daily dose of Sports

Sports TV

2011-05-16T07:43:00.000-07:00

On oDesk and Sports

2010-10-12T05:49:00.000-07:00

There are two things I'm very passionate about, sports and writing.

That's the reason why one of the first topics I searched for on oDesk is a writing gig about sports. In my search, I found this job posting for a forum site about sports which I would really like to secure. Since I have not had a job from oDesk, I have no feedback on my profile to dazzle the employer. What to do then? Since I have this blog, although overrun by spam (Hi 90 percent of commenters), I thought about making it as a portfolio of sorts.

So please dear employer, feel free to browse even just the first page of this blog to see if my writing style and my background about sports is good enough for you. :D

P.S.
I would have had included a link to your site but I'm not sure if you would agree to that.

MMA Facebook Game

2010-05-14T23:45:00.000-07:00

just read this article about mma pro fighter, a game i kinda like on facebook. please take a look and let me know what you think of the article in the comment section below.

please provide insightful comment or your backlink is gone.

Bye Bye Cavs

2010-05-14T02:23:00.000-07:00

few people believed that the c's have what it takes to even make it to the eastern conference finals. yet here we are looking at a magic-celtics eastern conference finals after the boston celtics defeated the cavs in game 6.

this defeat just shows that one superstar is not enough to carry a team to the promised land, not even if you are a phenom like lebron james. i'll take a win over a triple double anyday anyway.

Dangers Involving A Ski Vacation

2010-03-07T04:10:00.000-08:00

The world is not a safe place; that is if you are not careful. Accidents can happen anytime like during skiing holidays. Since skiing is a demanding activity to the body, there are several things that could go wrong in terms of bodily injury. Also, there are other several things that could go wrong on a skiing trip hence you have to arm yourself with information on how to avoid dangers aside from ankle sprains and similar injuries.

Ski slopes are sometimes crowded especially during those times of the year when many a people would go out for their skiing trip. This makes the slopes like a speedway full of speeding cars. If you are not careful, you could end up getting hit by someone hurtling towards you from behind, or worse, be the one out of control and wreaking havoc down the slopes.

In every skiing destination, there are instructors who would tell you what and what not to do while skiing. For beginners and even intermediate skiers, it is strongly recommended that they follow these instructions to the letter. This simple action could help save you from broken bones and crushed ego.

Another hazard which can be easily dealt with is the environment. Frostbite and hypothermia are two of the major concerns of every skier with regards to the environment. To deal with this, you have to be prepared prior to your trip. Pack clothes which are designed to keep you warm.

Know your limits. Skiing is something you cannot learn in one hour or even a day for most people. Do not push yourself especially if you are just a beginner. Remember that you do not own the slope and any wrong move on your part could injure others and not just yourself.

Be aware of your environment all the time. Keep away from roped-off area. They are closed for a reason. When overtaking other skiers, don't cut too close to them. They cannot see you and if you pass to close to them at about the same time they decided to make left or right turn, you could both end up in a heap of aching joints and bloody noses.

Yes, just like every other physical activity, there are risks involved during skiing. But these risks/hazards/dangers can easily be avoided, and that's what you should always keep in mind.

ben wallace back with the pistons

2009-08-07T13:10:00.000-07:00

big ben = intense

he's not gonna make them a championship contender, at least in my opinion. but it's a feel-good move by the detroit pistons to bring back big ben. mr. wallace hinted earlier this year that he might retire and that's what would have happened after the suns let him go after getting him from that shaq trade.

anyway, i think the pistons is still a team to be reckoned with at least on paper.

ben gordon: can score at will
rip hamilton: can flat-out shoot the effin' lights out coming off picks
charlie villanueva: kinda good
tayshaun prince: he's unhappy like rip but maybe big ben's presence can rekindle that tay fire
rodney stuckey: getting good but with gordon and hamilton in the backcourt, what would happen to him? ok, he's a pg and both rip and gordon play the 2 so this season could be a breakout year for him.

p.s.
at least it's gonna be nice hearing that "gong" sound at the palace again.

january 25, 1933 – august 1, 2009

2009-08-06T06:00:00.000-07:00

ramon sessions please join the knicks

2009-08-05T14:55:00.000-07:00

just something to breathe life into this dead blog:

if you are ramon sessions reading this, please join the new york knicks. even for less money than you want, and yes, even for a single year. why? because you'll kick major ass with starter minutes in ny and that will certainly pave the way for a better payday for you. :D

just saying/blogging...

who's got the baddest f1 helmet?

2009-03-13T12:53:00.000-07:00

the cars are not the the only sleek things in formula 1. there are kick-ass helmets too. anyone familiar with f1 knows that each driver has his own helmet. so, i did a bit of snooping around to bring you these f1 helmets.

giancarlo fischella will be suiting up again for force india this season and he'll be wearing this helmet for the 2009 season. not too shabby but not too great either.

adrian sutil, fisichella's force india teammate will be rocking this helmet this year. better than fisichella's in my opinion.

back with renault for the second year after his one-year stint with mclaren-mercedes, fernando alonso has this for this year. looks good but i think i will go with sutil's still.

heikki kovalainen would be looking to improve his last year's performance this season. hopefully, the helmet will not be the only thing he's changed for the better. it's tough but my mclaren bias means i'm picking this helmet over sutil's.

jarno trulli, still with toyota owns this really cool helmet. the design's simple but i have to go with it as i like the shape (lol). maybe it's shaped this way is to make room for trulli's long hair. maybe.

kimi raikkonen cannot make it back-to-back after losing his crown last year to lewis hamilton. the iceman though still know how to be in style even if he will be driving the number 3 car this year. kimi over trulli no doubt.

it was believed that lewis hamilton's helmet is yellow as a tribute to the late ayrton senna. the truth though is that it's yellow because it makes it easier for his father to see him while racng during his karting days. sorry lewis but kimi's got a better helmet than you.

nelson piquet will be playing second fiddle to teammate fernando alonso. but when it comes to the helmet, he owns alonso. not cool enough though to beat the iceman.

nick heidfeld may or may not be able to match kimi on the tracks but his cool helmet sure does beat kimi's. just check out the top view of this helmet:

wicked!

robert kubica's got a great-looking helmet too. looks like bmw sauber has got everything covered. they've got a good car to compete with the big two dogs last year, in the first half at least, and they have the two coolest helmets in f1. it's a tie. and bmw sauber wins in the team department.

timo glock, you got a fine helmet too. too bad it's not enough to beat the bmw sauber duo. good luck with the season though.

these helmets were used last year but i think they deserve a spot here too:

takuma sato's helmet is just like his career in f1. not too great. but respectable still. after all, who am i to bash someone who's got a super license and is 6 ft tall.

jenson button finally has a car to drive this season. i hope he brings this helmet's look back.

rubens barichello's got this simple helmet. better than some of the helmets here in my opinion.

while nick heidfeld and robert kubica may have the best looking helmets in f1 but they ain't got nothing on moto gp's valentino rossi. best.helmet.ever.:

what i miss about the pba

2009-03-13T10:17:00.000-07:00

before i became a fan of the nba, i'm an avid supporter of the pba or the philippine basketball association. today, i no longer know what teams are playing in the league or the players. well, i know alaska is still alaska and their coach is still tim cone. i don't know what happened but i guess it has something to do with the influx of foreign-born player playing in the league.

i do not have anything against them as they do have filipino blood in them. but there's something missing about the league when the ten best players are all born outside the country (just kidding). but really, looking back, the last time a true-blue filipino was named the mvp was way back in 2001 when danny ildenfonso took home that honor. sure, willie miller is a homegrown talent but he is of american descent.

with these players coming into the league, slots for filipino players declined as teams prefer fil-foreign players known for their athleticism and of course, the height factor is very much against the filipinos.

so now, while i enjoy following the nba, i miss the good old days when i religiously follow the pba. here are things i miss most about those days:

1. the three conferences. it's not like the eastern or western conference in the nba. it's more like a whole season divided into three sub-seasons (?) (hehehe). first is the all-filipino cup. then there's the commisioner's cup where teams can bring in an import. the third conference is the governor's cup where imports are allowed too. if a team takes the chip for the three conferences, they call it a grand slam.

2. the imports playing only for one team. i grew up with imports like sean chambers and lamont strothers. unfortunately, i wasn't able to see tony harris in action in the pba. what i like about these imports is that they stay with only one team. sean chambers brought two championships to alaska in that fateful 1996 run. lamont strothers on the other hand played only for san miguel.

3. the monikers/monickers. i so miss them that i made a list of pba players and their monickers. hahaha.. and here it is:

4th quarter man- jojo lastimosa
aerial voyager- vergel meneses
atom bomb- ato agustin
the captain- alvin patrimonio
captain marbel- kenneth duremdes
defense minister- jerry codiñera
fortune cookie- atoy co
robocop- alvin teng
flying a- johnny abarrientos
the hawk- bong hawkins
the destroyer- rudy distrito
triggerman- allan caidic

4. the whole idea of watching the pba. i really miss the league. maybe one of these days, i'd start reacquainting myself with the pba. hopefully this will not be my last post about the local league.

big fan of garbagetime all-stars

2009-03-13T10:07:00.000-07:00

yes i am. i follow gtas religiously along with slam and hibachi 2.0 and i just had a great laugh with their latest strip. i don't know if i can post it here so i'm just gonna direct you where you can see this funny piece. click here.

lewis hamilton likes bob marley too

2009-03-06T13:36:00.000-08:00

photo from here

macka b, you're right, everybody loves bob marley. even lewis hamilton. according to the youngest f1 champion ever: "before melbourne last year i watched a comedy while I was getting changed. i had my headphones on and was just laughing my head off. i don't listen to music at a race, but it's more because i need to be relaxed. if i did, it would be calming music like marvin gaye or bob marley."

i'm glad we agree on one thing lewis. because honestly, i don't think dropping your ex-girlfriend for nicole is such a "good" move. dude, she was with you when you were a nobody. but hey, i don't know what happened between the two of you so, i'm just gonna shut my trap and list down some of the people i know who loves bob marley.

1. me
2. lewis hamilton
3. brian grant (he's got a tattoo of the man)
4. moose (he's got this post)
5. serbia (well, a group of people) (they have this statue)
6. chicago bulls' luol deng
7. chicago bulls' joakim noah
8. atlanta hawks' al horford
9. a lot of musicians
10. me

got me a car seat

2009-03-05T14:14:00.000-08:00

i don't hate my job. but sometimes i get to thinking that i'm in the wrong field. after all, i have a degree in automotive technology.

while i write a lot about cars and stuff night in and night out, i don't feel as if i'm using what i've learned back in college. so, to prove to myself that i do love cars and computers, i've gone and gotten myself a used car seat which i will be using as my computer chair. haha

next, i'll get me a set of headlights! hahaha

p.s.
just a short post to clear my mind of ac condensers. haha

and no, i couldn't afford a sparco!

76ers acquire manny pacquiao

2009-03-02T13:31:00.000-08:00

in case you haven't heard yet, manny pacquiao will be going up against ricky hatton. the match is slated to be held on may 2 this year. while hatton has started training for the fight, pacquiao decided to take his game to the nba. yup, the nba.

hahaha... manny's got a nasty crossover to pair up with his thunderous left straight!

tyson chandler post

2009-03-02T11:28:00.000-08:00

pretty busy day at the office. gotta make this a quick post.

i'm pretty sure jeff bower is feeling relieved that the tyson chandler trade was rescinded after tyson tipped-in the winning basket against the bucks recently. at the said game, chadler grabbed 17 rebounds. while chris paul and david west are pretty consistent, i think it was the presence of the revitalized tyson chandler which fueled the hornets to take a 4-0 week. that trade was good for the hornets after all.

looking forward to a better second half of the season from the hornets.

nba, where funnies happen

2009-02-26T11:54:00.000-08:00

kinda bored in the office. surfed the net. googled funny nba pics. got these funny nba pics to share:

yup, it says so right there... owned!

let me help you up cp. :D (or is that a wedgie?)

no wonder jordan retired again...

d-wade knows your weak points guys...

kobe fans must be loving this photo

ref: what the hell is dwight doing?

ira newble doing his best shawn michaels imitation

right on the money!

and karl malone is not exactly a small guy

can anyone tell me what is going on here?

what's so funny shawn?

it's all about what's in front of the jersey huh?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

lebron: surprise! hahahaha

what?

sam i am, what's this dance called?

h2o: hey coach, need help?

rearranged

again, hahahahahaha

yao: plant the freakin' bomb!

yao: tell me how my armpit tastes.

photoshopped but i feel the need to add these here:

much love going on in the lakerland:

and this will never be complete without this:

*edited

moose from hibachi 2.0 posted a similar, well, post. check it out here.

clippers’ eric gordon gets nba to take notice and we didn't

2009-02-25T14:03:00.000-08:00

ny times did not get the memo though. just read new york times' story. not hating, just saying...

why do teams have to "rebuild"?

2009-02-24T11:56:00.000-08:00

there are 30 teams in the nba today, how many of these are actually vying for a playoff spot? i count nine teams in the west. in the east, after the top four or five, every team has a chance to get to the playoffs except washington. but in reality, only three teams in the east are considered to be major contenders for the championship.

where are the rest? well, they are either hampered by injuries, rebuilding, or just plain crappy. while injuries could really hurt a team's chance to make a splash in the race for the championship, i don't think there should be any crappy team at all in the nba. therefore, there is no need for the so-called "rebuilding" program. no more waiting for two years just to have a chance to land a superstar.

why do teams stink in the first place?

is it because they are not talented enough? look at washington, i know you would agree that caron butler and antawn jamison are talented enough. i think even deshawn stevenson can ball, after all, he made it to the nba. how about mcgee? nick young? andray blatche? or even mike james? are these guys not talented? how come they are not yet replaced by any d-leaguer? because they are good basketball players. if they are not talented, then the team would have dropped them already.

ok, they are under contract. so what do you do with them? do you just wait until their contract is up? or do you find a way to make them play at their best to help your team? i would take the latter.

is the coach not the right fit for the team? could be. some coach are offensive-minded while others put a lot of emphasis on defense.

is the team playing a style not suited for the talents on the team? it could be another reason. some teams are loaded with guys who can run but are forced to play a halfcourt set. and there are also teams like the detroit pistons known for their defensive prowess but are forced to run with allen iverson on their midst.

why are there perennial bottom dwellers?

how come the grizzlies are still struggling even if they already have a great wingman in rudy gay, a solid low post player in marc gasol, and a high-scoring guard in o.j. mayo? is it because they lack leadership? probably. are they too lazy? i would prefer not to think that they are. players are not playing their best basketball because it is not a contract year?

what i'm trying to say is that there are a lot of things that could contribute as to why teams are struggling and would rather go on a "rebuilding" mode than to try to improve their team with what they have.

how about solutions?

is practice the answer? (pun intended) yes, i think so. all the players on a team should be on the same page. they do not have the luxury to talk about things like that when they are on the court. they do have a chance to bond together on practice sessions. coaches should also be with the team. can't they talk amongst themselves to see what kind of style they would be good playing at? i guess it can be done. i mean, these guys are professionals right? they are paid to work. so, they should do whatever it is they can to help the group.

here's another idea, make every player in a team role players. joe dumars did it with the 2003-04 pistons who went on to win the championship. each player has his own role to fill. ben wallace will be the enforcer in the paint, tay will be the flexible wingman, billups will be orchestrating plays after plays, rip will take care of most of the points, and rasheed will be his usual intimidating self.

under that system, if one complains that he is not getting a lot of touch thus not being able to showcase his scoring talent for a better paycheck, just point out ben wallace's case. did big ben score a lot of points while with the pistons? no. he did what he was supposed to do and he was good at it. that's the reason why he got that multi-million dollar contract from the bulls. teams are always looking for players who can provide what they need. who knows, the role you're really good at could also land you that fat paycheck?

it is said that offense wins games but defense wins championships. so, as a coach, why not instill in your players' mind that fact. playing defense is not boring. a steal or a block is rarer than a 3-point shot or a dunk so how come there are few players who choose to be active defensively than offensively? it must have something to do with showboating.

coaches then need to be true leaders. make your players understand the importance of team defense. if you can't learn to play good defense, you can play all your life in the nba and make millions upon millions but you will never get close to that chip. just as mike d'antoni.

is there a need to rebuild?

i don't think so. just like in life where you play the cards you are dealt, nba teams should also make do with what they have? sure, deshawn stevenson could not stop lebron james one on one. but if the wizards clamp down on the other four guys on the court, even a player as talented as lebron could not carry his team through a 7-game series.

look at the bucks. they have sessions, richard jefferson, charlie villanueva, andrew bogut, michael redd, luke ridnour, and mbah a moute. is that team loaded with talent or what? yet there are talks that the bucks should rebuild already.

in my humble opinion, if you find a role for each of these players they are happy to perform and they are equipped to handle that said role, you do not need a so-called "superstar" to make the playoffs and make a good run for that chip. detroit showed us that in 2004 right?

my fantasy basketball season down the drain

2009-02-24T09:51:00.000-08:00

after snagging rodney stuckey, monta ellis and carlos boozer from the waiver wire, i thought i earned myself a trip to the playoffs. lo and behold, i'm still on the outside looking in. there are several things which add up to dash my hope for another run at a fantasy basketball championship this season.

1. chris paul's injury- i couldn't believe i benched chris paul for a week. well, not technically a week as it was the time before the all-star break. his production was sorely missed. i'm sure a lot of chris paul owners also had this problem.

2. letting wilson chandler go- a slump in one week made me prematurely decide that it was safe to dump chandler. after that, he got snagged immediately and he got back to his usual productive self. grrr.

3. jose calderon's hammy problems- without those frustrating hamstring problems to calderon, i think my team would have won more earlier in the season. to think i got him with my second pick. i'm a noob!

4. that scott skiles- if only he had played luke off the bench and made sessions the starter all year, i would surely be in the top four right now. and the bucks would have had a better record.

5. monta ellis- he's out two weeks again right? there goes my last hope.

6. carlos boozer's late return- i had to make do with marvin williams until boozer arrives. and now i don't think he'll be immediately back to his old 20-10 self.

7. al thornton's injury- not playing, no fantasy points

8. john salmons traded to bulls- brad miller and john salmons both got traded to the bulls. now, salmons may see his production go down.

9. stuckey struggling- and they thought he's the younger d-wade...

10. i'm still waiting for something to fill this spot. :D

so there you are, if you have a similar lineup as i do, better luck next season. :D

knicks might buy out marbury soon

2009-02-23T14:05:00.000-08:00

i've been hearing this for the last couple of months and i can say that i'm sick of it. so, why post this here? well, it looks like finally, the knicks could get rid of stephon.

i'm not hating on stephon. i like his game. but i'm with q that you don't leave your guys on the court just because you have a beef with your boss. any person who has fought in wars would probably not leave his or her companions in the heat of the battle even if he has a major spat with his commanding officer.

i remember achilles "sitting out" some of the "games" against the trojans because of his quarrel with that agamemnon dude. but stephon, you're no achilles. well, you could be, achilles after being brought down by an arrow to the heel that is.

anyway, frank isola of knicks knation says that marbury could be gone after today (february 24).

if this happens, the knicks would have three available roster spots right? and it looks like they might take a chance on cheikh samb who was waived recently by the clippers. samb has been with the pistons, the nuggets, and the clippers this season alone. if signed, the knicks would be his fourth team this season. is that a record?

would donnie ever sign patrick ewing jr.? i mean c'mon, it's not like we can sign anyone that could make the team a legit championship contender. give the younger ewing a chance to play. i know the guy's known more for his defense than his offense but hey, the knicks need ~~some~~ a lot of defense.

thank you scott skiles

2009-02-23T09:53:00.000-08:00

for giving ramon sessions a lot of playing time last time up against the nuggets. i was thinking that you would again let sessions rot in your doghouse after starting him against the cavs yet only letting him play 22 minutes while luke ridnour played 33 minutes.

i know sessions played poorly against the bulls but hey, even lebron or kobe has an off-night. also i know you are aware of what sessions is capable of doing. weren't you at that game against the pistons when he scored 44 points. also, i knew you were aware that sessions had 24 assists against the bulls last year.

did you not notice that you have been winning ever since sessions started playing point guard? maybe, just maybe, you could make a solid campaign to make the playoffs if you continue sessions and give him starter minutes. i hate to see the bucks not making the playoffs this year...again especially after seeing how hard sessions and villanueva have been playing as of late.

tomorrow, we go to war...

2009-02-20T12:26:00.000-08:00

tomorrow, february 22, 2009, me and my comrades will go to war.

not an actual war actually but the bi-annual north versus south airsoft "game". so here i am hyped up about the game and it looks like i'm gonna make a post about my teammates as i have nothing to do..yet. i don't even know if i can find photos of my teammates but i'll give it a try.

here we go... this is team s.a.r.s. (sunrise airsoft renegade squad):

uncle is everyone's uncle on the team. he's our general for the north versus south game so we'll protect him with everything we've got. uncle is the unquestioned leader of the group. always ready to lend a gun or ammo.

jude law a.k.a. maskiano. this guy's our gunsmith. he knows almost everything there is to know about airsoft guns. you want to upgrade or fix your gun? just drop him a line.

by the way jude, would it be wise if i sell my thompson m1a1 then buy a famas f1? :D

that red markings? lol.. i don't know how to use photoshop. don't worry, that guy's got a profile of his own in this post.

lafituza. this guy's built like a football player but can run like a sprinter. he can do it all. speedball, cqb, jungle, milsim. a ladies' man this guy is. also, on the basketball court, lafituza's got quite a sniper-like accuracy. gotta love his j and spin moves.

butog. this guy's a master of the prey-stalking move. when playing against butog, always watch your back. you never know when he will appear out of nowhere and just tap you for a knifekill.

by the way, congratulations on the newly-born bouncing baby girl alvin.

freek. this guy's built like an nfl linebacker but can run with the best of them. he knows when to attack and when to lay an ambush. if you happen to play against this guy, don't ever think you're safe as long as he's in the game.

spy. hmmm... a picture paints a thousand words? :lol: peace arron. this guy can get close to you without you knowing. close enough to get you within range of his handgun. knows how to play the game and sticks to the rule. a real gentleman. :D

boncz and his love for the ak is well documented. i don't think this guy will pick up a gun not related to the russian armed forces. known for his sniping skills. also the team's gunsmith. knows almost everything about airsoft guns and their real steel counterpart.

the mentor. name any scenario for an airsoft game and i'll bet you, the mentor can do it. this guy uses his head a lot. leave it to him to find a way to breach a fortified building. known for his love of the local delicacy called "lomi". lol

chip. another ladies' man in the team. known for his all-around game. just like the rest of the guys, chip is at home in any scenario. has a future as a politician. :D am i right chip?

galog. he was already with the team even before i joined. another ladies' man (there's a lot of 'em on the team). no matter how tough the opposition is, you can always count on this guy. galog, hope you can join us tomorrow.

lostwarrior. don't argue. he wants it spelled that way. right heil? back from his rigorous training at fort bragg (just kidding), the lostwarrior is now back with the team for a while now. another guy who you would want to be by your side if you are in the battlezone.

jay. this guy can flat out run. he does more than that though as jay is also a great tactician. hope you can join us tomorrow jay. let's help protect the general. if the enemy run, maybe you can go after them. lol.

jb. sorry for the small photo jb. it's the best i can do as i can't access friendster from the office. :D jb and his ak-47 has been with the team for a while now and since he won't be able to attend tomorrow's game, i would be thinking of him all day long. lol (bakla, magkawat ka na sana! hahaha)

kuya albert. another tactician. he'll hit you when you least expect it. if you are up against him on the field, be one the alert at all times as there is no knowing when and how he will strike. see you tomorrow kuya albert.

kuya bunso. do not be fooled by the name. this guy's no one's little brother on the field. he's one togh guy you don't want to mess with. he has a special place in his gun's chamber for zombies. zombies beware, kuya bunso will be playing tomorrow.

the blood countess. this guy, i mean lady can play as well as the guys on the team. and yeah, she's better than me. get your gear on yonabelles and join us tomorrow!

russel. he plays by the rules and know how to handle himself in the game. like the rest of the guys, he will never back down from any challenge on the field. he can play every scenario you put in front of him.

another ladies' man is tadz a. known for his sniping skills. younger than me but a lot better at this game than me. may seem reserved at times but his boil is on the inside (what?!) (nasa loob ang kulo)(hehehe).

tadz g. the master of the crabwalk. known for his ability to slip through the defenses of the enemy. using his patented crabwalk maneuver, tadz g can get close to hostiles without them knowing. (ano tadz? kasag kasag sa aga?)

so there you are. these are just some of the guys i'm going to war with tomorrow. guys, let's give 'em hell!

p.s.
a sequel is in the making. ;) (don't worry len, jad, and john as well as the rest of the guys... urulian na kaya)

rafer alston could be headed to the magic

2009-02-19T12:37:00.000-08:00

jameer nelson is out for the season so the orlando magic will need someone to steer the team. tyronn lue joined the team early this month and now it looks like rafer alston will be taking over the starting point guard position for the magic.

espn reported that a three-team deal would ship kyle lowry from the grizzlies to the rockets. the rockets would ship alston to orlando. and the magic will send brian cook to the rockets as well as a first rounder to the grizzlies.

i think the magic are still looking good with this addition.

tyson chandler traded to thunder...not!

2009-02-19T11:56:00.000-08:00

thanks to dr. carlan yates' lack of confidence in his work, tyson chandler is back in the big easy. yay!

dr. yates performed the surgery on tyson chandler's big left toe last april 2007. and when the trade was made, yates, the thunder's team physician decided that the risk of re-injuring the toe is great and so advised the team to rescind the trade.

i guess chris wilcox was devastated that he will not be playing alongside chris paul and david west. wilcox is now on his way to join the knicks after the thunder traded him for malik rose.

knicks are busy too: trade malik rose to thunder for wilcox

2009-02-19T11:46:00.000-08:00

the knicks are so dramatic. they pulled the trigger on two trades already this day, the trade deadline. after receiving larry hughes from the bulls, they will now add chris wilcox to their roster after trading malik rose for him.

chris wilcox would surely have loved to play with cp3...but after the thunder rescinded the tyson chandler trade, i think new york and its run and gun style would have to do for him. mabe he could be a david lee lite kinda guy.

larry hughes traded to knicks

2009-02-19T11:22:00.000-08:00

trade deadline...

the bulls are busy. they recently traded larry hughes to the knicks for jerome james, tim thomas, and anthony roberson. the only thing that's interesting in this trade has been beaten to death already: tim thomas was banished by the bulls in 2006.

finally, jerome james is no longer with the knicks. maybe the knicks can now sign patrick ewing jr. to a contract now that they have some free roster spot. please donnie, make it happen.

brad miller and john salmons traded to the chicago bulls

2009-02-18T14:36:00.000-08:00

finally the bulls pulled the trigger on a trade. this one does not involve amare though. according to espn, the bulls and the sacramento kings reached a tentative agreement to ship brad miller and john salmons to the chicago bulls in exchange for andres nocioni, cedric simmons, and drew gooden.

the portland trailblazers are also involved in the trade as the bulls also agreed to send michael ruffin to the blazers while portland will ship ike diogu to the sacramento kings.

i think the bulls just got better with this trade. john salmons is a good wingman who will play well alongside derrick rose. also, brad miller is a great passing center who can rebound as well which means the bulls are not jeopardizing their inside presence.

fortunately, the bulls will no longer face shaq and the phoenix suns this season. after all, the last time shaq tried to rearrange brad's face, miller was wearing a bulls jersey.

tyson chandler traded to thunder

2009-02-17T14:07:00.000-08:00

it's done. the oklahoma city thunder secured the services of tyson chandler. in return, the hornets will receive chris wilcox, joe smith, and the rights to devon hardin, the 50th draft pick in the 2008 draft.

upon learning of the news, i was crushed. c'mon jeff bower! tyson chandler is your main low post enforcer. why trade him away now when we took the battle-tested spurs to 7 games last year? can't you wait until summer?

although sad to see tyson go, i still have faith in jeff bower. i hope he's not thinking about tanking this season. also, i would like to see him make a move in the next few days to scure the service of a big man to replace tyson chandler.

i don't know what chris paul thinks about this trade but i'm sure that he's not too thrilled.

why do we love trade talks

2009-02-17T09:31:00.000-08:00

with the trade deadline looming, a lot of names are being tossed around. some trade speculations turn into reality just like marion-j.o. swap. some may not push through while some are just plain dumb. truly, there is no shortage in trade speculations nowadays.

let's see, here are some names involved in different scenarios:

tyson chandler of the new orleans hornets
johns salmons and brad miller of the sacramento kings
raef lafrentz of the the portland trailblazers
allen iverson of the detroit pistons
amare stoudemire of the phoenix suns
chris bosh of the toronto raptors
wally (hard to spell last name) of the cleveland cavaliers
charlie villanueva, ramon sessions, richard jefferson, and luke ridnour of the milwaukee bucks
david lee and nate robinson of the new york knicks

i'm sure there are a lot more out there. but why do we love to read about these trade rumors?

personally, i like to speculate because i want a certain team to be better. for example, i wanted sam cassell to be waived by the kings then join the hornets to toughen up the hornets' second unit. also, i do not want the knicks to trade david lee away because of his great work ethic.

it is free to dream so, in a way, i can make "my" team better by coming up with these trade scenarios. it gives me something to hope for. as a fan of the new york knicks, i want the team to be relevant again, not two years from now but today. and they could only do that if they pull off a great trade.

also, there is also the hope that your least favorite team would make a blunder if they go for a trade. just like what happened in dallas last year. i'm not hating on the mavs but if i utterly despise that team, i would be kinda glad (i know i'm going to hell) that they screwed up on that jason kidd trade . at least i'm not hoping for a season-ending injury on any player on my least favorite team.

so no matter how silly trade rumors can be, i love to read about them. after all, the nba fan (especially a knick fan) could dream right?

sam, please join the hornets

2009-02-17T08:46:00.000-08:00

espn reported that the boston celtics agreed in principle (whatever that means) to ship sam cassell plus cash to the sacramento kings for a future second-round draft pick. the celtics moving cassell means they cut his salary from the team's luxury tax computation. also, they can add another player to their roster before the playoffs.

it is also suspected that the kings would waive cassell as they do not exactly have anything to gain by giving him playing time. they are not exactly fighting for a playoff spot and they are currently looking to rebuild the team.

so if ever sam is waived by the kings, i hope the hornets would sign him.

i would love to see the hornets go deep into the playoffs and i think sam i am could be of great help to the team. while cassell is no longer the impact player he once was, i know that he can lead the second unit of the hornets while chris paul takes his break. also, his no-nonsense approach to the game would certainly give the hornets the swagger that they need to take on the best teams in the league.

i know sam already has three rings, but wouldn't a fourth one be great? :D

iverson loses the cornrows

2009-02-16T09:30:00.000-08:00

i don't know if this is still unknown to you. but yep, allen iverson of the detroit pistons is no longer sporting the cornrows. i wonder if this means he's now going to practice.

senna back in formula 1

2009-02-16T09:16:00.000-08:00

may 1, 1994, triple f1 world champion ayrton senna died after crashing at the 1994 san marino grand prix. the name senna would then forever be linked with imola and the push to make formula one a safer sport. this year, ayrton's nephew, bruno senna will be aiming to give honor to the name senna again as the youngster is named by honda as one of their drivers for the 2009 season along with jenson button.

but bruno senna though might only take part in the first four races after honda, the japanese carmaker pulled the plug on its involvement with the f1 operation. according to reports, brazilian company petrobras is leading the effort to save honda. they can only guarantee the first four races though for the team...for now.

hopefully, the team could attract other sponsors to make sure that it can compete in all the races in the 2009 calendar. and since the brazilian gp is the penultimate race in this year's calendar, i hope we can once again see a senna driving an f1 car in brazil.

trade stephon marbury for grizzlies...

2009-02-13T11:54:00.000-08:00

...i don't mean anyone on the grizzlies squad like rudy gay or oj mayo but the whole effin' team! well, except marko jaric, darko milicic, and darius miles. i was just toying around with the trade machine and tried to come up with a good trade scenario for stephon marbury. so here it is:

the new york knicks trade stehon marbury to the memphis grizzlies for ::takes a deep breath:: darrell arthur, mike conley, marc gasol, rudy gay, hamed haddadi, kyle lowry, oj mayo, quinton ross, hakim warrick, and greg buckner.

with this trade, i think stephon could beat that 81 point-game posted by kobe. lol.

hey donnie, make this happen already! :D

hit game-winning shot, get traded | shawn marion traded to raptors

2009-02-13T11:16:00.000-08:00

(shawn marion going out with a bang, hitting a game-winner with his last shot in miami)

thursday night, shawn marion delivered the final blow to deal the bulls another loss with a dunk with 1.1 seconds left. that dramatic shot though looks like the last shot shawn marion will ever take for the miami heat as the team reportedly traded him and marcus banks to the toronto raptors for jermaine o'neal and jamario moon.

this will be the second time that marcus banks and shawn marion have been traded at the same time. what's the deal with these two anyway? are they inseparable? lol. also, this is the second time that they are traded to a guy with the last name o'neal. :D

anyway, some people are calling the heat the winner on this one. they have acquired a good low-post player with an expiring contract which means they have taken care of two things. first, they have made a good move to make the team relevant come playoffs time. and two, they are still in place to secure the services of d-wade in 2010 and beyond.

jermaine would have to remain healthy though if they are going to make a good shot at the championship this year. as for jamario, i think the trade would not help him at all.

my take on this is that the raptors have become a better team without o'neal. with the strong play of andrea bargnani recently, i think the departure of o'neal would not be a big blow to the team. i also think that marion is a good addition to the raptors.

while the raptors are the second worst team in the east with only 21 wins to boast of, i think they can come back strong in the second half of the season. i just hope that calderon's hammy problem would go away and bosh to just bring everything he's got to every game.

tainted victory? margarito over cotto

2009-02-13T09:13:00.000-08:00

i'm sure you've heard about the california state athletic commission revoking antonio margarito's license for a year. the said sanction came after it was proven that margarito's trainer, javier capetillo tried to pad margarito's fist with an illegal stuff.

as a fan of the tijuana tornado, i didn't want to accept it at first. but then facts are facts. it is safe to say that the margarito camp tried to cheat according to the ruling. while capetillo claims that it was just a mistake, i'm not buying that. even a kid would know that such an alibi is weak. so there, capetillo is guilty. but is margarito guilty too?

according to mosley, the guy who was supposed to take the punishment of that plaster-like substance, maybe margarito does not deserve the punishment as it was the trainer who has taken the misstep. but are we to believe that margarito is not aware that capetillo is putting something else on his padding?

miguel cotto, margarito's last opponent before the fight with mosley claim that as a fighter, margarito would know if there is something on those pads. that means margarito may have had knowledge about this whole attempted cheating scheme. but there is no evidence to that...yet.

now, this takes us back to that cotto-margarito fight. it was a superfight in my opinion. it was a battle between an undefeated boxer (cotto) and an avoided volume puncher (margarito). while cotto showed his boxing skills in that fight, margarito's granite chin stood up to the punishment and overpowered cotto near the end.

but did margarito had the same substance confiscated at the mosley fight on his paddings that night he fought cotto? cotto said: "they're the only ones that can answer that question. i can't answer that. all i can tell you is i choose to think he had a good night."

the way i see it, margarito did not cheat in that fight. if he had, the fight would have been a lot shorter...or maybe, cotto's chin must be as tough as margarito's. remember that margarito connected on 237 power punches to cotto's 179. now, if margarito, already known for his power, had something on his pads, that stat would not reach 237 as even a hundred would have had hurt cotto badly and dropped him cold earlier than round 11.

so in my mind, that victory is not tainted. margarito won that fight because as cotto said, he had a good night.

just a thought.. is the all-star logo cactus flipping the bird?

2009-02-13T08:59:00.001-08:00

is it just me or does that cactus resemble "the finger"? anyways, enjoy the weekend. i'm looking forward to the H-O-R-S-E event the most...oh wait, it's G-E-I-C-O right? damn you mr. stern!

in case you missed it... terry porter's gone

2009-02-13T08:50:00.000-08:00

just before the all-star break, the phoenix suns just fired terry porter. hmmm... i wonder why...

top five nba all-star logo

2009-02-12T11:48:00.000-08:00

with the all-star weekend just around the corner, i'm getting into the mix of all-star posts in the blogosphere. we all know by now that me williams will be in the all-star game after all after he was named as chris bosh's replacement. chris paul will also play at the all-star game so i think carmelo anthony will not be playing this weekend.

with those things out of the way, here we go with the top five nba all-star logos in my book:

at number 5 is the logo used for the 2001 nba all-star held at the mci center in washington d.c. i think the reason why i picked this is the person currently residing in the white house.

number 4 is this number from the all-star game in 1981, three years before i was born. :D what i like about this logo is its simplicity and the way they use the colors on the logo.

number 3 on the list is the logo used for the all-star game in las vegas. they surely picked the right inspiration for this logo.

number 2 is the logo for next year's all-star game. i guess the lone star state and the all-star really has something in common. also, i like the way the color green is added into the mix. it kinda breaks the blue monotony. :D

sure, i'm a fan of the new orleans hornets' chris paul but you really cannot deny that this logo from last year's all-star weekend is the best the nba all-star logo so far.

so there you are, my picks for the top five nba all-star logo of all time.

(dis)honorable mention:

i don't like these logos much:

the lakeshow can do much better than this:

my brother can do this on ms freakin' paint!
not hatin' just sayin' :D

another trade: amare for david lee, al harrington, and jerome james

2009-02-11T13:49:00.000-08:00

i know i'm an idiot for even suggesting this trade but here it goes:

the new york knicks trade al harrington, jerome james, and david lee to the phoenix suns for amare stoudemire.

the trade machine said the deal's okay but in reality, this would never happen for the following reasons:

1. amare is great but he's not lebron. remember, the knicks are aiming to secure james' services come the summer of 2010. that's the reason why they traded away jamal crawford and zach randolph earlier this season. amare still has three years in his contract and i don't know if the knicks can have both lebron and amare come 2010.

2. phoenix is not keen on dealing with the knicks. when mike d'antoni left the suns last season, it closed the door on the knicks having a shot on the amare sweepstakes. why? because the suns owner is that vindictive. :D

3. david lee will be asking for a lot of money. lee is having a breakout season and is on the last year of his contract. with the suns also looking to save money for the future, lee's demand might be too high for them.

4. the suns are looking for expiring contracts (check), young players (check), and future draft picks (uhmmm...not check?). next year, the knicks won't have any 2009 draft pick to trade with the suns. the team's first round pick this season will go to the jazz while the second round draft pick will go to portland.

why this would work

1. david lee is great. shaq wants someone who can defend? david lee will do just fine i think. plus, since the suns are rebuilding in a way, it is a good investment to have someone as hardworking as lee.

2. jerome james and al harrington both have expiring contracts. while the knicks may not include a draft pick for this year, the two expiring contracts might just do it for the suns. i don't care what they do with james or harrington but i'm sure they can save money on those two contracts. maybe even enough to give lee a good contract. plus, shaq might be on his way out next season so they can still be in a good position in the summer of 2010.

i don't really know why i am even contemplating this trade. :P maybe it's the lack of sleep.

another tyson chandler trade scenario

2009-02-10T12:52:00.000-08:00

from sactown royalty, here's another trade scenario involving the new orleans hornets' tyson chandler:

the kings ship bobby brown, mikki moore, and john salmons for tyson chandler

since i'm a new orleans hornets fan (although still a knicks fan) i'm going to look at this trade from the hornets' side.

pros

the hornets will get the wingman that they are looking for in john salmons. the guy can flat out score and can also do a little rebounding as well as pass the rock. plus, i like the guy's attitude. even if he knows he's got the talent, he doesn't go around asking for more touches or for more minutes even back when ron artest and mike bibby were with the kings. another thing is that he's relatively cheaper than other wingmen.

miki moore can play too. last season, there was a stretch near the end of the regular season that moore became a major contributor for the kings. that was in february of last year when he averaged 10.3 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 2.7 bpg and 1.0 apg in a stretch of three games. he's problem is consistency and that could count against him. with chris paul running the point though, i think mikki moore can improve just like the way chandler did.

as for bobby brown, he can be a serviceable point guard who can give chris paul time for brief rests. he's not yet proven though so i don't think he could make an impact come playoffs time.

cons

tyson chandler is a member of the hornets' core group. byron scott even said that as of now chandler is in his plans. chandler's a fan favorite in the big easy and at this point when fan attendance is a big thing for teams to make money moving chandler might turn away a few fans.

also, trading away their big man at this point means a time for adjustment is needed for the new lineup to really gel. and in the competitive western conference, i don't think the hornets have the luxury to lose some games as they adjust with the new lineup.

my take

if it ain't broke, don't fix it. also, the hornets should never make a trade just for the sake of making one. their need is to strengthen their bench not to improve their already good starting lineup.

but, i really like john salmons and mikki moore is not kwame brown so i think i'd take my chances with them. plus, with john salmons playing small forward, peja could come off the bench and could be the instant offense off the bench for the hornets. so yeah, i approve of this trade. but then again, i'm in no position to approve any trade. :D

it worked: chandler for marion, peja for camby

2009-02-10T11:23:00.000-08:00

yeah, the trade machine said this would work:

miami heat sends shawn marion to the new orleans hornets for tyson chandler and...
los angeles clippers trades marcus camby to the new orleans hornets for peja stojakovic.

the numbers matched but would it really work out?

why would the heat want chandler

the miami heat can contend for the championship if they can add a low post presence which they could certainly have in tyson chandler. although his points production would suffer since he would not be playing with a pass first point guard, his rebounding numbers would remain as is or even improve.

would the hornets trade for shawn marion

like most teams in the nba, the hornets are looking to save money for the future. marion's expiring contract is quite an attractive piece although i don't know if the hornets would really trade away one of the members of their core group. also, marion is a pretty good player and imagine how good he could be playing alongside chris paul.

on the flipside, the hornets are already thin up front. when tyson chandler went down with an injury recently, they have to make do with hilton armstrong and melvin ely and i don't think either could provide the production that the hornets needed to win a ring. if birdman was re-signed by the hornets last summer, i think it would be probable for them to trade tyson chandler. but as it stands right now, the hornets will not trade chandler away if they do not have a good replacement for the center position...which brings us to the peja for camby trade.

would the clippers trade camby for peja

i don't think so. they have a good project in al thornton for the shooting forward spot. also, peja still has three years in his contract and has a history of injuries. i think even the clippers would not want to touch a guy like peja. but then again, they agreed to take on zach randolph's contract running for three years so who knows, they might take on peja's three-year contract and make a big splash in the 2012 free agency where names like chris paul, deron williams, jose calderon, kevin martin, dwight howard, andrew bynum, and al jefferson would be unrestricted free agents.

would this three-team trade really work

i don't know. :P if you believe in the trade machine, then it could. and if you think i'm an idiot for even considering this trade, then it won't. lol.

and yeah, i'm an idiot. ~x(

i hate to say this but... i told you so | ramon sessions is for real

2009-02-10T08:34:00.000-08:00

going into the home stretch last season a guy by the name ramon sessions captured the attention of nba fans after his 24-assist outing against the chicago bulls. not many people are sold on sessions yet that time but i'm already in the sessions bandwagon from that point on. i drafted him in the sixth round of my fantasy league and i know some people would question that then. but right now, i hate to say it but... i told you so!

i'm not a great judge of talent but i guess there's something about sessions that just made me realize that he is for real. sure, i dropped him from my fantasy lineup several times to make room for overperforming players as stopgaps but in the end, before redd came down, i had sessions back in the lineup as i was waiting for the bucks to trade him to a team where sessions can showcase his skills.

today, sessions' stellar play in the last three games, i don't think the bucks would trade him. i don't know what scott skiles is smoking but i think it must be something. he knows what sessions is capable of given the minutes but still he went with ridnour in the starting lineup. they say skiles love players who can defend, but ridnour is not exactly the best defender out there.

i have nothing against ridnour but i think sessions is better. imagine if the bucks do not have sessions, do you think they can pull off that win last night against the rockets when sessions scored 26, grabbed 4 rebounds, dished out 7 assists and stole the ball 4 times? and frankly, i think charlie villanueva is getting better because he has someone to give him the ball where he needs it.

even with a healthy lineup, i think the bucks should stick with the lineup of ramon sessions, michael redd, richard jefferson, charlie villanueva, and andrew bogut. even without redd i think that starting five is stacked and could make the bucks relevant again.

let's look at some of the things sessions has done so far in his career:

drained the game-winning shot against the washington wizards on april 2, 2008

posted then career-high 20 points, 8 rebounds and a franchise-record 24 assists against the bulls on april 14,2008

scored 44 against the detroit pistons on february 7, 2009

here's hoping sessions, villanueva, and jefferson can power the bucks to the playoffs. that would surely make people think twice about sessions' skill as a legit nba player. who knows, ramon may become one of the the biggest steals in the draft after being picked by the bucks 56th overall in the 2007 draft (manu was the 57th pick in his class).

bench chris paul

2009-02-09T09:30:00.000-08:00

chris paul has been out for three games already after going down with that groin strain...and it looks like he won't be back until after the all-star weekend. no word yet on whether chris paul will be back by monday against the grizzlies. and that makes me think that chris paul might not even play a game this week.

for people who play fantasy basketball (at least those with paul on their team), i think setting the lineup for week 16 is kind of a big problem. i own chris paul in our league and it's proving to be quite a task to set the lineup. do i start him and risk having a zero for a week? or do i start someone over him which could at best score only 30 fantasy points?

the deadline for setting the lineup is getting nearer so i have to make a decision. i'm benching chris paul. :( good thing i got ramon sessions on the bench (yeah, the guy who just dropped 44 on the pistons)

the way i see it, byron scott would not force chris paul to suit up if cp3 is not yet healed a hundred percent. the hornets need chris paul and the last thing they want is to aggravate cp3's injury. byron scott and the hornets may even go as far as asking chris paul to not play too hard come the all-star game. on the other hand, they would be facing the celtics on wednesday and cp3 might want to suit up for that challenge.

although chris paul said he will play in the all-star game, his first time as a starter, i think he knew what is at stake. he can use the time off to give his injury to really heal and start the second half of the season on fresh legs.

nba ballers and their dreads

2009-02-06T12:01:00.000-08:00

in the nba, you see guys sporting different hairstyles. iverson popularized the cornrows while sprewell loved his braids. then there's dennis rodman and his hair with its own personality. if i were to choose the best looking do, i would have to go with the dreads. and i don't think there's any more appropriate time for this post than today (feb. 6 in the philippines), bob marley's birthday!

only a handful of nba players have sported the dreadlocks and i guess we all know why: aerodynamics. lol. look at jordan, the guy's bald and he cuts air resistance to zero allowing him to fly. i believe this so much that i think if lebron sport the shaved dome, he'll be unstoppable going to the rim. lol

so, here's a gallery of nba ballers playing with dreadlocks:

probably the most talented player in this list, chris bosh is the raptors cornerstone today. i guess his dreads' are still too short to increase the drag whenever he goes up for rebound or a shot. :P

etan thomas' fights with brendan todd haywood just lost him at least two of those locks. fortunately, the fighting has stopped after three bouts. haywood had this to say:

"I told somebody that Ali and Frazier only fought three times so that has to be the end of it for me and Etan. At the end of the day, we both have a mutual respect for each other and we realize that we embarrass ourselves, our team and our families every time we go out there and act silly. You can always talk things out before you fight. Besides, he's a peace activist so he can't do that anyway".

reasonable enough.

without the dreads imagine how high renaldo balkman could jump. :D

if this list is the starting five of a team, marquis daniels would be bringing the ball down the court and distributing it. he's the only guy in this list listed to play guard.

and the most famous dreads in the nba albeit retired:

brian grant is the first thing that comes to mind when you say nba and dreadlocks. and yeah he loves bob:
here's a bit of a trivia: brian grant is part of the deal that brought rajon rondo (the rights to him to be specific) to the celtics. and if the celtics did not waive "the general", he would have had a ring by now.

so there you are, only five nba players i know of who sported the dreads. and here's the guy even more popular than brian grant when it comes to dreadlocks (no, it's not larry fitzgerald):

happy birthday bob!

that's it for now, spread love and peace. jah bless!

goggles in the nba

2009-02-04T12:49:00.001-08:00

after that masked men in the nba post, i think "the goggles" need one too. the goggles are popular back in the days so it's not surprising that in the list of nba players to wear goggles, you won't see a lot of new faces. let's begin.

bo "what’s that, some kind hamburger?" outlaw always bring his hussle and goggles to every game

hakeem maybe widely known for the dream shake but he is also one of the best players in the nba to sport "the goggles".

that's two magic players with "the goggles" both of them operating down low. here's horace grant, probably the best known goggle-wearer other than...

...kareem abdul jabbar. i guess it's impossible to imagine the sky hook guy without "the goggles".

we have a tie. two for the magic and two for the lakeshow with james worthy joining kareem on the list.

the modern goggles guy, amare stoudemire.

who do you think looks great with "the goggles"? my vote goes to bo.

masked men in the nba

2009-02-04T11:36:00.000-08:00

the nba is such a rugged place that players often end up with sprained ankles, torn ligaments, and even collapsed lungs as in the case of gerald "crash" wallace (hey, he's not called crash for nothing). with all that brute muscle power on the floor at any given time, it is also common for players to have their nose bashed in like in the case of rip hamilton. the result: guys wear masks.

including rip, here are some nba players who wore masks:

it's not surprising for someone who was once punched by michael jordan in the face to wear a mask.

even tough-man-in-the-middle alonzonzo mourning once needed the protection of a mask

i think andrew bogut found out that the nba is a tough place the hard and painful way

brandon williams here looks like bruce lee's character kato in the green hornet

brian cardinal...now plays for the twolves. :P

jelani mccoy last seen in the denver nuggets payroll

even the king knows that masks are sometimes necessary

big z and his mask that makes him look like a gladiator

i don't think joe johnson is fond of his mask

rip and his lucky mask

so there you are, some of the names who played with the mask in the nba. i know i missed some of them like shawn marion and andrei kirilenko. just google them up if you want to see how they look with masks. :P

of all the players listed here, i think pressley has the coolest face protector. agree or disagree? let me know. :D

kobe through the years

2009-02-04T09:05:00.000-08:00

i may not be a fan of the los angeles lakers but i do know that kobe bryant is one phenomenal player (and phenomenal might even be an understatement when it comes to the black mamba). so i scoured the interwebz for photos of bryant through the years. and without further ado, here they are:

if this is today, imagine how scary the hornets would be!

they know they are looking at the future of the nba

kobe: welcome to the league dwight

woah! is that jason kidd?! lol
he (kidd) kinda reminds me of a certain pro wrestler from this angle.
(ok, i included this not because of kobe but because of kidd. lol. but you have to agree that kobe's shooting form is on display right there.)

y'all know what's gonna happen next right?
another rim bender for the big fella and chalk up an assist for kobe

...and steve nash is not exactly a short guy

dare to compare?

and there you go, a glimpse on kobe's campaign in the nba. enjoy his game while you still can. as good as he is today, you can't expect him to be the same 3 or 4 years from now. godspeed black mamba and lakeshow!

p.s.
this one's for you charles. :D

fingers crossed

2009-02-04T08:43:00.000-08:00

photo from basketbawful

i know almost everybody know already what happened to chris paul against the blazers. the grief merchant went down with a mild groin strain in the third quarter of said game. and the latest news from the hornets' camp is that cp3 has been ruled out from new orleans' next game against the chicago bulls wednesday.

the hornets announced that paul is day-to-day for now so we have no idea when he would be back on the court. while my fantasy team would take a huge hit from paul's injury, i'm more worried about the hornets losing game after game until paul comes back.

chris paul's importance to the hornets is very visible when he went down in that blazers game. after his exit, the blazers outscored the hornets 38-15 in the fourth quarter. now, while both west and peja are back in the lineup, chris paul and tyson chandler will be out of it which means the next few games will be very tough to win for the hornets. they are currently fifth in the western conference and i would not be surprised if they drop in the standings.

hopefully, the hornets can hold the fort until paul and chandler returns. and i think the positives of trading for antonio daniels and signing james posey will now be felt by the hornets.

geaux hornets!!!

did georges st. pierre cheat to win?

2009-02-03T11:08:00.000-08:00

everyone who watched the gsp-penn fight last january 31 immediately said that bj penn just got his behind kicked by the canadian phenom. as far as i can remember, no one commented that georges st. pierre cheated. but an article like this had people claiming that they saw this and they saw that.

according to the story, bj penn's camp has filed a complaint against gsp's corner for using vaseline on the fighter's back and arms therefore making him slippery. ufc rules state that vaseline can be used on the face of the fighters only. so if such a thing happened in the fight, st. pierre would have to answer a lot of questions.

what i don't get is people jumping on this story like they knew already that gsp cheated. some people would say that "yeah, i was watching on ppv and i saw gsp's cutman rubbing vaseline on gsp's back". well, why did you not say that earlier?

i think that most of these people were thinking that gsp is just overpowering bj penn that's why he keeps passing bj's guard while watching the fight and only claimed seeing the vaseline rubbing thing when it was published on the internetz.

also, some people claim that bj penn's guard is unpassable (is there such a word?). yeah, and tyson can't be knocked out or antonio margarito for that matter. guys, just because nobody has passed bj penn's guard in the past does not mean that it's impossible. who knows, maybe gsp is just really that powerful that he can easily slip through penn's guard.

on the flipside, people claiming gsp would not cheat because this and that need to check their facts. just because that's your perception of the person does not mean that's what he really is. hey, everybody thought marion jones is an exceptional athlete and a good role model back in the days.

so what i'm trying to say here is hold your horses guys. let the investigation run its course and let's just see whether gsp did cheat.

the detroit experiment

2009-02-03T09:05:00.000-08:00

after the pistons were dispatched from the playoffs last season, gm joe dumars announced that everyone in the starting lineup is on the trading block. that bold statement is a wake-up call for the pistons to step up their game.

with the emergence of the celtics and the cavs in the east, they can no longer play with the same attitude that they have in previous season when they could sleepwalk through three quarters of the game to come alive only when needed. dumars is telling his starters that they can do much more than what they have done last season. at least that's what i think.

despite dumars' announcement that all starters are on the block, no trade was made until the start of this season. at that point, i thought that dumars is giving his squad one last chance to prove they can still pull the trigger. the contract extension given to rip hamilton only strengthened my belief that dumars will not trade any of his starting five... then came "the trade".

on november 3, the detroit pistons shipped chauncey billups, cheikh samb, and antonio mcdyess to the denver nuggets for allen iverson. i for one got excited for the nuggets as they are finally getting a guard which can help carmelo anthony further improve his game.

for the pistons, not quite. i'm a fan of the answer but seeing him joining a team known for its defense and already has established scorers, i already assumed that this is a trade that the pistons will not benefit from or iverson for that matter.

why dumars made the trade

just like other teams in the league, the pistons are jockeying for position to sign any big name player in the free agent class of 2010. iverson's expiring contract means they would have the cap space to sign a marquee player by that time. also, hamilton's contract extension serves as an insurance for the pistons. they can be sure that even if they do not land a big name player in the summer of 2010, they would still have hamilton and rodney stuckey.

apart from that, having hamilton in your lineup would surely make your team attractive to a player who wants to be in a championship caliber team.

but in planning for the future, did dumars throw away the present?

the result for the pistons

the pistons' record show just how tough the trade has been for them. while the nuggets are coasting in the west, the pistons are losing games left and right. with this losses came the need to place the blame on someone. or does it?

some people may blame dumars for trading away billups who is now thriving in denver. some may blame rookie coach michael curry for not finding the right way to play iverson. some would even blame rip hamilton for not playing as hard as he used to since he might be feeling betrayed after his best buddy billups have been traded. and some might even fault rasheed wallace because he's rasheed wallace.

but instead of pointing fingers, the pistons should work on getting the best out of their current lineup. yes, curry has been tweaking the starting lineup but the fact that it is not giving the desired result does not mean he should stop experimenting. why not bring iverson off the bench?

rip hamilton showed that even if you came from the bench, you could still get a lot of touches. sure, iverson said he wants the ball in his hands a lot. but he also said that he will do anything that would help the team and his teammates. and i think the latter should be what iverson must choose.

in philly, he had a team made to suit his game. but he never won a ring playing that way. maybe iverson should understand that his way did not work in philly and it will not work in detroit. instead, iverson should play as the team wanted him to play. with his versatility, i'm sure he can play as a pass-first point guard. after all, iverson is quite a good passer.

what to do now

instead of going to the media and talk and blame someone else, why not sit down as a group and work things out. curry might not have the confidence of his players anymore and that could be solved by sitting down and talking to them. i mean these guys are millionaires and could be hard-headed but the challenge of taking down boston and cleveland might be enough motivation for them. or not.

mayo's arrival not good for gay

2009-02-02T12:57:00.000-08:00

on draft day last year, the twolves drafted oj mayo with the third pick... then traded him along with marko jaric, antoine walker, and greg buckner to the grizzlies for kevin love who was drafted fifth, brian cardinal, mike miller, and jason collins.

while some twolves fan were angered that kevin mchale traded away a guy who is known to be a prolific scorer, even before his first game in the nba, for a guy who many people though would be a bust, i think love's recent plays have made them believers. well, mayo maybe leading all rookies in scoring but kevin love is leading all nba players in offensive rebounds per 48 minutes. i think it's a good trade for both teams. the twolves also got mike miller's expiring contract.

each player has their own impact on their respective teams. i think love would be great in the starting lineup for the twolves given the numbers he posts up everytime he's given a lot of minutes on the court. and mayo is the leading scorer for the grizzlies which just proves my point that mayo's arrival in memphis is not good for rudy gay.

before oj's arrival, and after pau gasol's departure, i think everyone thought that rudy gay would be the cornerstone of the memphis franchise and he has shown that he can be that go-to guy for the grizz. this season though, gay's numbers are down from last season. sure, a decline in numbers especially scoring might not be all that bad. but when your team is still losing a lot of games and your numbers are down because you are not getting as much touches as you did the previous season, there's something wrong.

from 20 points per game last season to 18.6 points in the 2008-09 season, i think oj's arrival has stunted gay's growth. we should remember that that 20 points per game is his average including the time when pau gasol was still with the team. the problem is that oj mayo is a guard that needs a lot of shots. he's no john stockton who will rack up assists every night. that means less touches for rudy gay thus the decline in numbers.

if the trade did not materialize, i think gay would be posting better numbers but kevin love will surely be labeled as a bust. with marc gasol playing solid basketball and hakim warrick getting the most minutes in the forward slot, love would not get the minutes he's getting right now in a twolves uniform.

apart from not being good for gay's numbers, the nba also never got to see the gay-love tandem because of that trade.

nba trade rumors: shawn marion for brad miller

2009-02-02T12:06:00.000-08:00

looks like shawn marion's name is connected with almost all trade rumors today. i've already mentioned that the matrix might be traded for jermaine o'neal. apart from j.o. though, i think miami is also looking for other big men to trade for marion.

and one big man i think is ripe for a trade is brad miller. the center will be paid 11 million this year and 12.5 million next year. no doubt, the sacramento kings, looking to rebuild would want to unload that hefty contract.

why the kings would want marion

his expiring contract would give them more financial flexibility. they are not fighting for a playoff spot this year so dealing away their best big man won't be a big blow. plus spencer hawes and jason thompson have been playing well lately so it would be better for the kings to give these two big men the playing time they need.

why the heat would want miller

he's the big man that they need. if i were to pick between brad miller and jermaine o'neal for the miami heat, i would take brad miller in a heartbeat. why? because the heat has a glut of players who can score at will. what they need is a big man who can rebound well and at the same time can pass well. brad miller will not ask for a lot of touches unlike jermaine who is known for his offense but not for his passing skill.

adding brad miller might give the heat that extra push to make them a legit contender for the championship. wade is great but that might not be enough to get them that ring this season. who knows, maybe adding brad miller could turn the heat from the worst team in the league last year to the champions this season.

give michael phelps a break

2009-02-02T11:30:00.001-08:00

i'm sure you've heard that news of the world recently published a photo of swimming phenom michael phelps with a bong. some people are quick to condemn phelps after the news broke out and that's the reason why i came up with this post.

guys! give michael phelps a break. i'm sure some people are still on phelps side but what i can't stand is people coming up with comments like phelps should be condemned because he is no longer the role model that he should be.

c'mon, if you are good parents, you won't need someone like michael phelps to serve as role model for your kids. if you depend on a man you haven't even spoken to to be a role model for your kids, you have a bigger problem than the olympic record holder.

sure, it is illegal to smoke marijuana and phelps did a bad thing right there. but these comments about him being a bad role model are just pure nonsense.

this comment from the news of the world article made me laugh though:

Its simply horrible, absolutely shocking. There isn't one picture of him sharing the bong. it's bad enough having to explain to your children the seriousness of drug use, informing your little ones that their hero M Phelps isn't sharing can be traumatic and cause lasting mental health issues.

i want an army r85a1 airsoft gun!

2009-02-02T09:40:00.000-08:00

i'm a sucker for bullpup configuration. that explains why apart from the famas f1, i also would like to own an army r85a1 airsoft gun. the army armament r85a1 is a clone of the g&g l85, the real steel counterpart of which is the enfield l85a1, a member of the sa80 family which originated from the united kingdom. i love europe's guns!

what i like about the army r85a1 is that it has a blowback mechanism according to this review. also, i like the looks. there's something about bullpup firearms which just screams "cool". reportedly, this airsoft gun fires 0.20 g bbs at 350 fps. that might not sound much but to me, that's adequate enough. i mean you do not have to have a gun with a lot of power to enjoy the game. it is after all more thrilling to accept the challenge of stalking your opponent to get those "kills".

i would like to take this time to point out that some players crave for guns with more power. sure, that would get you a lot of kills but if the gun is too powerful that you need not get close to enemy lines, that just takes the fun away from playing the game. if you are a sniper, sure, you need a gun with more "oomph". but don't use that powerful sniping gun in a skirmish where you will be in close proximity with the opposition.

anyway, back to the r85a1. sir sonny, the seller i bought my thompson m1a1 from is offering this particular bullpup airsoft gun. i wish i can afford this one. if the price is too high, i might sell my thompson and then just add a couple of thousand to buy the r85a1.

jon 'bones' jones

2009-02-01T02:07:00.000-08:00

ufc 94 is in the books and both penn and st. pierre walked away with their belts intact. yes, georges st. pierre won but bj penn's title is not on the line so i guess it's like when kelly pavlik lost to bernard hopkins. it might be a bit of a disappointment (according to frnz) but i think the card has some pretty good matchups like the bonnar-jones fight.

the fight also went the distance but jon "bones" jones' performance has captured the attention of many mma fans. going into the fight, jones' record is immaculate with 7 wins, 5 of which were knockouts and 1 by submission. he fought andre gusmao in ufc 87 and won by decision but most people thought that stephan bonnar's experience in the octagon would give him the upper hand. that didn't happen though as jones showed some pretty weird striking and solid takedowns.

apart from his takedowns, jon jones also wowed the crowed with his spinning back elbow.

even without a ko win this time, i think jon 'bones' jones has made it clear that he is a legit contender in the light-heavyweight division. sure, he's raw and green but give it a few more fights and we might see a monster. remember, he's only 21 and has a lot of upside. if there's a keeper fantasy league for the ufc, i would immediately pick up jones. and i think you would too if you've seen these live:

no love for kevin love

2009-01-30T11:39:00.001-08:00

many nba fans are asking why ray allen, al jefferson, carmelo anthony, and david lee were not included as all-star reserves for their respective conference. but is anybody concerned that kevin love gets no love after being left out of the rookie-sophomore game?

sure, he cannot score in bunches like oj mayo, michael beasley, and eric gordon (yet), or set up plays like derrick rose and russell westbrook, or fly high like rudy fernandez. but i bet he makes a better case to be in the rookie sophomore game at the all-star weekend than marc gasol, greg oden, and brook lopez.

the twolves are the best team this year in the nba. yup, you read that right. this year, minnesotta has won 8 and only lost 2 games giving them the best record so far this year (but not this season :P). this surge would have been enough to push love to the game. no one can say that it's about the team record as eric gordon's clippers are also struggling.

maybe they are basing it on numbers. if so, then love should get the vote over oden as they have almost identical averages in scoring and rebounding. the difference is that kevin love leads all nba players in offensive rebound every 48 mins.

i don't know why love is snubbed but i do know that he deserves to be there.

georges st. pierre vs. bj penn: it's on

2009-01-30T09:41:00.000-08:00

ufc 94 is today! yeah, i know not yet in the states but in the philippines it's already january 31 so there. that means the showdown between two of the best mma fighters today is close at hand.

the fighters

on one hand, you have georges st. pierre, the reigning ufc welterweight champion . a freak of nature, st. pierre has come back from that loss to matt serra to wreak havoc in the welterweight division. the guy is known for his impressive cardio and his athletic ability.

on the other end, bj penn is the current ufc lightweight champion but opted to go up in weight to challenge st. pierre. i think that penn is one of the most gifted fighters to ever grace the octagon. he has that killer instinct, the drive to do whatever it takes to beat up his opponent whether by submission or knockout. he is known for being cool as ice. even when on his back, he does not panic, like a predator waiting patiently for his opponent to make a mistake.

history

in ufc 56, dana white announced that penn will be coming back to the ufc after bolting to k-1 afetr ufc 46. it was announced that at ufc 58, penn will be facing georges st. pierre with the winner becoming the number one contender to the welterweight championship held at that time by matt hughes.

georges st. pierre won that fight via split decision. that was how close the fight was. so although st. pierre has a win over penn, it is by no means a measuring stick to determine who will walk out of this fight as the victor.

with the win, st. pierre was slated to face hughes. during his training for the fight, st. pierre went down with an injury. with that, the ufc announced that penn would take st. pierre's place and fight hughes. penn lost that fight after sustaining a rib injury. after the welterweight fight, penn dropped back to lightweight and stayed there until he won the championship.

st. pierre on the other hand would wait until after the penn-hughes fight to take on the latter. st. pierre then beat hughes at ufc 65 to win the welterweight championship. he would lost that belt to matt serra though but after beating josh koscheck, hughes (again), and serra, st. pierre reclaimed the gold.

number one pound for pound?

both fighters are no doubt the best at what they do. they have the belts. that's why it's called a superfight. some would argue that the winner of this fight would certainly be the pound for pound king in mma. i would have to disagree though as the p4p title belongs to either anderson silva or fedor emelianenko.

predictions

i am not an mma expert but i don't see this fight going the distance. each of them can finish the fight at any given time. so predictions? none for this. i'm just gonna sit back and enjoy this superfight, for a superfight it really is.

nba trade rumors: jermaine o'neal for shawn marion

2009-01-30T02:10:00.001-08:00

last year, the memphis grizzlies practically gave away pau gasol to the lakers. the move propelled the lakeshow to the finals. that shows how one trade can make (or break) a team. this year, with the trade deadline approaching, trade rumors are numerous but i think only a few of them would pull through.

one player who managed to make it at the top of the trade rumor queue is shawn marion. some people expect toronto to make a push to acquire marion in exchange for jermaine o'neal. that was a fast turnaround for toronto. this summer, they basically traded tj ford fior o'neal and now it looks like they have given up on the jermaine experiment.

two things could convince toronto to trade o'neal away. first, jermaine's inability to stay healthy for a long time. second, andrea bargnani's recent surge. o'neal has already missed numerous games this season. bargnani on the other hand has stepped up while filling in for o'neal. that in my view makes jermaine tradeable.

but why would miami want jermaine? the answer is their need for a big man. no matter how hard haslem fights for those rebounds, he's no center. if jermaine would join the heat, they would have a potent inside presence. marion might be a scoring threat but moving him would enable the team to give thier rookie michael beasley more playing time to develop.

i think marion would be better off in toronto just like diaw and bell are better off in charlotte. he would play with a good power forward in chris bosh, and a pretty solid point guard in jose calderon. it can be remembered that he had the best years of his career playing with a solid power forward and an mvp point guard in phoenix.

why this trade might not take off: miami is also looking to dump mark blount's contract too which toronto might balk at. if that happens and miami would really like to have o'neal, they can just go ahead and make a straight-up swap. after all, both jermaine and shawn marion have expiring contracts.

fantasy basketball lineup

2009-01-30T01:50:00.000-08:00

just a post to share my lineup:

starting at the four guards spots are jose calderon, chris paul, john salmons, and rodney stuckey.

my four forwards are luol deng, al thornton, kenyon martin, and marvin williams.

starting at center is shaquille o'neal and at the flex position is monta ellis.

on the bench are carlos boozer, ramon sessions, and brad miller.

as you can see, only two among the thirteen will be in the all-star game, shaq and cp3. thornton will be there too but only in the rookie-sophomore game. no matter, i'd still be rooting for shaq, paul, and thornton at the weekend games.

ray allen not an all-star?

2009-01-30T00:18:00.000-08:00

doc rivers must be mad right now. he said earlier this week that he is almost sure the boston three party will all be in the lineup come the all-star game. kevin garnett was voted as a starting forward for the east. that left the fate of paul pierce and ray allen in the hands of coaches in the eastern conference.

pierce got the nod, allen did not. instead, devin harris of the nets, joe johnson of the hawks, and jameer nelson of the orlando magic were named as guard reserves. this is the first time that harris and nelson were named as all-stars.

there is no doubt in my mind that devin harris is a definite all-star this year. in fact, one could argue that he should start for the east. that means jameer nelson is the one who displaced allen out of the lineup. were the coaches right?

doc rivers beg to differ. he said: "to have only two (of the three picked) would be a crime because coaches all over the league talk about getting players to sacrifice, and then when (the players) do and the coaches vote, if they don’t (vote in Allen), they’re being hypocritical. They are voting for numbers instead of sacrificing for wins and efficiency".

i agree with doc right there. but, if he meant the nets having less wins should translate to devin harris not being on the all-star team, i would disagree. the nets have become a pleasant surprise this year and that is all thanks to harris' improvement. this guy has provided the leadership that the nets were lacking with the departure of kidd. sure, harris has the numbers, but he also plays to win.

as for jameer nelson, i agree that he got the nod over allen. as efficient as allen is, i think nelson's stellar play as of late is one of the main reasons why the magic is one of the best teams in the league. last year when he was struggling, the magic were a good team but not good enough to win a championship. this year nelson brings much more to the table with his leadership and that has made the magic team a lot tougher than they were last year.

ray allen might not be in phoenix come the all-star weekend but i do think that he is still an all-star. it's just that there's too many good players out there this year that one good player has sit this one out.

stunned

2009-01-29T14:24:00.000-08:00

i know this is late news but i have to say that i was stunned the way antonio margarito was beaten senseless by shane mosley. before the fight, i would have bet all my savings on margarito to dismantle mosley. lucky for me, i did not bet anything, but the tijuana tornado is not as lucky as he was stopped by mosley in the ninth round of their bout recently.

everybody knows that mosley is fast, margarito has a granite chin and can overcome any fighter with volumes of punches. but i guess not many thought mosley had the power to destroy that granite chin of margarito. i for one believed that mosley's age would put him at a disadvantage although margarito is not that young.

mosley beating margarito is not the only stunning news to come out of that bout. i'm sure you have already heard about that "suspicious substance" found on margarito's hand wraps. mosley's trainer, nazzim richardson reportedly noticed that the hand wraps were a bit thick and requested it to be removed and margarito's hand re-taped. removing the hand wraps showed the suspicious material some belive to be plaster of paris.

as a result, margarito's license has been suspended while investigation is being carried on by the california state athletic commission.

if (and i hope not), the commission finds out that the margarito camp were cheating, it could put a lot of question on how margarito knocked out miguel cotto last year. it would also put the rematch between the two in jeopardy as the suspension could be lentghened.

i just hope that margarito did not intend to cheat. and yeah, congratulations to shane mosley for winning the bout. now who will fight paul williams? :D

i want a famas f1 airsoft gun!

2009-01-28T13:49:00.000-08:00

airsoft is slowly becoming a popular sport in the philippines and other parts of the world. i guess it has to do with men's obsession with things that go boom! but not everyone can afford a gun or even use it regularly. so for us who love guns but cannot afford to buy a real steel, airsoft is the next best thing.

it is not about just having a gun though. playing this game can teach you a lot in life like honesty and integrity. it will test your will and stamina too. it is also a thinking game as you have to plan your strategy and follow it to the letter if you want to eliminate all opponents. this and the camaraderie between airsoft players are what makes the sport so appealing to me.

now why do i want a famas f1? i guess it has someting to do with my addiction to counterstrike 1.6. i just love the way the gun looks and i am a fan of the bullpup design. i dig the steyr aug and the tavor but i love the famas f1. unfortunately, i don't think it is avaialble yet in the philippines... and worse, i still haven't save any money for it. T_T

so i'm making a promise to myself that i will save enough money to get me a famas f1. and yes, i'm planning to keep my current aeg, my cybergun thompson m1a1 i named maia. :D i guess saving enough money for a new pc would have to wait.

fantasy basketball week 14

2009-01-28T12:51:00.000-08:00

wow, that's quite a jump ain't it? from week 1 to week 14 but hey, i'm not perfect (unlike jose calderon who is yet to miss a free throw this season). my lineup has changed drastically from the start of the season which shows i have been busy with it. in fact, i spend too much time researching all things that could impact my team that "teh gf" is complianing already. but i have my needs right?

anyway, i still got chris paul in the lineup and starting. if you have chris paul and you are not starting him, you are hopeless in fantasy basketball. the guy's a stud.

another starting guard for my team is jose calderon. i missed his productions for two weeks as i had to bench him following his injuries. but now he's back and is looking healthy. if only jose would score more, i think he can be a legit no. 1 fantasy option as he racks up a lot of assists.

my third guard is rodney stuckey. surprisingly, he went undrafted. luckily for me, i added stuckey before he became a solid fantasy player while starting for the pistons. now i wish coach curry would use an uptempo offense. it make sense as the pistons could put iverson, hamilton, stuckey, prince, and rasheed on the floor at one time and all these except wallace could run with the best of them. if that happens, then more production can be expected from stuckey fantasy-wise. please coach curry, read this post. :D

the fourth guard in my lineup is john salmons. with kevin martin still scoring in bunches, salmons has to play second fiddle but his production is still more than acceptable.

i use a fifth guard in the monta ellis in my flex position. his first game is a good indication that he is still a solid fantasy player. although "experts" may claim that his great plays in his first game is brought about by the energy of the home crowd, i refuse to accept the suggestion to bench him until he has proven that he truly is back. one game is enough for me when it comes to monta. plus, i need the win right now.

as for forwards, i traded lamarcus aldridge away for a then injured loul deng. back from his injury, deng is producing well and i may have made more out of that trade as it was a two for one with lamarcus being the "one".

i still got al thornton and there's no way i'm dropping him. with the injuries to kaman, baron davis, zach randolph, and marcus camby, thornton has provided much of the scoring for the clippers. this is the classic case of "best player in a bad team". one thing i learned about fantasy basketball: sometimes, an average player for a bad team could be a better fantasy option than an all-star in a stacked winning team.

my third forward is kenyon martin. just like salmons, he's not the alpha-male on his team but he can deliver. he has been consstent this year fantasy-wise that i expect not less than25 fantasy points per week for him with a 30-point week here and there.

i have to drop wilson chandler coming into this week as he was struggling and is even replaced in the starting lineup by al harrington. i also fear that danilo gallanari might cut into chandler's playing time. i picked up marvin williams for now. hopefully, williams will not be a letdown.

greg oden is finally slowly getting consistent. too bad i had to let him by week 11 after he killed me the previous week with awful outings. my starting center is now the big aristotle and i am crossing my fingers that the big guy does not succumb to any injury.

on my bench are two guys i can count on if i started them this week and a guy with a 20-10 average but not able to play yet.

ramon sessions is that one guy i could have started but i still have to see if he can be consistent. i'm betting that he will as charlie bell is not that much of a threat. plus, sessions has got the size and the offensive abilities to start at shooting guard. although i hate to see a player like redd sidelined for the rest of the season, i think his season-ending injury would turn out to be the catalyst for the emergence of ramon sessions.

brad miller is the other player i got for lamarcus. although brad miller is no longer in his prime, he can still produce well thanks to his above average passing ability. now i have someone to start at center if shaq gets injured.

the other guy on my bench must be someone's first round pick: carlos boozer. i was lucky to pick him off waivers and hopefully, milsap's emergence as a solid player for utah will not reduce boozer's minute and production when he comes back. and i hope he comes back soon. i desperately need to win a lot of games as i'm currently fifth in my league and if the fantasy playoffs started today, i would have an early exit.

how about your team? care to share? maybe you have made a post like this, if you did, just drop a link in the comments section and i'l surely read it. i desperately need someone to talk to regarding fantasy basketball as all my friends are not into this. :(

chris paul's 71 foints

2009-01-28T12:30:00.000-08:00

nope, i did not misspell that. i do mean foints and not points. i read somewhere that it's what they call fantasy points nowadays, so there.

after weeks and weeks being lazy and not posting anything here (not that anyone cares), i suddenly found the urge to write and since i'm a crazed chris paul fan, here goes:

charis paul just racked up his fifth triple-double in the season to lead all nba players. his latest triple-double came at the expense of the philadelphia 76ers when cp3 dropped 27 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, and dished out 15 helpers. he also stole the ball 7 times and swatted a shot while turning the ball over 4 times. so using my league's scoring system, where every assist is worth 2 points, cp3 got:

27 points = 27
15 assists = 30
10 rebounds = 10
7 steals = 7
1 block = 1
4 turnovers = -4

27+30+10+7+1-4= 71 fantasy points

as a result of that "little" explosion from cp3, i'm enjoying quite a cushion over my opponent this week (more on that later). here's hoping cp3 can pull out a quadruple-double this season. :D

and here's the proof (as if you need any):

fantasy basketball mid-week musings week 1

2008-10-30T13:03:00.000-07:00

two days into the nba season and my fingers are already itching to post some of my thoughts about my fantasy basketball lineup. from the previous post, you can see my picks and this time, i'm gonna try to squeeze something out of my head to rate how well my players did on their first game/s.

to start it off, chris paul had a good game in their season opener against the warriors. he racked up 21 points, 11 assists, 5 rebounds, 3 steals., and a block but he committed 3 turnovers. so in cbs' head-to-head format, he got 49 points for his first game. not bad really as he has the most fantasy points of all players in the league. if you have chris paul in your lineup, don't trade him and always put him in the starting lineup.

moving on to jose calderon. people are expecting this year to be the "real" breakout season for this guy as he does not have to compete with t.j. ford for playing time. his first game though is not that good although not too shabby either. but i expected at least a double-double for him in points and assists. but that's just the first game and he just might be warming up so leave him in your starting lineup.

then, there's greg oden. the big man's down again with a leg injury and will be out for at least two weeks. now i have to scramble for a center to take his spot for next week. if you have him in your team, don't give up on the big guy just yet. just hand on to him at least until he gets healthy.

lamarcus aldridge had a rough season opener but i expect better from him especially with oden sidelined. expect the big guy to get more touches.

fifth is al thornton. he had a great first half in their first game against the lakers but the clippers just fizzled out or the lakers did really step it up. it is still safe to start this guy as i expect him to have a breakout season and i still stand by my assumption that he will be baron davis' stack jack in l.a.

john salmons is back to his stat-stuffing form from last year. in his first game, he posted a team-high 24 points and dished out 8 assists and corralling 5 rebounds while committing only 2 turnovers. i think the most improved player award this year will either go to salmons or thornton. but then again, i'm no expert so don't take that to the bank...yet.

wow! ramon sessions hasn't even played a minute! if you have him in your roster, don't start him. but as for me, i'm gonna stick with this guy. after all, i was foolish enough to take him over scoring machine kevin martin.

my bet for the rookie of the year and sixth man of the year is this guy: rudy fernandez. he showed that he can play in the nba. in fact, people expecting him to at least have a few games in the league to get the feel for it must have been impressed with the way he carried himself in their opening game against the best in the west last season. keep starting this guy if you have him.

kenyon martin. to tell you the truth, i never expected much from k-mart with iverson and carmelo anthony getting more touches but his first game showed that he still can ball. of course, he could have had ammased 30 fanatsy points because anthony is still suspended.

francisco garcia...is injured so play it by ear as he could be back before next week so let's see what he can do first.

love kevin love. this guys should start alongside al jefferson. in his debut, love proved that the twolves are right when they acquired him from memphis. the season is still very young and love would surely improve his production.

by the way, i dropped antonio mcdyess and picked up stephon marbury and dropped starbury to get wilson chandler. the other chandler scored 17 points and grabbed 9 rebounds. not bad eh? he could be starting soon for my team if scott skiles still does not let ramon sessions play.

andrea bargnani. this guy is rumored to have improved in the offseason but we still have to see what he can do especially with jermaine o'neal and chris bosh sharing the front court with him. am gonna start him on center next week whatever happens though as i can't find any good center to replace oden.

by the way, after two days, and ramon sessions still scoreless and oden registering only 4 fantasy points, my team is just down by 2.5 points. i expect that lead to balloon though as my opponent still has josh howard to accumulate fantasy points for the first week. :( that's it for now.

nba fantasy basketball draft: my picks

2008-09-21T06:48:00.000-07:00

for people who want to know what it's like to be an nba team owner, a fantasy league is the closest answer. and with me following nba news so much, i once again signed up for a new team over at CBS Sports.draft day came and this is what i got for the 2008-09 nba fantasy basketball season:

1. chris paul (g)- i could have picked lebron over cp3 since i had the first pick in the draft. but, since it's a head-to-head league where assists are worth two points, i assumed that chris paul's mad passing skills would overcome james' rebounding numbers. plus, chris paul is the main reason why i won the championship in our league last year so i want an encore. hehe

2. jose calderon (g)- last year, i picked up calderon from the waivers and his assists numbers was so impressive that i just had to take him back, even if it means grabbing him while tim duncan, chris bosh, chris kaman, and rudy gay are still on the board. i just hope that calderon's ankle would heal properly.

3. greg oden (c)- with dwight howard, amare stoudemire, and al jefferson gone, i settled for greg oden although (as stated above) chris kaman, and pau gasol are still on the board. i'm still nervous about this pick since portland's got a very talented lineup with brandon roy and lamarcus aldridge so oden might not get a lot of shots in his first year. on the flipside, oden could be a monster on the boards and although projected to have about 12 points and 8 rebounds in his first year, i think he can grab a 20-10 on some nights.

4. lamarcus aldridge (f)- i was surprised to see aldridge still on the boards in the fourth round. being in need of a forward, i drafted him immediately. lamarcus was good last year and could only get better. my only concern about him albeit a small one is if greg oden plays like an all-star it would mean less touches for aldridge. if that happens then, i still have oden. haha

5. al thornton (f)- the sophomore from the clippers may have been flying under the radar of other team owners since i still got him in the fifth round. last year, he was inconsistent but when he's on fire, he's really on fire. thornton is another guy along with paul and calderon i had in my lineup last year and i think he will get better this season as brand is gone and he should get more minutes this season than tim thomas. i'm also counting on him being baron davis' stephen jackson on the clippers.

6. john salmons (g)- last year, i also picked up salmons from the waivers and boy he delivered. without bibby, martin, and artest early last season, salmons showed he can ball with the best of them. with the return of martin, his playing time was reduced and he was no longer as productive as early in the season. so why did i draft salmons when martin is still with the kings? well, artest is gone and that could mean more playing time for salmons.

7. ramon sessions (g)- ramon who? sure, kevin martin, manu ginobili, monta ellis, al horford, and gilbert arenas were still available in the seventh round but i just had to have sessions, he played amazing basketball towards the end of last season for the bucks which caught my attention. with mo williams now with the cavs, sessions would only have to beat luke ridnour for the starting job in milwaukee.

8. rudy fernandez (g)- with four guards, a center and two forwards, you might think that i would have gone for a center or a forward for my eighth pick. but i did not pick andrei kirilenko (even though he was part of my last year's team), boris diaw, nor jamario moon but drafted portland's rudy fernandez. why? i think he's good and ready for the nba. while brandon roy would have to be the blazers' go-to-guy, i think rudy can be a really good addition to any team especially the talented-laden blazers team. with aldridge down low, i think rudy can rack up a lot of assists for the team.

9. kenyon martin (f)- sure he's 30 and has been on the operating table alot but he's not done. with marcus camby out of denver, who would fill in the rebounding void for the nuggets? nene? i don't really think so. k-mart will be the one. add to that the fact that kenyon martin can really score.

10. francisco garcia (f)- needing a forward, i searched down the list for any good forwards left. i noticed garcia and for the reason that artest will no longer be donning the kings jersey this coming season, i drafted the guy. i had garcia on the team last year and he was good when given the minutes so i'm counting on him to be better this season.

11. kevin love (f)- while some people think that love does not have an nba-ready body, i think he can thrive in minnesota with al jefferson. sure, al would have the most touches but don't count out love and his mid-range shooting. it might be even possible that he will get the starting job of center while al jefferson slides to power forward. that would mean a couple of blocks or so a game and more rebounds.

12. antonio mcdyess (f)- the diceman was part of my original lineup last season but i had to let him go to clear space. i can't remember who i got after i dumped mcdyess but it might have been shaq. but i do remember that i regret letting this guy go after posting good numbers last season. this year, he's once again on my reserve list and i'm thinking about lettting him go again if that was the reason why i won last year (hehehe), or keep him so i don't regret letting him go again (more hehe).

13. andrea bargnani (c)- without a reserved center (kevin love still does not count), i had to pick bargnani. his upside: he could be playing small forward this season which means more playing time since jermaine o'neal would surely start as center. i just hope that this season will be the breakout year for this number 1 draft pick in 2006.

so that's it for my lineup. do you think it's any good? do i need to trade someone away? am i right in taking chris paul over lebron james? was the ramon sessions decision any good? or is it plain dumb? hehehe. is rudy fernandez ready for the nba to help portland and my fantasy team? please, i'm running out of questions here, so any feedback would do.

randy couture back in the ufc, will fight brock lesnar

2008-09-03T07:33:00.000-07:00

after affliction made the match between fedor and tim sylvia earlier this year, i thought fedor would be an irresistible bait for randy couture to join affliction's next show. but i was proven wrong as randy has now rejoined the ufc. now, would fedor finally jump to the ufc? god i hope so.

couture's first fight after ironing out his differences with the ufc management will be against wwe's next big thing. yup! it's couture vs. lesnar, november 15, mgm grand, las vegas... mark that down folks. this is a battle which holds a lot of promise.

after beating heath herring, lesnar finally proved that he belongs in the ufc. but with only 3 mma fights under his belt, will the 31 year old be able to fight the natural, captain america himself, randy effin' couture? we'll see soon enough.

now at 45, couture can be considered ancient especially that he is in a sport which takes a lot of toll on one's body. but after his battles with the best that mma or the ufc has to offer, we all know that this guy can fight. so i'm not betting yet against the natural.

if lesnar choose to trade punches with couture, i'm sure randy would oblige. if brock wants the fight on the ground, couture can fight there too. but then again, come november 15, randy couture will not only be fighting brock lesnar, he will also be fighting father time. now, i'm starting to favor brock.

now, predictions predictions... i want couture to win but i think brock will be too much for him to handle...

my first post using google's chrome

2008-09-02T11:56:00.000-07:00

yay! after hours and hours of waiting, finally, i got to download google's new web browser, Chrome. and my first impression is that it's effin' awesome. what i first noticed about using chrome is that it makes my monitor look bigger than it really is.

it is true what google said that you would not even notice the browser. while using chrome, you might not even notice the navigation toolbar. one thing that i'm not totally pleased about chrome is that there seems to be no way (yet) to install a google toolbar in the browser.

so, from now on, i'd be using firefox 3 for business and chrome for pleasure since i can't add an seopen toolbar in chrome. hope google (or anyone for that matter) can come up with a way to add the google toolbar and the seopen toolbar to this new web browser.

update: click the chrome logo to download the newest (& fastest?) browser in town.

Excited To Try Google's New Web Browser

2008-09-01T21:54:00.000-07:00

folks, this post is not about sports. this is about google taking on microsoft's internet explorer and mozilla's firefox. you see, apart from sports, i am also into the whole world wide web thingy. hehehe..

i love my firefox but i'm really excited to try google's new web browser called "chrome". it's not that i'm unhappy with firefox but i just want to give this new browser a try. for more, check out this official post on google's official blog: official google blog: a fresh take on the browser

and for the story with illustration (read: comic strip) click here. after reading the said strip, i became even more excited to try this browser. google said it will be available to download in 100 countries on tuesday. it's already tuesday here in the philippines so i'm just gonna wait around and see if i can score me a chrome today. hehehe...

my new sport

2008-08-31T22:32:00.000-07:00

being sports-minded, i'm always open to try new sports as long as i can cram it into my busy schedule. so, after the green team was eliminated from our basketball tournament, i decided to give airsoft a go.

egged on by my officemates jad, lenard, and john, i purchased my own AEG, a type of airsoft gun. i bought mine from sir sonny and i must say that i am truly impressed with the thompson m1a1 i got from him. so for all filipinos out there looking for a trusted seller of airsoft guns in the philippines, i would definitely recommend sir sonny. i have yet to take a good pic of my tommy gun so i'm gonna post more pictures of it here later on. for now, all i got is this:
although a newbie or greenhorn or a rookie (or whatever they call newcomers to the sport), i have already participated in a large-scale game. it was the jungle blizzard in iriga city. i did not come prepared for the said game as i do not have vests or battle dress uniform for that matter. but i managed to score two knife kills (wOOt!) hehehe...

i'm also thinking about buying a pistol and having a guitar case redesigned to carry my gun as it's quite bulky and would not fit into my montanara daypack. but with no funds yet, i have to settle on carrying it around on a guitar case padded with my jacket and other stuff. and since i don't know what to add further, am gonna cut this rant right here. ehehe

ewing jr. shipped to new york knicks

2008-08-31T22:09:00.000-07:00

this space in teh internetz has been forsaken as of late due to the author's busy schedule or laziness (i'm betting on the latter). before this space lose its page rank, i decided it's time once again to update it and start with ewing going back to the new york knicks.

patrick ewing, (the junior version that is) has been shipped by the houston rockets to the knicks in exchange for the rights to frederic weis. weis if you remember is the french 7-footer drafted in 1999 but never played in the nba. and oh yeah, he was on the receiving end of vince carter's dunk of death.

ewing was drafted this year by the sacramento kings in the second round and was shipped to the rockets in the ron artest trade earlier. now this gets a little interesting as frederic weis was picked 15th overall by the knicks in 1999 even though ron artest was still available. sure, only a handful of people back then had an idea that artest would be one of the best lockdown defenders in the nba but he is from queens and new york fans were angered by the fact that the knicks picked the french guy over a player from their own state. so, artest and weis has a history in a matter of speaking and this trade adds another chapter to that.

for knicks fans such as this writer, i hope that ewing jr. will be a good addition to the team. that is not guaranteed though as the younger ewing is not even assured of a spot in the knicks' roster as they have now one player more than the maximum.

if we look at this as a symbolism, donnie walsh is exorcising the franchise's ghost in weis and adding a name knicks fans associate with the good times of new york basketball.

the clippers rollercoaster

2008-07-16T14:26:00.000-07:00

the offseason have been occupied with talks about teams clearing cap space for 2010 when the class of lebron james, dwyane wade, and chris bosh become free agents. new jersey unloaded richard jefferson by trading him to the milwaukee bucks which made gilbert arenas say that he felt sorry for rj because, according to agent zero, nba players avoid playing for the bucks. the new york knicks are also said to be aiming to land the king when his contract with the cavs expires.

the offseason has also seen the draft decided between michael beasley and derrick rose with rose being picked first overall by the chicago bulls. but i think most of the stories in the offseason surrounded around the l.a. team almost everyone forgot to mention, the clippers.

before the start of last season, the clippers looked to make it to the playoffs but saw that hope crashing down when elton brand, the face of the franchise, suffered an injury in the offseason. without elton brand, the clippers might have expected their chances for success going down the drain.

while they have had a really bad season, there were alot to be happy about for the 2008-09 season. chris kaman had a breakout season and corey maggette also had a great season. rookie al thornton proved that he is ready to play in the nba. and during the last eight games of last season, elton brand played and showed that he can still be very productive.

then the offseason begun with both maggette and brand opting out of the last year of their contracts. both said that they are willing to sign with the clippers. that would have left clippers fan really nervous as we all know that alot of players sometimes don't mean what they say and don't really say what they mean. at this point, i was thinking that of the two, elton brand has the best chance of really coming back to the clippers.

with the news breaking out that barion davis has left the warriors to verbally agree to sign with the clippers, i sensed that there is a better chance that brand would come back while maggette might not as baron would be stealing his thunder. but lo and behold, elton brand bolted to the philadelphia 76ers. that would have broken the hearts of clippers fans.

but the offseason is not yet over and the clips know that. so what did they do? well, they got marcus camby, the three-time defensive player of the year for what could be nothing (see previous post). so, next season, they would have cuttino mobley, baron davis, al thornton (i'd take him any day over tim thomas), marcus camby, and chris kaman, and i'd say, that's a pretty good lineup. maybe they could shake things up in the western conference. clipper fans better pray that this rollercoaster ride end with the team this good.

marcus camby traded to the l.a. clippers

2008-07-16T14:05:00.000-07:00

in a move done to clear cap space, marcus camby found himself dealt to the l.a. clippers for what could be nothing. you see, in the trade, the clippers got camby in exchange for a future conditional second-round draft pick. if next year, the denver nuggets get to pick ahead of the clippers in the second round, they would surely not avail of the compensation.

that would make dave winfield, the mlb outfielder traded for dinner, more valuable than camby. hehehe..

but seriously, i think that the addition of camby in the clippers' lineup makes the clip a stronger one although some might not categorize them as playoff contenders yet. with the starting lineup of cuttino mobley, baron davis, al thornton, camby, and chris kaman who came from a breakout season, i think the clippers would be even better than the nuggets.

sure, my predictions have been busted time and time again, but with the new look of the clippers for the next season, and being a big fan of camby since his new york days, i kinda have this feeling that they will be surprising a lot of people this upcoming season.

the melbourne cup awaits the next legend

2008-07-11T13:40:00.000-07:00

in australia, even people who are not into horse racing know who phar lap is. for those who are not familiar with phar lap, here's a good article to read. among phar lap's accomplishments is winning "the race that stops a nation", the Melbourne Cup.

another horse that can be considered as a legend in the said race is makybe diva who won the prestigious Melbourne Cup three times. and the next legendary horse that will come out of Australia would definitely have to win the race even against long Melbourne Cup odds.

while the triple crown may be the most popular series of events in horse racing, one should not discount the Melbourne Cup as a lesser event. for more than one hundred years, the said event has squeezed great performances from horses. and this year i expect it to be better.

while most people will be attending the Melbourne Cup for the racing, some people would go there for the race and fashion. you see, at the Melbourne Cup, they have this award given to the best-dressed attendee.

but for most australians, the race is about the betting. most of the country's populace bet on Melbourne Cup. and of course, for more information about the odds at the said race, there is one place i would recommend and you can visit it here.

patrick ewing jr. a first pick?

2008-07-11T11:52:00.000-07:00

you better believe that. yes, the son of hall of fame bound patrick ewing is the first pick this year in the draft... the harlem globetrotters' draft that is. while patrick ewing jr. has been drafted in the second round by the sacramento kings, the globetrotters may have seen something from him which no nba team has.

sure, you can say that the globetrotters play a different kind of game... and i will second that. hehehe. anyway, according to this report, the other picks were: "2008 State Farm College Slam Dunk Champion Sonny Weems of Arkansas, William Bullard of Texas A&M–Corpus Christi, Siena long-distance marksman Tay Fisher, Sudanese big man Longar Longar of Oklahoma, and Auburn high-jumping sensation Donald Thomas, an Olympian hailing from the Bahamas and the reigning men’s world indoor high jump champion."

where do you think ewing jr. would go? he might not be inked by the kings so i think he has a fallback now. he might not end up being a suprestar in the nba, but if he play with the globetrotters, he can escape his father's shadow and create a legacy of his own. what do you think?

barrera quits golden boy promotion

2008-07-11T11:33:00.000-07:00

the babyface assassin, marco antonio barrera who played a major role in the rise of the newest pound-for-pound king manny pacquiao is looking to cut his ties with golden boy promotions. well, that might not be too much of a loss for golden boy, but considering barrera's popularity in mexico, they (golden boy promotions)would be hard-pressed to find someone who can fill the legend's shoe.

according to philboxing.com, barrera is not too keen on continuing his career with golden boy after it failed to give him a fight after he lost to pacquiao for the second time.

so what does the babyface assassin has in mind now? well, it looks like he will be contacting pacquiao to work on promoting boxing events between filipinos and mexican. as a filipino who has a lot of respect for mexican fighters, i would love to see this happen.

barrera has a stable of young fighters and so does pacquiao. they are both legends in their respective countries, and what more, their fighters fight in the same division. what would i like is for these boxers to setup some kind of a mexico versus the philippines tournament. fighters from both countries would benefit from this as they would be facing tough challengers which would give them a better feel for the championship fights in their future, sorta like the ultimate fighter.

back to rant

2008-07-11T11:01:00.000-07:00

after seeing the hornets lose to the spurs in the western conference semis, i decided that the sports world truly hates me so i quit writing... not! but the hornets loosing that game 7 did took something out of the joy of sportswriting for me. so, i did not post anything about the west nor east finals and even the nba finals.

with the offseason offering a lot of things to write about, as well as the mlb in full swing, f1 championsip heating up, pacquiao rewriting asian boxing history, and lots more, i am officially back.

that's it for now, am gonna catch some Zs and be back to post some more.. like the babyface assassin cutting his ties with golden boy.

mixed martial arts is not all about the ufc

2008-06-17T18:28:00.000-07:00

i still remember the first time i saw the octagon of the ultimate fighting championship and two combatants facing each other both willing to mete out punishment. back in 1993 when only eight fighters are entered in a ufc event, it is uncommon for fighters to wear MMA Gloves. after the initial years of the ufc though, fighters found out that having good MMA Gear is as important as fighting spirit, technical skills, devastating power, and lightning quick reflexes in the octagon.

apart from the Real Gear for Real Fighters worn by ufc fighters, much has changed in the landscape of the MMA world. today, mixed martial arts is growing so fast that new mma promotion companies have sprung out. take for example the elite xtreme combat or elitexc. the said outfit recently aired on primtime over cbs with kimbo slice headlining the event.

although a lot of mma fans are still not sold on slice, they surely are sold on fedor emelianenko. fedor is considered by many to be the best heavyweight mma fighter today. in fact, randy "captain america" couture wanted to fight fedor so much that he is now in a legal battle with the ufc because the ufc failed to sign fedor. but even if the ufc failed to sign the last emperor, he will still be fighting in the US in a card based out of Dallas, Texas as part of Mark Cuban's HDNet Fights promotion in an event to be co-promoted with Affliction, known as Affliction Banned.

the elitexc and affliction are just some of the numerous mma promotional outfits looking to fight the big dog in the form of the ufc. but dana white, ufc's outspoken president has come up with ways to figure out how to keep the ufc above all other promotions.

in the future, i expect more promotions to surface but i am all for the ufc becoming what the nba is to professional basketball.

manny ramirez needs one HR

2008-05-29T21:36:00.000-07:00

i have been a fan of the boston red sox since they blew away the yankees in 2004 after being down 0-3. last year, when they went on to win the world series, i was rooting for them. although i'm a fan of the d'backs especially randy "the big unit" johnson and the giants with barry bonds, my allegiance is with the red sox.

so i am excited that manny ramirez is just a homerun away from being the 24th player in the league's history to hit 500 homers. although manny seems to be in a bit of a slump recently, number 500 i believe is just around the corner. his 499th career homer came in tuesday's game against the seattle mariners. they lost the game and i think manny would rather have the W than his 499th homer.

here's hoping that manny's 500th career homerun will power the red sox to a win. how about a grand slam on the bottom of the ninth with the red sox down by three?

you're killing your brother

2008-05-15T00:00:00.000-07:00

am joining bloggers around the world in condemning human rights violation. there's a lot of things i can say about this as a friend of mine was gunned down for his beliefs. but i would rather have bob marley spread the word that we should stop this unnecessary war as we are only killing our own brothers.

war by bob marley
until the philosophy which hold one race
superior and another inferior
is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned
everywhere is war, me say war

that until there are no longer first class
and second class citizens of any nation
until the color of a man's skin
is of no more significance than the color of his eyes
me say war

that until the basic human rights are equally
guaranteed to all, without regard to race
dis a war

that until that day
the dream of lasting peace, world citizenship
rule of international morality
will remain but a fleeting illusion
to be pursued, but never attained
now everywhere is war, war

and until the ignoble and unhappy regimes
that hold our brothers in angola, in mozambique,
south africa sub-human bondage
have been toppled, utterly destroyed
well, everywhere is war, me say war

war in the east, war in the west
war up north, war down south
war, war, rumours of war

and until that day, the african continent
will not know peace, we africans will fight
we find it necessary and we know we shall win
as we are confident in the victory

of good over evil, good over evil, good over evil
good over evil, good over evil, good over evil

everytime i hear this song (of course using the headphones borrowed from halley), i always think about our brothers and sisters around the world being gunned down, dying of hunger, lacking food, and ill-treated. we need to stop this madness. sure, attaining world peace is almost impossible but we have to work towards attaining that goal. after all, we might not be africans, but we have to be confident in the victory of good over evil.

	- - -

	Found at bee mp3 search engine

they want the lakers vs. spurs series

2008-05-12T19:15:00.000-07:00

the hornets lost two games in san antonio. the lakers lost twice in salt lake city. both series are tied and there have been a lot of predictions on how the rest of the games in these two series will go. san antonio looks like the champions that they are but the series is going back to new orleans. the lakers' kobe bryant is hurting and andrew bynum will likely be out for the postseason.

one cannot deny that the hornets can topple the might spurs and the jazz can finally reach the western finals after years of frustration. but tv people are rooting for a spurs-lakers showdown. the reason is starpower. los angeles is known for its popular citizens and san antonio is popular because they have the spurs winning the championship every other year.

if the hornets and the jazz advance to the finals, tv people are afraid that supporters outside utah and new orleans would sleep. sure, that's a possibility. but what about the deron williams versus chris paul story line? is that not enough for people to follow a jazz-hornets series?

so go on, root for the spurs and the lakers because they have the starpower to draw a lot of people to watch the western conference finals. root for them because you can easily name players from both teams. but don't count out the jazz because they do not have a "superstar". do not count out the hornets because they lack the experience that the spurs have.

tuesday hoops

2008-05-12T18:20:00.000-07:00

me and frnz and chayeee have been playing hoops for a few months now on tuesdays, thursdays and sundays. and since today is tuesday, we're off again after work to the hardcourt. here's hoping that i don't screw up again on those easy layups i have been missing almost every game.

chayeee has always played like kobe, frnz plays like allen iverson, and olops, they say he's the ronny turiaf of our group but he plays like a ben wallace on defense but with more offensive production. me, i'm not too good at it so i am wishing i have basketball hoops at home where i can practice. and if only i could afford one, i think i'd buy one from dazadi. i mean for a sports-inclined person like me, dazadi is the perfect place to shop as they have all the right products from basketball hoops to billiards tables.

look at it this way, if i want to have my own court at home, i would not only need hoops right? i would also need to have the right basketball court dimensions. sure, i can just put up an inground basketball hoops at home and use spray paint to mark the freethrow line and the three-point territory but that just wouldn't cut it for me. thus, it would be great to have one of those stencil kit from dazadi which i can use to properly mark the court with.

would a basketball court at home help me with my game though? i think it would. but i would have to shoot a thousand jumpshots and dribble a million more before i can match chayee and frnz's games.

hornets beat spurs in game 1

2008-05-03T21:53:00.000-07:00

let me start it off with this play-by-play call on cbs starting with the foul on bruce bowen:

NO 1:15
Chris Paul made Slam Dunk (17 PTS)
SA 1:22
Lost ball turnover on Brent Barry, Stolen by Chris Paul
NO 1:39
Chris Paul made Finger-roll Layup
NO 1:50
Defensive Rebound by Chris Paul
NO 1:50
Chris Paul missed 2nd of 2 Free Throws
NO 1:50
Chris Paul made 1st of 2 Free Throws
SA 1:50
Shooting foul on Bruce Bowen

yup!, that's all paul. but as you can see, paul only scored 17 points. that means somebody from the hornets took the responsibility of scoring and that guy is david west who scored 30 for the number 2 seed hornets en route to to a 110-82 win over the san antonio spurs. peja stojakovic added 22 while tyson chandler grabbed 15 rebounds.

as for paul, he was in foul trouble in the first half with three personal fouls before halftime. cp3 also struggled from the field missing all his jumpshots in the first half. he came alive in the second half and finished the game with 17 points and 13 assists.

early on, the spurs' three point shooting had the hornets trailing. bruce bowen hit five out of ten from the three-point range. the defensive specialist took no shot inside the arc and finished with 17. unfortunately for the spurs, bowen wasn't able to continue his hot shooting in the second half.

one reason for the spurs losing in game 1 is tim duncan's poor shooting night. duncan missed all 5 jumpers and only made one out four layups as well as making only 3 out of his 6 freethrows. duncan had his worst playoff game ever with only 5 points and 3 rebounds to show for 39 minutes of play.

for the hornets, david west's dominance inside the paint is one of the key to this W. the all-star forward made 13 of 23 shots. also, gawen deangelo, once again played well against the spurs... gawen who? hehehe.. that's bonzi wells' given name. bonzi wells scored ten points in 19 minutes for the hornets.

game 2 will still be played in new orleans and i hope the hornets win another one. geaux hornets!

note:
the game was delayed after the first quarter after a 'ring of fire' through which the hornets mascot, super hugo soared for a dunk refused to cooperate with the maintenance crew's attempt to put it out with carbon dioxide fire extinguishers. out came the foam fire extinguishers which resulted in a messy fire-fighting campaign which left the floor all littered up with the remnants of the flaming hoop and foam of course.

kobe won mvp race?

2008-05-03T07:08:00.000-07:00

the la times reported that kobe bryant has won the mvp balloting. lakers fans are surely celebrating. for their sake, i hope this is the real deal. i don't know what kobe fans would say if the la times somehow got it wrong.

well, espn quoted the story so it might be true. but since it is not yet announced, i'm still arguing that cp3 is the mvp this season.

fox sports also quoted the report. one comment caught my attention and it goes something like kobe finally playing good team basketball as gasol has improved his game after joining the lakers mid-season. hmmm... gasol's a great player and the reason why he is performing better in los angeles is that he plays with kobe.

any player of gasol's caliber would benefit from having a teammate who draws a flock of defenders every game. so, i'm not buying that reasoning. sure, playing with kobe has improved gasol's chances of scoring and rebounding, but i don't think it is proper to say kobe has helped gasol improve.

also, this bit from the la times' report caught my attention:

"The Lakers usually let the fortunes of their players rest on their own achievements, but the team took the added step of creating a Bryant-for-MVP campaign by sending material to NBA writers around the league.

The concept mimicked an old-style political election campaign and consisted of bumper stickers, campaign buttons, red suspenders and a letter from "campaign manager" Jerry Buss, who urged writers to vote for Bryant."

lol... no need to do that mr. jerry buss sir. actually, that makes the mvp voting quite comical, in my humble opinion that is.

kevin durant is rookie of the year

2008-05-02T05:12:00.000-07:00

last year's draft saw the portland trailblazers picking up greg oden with their first pick. then, seattle went with kevin durant and durant would go on to become this season's rookie of the year (uhm, rookie of what year exactly? shouldn't it be called the rookie of the season or something? hehehe).

the university of texas standout, a 6'9" swingman with a wingspan of almost 7'5" led all rookies in scoring with 20.3 per contest. i must admit that i was more interested in oden as i was wondering how he (oden) will be able to match up with the league's premier big men. but durant showed that at his young age, he can ball with the best in the nba.

i also admire the kid's professionalism, his dedication to his craft. in the first months of this season, he kept shooting threes which really hurt his shooting percentage. but he soon learned that it would be easier to make shots if he throw them up closer to the rim. by the end of the regular season, durant was shooting 43 percent from the field.

facts about kevin durant: he wears number 35 to honor his former coach charles craig who was shot to death at age 35. also, he received the rookie of the year award on april 30 this year, three years after craig was murdered. he had his first career double-double in the last game of the regular season with a career-high 42 points and 13 rebounds.

i don't know how sonics fans feel about kevin winning the ROY award. i mean, they have watched this kid perform at such a high level against grizzled veterans this season and immediately captured their adoration (generally of course), but next season, kevin may no longer play for seattle as the new ownership is now cleared to move the team to oklahoma city pending the outcome of lawsuits filed against the move. i just wish the sonics would just settle in seattle...i mean, to me, the supersonics will always be the seattle supersonics.

its the san antonio spurs vs. new orleans hornets

2008-04-30T04:51:00.000-07:00

the hornets dispatched the mavs. the spurs proved me wrong and made me a believer in yogi berra's quote "it's tough to make predictions, especially about the future."

the tables are set and i can't wait for the second round to start in the west. it would be the grizzled veterans versus the young upstarts. the favorite to win it all again, the san antonio spurs, versus the team a few expected to make it to the playoffs nor get past the first round, the new orleans hornets.

the san antonio spurs is not overrated nor underrated. they are simply under-appreciated. but with the exciting plays of manu ginobili and tony parker, i find that really perplexing. maybe its the way they dominate other teams which made them, well, boring to some. tim duncan is no kevin garnett. he does not have the flashy moves of other nba superstars playing his position. but timmy knows how to win, and make it look easy.

with the spurs' big three and a deep bench, they can easily beat the hornets. but can they do it?

i am rooting for the hornets but i am not picking any team to win this series. i'm just gonna sit back and see who will go on to the western conference finals. so, can the hornets do what the suns cannot?

before the playoffs started, there were doubts as to how chris paul & co will handle the pressure of playing in the big stage. i think chris paul showed that he can thrive in the playoffs as well as david west and jannero pargo after dropping the mavs in 5.

they do not have a very deep bench and that may count against them. if julian wright can somehow step up his game, maybe he can be the x-factor in this series. call me crazy but i think with wright's athleticism, he can guard parker just like boris diaw did in game 4 of the suns-spurs series.

in the regular season, the spurs and and the hornets split their four-game schedule. in the two wins of the hornets over the suns, it was david west who punished them so i expect the spurs to find a way to keep west's production down.

predictions predictions... hehehe.. none for this series... but... geaux hornets!!!

detroit pistons takes 3-2 lead over philadelphia 76ers

2008-04-30T04:29:00.000-07:00

finally, andre iguodala got his game going in the playoffs this year. but his 21 points, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists were just not enough to beat the determined pistons who became the first team in their series to win back-to-back games. final tally of game 5 of the-best-of-seven series
is 98-81.

ai2 or iggy as iguodala is often called has had a bit of a slump entering the first four games of the series. but when he stepped up his game, his teammates got cold. frustrating eh?

andre miller who has just been amazing in the first four games only finished with 13 points after missing nine in the first half. miller, iguodala, and sophomore louis williams were the only sixers to reach double figures with williams scoring 16 off the bench.

chauncey billups led the second-seed pistons with 21 points and 12 assists. richard hamilton scored 20, rasheed came up with 19, and tayshaun prince with 17.

game 6 will be in philadelphia and the sixers will be looking to take care of their homecourt to extend the series to its limit. i expect andre miller to be back to his old self again come game 6 and if iguodala bring his a-game, then there is a good possibility that this series will go back to detroit.

chris paul's triple double powered hornets over mavs

2008-04-29T18:34:00.000-07:00

the new orleans hornets will now be advancing to the second round of the nba playoffs after they dispatched the dallas mavericks 99-94 in game 5 of their best -of-seven series. leading the way as usual is chris paul who came up with a triple-double posting 24 points, 15 assists, and 11 rebounds. david west scored 25 points for the hornets and tyson chandler came up with another double-double with 10 points and 14 rebounds.

this means the hornets will be facing the winner of the spurs-suns series which i predicted to be taken by the suns. but then again, i could be wrong, just as wrong as predicting that the nuggets will win over the lakers in 6 games.

you know you've got a problem when your starting center has fewer rebounds than the opposing team's pointguard. now, chris paul is not known as a good rebounding pointguard, that distinction is owned by the mavs' jason kidd. but in game 5, chris paul showed that he can do what kidd can do.

apart from eliminating the mavs and kidd from this year's playoffs, chris paul looks to be taking away kidd's spot on the us olympic men's basketball team. byron scott, who, before game 5 was handed the NBA coach of the year award also got his payback after kidd got him kicked out of new jersey. some sweet revenge huh?

will this first-round exit cost avery johnson his job? probably. is the door closing on kidd and dirk to win a championship ring? i wouldn't count on these two just fading away next year. they have the whole off-season to get to know each other better in terms of their playing style. with kidd being a great court general, i think the mavs will be a good team next year. they just need to get josh howard off the weed though. hehehe...

brandon bass. this guy has the potential to possibly become a huge offensive and defensive threat. if the mavs can help bass become an intimidating force inside the paint, then they will have the trifecta to become a legit contender in the east. a good rebounding-passing guard in kidd, a sweet shooting forward in nowitzki and a potent inside threat in bass.

as for the hornets, i'm still rooting for them and here's hoping that they can make it all the way. :D geaux hornets!

cska moscow players in the nba playoffs

2008-04-26T07:48:00.000-07:00

while it is unfortunate that i cannot follow what is going on in the euroleague, i am still interested about the league. after all, great players in the nba came from europe. also reports about the nba expanding to europe got me more interested on who's who in the euroleague.

since its playoffs time in the nba, i started a bit of a research to kill time actually and found a list of notable players from cska moscow who made it to the nba. the list included three names which i am familiar with and they are on teams still playing after the regular season.

first is ak-47, andrei kirilenko. yep, he's still playing for the jazz although he is no longer the ak-47 before the arrival of carlos boozer and deron williams. the russian though proved that he can still score after leading the jazz in game 1 of their best-of-seven series against the houston rockets.

a bit of a trivia on adrei kirilenko: this guy came up with a statline considered to be one of the closest to a quintuple-double in a game against the los angeles lakers on january 3, 2006. he posted 14 points, 8 rebounds, 9 assists, 6 steals, and 7 blocks. although he failed to record even a double-double, he was the latest player to record a 5x6. that's posting at least six at least 6 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 6 blocks, and 6 steals.

another former cska moscow playing in this year's playoffs is gordan giricek suiting up for the phoenix suns. the suns is the third team for this shooting guard this season. he started with the jazz along with kirilenko but had a falling out with coach jerry sloan. he was then traded to the 76ers in december last year for kyle korver. the sixers then waived giricek and the suns signed him up for the rest of the season.

the third player from cska moscow with a team in the playoffs is darius songaila playing for the washington wizards. songaila started his nba career with the sacramento kings, then suited up for the chicago bulls before signing a five-year, $23 million contract with the wizards.

by the way, cska moscow will be looking to win the euroleague championship when it clashes with tau ceramica in the semis on may 2.

phoenix suns: making history with a comeback?

2008-04-25T23:40:00.000-07:00

as chayee puts it: "the sun has set for phoenix".

but are they done? i don't think so. my predictions have been wrong like matt serra beating gsp in the second fight. but it won't deter me from proclaiming that the phoenix suns will be the first nba team to make it out of a 0-3 hole.

i've said it a hundred times and i'm gonna say this again, the spurs is a different team in the playoffs. it's where they thrive. manu ginobili, tony parker, and tim duncan can enforce their will in these playoffs games. sure, they are under appreciated, but they are the best at what they do.

so what made me said that the suns can still get back in the series en route to the second round? well, it could be that i'm too hungry to think straight. or it could be because of steve nash.

this guy plays soccer.

he also won two mvp trophies. he can also take over a game if he wants to. i'm sure he wanted to take over games 1, 2 and 3. but game 4 is a different zone. it would be a game a great player would love to play in especially entering it with the possibility of being swept. and steve nash is one great player.

i'm looking for the suns to come out guns-a-blazing come game four led by nash. this guy may not be able to defend but he can shoot and pass. if he can leave defending to his teammates and give amare those great passes for easy jams and hit it from downtown they have a legit chance to make it 3-1. then, 3-2 (pressure on the suns), 3-3 (after a bad night from tony), then 3-4 to become the first nba to win after being down by three games to none.

if the suns win this series, remember that you first read it here. if not, well, am blaming it on me being hungry while writing this...and steve nash. hehehe

triple crown awaits...pick your horses with some pro help

2008-04-25T22:24:00.000-07:00

ahhh.. smarty jones, how close you were... the kentucky derby, the preakness stakes...

no idea what i'm talking about? well, if you have been tuned in to sports news after the turn of the century, then smarty jones would have rung a bell already. how about triple crown?

yep, horse racing. for people not familiar with the triple crown, it's just like a three-peat in the nba, only that it involves horses and one can win it in a span of a little over 1 month.

the first of the triple crown races is the kentucky derby and it's just a few days away. need help betting? well, if you are looking for reliable kentucky derby picks, there's your link.

not sold yet on the doc's betting picks are you? hmmm... are you familiar with the trifecta? in the nba, that's three-point shot. in horse racing, that's correctly "guessing" which horse will "make it to the podium" in correct order. well, you see, the experts at doc's hit the trifecta last year in the preakness stakes.

the experts from doc's who come up with equally take-it-to-the-bank kentucky derby odds also hit the superfecta in last year's belmont stakes. that's predicting the first four horses to finish the race in correct order. impressive huh?

surely, these guys who i think are always having fun especially on every kentucky derby party would be aiming to hit the trifecta or even the superfecta at this year's kentucky derby.

in case you're all wondering why the shift in topic while the pistons are getting shamed by the sixers, the suns loosing again to the spurs, the hornets finally loosing to dallas in the playoffs, i'm doing this for some papers. hehehe.. and i also happen to love smarty jones.

sidenote: look for smarty jones' foals to start competing this year or early 2009.

f1 donuts?

2008-04-24T00:44:00.001-07:00

nascar would have a burnout competition, not surprising? well, how about a formula 1 car making donuts? impossible? not really as nick heidfeld just created some donuts using bmw sauber's car.

the stunt was done for the people working for the team as a thank-you to the support that the team has been getting from its employees and fans alike. although heidfeld damaged the car's front wings while making those donuts, i'm sure he won't get into any trouble with the team boss.

burnouts at nascar all-star

2008-04-24T00:38:00.000-07:00

the nba has the slam dunk competition, the mlb has the homerun derby, thus, it is only fitting that nascar should also have a crowd-pleasing spectacle in the all-star.

this year, five drivers will be tearing up their cars' tires in a burnout competition. the said contest is a part of nascar's all-star festivities. one driver already named to participate at the said event is clint bowyer.

i don't know about you but i'm gonna watch out for this. :D

complete report here.

mavs crushed in game 2; chris paul breaks franchise record

2008-04-24T00:23:00.000-07:00

chris paul will finish not lower than second in the MVP balloting in my humble opinion. and if people who voted for kobe did so because they were not sure how cp3 would fare in the playoffs, they must be shaking thier heads. i bet chayee won't agree. hehehe

but even the most loyal kobe bryant fan would agree that chris paul had two mvp-caliber performances in his first two career playoffs game. the feisty guard from wake forest broke the franchise record for assists in a single regulation playoffs game after dishing out 17 helpers in the game 2 of the series between the new orleans hornets and the dallas mavericks.

the next two games will be in dallas and surely, avery johnson would be doing everything in his power to win the two games at home. dirk nowitzki, josh howard, jason terry, jerry stackhouse, jason kidd, big names with great skills. but somehow, they cannot come up with an answer to cp3's dominance in the series.

i'm rooting for the hornets and i hope that they can win the next game. am not looking beyond that though. geaux hornets!

suns vs. spurs game 2: it's a blowout

2008-04-23T23:53:00.000-07:00

the suns gambled in obtaining the services of shaq to help them get past the san antonio spurs. much has been said about this so i'm no longer going there. the series between the suns and the spurs will be shifting to arizona with the spurs holding a 2-0 advantage after manu and tony took over game 2 of the series.

how would the suns fare in their homecourt and what would be the key to finally winning a game in this series? well, i don't know really as i'm no expert. again, am just typing here what comes to mind.

first off, shaq is no longer the stud that he was with the lakers or the heat in his first season there. but, the big guy can neutralize tim duncan by matching him point for point. sure, timmy's a better perimeter shooter than shaq, but shaq owns him in the paint. so, shaq should get the ball where he can easily score. he may not be as fast as he once was but his size and strength would no doubt give him that distinct advantage inside the paint against any one in the san antonio lineup.

this series, or at least the first two games just shows that the san antonio ballclub becomes an entirely different team come playoffs time. if they can sweep the spurs, then they have a really good chance of finally winning a back to back title. :D

benny the bull to be sued over "flagrant foul"

2008-04-23T23:23:00.000-07:00

this has got to be one of the weirdest thing to happen in the nba this season. yep, its even weirder than the rockets winning 22 straight games, weirder than the hornets making the plaoffs.

according to yahoo! sports, benny the bull, the chicago bulls' mascot moonlighting as an ordinary person going by the name of barry anderson is being sued by dr. don kalant sr. after the mascot allegedly pulled kalant's arm as the mascot was falling down. before the accident, kalant rasied his arm to get a high-five from benny.

kalant, an oral surgeon complained that when benny pulled his arms, it was hyperextended resulting to a torn biceps muscle. what's weird is that kalant finished the game before having his arms attended to. i'm not a doctor nor have i experienced tearing a bicep muscle but i think that it should hurt. now, the bulls are not exactly playing great basketball towards the end of the season so i am not sure why kalant would have had stayed to watch the game with a torn bicep muscle.

look's like the dentist will be out for the season eh?

cleveland cavs vs. washington wizards game 2: wizards dominated

2008-04-21T20:31:00.000-07:00

gilbert arenas a.k.a. agent zero and deshawn stevenson had their fun with words before the series between the wizards and the cavs started. but the wizards now looked like a team that can beat boston three times but does not have what it takes to beat lebron and co.

in game 2 of the series, the cavs crushed the wizards to take a 2-game advantage before the series moves to washington. lebron had a near triple-double with 30 points, 12 assists and 9 rebounds. the cavs recorded their best game in the playoffs with a 30-point beating of the wizards, 116-86.

the wizards' "big three" of arenas, caron butler and antawn jamison failed to rise to the occasion as they were held to just 28 points by the cavs.

with this series looking to be more and more dismal for the wizards after caling out lebron james, i would not be surprised if the king takes over in games 3 and 4 to secure a sweep.

boston celtics vs. atlanta hawks: hawks outclassed

2008-04-20T20:33:00.000-07:00

the atlanta hawks is by no means a bad or a poor team. but when paired up against the boston celtics the hawks look really inferior. game of the best-of-seven series between the two ballclubs saw the celtics winning 104-81.

much has been said about the celtics like their bench stepping up and the big three playing like they have been together for years. in game 1 of the series, paul pierce, jesus shuttlesworth, and kevin garnett need only play for not more than 35 minutes to beat the hawks.

the big ticket scored 16 and grabbed 10 rebounds for the celtics while rookie al horford proved that he belongs in the nba with a 20-point 10-rebound playoffs debut to lead the hawks.

with the way the celtics manhandled the hawks, i would not be surprised if the celtics sweep the series.

detroit pistons vs. philadelphia 76ers game 1: sixers won

2008-04-20T20:17:00.000-07:00

before the tip-off, a lot of people must have been saying that there is no way the 76ers would continue their stunning run into the playoffs especially against a team like the detroit pistons. the sixers proved though that they are for real (or at least for one playoff game) after defeating the pistons 90-86 in game 1.

andre miller led the 76ers with 20 points while rasheed wallace led the pistons with 24 points.

although the pistons are ready to take on the young 76ers team, they were inconsistent. that enabled the sixers to keep moving in for the kill, which eventually they did. with one win in michigan, the sixers may have had achieved one of their goals in the playoffs.

predictions predictions...

this series would be a roller coaster ride. if iguodala does not choke, look for the sixers to take this series.

los angeles lakers vs. denver nuggets game 1: kobe, gasol teamed up for the win

2008-04-20T20:02:00.000-07:00

i was expecting the series between the lakers and the denver nuggets to be a high-scoring affair. well, they did not disappoint as kobe bryant and pau gasol came up with great performances to draw first blood, 127-114, in their series with the eighth-seeded denver nuggets.

gasol scored 36 and grabbed 16 boards while kobe scored 18 of his 32 points in the last eight minutes to put the game away. kobe bryant, arguably the best individual player in the game is looking to get past the first round of the playoffs for the first time since shaq left for miami. the past years without shaq, kobe was without a really strong supporting cast.

this year, the lakers saw andrew bynum stepping up his game. although the youngster is not suiting up yet for the playoffs, he is one of the reasons for the early success of the lakers this season. kobe also has gasol now and the spaniard's game 1 performance just shows how tough the lakers are. still, i'm rooting for the nuggets.