The Philippines' No.1 Female Sport?????

What is the No.1 sport for females in the Philippines?  For males, it is too obvious.  Basketball has been the No.1 sport for the Filipino males.  Let's say you have a sister or daughter who is around 5'9" and has an athletic figure, what sport should she get into to become rich and famous? 

Volleyball? No.  Volleyball could get you a college scholarship but it will not bring in so much money.

Basketball? No way.  There is no money in Women's basketball in the country.

Tennis? It has been a while since we had a Filipina ranked in the WTA tour.

The answer is ..... Beauty Pageants. 

Here are 3 reasons that it is the no.1 sport for females in the country:

1. Fans - The fans of beauty queens are as rabid as the most loyal Barangay Ginebra fans.  These loyal fans will bring placards in competitions. They will defend their queen in twitter and Facebook. Virtually the whole Philippines will root for its Ms. Universe candidate.  

2. Prize - The prize in some pageants could reach millions and opportunities to represent the country in an international pageant.  Winning a title opens doors to TV opportunities as well as rich suitors.  There is no sport for females that can match the prize money for winners.  Many beauty queens became celebrities after winning or joining pageant like Miriam Quiambao, Melanie Marquez, Alice Dixon, and host of other winners. 

3. Training and Competition - Some people think that this is just about being pretty. There are many companies making money training these ladies. The candidates are thought how to walk properly and to answer the dreaded pageant questions.  The small competitions are a big hit in the towns or cities.  It has local media coverage and the competition is very fierce in the lower levels.  The national competitions has a good TV and newspaper coverage. A lot of people spend money just to vote for their candidate. 

Not everyone is meant to be a beauty queen.  To become one, one must possess the looks, the height, the intelligence, and the attitude to endure a grueling pageant. There will be rivalries.  There will be haters.  The Miss Universe pageant is the counterpart for women to a Manny Pacquiao match.  While pageants are technically not a sport, in the Philippines, it is one. ;)

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Rejoice! Pacquiao has finally scored a point in the PBA!!!

A few months back, I was wondering how much points will Pacquiao will score this season.  Well, the answer was 0 for the whole first conference and it was bound to be zero for a while until last night when some sort of miracle happened.  Against Purefoods, Congressman Manny Pacquiao got fouled and he went to the line for 2 free throws. He made 1 and I guess he can finally say that he is a professional basketball player. Basketball player and coach/Boxing World Champion/ Actor/ Congressman / Preacher...  I would say that I would pay good money to see and listen to him as a motivational speaker and the topic: "Everything is Possible!"

NBA playoffs were amazing happens! PBA is where the real amazing happens. Where can you see a professional boxer score a point and then coach his team to a victory over the defending champions.  It was so amazing that Purefoods import and NBA Veteran Daniel Orton became so mad that he remarked that the game was a joke. Orton thought he was like playing against Harlem Globetrotters and got played. Joke or not, Purefood's loss was not a joking matter to the fans and the team management.  Kia now has 2 victories this conference.  They 2 victories more than the suddenly woeful San Miguel Beermen.  Daniel Orton, by the way,  got sacked by the Purefoods Hotshots after his lone PBA game.  He was also fined 250,000 pesos for his post game remarks.  Hopefully, Manny Pacquiao will given a shot next season as KIA's import as a peace offering. 

I would like to congratulate the first pick of the second round of the 2014 PBA Draft for defying my expectations for him and his team. I am quite glad that KIA change their nickname to the one I suggested in my earlier post.  Carnival is so fitting then because their team was like a Karnabal. A few months later, they are not the joke that I thought they would be. I am really happy for them but I want Pacquiao to start the Chinese New Year right.  I want him to announce that bout against Floyd Mayweather or if it will not push through I will ask Pacquiao to make Floyd to be KIA's import next conference. ;) By the way, Pacquiao-Mayweather I will be on May 2. Yipee!!! Finally, I got to see him as a boxer again rather than endure his 6 minutes a night playing time in the PBA.

Here is an update about my questions about KIA at the start of the season:

1. Who will have the ignominy of being the first ever team beaten by KIA?   BLACKWATER!
2. How many seasons will pass before KIA ever beat San Mig Coffee?  Just a conference... They beat them last night!
3. How many points will Pacquaio make this season? 1 so far 
4. Who will be guarding Manny Pacquiao when he scores his first career point in the PBA? It was a free throw
5. Who will have the guts to be the first to foul, block, and steal the Pacman? 
6. How much Pacquiao's insurance against injury?
7. How many wins will Pacquiao have as a coach? His team has 3 wins I don't  know how many is for him but at least he has 1 win
8. How many years will it take before Pacquiao gets fired or retires from either coaching or playing?

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San Miguel's 6th Man!

San Miguel Beer has taken a 3-2 lead over the Alaska Aces in the 2015 Philippine Cup Finals. The Beermen won the last 2 games of the series thanks to a the big contribution of the 6th Man.  the San Miguel momentum changing 6th Man is none other than .... JVee Casio!!!

JVee Casio's performance has made it easier for San Miguel to handle the pesky Alaska team. The former DLSU PG has missed not made a single point in the last 2 games all SMB victories. What is happening to JVee.

 In the first 3 games, he was averaging 12.7 points a game. He even made 7 three points shots in 17 attempt.   He was shooting .412 from long range which was even better than his .375 2-point FG shooting. Casio also made all his 5 Free throw attempts.  All of this has gone caput in the last two games. Casio was silent.  In Game 4, he was a non-factor.  In Game 5, his shooting skills left him and he just could not make a shot.

If San Miguel goes on to win this series, Coach Leo Austria's boys should give Jvee Casio a "balato" from their fat championship bonuses. With Casio's abnormally atrocious shooting it was like there were 6 Beermen playing against 4 feisty Aces.

Let's see if SMB still has a 6th Man in Game 6 !!!!

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Will Junemar Fajardo become PBA's Patrick Ewing?

Junemar Fajardo is blessed with height, heft, and skills to become one of the best Filipino basketball players of all time. He won an MVP title in his second year and he continues to dominate the league. He is probably on his way to another MVP this year and he is expected to win more. The only thing that is lacking for him now is a PBA title.  

Ever since he took the league by storm two years ago, his team never won a title.  They have been in the finals and they lost. The San Miguel Beermen is now trailing the Alaska Aces 1-2 in their best of seven PBA Philippine Cup Finals. Based on the way they are playing, the Beermen is being out hustled by the Aces who seem to want the title more.  Will "The Kraken" and the Beermen lose again?

If Junemar Fajardo loses then he slowly becoming a Philippine version of Patrick Ewing or Karl Malone. It is hard to imagine because a team have 3 chances every year to win a title in the PBA unlike the NBA which can crown 1 team only every year.  In his 6 conferences so far, Fajardo dominated stats but he never won a championship. Last year, it was the year of Tim Cone and the San Mig Coffee who had grand slam. Alex Mallari has now 4 titles while Junemar has none. They were both drafted by Petron 2 years ago. 

San Miguel Beer is like the LA Lakers or New York Knicks  of the PBA.  The expectations are always high.  It is a big pressure for any coach or player to don the San Miguel jersey. The win-now attitude partnered with disappointing endings have cost jobs of many good coaches and players.  The losing spell for San Miguel even cost them their Petron Blaze name. 

Can Junemar survive such environment? When do you think will he win his first PBA title? Will he wait as long as Jun Limpot? There is a big possibility that the wait will be long as long as San Miguel keep on tinkering its line up and coaching after bad conference.  Their method of trying to dominate the PBA by getting all the All-Star caliber players even if the PBA has "salary cap" has somewhat backfired because the team never developed the chemistry that teams like Alaska Aces and Rain or Shine Elasto Painters have. Those 2 teams have won more with less. Hopefully, San Miguel develop some sort of championship identity and shed the "larong mayaman" image. If not then someone will retire with 5 MVPs and ZERO titles. :)

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Philippine Chess: Wesley So wants to be out!

English: Wesley So, chess grandmaster from the Philippines (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The country is standing to lose its best chess player to the United States Federation.  Wesley So is asking to be released from the National Chess Federation of the Philippines in order to play for the USA.

So wanted to defect just ahead of the 41st World Chess Olympiad.  Without him, the Philippines ranked a dismal 46th.  Wesley So has an ELO rating of 2755 which is the highest rating ever for a Filipino and he is currently ranked 12th in the world. In 2012, the Philippines finished 21st with So bannering team.

What does this mean?  Well, the Philippines is standing to lose its best player.  It is like Lebron James defecting to the Philippines to play for Gilas and not Team USA.   It is quiet painful to see that happen.  A lot of Filipino chess enthusiasts is shock of this development.

Well, in a way it serves us right.  Chess has never been a priority sport in this country.  Only a few cover chess and gone are the days that Eugene Torre and Rogelio Antonio were treated like stars.  There was actually a time that our country was a major chess destination in Asia. Now, the Chinese, Indians, and Vietnamese dominate the Asian scene.

With the loss of our best player, it will take years for us to at least be relevant even in the Asian level. Are we even developing young chess talent? Do we have meaningful tournaments here? I can't blame Wesley for seeking better opportunities. He plays mostly outside the country and he studies in the USA.

There is no money for chess players here in the country and I think we just to let our best players leave and concentrate on other commercially viable sports like basketball, football, and probably boxing.  The situation sucks but nobody cares anyway. :(

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The Last Home Shoot Around of the Gilas

Last night so many Filipino basketball fans got mad when The Last Home Stand did not happen. The NBA was KJ or killjoy for these loyal basketball fans. The game between the Philippine National Team against an NBA selection was cancelled.  The organizers tried to salvage the event by making the basketball players perform practice drills. Many got annoyed and Manny V. Pangilinan was man enough to apologize and offer refunds to fans who bought those very expensive tickets just to watch legitimate NBA players play in local soil.

It is sad but here are some good things coming out from the cancellation of the game:

1. At least Filipino fans will not see how poorly the Gilas would fare against the NBA selection.  What if they lost by 40 points? It definitely will not inject some confidence in them as they will face much more tougher competition in Spain.
2. No injuries.  The Gilas will have a team at full strength going to more meaningful games.  The NBA players also can resume their vacation without risking their million dollar NBA careers.
3. No highway robbery. The tickets were very expensive for an exhibition game that has no real relevance. An NBA preseason game would have been better.

Big Losers because of the cancellation:

1. Filipino Basketball Fans - The hype was there. Expectations were high. Once it was cancelled, it became like 5 stages of grief in an hour. The organizers got DEPRESSED, the fans got ANGRY, the hosts and the marketing people were in DENIAL, the players held a practice to BARGAIN with the fans, and in the end everyone ACCEPTED that it was a total failure. The fans from the provinces can only have their tickets refunded but how about their fare, accommodations, food, and the emotional damages. How about those who bought from scalpers? They can only be refunded with the face value not the actual price of their tickets. 
2. The organizers - They have to admit it was a TOTAL FAILURE and people will be wary the next time they hold such events. They did not deliver their promise. It sucks and they have to do a lot to get back the fans' trust and confidence.
3. NBA - They suck.  They are greedy. Filipinos have looked up so much to that American league that many of the fans know the NBA player guests rather than our very own Gilas. The majority were not there for the Gilas. NBA is NBA and they broke the hearts of some of their biggest fans in the world.

The shoot around at least gave us a glimpse on how these players practice. Although most of them never took it seriously there were many comical scenes. The NBA players were too good and I commend most of them for trying to salvage the night. As for the Gilas, they have to play more memorable scrimmages against unfamiliar people.   They have to know that they need to improve on so that they would not embarrass themselves in Spain. 

If the game happened, I would have wanted to see this:

1. How our guards cope against bigger and faster guards.  Having a traditional Filipino PG that is like below 5'10 and having a quickness slower than an NBA Center will not cut it. It is our disadvantage if we cannot set up our plays or outran our opponents, our chances of winning 1 game in Spain is close to ZERO.  We might have the talent but most of our players settled with their current skills just because they are already best in the PBA. If only we have multitudes of people who have the attitude of an Asi Taulava.
2. Junmar Fajardo being outrebounded or dunked on by Lillard or Jennings.  Our newly minted PBA MVP must know that he should try harder in international competition.  He is not going to be against 6-5 centers there. Many are taller, bigger, faster, and stronger than him. The refs do not even know him. He has to know that many guards can actually outjump him in rebound plays. 
3. Pingris vs. Harden, Chandler - Our best defender knows that he will be facing players way better than the imports that he is used to. He might have the toughness but can he really shutdown the best forwards in the world?
4. 3-point shooting - The only way for us to win is to win it outside.  Gone are the days with us having a Caidic who inspires fear from our opponents. While fans would love to see dunks and highlights, ball rotation and outside shooting can easily beat a team of the best wing men and dunkers.  Chot Reyes must learn from the Spurs and our shooters should work hard to be the next Caidic.  A sub .400 3 point shooting average is not enough to make the final cut for the Gilas.

So, we move on with our lives and forget last night happened. The Last Home Stand was an epic fail but the world is not stopping.  Let's learn the lessons and not expect too much in something we do not have any control. Last night, it might be truly the Last Home Stand with this batch of Gilas. Next year, there could be a different group with new players, coaches, and an SMC management.  The organizers just probably made a self-fulfilling prophecy. :(


Other Recent PBA related posts:

KIA and their draft pick named Pacquiao
The Jurassic PBA Draft Lottery

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And the First Pick of Kia will be ....

The first pick in the second round of the 2014 PBA Draft will be ... the Pambansang Kamao Congressman Manny "The Pacman" Pacquiao!

What the ....

It can happen you know. As long as Kia is in the Philippine Basketball Association, anything as in anything can happen.  After their application for a PBA franchise was approved, the team appointed Congressman Pacquiao as their Head Coach. And now Manny, who could also a future Philippine President, is applying in the 2014 PBA Draft so that he can be a playing coach for KIA just like the Living Legend Jaworski who was Ginebra's playing coach a generation ago.

PBA where amazing  err RIDICULOUS happens! 

The 2014 PBA Draft would be the a perfect time for Gerald Anderson, Jose Manalo, Vice Ganda, Piolo Pascual or any other famous John Does to apply as a  PBA player because there is a big chance that KIA will draft them because of their star power.  Bobby Pacquiao can actually join the fray to make KIA more of a family affair. Heck, Mommy Dionisia could even join just make the KIA family complete. If ever this showbiz line-up materializes, I would call the team as KIA Carnival or Karnabal to make it more Pinoy and sound appropriate. 

Until now, I cannot fathom why KIA joined the PBA but here are some outrageous conspiracy theories:

1. KIA is financed by Floyd Mayweather because he wants Pacquiao to just concentrate on coaching and playing basketball rather than challenging him every time the Greatest Filipino Boxer gets interviewed about boxing. It is in the interest of Mayweather that Pacquiao will risk having a high ankle sprain while defending a Mark Caguiao crossover. Maybe Mayweather will probably next pay the Extra Rice pair of Belga and Quinahan to give Pacquiao a rude welcome.
2. KIA was ordered by the South Korean Government to destroy the PBA brand of play. The South Koreans are still brokenhearted because they are not able to participate in the 2014 World Cup in Spain. They were eliminated by the Smart Gilas during the FIBA Asia Cup semifinals which a win would have sent them to the World Cup. 
3. KIA actually stands for Kilusan ng Intelihenteng Atleta which will become a national party in the 2016 elections. Manny Pacquiao will run for President under the KIA banner.  His VP candidate will be Jaworski. His senatorial line-up will include Bata Reyes, Paeng Nepomuceno, Mikee Cojuangco-Jaworski, Phil Younghusbang, Cong. Yeng Guiao, Onyok Velasco, Jimmy Santos, and Joey Marquez. 

KIA is fast becoming my favorite team and I will devote so many posts in this blog for the PBA's Koreanovela (KIAnovela). Petronovela is so 2013. In a marketing standpoint, KIA is actually doing all the right moves. The are probably the most talked about team in the PBA right now save for the Gilas whose supposed "Last Stand" became a glorified warm-up. 

I wonder how many wins will KIA get in their first season? Will they be KIA every night? KIA meaning Killed In Action???  Will they be the "UP Maroons" of the PBA?

I have so many questions now about KIA that I will definitely write about as the season goes.

1. Who will have the ignominy of being the first ever team beaten by KIA? 
2. How many seasons will pass before KIA ever beat San Mig Coffee? 
3. How many points will Pacquaio make this season?
4. Who will be guarding Manny Pacquiao when he scores his first career point in the PBA?
5. Who will have the guts to be the first to foul, block, and steal the Pacman?
6. How much Pacquiao's insurance against injury?
7. How many wins will Pacquiao have as a coach?
8. How many years will it take before Pacquiao gets fired or retires from either coaching or playing?

I have so many questions already and I am very excited that it will all be answered soon. I really hope that Ginebra San Miguel will not spoil the master plan of Kia by drafting Pacquiao in the first round since they can claim that Pacquiao is also an endorser of their product. They might just do it and hold Pacquiao hostage and force KIA to trade their first round picks in the next 3 years to get Pacquiao. 

What would stop them? Well, anything can happen in the PBA and the league has grown leaps and bounds with the entry of Kia! Mabuhay ang KIA!!!

**This post is a satire and a result of an imaginative mind

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