The Philippine Basketball Association Finals begins this Wednesday as the Air 21 Express, appearing in their first championship stint go up against the Ginebra Gin Kings, inarguably the most popular (and hateable) team in the land.
Fearless forecast says the Express will win this series in six or seven games although that's quite a courageous prediction considering the Gin Kings have not lost a game in roughly two months...
The keys to this Finals series:
+ Homer Se vs. the people of the Philippines. Express head coach Bo Perasol in recent interviews that it feels like "Air 21 vs. the people of the Philippines." Getting the cue from that and twisting it a little bit, it will be Homer Se who will be the most hated player (who else, but by the people of the Philippines) before the series ends. Se, a rugged player anywhere on the court will try to frustrate Gins import Chris Alexander. Se, a glue-guy blue-collar worker inside the paint will challenge everyone that gets in his way. How will Alexander react? Or more importantly, how will the Gin Kings react to this guy macho-plays? If one way and another he neutralizes or contains the import, i feel this will be a key to any game in the series. If one way and another he earns the crowd's ire, i feel it's a job well done already since it means that he is indeed effective. In his own little gulang ways.
+ Gary David vs. Mark Caguioa. Mr. Energy and The Spark matching up against each other? i guess not as Perasol sends a taller Arwind Santos in trying to stop Mr. Caguioa and in turn Tanquincen sends a bulkier Junthy Valenzuela against Mr. David. While they won't be assigned to each of the other, monitoring their scoring output will be vital to this series. i expect both to really explode for a game or two and it will greatly help their team's cause for those games.
+ Motivation vs. Hunger. It was a poster from Pinoy Exchange that provided me the idea (or even stated it himself subliminally) that motivation is quite different from hunger. As i stated at PEX, motivation is more of the emotions felt by the veteran team and hunger by a younger one. Ginebra has found their motivation, along with their confidence of course, in the middle part of the season and it's the same reason why they are still in a long winning streak and hoping to cap it off with the championship. On the other hand, the young guns from Air 21 are simply hungry to become one of the elite teams in the league. Both teams are looking to prove something; Ginebra is looking to earn more bragging rights in its rich history and Air 21 is looking to make history.
Losing money in poker is never a big deal. Well, it's never a big deal until you realized that the taxi driver is asking for an extra ten pesos for the fare. They call it flat rate but it's never a flat world when it's the taxi drivers doing the talking--- also called soliciting--- and they make you round and round and round...
i read in a Pahalniuk book about the signs of addiction. i am not sure if it was a Pahlaniuk book anyway, but i read it somewhere. The signs are there probably. i am not going to deny that part. But. But i was accused of the same thing with basketball---- waking up at 4:30 am because the game is at 5:00 am and you had to be at the covered courts because you don't want to be late and spare yourself of being real early but still has to play the second game of the morning; then going home right after the game because you still had to continue that NBA LIVE franchise mode you started a week earlier OR watching the Memphis Grizzlies battle the San Antonio Spurs, which by the way has dominated the former in their first three meetings earlier in the season.
Which brings me back to a very personal question; where is the thin line drawn between addiction and passion? Is it the same, a point which probably every addict will want to hear and fight for? Or is it different, a perspective that every passionate person will fail to accomplish yet will try to understand... And so, which is it?
i am addicted to competition. It's not just about the fun... It's not just about fun AND winning even... It's about fun, winning and LOSING. It is all of it. i can not explain it and i will never understand it. It's the chopseuy of life. The tasty tender cauliflower versus a near-rotten string beans add a little mix of the usual carrots and cabbages.
i lost around 800 pesos last time i played poker. And i'm looking forward to the next games. You can call me anything now.
One U pilot episode moved to August 26. One World. One Dream. One U! Thanks and no thanks to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
This is more than an oh-well moment by the way.
Rooting for San Miguel (Ok, it's called Magnolia) is tough these days, as many observers have pointed out it is a team that is (very) rich in talent but can't seem to find that character that will define them... Caught 3 of the 4 games this semifinals series and it is sheer talent that is carrying San Miguel; then again, talent alone won't win you championships and i don't see that happening this conference.
Unless...
San Miguel goes back to their previous strength and that is STOPPING people. Stopping Air 21 is indeed a difficult task since they are primarily an offensive team which maximizes their strength. They have an import in Thomas who knows to do just that and they have a slew of versatile players that gets the job done. Credit to the likes of David, Santos and even Se who have used their brute and speed to take advantage of the oft-times lazy and half-hearted efforts on the defensive end. So i repeat, unless they become more of an intentionally defensive team this next two-three games i just don't see the sister teams slugging it out for the crown.
Some notes:
+ Sad to see Danny Seigle being used sparingly. i just want his ass to be traded so that it lights a fire under his errr, ass and he plays motivated and he once again plays like a superstar. Injury or not , it's always sad to see "what could have been" players sitting out at the end of their careers. Not too sure if Siot inserted DS in the lineup last Sunday to up his trade value because it is obvious that SMB has already enough offensive weapons.
So we will see on Wednesday (and Friday and Sunday) if MY team proves my forecast wrong. That's always been the case when you really don't have a confidence in your team. The worst-case scenario reverse jinxing person might just change the fate.
La fuga a Europa puede no terminar ahÃ. Los rumores sobre otros posibles fichajes son constantes. Se baraja el interés de dos equipos rusos por el pÃvot letón Andris Biedrins (Golden State Warriors), la posibilidad de que el esloveno Sasha Vujacic deje de ser compañero de Gasol en los Lakers, la huida de Carl Landry de los Houston Rockets y el fichaje de Luol Deng (Chicago Bulls) por el Panathinaikos. Incluso se dice que Jason Williams (Miami Heat) podrÃa haber sido ofrecido al Maccabi de Tel Aviv.
Bold words translation (according to Hoopshype.com):
Jason Williams may have been offered to Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Damn it. And i was only half kidding when i said i should start getting into Euroleague fantasy...
Tsk. Tsk. Ang mga pinoy talaga. (Da best!) Sometime dapat post ko si Marlboro sachet. (Salamat sa officemate na si Paolo sa pagsend kang picture na kinua nya sa multiply site kang tropa nya).
(This was actually included in the first entry today but may confuse some of the direct cause and effect and indirect effect and cause.. So, it needed it's own)
The tala and the buwan is smiling ear to ear. It's false hope and empty happiness by all means, but i will take it.
i have decided to reinvent myself. From smartass to just an ass. The evolution of us. The devolution of me. i am not sure that's what you would like to call self-improvement. i might even need self-help books to start this one.
Nah. i can't believe it. The (cute and cuddly) child in that picture is supposed to be me? That was my first reaction as i rummaged through various antique things when i was in Naga two weekends ago... i doubt it that people seeing the same pictures will be having dissimilar reactions because they really have to wonder... uh, what?
So, anyway deciding against or for posting the images was sort of an issue with myself. i am always the behind the camera behind the camera behind the camera behind the camera type of person.
But what's to lose, eh? Nobody will believe anyway, that this was once me. Oh and for those who are wondering how these pictures have their "collage look" that is rather unintentional as my sister (Let-Let, she's in one of them pictures as well) did cut the pictures because it had blemishes in them (Blame countless typhoons in the Bicol region). i admit it was in good intention but there's one lesson to be learned here: most things with blemishes (marks, ugly or not) are not to be cut but to be left alone. Because you will appreciate things better that way. (Thanks to Che for scanning the 50+ pictures and thanks to Let for keeping the pictures in some sort of order)
Pardon the vanity trip, i had to keep the images saved somewhere and none better than your own blog. Now, here are the pictures (with annotations and in no particular order) convincing myself that this is indeed me...
> Prep at Naga Parochial School. Apparently i hated uniforms already that i was in sando. That or i was again sweaty from playing aragawan-base or sipa that i had to change shirt. Naming my classmates from left to right... Nah, i can't remember anyone except for BJ Villaroya (sitting to my right) and who stands out because of that great smile and hair!
> Hmm. All i remember with this one is that i asked the photographer to take the shot (camera) at the same time the guy in white (i assume this was a San Miguel game) is also taking his shot (PBA on TV)! Great shot!
> Kuya RJ and his first bike. (This early you knew that i infinitely look better than him.)
> Always carried that killer smile. Yey, i can actually recognize most of the people in here. There's Let in the middle and to her right is a pair of kinakapitid in Tin and Nonay and cousin Pepo. Then there's old playmates and best of friends then Dodoy and Mon-Mon at the other side. Half of the names i mentioned will probably want to kill me too for mentioning their kid-names.
> With Ma. That's a genuine smile right there, after all i was still a toddler. No means and ways to disappoint her. Yet.
> Pair of godparents... Ninang and Ninong errrr... Now i understand why they never gave me any present that i can remember, i can't even remember their names...
> At the Naga Cathedral Grounds... Preparing for a big event called a Field Demonstration. The real cute and cuddly ones are just right in front of the class because of the factor called "according to height" when forming a line. You are looking at the sideview angle of Mr. Arnold San Joaquin and Mr. (now a doctor) Rosito "Arbee" Bascuña.
> More and...
> ...more of the same...
> and a little farther back...
> Complete cast of the Q-siblings. i wasn't a teacher's pet. Promise.3
> More of the elementary intrams. The class as Rambo...
Actually there are some more pictures to be uploaded but am too excited to not post the first set so i guess i will just update it in a later timeIf i missed out on the names and places and other facts... You can blame the error on the blemishes.
(And uploading them at will a few spaces below, annotations will have to follow though..)
Ha! How's that for an accusation? Apparently, i have lost it. i might be losing it all, but definitely not it. They won't understand it because i don't. And it's all relative, if you know what i mean.
Pagdinalan mo ang pasali, apod dyan box-office hit! Pagdae ka naggibo ning pasali? You used to be fun dyan ang apod and naghahalat lang sinda na ipadagos ang pelikula... (Trilogy? Series?) Dae ninda maiintindindihan na ma na maabot na na pasali. Tapos na. The end na ang pelikula. Dae ninda yan maiintindihan ta dae ko naiintindihan. Relative apod dyan.
Mayong pakiararaman. (Dae yan negative, arog lang talaga kayan dangogon medyo smart-ass.)
Love shit story coming up. Stop reading if you have a heart.
All i really remember was the tragic ending. No, more like the sad ending. Tragic is too strong a word, and sad is just the apt reference. It’s neither empty nor assuming, just the right one. Another thing I remember was that it’s title included the word “heart”, I wasn’t too sure then if it was untamed or weak hearts because movies over free tv back then never gave you a clue what it’s called because after all they tell you the title just in the beginning. Years passed, thanks to the web I did find the right title of the movie starring Christian Slater and Marissa Tomei.
I remember I once fell in love with Tomei in the movie “Only You”--- yes, the Damon Bradley-led love shit story, but it was in the movie “Untamed Heart” that I fell in love with the story itself--- Tomei this time was just a character. And just one of the characters in the movie that cut you through--- deep and deep--- it just doesn’t hurt; it defines you all the unexplained and empty emotions it that in a way and the other defines the ineffability of unconditional love.
The roughly one and half hour flick started with Adam (Christian Slater) as a very young boy in an orphanage run by nuns. That one and half hour was two and more including advertisements the first and only time I watched it when I was in high school. Deep and deep, the vivid images and the powerful plot brings you back to the struggle and pleasure of the entire film even fifteen years or so later, and probably more, if time allows.
Fast forward to fifteen years and more--- Adam’s life in the movie, not mine--- we find him working in a restaurant working with Caroline (Marissa Tomei). In a few words, Caroline was wild and Adam was mild--- both an exaggeration and an understatement. In short, oil and water (oil and vinegar says Caroline's character, we don't know if it was a joke or otherwise) that will never mix even if you tried. But in love, you do not even have to try, it just happens.
After many unsuccessful relationships, Caroline was in the unintentional process of just feeling and not looking for errr… love. For accidents are not mere coincidences, the unassuming Adam finds himself being introduced to Caroline after the former saved the latter in what was a rape attempt at Caroline. This was Adam the beast, almost fearless always pure emotion, which beat the hell out of the men who tried to destroy the life of his love and the love of his life. In the next few weeks in between Christmas and New Year (Credit the writers for picking the best time for a tragic story!) Caroline eventually got Adam to open up--- in more ways than one--- his heart and soul and mind. Backtrack a little bit, Adam has a congenital heart disease--- just so considerate to mention that in this line--- the same heart that will explain the title of the movie and define the Adam-ness in Adam.
More understatements: Adam was aloof of the world, boxed in his own and distant from it. The silent introvert type who lives in an almost unassuming and unreal dreams but true. His world is his own and Caroline’s--- he admits to her later that he has been stalking her for such a long time; that he watches her sleep because of… the peace in her face and not even wanting a piece of her mind (Stalking bastard is what comes to mind)… Stalking or just plain insane, what happened was the accident of saving her from the pair of felons, all not mere coincidences in a script written by destiny and acted upon by love.
As both our main characters started to really get to know each other, from Adam’s fixation to nothingness but her to her realization of the unconditional emotion in front of her, Adam and Caroline became as one--- for oil and vinegar (water) do mix, just add a little bit of ingredient called heart.
Twists and turns as in real life, bad moments get the best of the better people. The nameless felons eventually got back at Adam, finding him at the back alley of the restaurant, returning the favor and more, and stabbing him right at the center of his gut. Forward to the hospital scene, Adam was saved but as the doctor attending to him probably summarized the moral of the movie; “it’s not the knife wound that we are concerned about, it’s the heart that we are concerned.”
Warning: another love shit comparison coming up: for all our courage to fight and to bounce back from pain, it’s the love within us that reminds us of all the pain, and maybe, just maybe we can die from that same love as well. The doctor, the medical one and not the love doctor did remind Caroline that the recovery from trauma was a rare case as well, and maybe, just maybe it was what saved Adam’s life that night.
The doctor would suggest a heart transplant but Adam would none of it (stupid bastard) saying later: “They’re wrong, no one is taking away my heart…this is my heart.” (Time to bash orphanages now for “educating” the stupid bastard) And so Adam lived with a half a heart with Caroline compensating the half of it (Since this is a tragic story we know from this point on that Adam was living somewhat a half life.)
With the stupid leading the blind (or vice versa, depending on which character you are in this film), the movie builds up the sad ending. Caroline gives Adam a surprise birthday gift a few days/weeks/later bringing him to a hockey game between the Detroit Redwings and Dallas Stars… Adam did enjoy the game even catching a rare puck shot into the stands. We don’t know if he even understands sports in general, but he had a very interesting and new experience to say the least and Caroline was the star of the game. In the long way drive home with Adam at the passenger’s seat, he died staring at Caroline’s face and peace and happiness. Of course, she assumed that it was just sleep that consumed his tired loved one. But it was sleep times eternity, and it is called death.
The discovery was of course painful. The realization that your loved one has ceased or has gone away eats up… everything. Caroline, in the film’s saddest moment, was waking up Adam inside the car telling him: “Come on, baby, we are home… Baby… baby…” and crying and crying and crying… The directors and scriptwriters did spare us of more pain as the next scene brought as right to burial but pulls the rug right under us… ...as the film ended with Caroline, happy and sad and happy and sand and empty, in Adam’s apartment holding some pictures of the past with Adam… With Adam’s collection of vinyl records (instrumental)… Adam’s previously unread letter… “i carry your heart with me… I am not yet finishe… I carry it in my heart.”
The end.
No more love shit notes from here onwards. Promise. Continue reading, have a heart. I wish I was Adam and not Caroline today because the greatest tragedy of our lives is not the absence of happiness but just the absence. The greatest comedy of pain and of death is not in sadness but in emptiness.
