accustomed to here. Who knows.

The women are in their Elite 8 (Baylor-Tenn vs Stanford-Duke, Notre Dame-Maryland vs UConn vs Kentucky) The NIT is also in their Final Four, too. But most of you don't care about that. What more the CBI and the CIT...  

Here forth are the links to make your morning catch-up worthwhile.

Mick Pennisi is Floptastic

March 21 is definitely a special day for one Mick Pennisi. Mick, a long time veteran of the Philippine Basketball Association, had earlier nailed his 700th three pointer against the Petron Blaze Boosters. He is the 8th Filipino to make that many conversions from that distance. But all we will remember from that day was this instance.

The Chelsea FC Soccer School in Manila

Four-time Barclays English Premier League side champions Chelsea FC has entered into a partnership with The Younghusband Football Academy (TYFA) that would lead towards the creation of a soccer school in the Philippines.

To be spearheaded by Phil and James Younghusband, The Chelsea FC Soccer School will be ofiicially launched on May 15, 2012 at the SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City. It will be the English club's initial foray in the Philippines. Prior to that, a Chelsea FC Soccer School Summer Camp will be organized this April and May at the Evia Football Field in Las Piñas, with the culminating activity to be concurrent with the official launch of the school on the 15th. The camp is to be subdivided into the Under-8, Under-10, Under-12 and Under-16 age groups for boys and girls.

It was natural to have Chelsea and TYFA to enter into a partnership, as Phil and James have roots with the team from Stamford Bridge. The siblings came from and played for the Chelsea Academy, under the tutelage of Gianluca Vialli and current Real Madrid CF manager Jose Mourinho. From this experience, in January 2010, Phil and James established TYFA as a series of enhancement clinics for football skills to help with the grassroots development of the sport in and around the Philippines while at the same time playing for the national team. In fact, the brothers are holders of UEFA Coaching Credentials (Phil has a Level 2 badge, while James has a Level 1 badge).

For any questions and inquiries, you may contact 09478357519 or go to the website.

Pray For Fabrice

c/o Daily Mail

It is unnerving to hear about stuff like this, especially if the person involved plays for the team you root for.

The former English Under-21 international collapsed during their FA Cup Quarterfinal match against Tottenham at White Hart Lane. He was rushed to The Heart Attack Centre where he faces a key 24-hour stretch.

Hope you pull this through, Fabrice. COYW!

Of Cinderella, Football and March Madness

*Note: This post was written BEFORE the 2-0 defeat against Turkmenistan

Photo from PDI writer Cedelf Tupas' Twitter acct

It is March, said to be the most fascinating time of the year in sports. Frenetic and palpitating. Filled with  moments of magic.

In the realm of American college basketball, there is a realm called "March Madness." It is the mad dash towards the collegiate postseason, and the postseason itself, where 68 teams fight their way to be known as the best team that year. Where it is literally a life-or-death scenario, where a defeat will eliminate you and send you to obscurity and probable disappointment. People love that and it shows, especially now in the era of social media and its immediacy. This is where the concept of Cinderella in sport is best known, as some little-known school gets on a roll, beats a heavy favorite, goes on a run, gets wide appeal.

Arnold Clavio responds

Just now, GMA News released a statement from one of its key members of its news corps, Arnold Clavio.

Mga igan, nakakalungkot na may negatibong reaksyon ang naging pahayag ko tungkol sa Philippine Azkals kaugnay ng sexual harassment complaint ni Ms. Cristy Ramos. Wala po akong ganoong intensyon. Ang isyu po rito ay sexual harassment at kung may nagamit man po akong mga salita na hindi angkop, nagpapakumbaba po ako at humihingi ng pang-unawa. Dun naman po sa mga kasama kong nanindigan laban sa sexual harassment, maraming salamat po. Seryoso pong isyu ito na dapat bantayan.

Translation (my version): It saddens me that there has been a negative reaction based on my comments about the Philippine Azkals regarding the sexual harassment complaint of Ms. Cristy Ramos. I did not intend it to go that way. The issue is about the sexual harassment case, and if I may have used any inappropriate language, I humbly ask for your understanding. To those who support the fight against sexual harassment, thank you. This is a subject matter that needs to be focused on.

To fully understand the context of what he said, here is the actual video:



You may choose to frame it to what you want it to be frame, for as long as you heard both ends of the story.

Blog Outsourcing - March 12, 2012 edition

Another Monday greets us all today.

Congratulations to the 68 teams who made it to the Big Dance. First to the 31 Conference Tournament Winners, since they earned the automatic bid. Then to the other 37 institutions whom the NCAA Selection Committee has deemed to be deserving of the spot.

I am pretty sure we will have a myriad of posts upcoming to deconstruct the bracket, and other what nots, but there are other things to look at, as there is the NIT and the CBI and the CIT, too.

Good luck and may the bracket gods be nice to you.

Here are the links to make your day after the jump

Powerade and Neil Etheridge

 
Neil Etheridge arrived in the country mainly to prepare for the FIFA international friendly against Malaysia last February 29. In addition to that, he also managed to make his first formal appearance as an endorser for sports drink brand Powerade at the Makati Shangri-La last February 27. Neil is the final piece of its dream team of Ambassadors, as the Fulham GK joins collegiate basketball standout David Semerad, running extraordinaire Rio dela Cruz and fitness maven Chinggay Andrada as the foursome for Powerade.

A-Me55i-ng

 
Lionel Messi is the reigning, defending Ballon D'or winner. That means you are the best footballing god in the planet. If you are not convinced, let this Champions League clip against Bayer Leverkusen show you.



h/t to the guy who posted this on Vimeo.

First guy to score five goals in a Champions League match. First guy to score at least 4 goals in a CL match twice (he scored 4x against Arsenal 2 years ago).

He's plain and simply bad-ass.

Seaoil High School All-Star Game this weekend

It is interesting that there really has not been a true showcase of the best high school players in the country. All we know of them are their exploits if you have seen them live in person in the different leagues. Now, the people behind the National Basketball Training Center will help you get to know the players in a first of its kind Philippine spectacle, the Seaoil High School All-Star Game, which will take place on Sunday, 11am at the Ynares Gym in Pasig.

Hundreds of graduating High School basketball standouts tried out, but only 30 were selected to participate. Six of those come from the provinces as recommended by the locals in their respective areas.The 30 names were then ranked by a group of basketball experts, which included Ato Badolato and current Youth Team coach Olsen Racela, and split evenly into two-15 man teams, which will be coached by the staff from either National University or San Beda College.

The event is intended to be about the kids and for the kids, as remarked by NBTC Technical Director Alex Compton. This is different from the Nike Elite Camps that had been shown previously as the Elite is more of instructional and that was composed of different age groups, unlike this particular event, which is tailored for incoming collegiate freshmen.

In addition, Rajko Toroman, who helmed SMART-Gilas previously and now serves as consultant with the SMC franchises, will also have a session with the 30 players.

It is expected that coaches and scouts from the different colleges and universities will be attending this event to check out the players, some of which have already declared where they will be attending college. There are still others who remain undecided as to where they will be pursuing further studies and take their athletic talents to.

Here are the players who will be participating in the 1st Seaoil High School All-Star Game


Light.                                                                  Dark
FRANCIS ABARCAR                             THOMAS TORRES
JOHN BOO                                              PAUL NIELES
KIM CINCO                                            JERON TENG
JJ ALEJANDRO                                       JASON LIGAD
DARYL NAZARENO                               KYLE SUAREZ
IAN CARLO VALDEZ                             GABRIEL REYES
MCJOUR LUIB                                        RALPH NAPA
ARIEL BASAS JR.                                   VAN ADAM ABATAYO
KEVIN BAYTAN                                     RICHIE VILLARUZ
BRIAN ILARDE                                       GIDEON BABILONIA
RALPH TANSINGCO                             ANTONIO BONSUBRE
TOMAS RAMOS                                     EDRIC ESTACIO
JULIUS CADAVIS.                                  JANMER GABITO
PAOLO JABINES                                    PAUL RAZEL RUBIN
RANDOLPH TORIÑO                            DAVE WILSON YU

Here is the picture of some of the players participating in the game, which was taken during their press conference held at the National Sports Grill yesterday. Joining them are current NU head coach Eric Altamirano, Alex Compton and SBP Executive Director Sonny Barrios.