NAASCU partners with Gameface.ph

Just recently the National Athletic Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities partnered with Gameface the country's first and only media portal for hardcore basketball so that the league will be able to gain additional popularity and its games will be able to be broadcast online. In its first move to involve the students , Marlo Rustia and Joe Buduan held a meeting with students who write for their respective school newsletters which was held at the STI Head Office in Ayala, Makati. The meeting was more of an introduction to the students who are not really into forums and are not regulars of gameface. Gameface on the other hand extends its reach to 12 more member schools as they have already created a separate thread in their forum dedicated solely for the NAASCU's 12 schools.

For the record the NAASCU is composed of the University of Manila, University of Makati, , Holy Angel University, AMA Computer University, New Era University, Centro Escolar University, Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Pasay, San Sebastian College Recoletos-Cavite, St. Clare College, Informatics, Lyceum of Subic and STI College. The student sportswriters will be writing about their respective schools which will come out in the special NAASCU edition of Basketbolista.

The NAASCU will open its 8th Season on August 8, 2008 at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum with SBP Head Honcho Manny Pangilinan as one of its guests.

Crazier the second time around

Another crazy episode came to the boob tube as Basketball Crazy episode 2 filled Makisig 76 with great basketball guests. Again it was Tracy Abad together with Joe Buduan of Gameface with yours truly as one of the co-hosts of the event. Now let me give you what transpired in the interviews.

Coach Eric Bañes and Mon Jose

Most of the viewers were probably asking who the hell is Eric Bañes? Well we know Mon Jose as one of the major players in the DLSU four-peat and Coach of the DLSU women’s team. Eric on the other hand started out as an assistant to Coach Franz Pumaren and then later on went to invest in his basketball education that eventually landed him a VIP slot in the Lebron James Camp early this month as a guest of Boston Celtics assistant Coach Kevin Eastman. Eric was in the US for five weeks and in that time he participated in numerous workshops that earned him a license as a professional member of the National Strength and Conditioning Association based in Colorado Springs. Coach Eric mentioned that he wants to bring what he experienced in the US to the Philippines and hopefully train young Filipino athletes and then bring the first Filipino to join the LeBron James camp and have the chance to be scouted by Division I schools abroad. Hopefully they can set this up by September of this year Good Luck to Coach Eric and Mon on their dream and who knows, the first Filipino NBA player might just be playing in your back yard. Do watch out for additional details on this camp.

Allan Caidic and Paul Artadi

Allan Caidic is a class act! During the interview he showed his versatility as he can go from basketball commentator to basketball crazy. The crazy interview started with Allan relating the Ginebra team coming together as a team and coming back from a 0-5 win – loss card to enter the finals via 4 – 0 win over the Red Bull Barakos. On the other hand Paul Artadi also narrated that when he was with the Purefoods team he was not really fit in the system of Coach Ryan Gregorio but felt that the Ginebra team really helped him resuscitate his career. Artadi said that Coach Allan helped him improve his shooting which eventually paved the way for his all important three-pointer in their Sunday game.
Both guests were Alumni of the UE Warriors and Allan even narrated that his duels with UST Coach Pido Jarencio were really memorable and that what both of them really wanted was to basically help their team win. Allan and Paul players gave great advises and wished the current players of their alma mater the best and as Allan Caidic said “That’s why we are Warriors, we always fight!” The interview ended with Allan showing his book about his life entitled "My Life" which is now available in National Bookstore. He also signed a Triggerman basketball which he gave as a souvenir to the Basketball Crazy team. Its been more than a decade since he last played but we are still in awe with the Triggerman.

The show ended with me eating a sushi with a filled with wasabe after losing a bet with Joe Buduan on the three games that we placed on the table. Joe got two out of three, Air 21 over Magnolia and JRU over Mapua while my only win came after the FEU over UE win. Next stop Basketball Crazy will have some of the players from either the Air 21 team or Magnolia team whoever wins and hopefully some guests from the San Beda Red Lions. So just stay tuned and remember that “Life’s a Ball so just shoot and score.”

ATENEO gets back at NU

Blue Eagle fanatics
are not ALL BLUE with the win!

The Spirit of season 70 still continues to haunt the Blue Eagles as their wounds that were inflicted by the Bulldog’s fangs are still fresh when both teams met for the first time this season. Energized by the fact that they can score a big sized upset, the Bulldogs started the game with a 13-7 lead. The Eagles then regrouped and used a 10-0 run to end the quarter as Jai Reyes and Nico Salva scored 5 points each to give the Ateneo a 21-15 first quarter lead. Looking back, that run gave the Eagles enough distance as the Blue Eagles executed well in the fourth quarter to avenge their horrible overtime loss last year and win 74-62.

The Bulldogs gave the Eagles a little scare as they moved to within four points 60-64 with four minutes left in the game and Edwin Asoro on the line for two free throws. Unfortunately Asoro misses the two free throws and then the Blue Eagles summoned their suffocating defense and translated these defensive stops into offense as they unleashed a crippling 10-2 run to end the game. The run was started by a jumper by Tiu off a screen by Nonoy Baclao with 3:30 left as he outsmarted Edwin Asoro by faking the shot, passing the ball to Nonoy and then getting it back for the jumper. The next play, the Eagles get the ball back off a miss by Jhanke, then Rabah Al-Husaini fills the lane, misses the shot, gets the offensive rebound and then fights the triple team with a basket and then completes the three point play with a free throw. After that play, the Eagles play good defense and steals the ball. After that steal Jai Reyes finds Nonoy Baclao filing the lanes which he translates to two fastbreak points. In the wink of an eye, the Eagles were up by 11 points. The final nail on the coffin was when the Bulldogs paid the price of flopping and leaving Chris Tiu free from beyond the arc, with that Chris cans the three-pointer with 1:19 left and gives the Blue Eagles their fifth consecutive win. Now let’s talk about the three stand outs of this game.

CHRIS TIU 17 points

With all those points he scored the best thing about Chris is that he is not a ball hog. First of all he makes sure that everyone has his game going. He creates situations for his team mates and more importantly takes over when the team’s offense is in disarray. Like in the UP game he strung consecutive points to give some degree of separation for the Eagles. Today he hit back to back triples to give the Eagles enough breathing room. In the fourth quarter he faked off Edwin Asoro to score on a jumper and fuel the Eagles crippling windup. To cap it all up he ends the game with a steal. Truly the team’s Most Valuable Player.

ERIC SALAMAT
12 pts., 5 assists, 5 steals, 3 Rebounds

Since Gary Valenciano is not in the UAAP, we would like to ask if we can borrow his monicker and give it to Eric who we now can call Mr. Pure Energy. Whenever he comes in the Ateneo gallery becomes all the more excited with what he does in the game. His nickname can also be Perpetual Notion for he has a nose on where to tap the ball and steal it and more importantly convert it to two points. In this game he got 5 steals and help shut down Jonathan Jhanke. He is clearly Mr. Energy and Excitement rolled into one.

NONOY BACLAO
16 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 block shots

He is the only Ateneo Blue Eagle who insists that Volleyball and Basketball are alike in so many ways. Imagine being a role player and scoring this much and more importantly leading your team to victory. He can shoot from 15 feet, post up and lay it in but more importantly battle for rebounds and tip the ball in with which he earned a living doing it. Was there anything else that he did not do in the game? This just shows that Nonoy is there on both ends of the floor which he has consistently shown in the past five games. He is the Team’s Most Important Player, Nonoy Block-Lao.

The World Cyber Games Cosplay Champ

There is actually a person inside this costume of
the cartoon version of the "Transformers"

There is a craze that has been happening the past few years and is gaining popularity mostly because of the influx of movies with fictional characters. Let’s just say that if you were a kid and you dreamt of being Superman or Batman, then you would come out corny coz these guys I am talking about can create costumes of Scar Predator, Iron Monger and even Optimus Prime. Then after creating these costumes they gather together, party and sometimes create a competition to see who the best is among each other. This is what stimulates the world of COSPLAY.

Optimus Prime sizes up with Sustagen Prime

While attending the 1984 Los Angeles Science Fiction World Congress, Japanese Nov Takahashi was so impressed by the hall and masquerade costuming that he reported about it frequently in Japanese science fiction magazines. Takahashi coined the word “COSPLAY” from the two words Costume Play. The word fits in with a common Japanese method of abbreviation: combining the first two moras of each word. "Cos" becomes kosu and play become pure hence becoming the nearest Japanese approximation of cosplay, which is kosupure.

Mark's movie version of Optimus Prime

When cosplay came to the Philippines a lot of enthusiasts created different costumes and practiced well to perfect their craft. One of the standouts from that group is Mark David Cerezo who happens to be a student of STI College Ortigas – Cainta. I met Mark last when we asked him and his friends to join the STI Anniversary celebration in Aliw Theater. His creativeness inspired him to create the ultimate robot – Optimus Prime. After the Transformers movie came out last year his group came out with various costumes with Mark coming out with the best design. Because of his ingenuity Mark was tapped by the city of Marikina to help them out last Christmas since the city’s theme was “The Transformers of Marikina City” referring to the local city government as the people who transformed the City of Marikina to what it is now.

The Champion

Just recently Mark added another feather on his cap as he joined the World Cyber Games at the Mall of Asia. The World Cyber Games is the World’s first Cyber Game Festival designed to build a healthy cyber culture. The Best gamers around the world gather into different cities to share the excitement and fun of the game tournaments. One of the competitions included costume play. Mark created the movie version of Optimus Prime which was very rich in detail and taller at 7 feet and 5 inches. Mark won the grand prize and is now in the hall of fame of the World Cyber Games. (http://ph.worldcybergames.com/hof.htm ) I hope that this will propel him to greater heights and if things go as planned he will be able to go out of the country to compete and hopefully make the country proud.

MARK CEREZO - World Cyber Games COSPLAY Champion

Basketball Crazy makes its debut

Bill Kosme (Mhel Garrido) Tracy Abad and Joe Buduan
The hosts of Basketball Crazy

Well the first run went okay and hopefully the next few episodes will be bigger and better. Together with former UE courtside reporter Tracy Abad and Basketbolista Editor in chief and Gameface ed Joseph Buduan and yours truly, the Harbour Centre BASKETBALL CRAZY show went quite well when it run for an hour and a half at the Makisig 76 studio in Timog in Quezon City. Here’s a quick recap on what happened with our guests.

PJ joking to Mhel: "I thought Ikaw yung player ng Ateneo!"
Mhel: "PJ, Jobe well done!!"

RICO MAIERHOFER AND PJ WALSHAM OF DLSU

These two guys looked a bit nervous at first but later on loosened up and enjoyed the interview. Rico started out by narrating that he found his way to DLSU when he walked in the tryouts together with his mom.

Rico was so happy to be part of that team which also included Mike Galinato who now plays for Adamson. There was a question placed on the table regarding Rico and PJ joining the PBA Draft. Both of them said that they still want to play for DLSU next school year and hopefully fulfill all their academic obligations. After talking to a lot of former Green Archers they agreed that College life is something that they should enjoy and on the basketball side help them improve more before going to the PBA. Well good luck to you guys, we also enjoyed the interview.

Gary David, the dancing cook & cager

ARWIND SANTOS AND GARY DAVID

The interview was quite casual and both players were somewhat shy. They said they are very happy because for the first time Air 21 got to the quarterfinals for the first time in franchise history. They are quite unlucky because their import was invited to try out for the Cleveland Cavaliers and is now back in town to play for them in game 2. Both of them said expect the Air 21 team to get back at the Magnolia Beverage Masters. Gary David also narrated that besides basketball he loves cooking very much and would like us to try out his Kapampangan dishes. The interview ended with both cagers showing their dancing prowess to the delight of the crowd cheering them on.

Mhel: Ronald why are you limping? May gout ka rin ba tulad ko?

RONALD TUBID AND ALEX CRISANO

The interview started with Joe BuduaN kneeling and pledging his undying allegiance to the Ginebra Boys. Then when everything was settled Alex narrated his story in which he really wanted to go back on court because the past four years saw him get to shape but suited up for a different court – the criminal courts! Ronald on the other hand said that he will be out for two months and will miss out on the Gin Kings championship win as Joe would put it. He was asked by Tracy on the current set of Red Warriors now and he said that hopefully they can pull some strings to rebound from their finals mishap last year and hopefully get over their current slump. Not to be outdone the two Gin Kings also showed the Ginebra style of dancing as Alex brought the house down with his dance moves. Quite an evening that transpired.

The show ended with Joe and me betting on the games that will be played within the week. Air 21 vs Magnolia, UE vs FEU and JRU vs MIT with Joe betting on the former and me the latter to win the games. The loser of the bet will eat a sushi full of wasabe, so watch out next week who will have running nose in his nostrils.


Thanks to our Sponsors specially NIKE.

Lady Eagles bow to Lady Falcons

The Lady Eagles regroup hug

It's going to be a long season for the Ateneo Lady Eagles as the rookie laden Team from Katipunan lost their third straight game at the hands of 2004 Champion Adamson Lady Falcons 70-45. The Lady Falcon’s full court press created lots of opportunities for them as the Lady Eagles piled up so many turnovers as if they were points. The defending champions are now back to the drawing board as they open the season with three consecutive losses with the other two losses coming from the other contenders UST and FEU. Treena Limgenco had a hard time scoring since she was shackled by the Adamson defense, Mariana Lopa had her moments but was barely a factor, Hila Indigne’s had a hard time fighting off bigger opponents, Rona Co was swamped everytime she got the ball and Anne Gomez was just cuteness personified on court. There were also so many free throw misses and the Lady Eagles always had a hand in their face everytime they took a shot.

Treena signals a four

Hope springs eternal for the Lady Eagles and we believe that the team has a lot of growing up to do. Remember the veterans that are not with the team anymore - UAAP MVP Cassie Tioseco, Mythical Five Selectees AJ Barracoso and at Quimpo, hard nosed Guard-Forward Cheryl Ngo, Rookie sensations Crystal Ballentyne and Sarah Mercado which all sums up to the entire first five of the champion team last year. That is why the rookies this year will have to grow up early for the Lady Eagles to even have a decent finish. Here are some tidbits on what I witnessed on the first Lady Eagles game shit year.

The Belgian Waffle Wobbles

Karen Columna – Her middle name is Scoring Machine. She will most probably be our primary scorer come the second half of the season and in the next few years. Has good basketball sense, shooting range and confidence in her shot.

TD Estrada – As seen in the game she knocked out two three pointers but had a hard time driving to the lane. If she could be set up nicely I believe she will complement Treena and Karen’s offense when they are defended well.

Win Trinidad – She is Kat Quimpo reborn. For someone small, I got to commend this girl for being brave enough to take the charge twice against the big centers of Adamson. That means she will not back down from anything. Her ball handling skills will definitely help us break all types of press thrown at us.

Treena in a bind

Ish Tiu – Is agile for a big girl, has a good nose for the ball and is a sound defender. I hope she drives more to the basket to create opportunities for him and to the rest of her team mates.

Sam Ong – She is shifty guard that plays good defense and hope she improves her free throw shooting though. Inthink she needs to bulk up so that she won’t be thrown away if bumped by bigger guards.

Corrine Javier – She will need a lot of growing up since she will be banging bodies with bigger and wider opponents down under. She needs to establish a low post game and be steady on the box out.

I'd rather have them in Lady Eagles uniforms
than watching on the stands

Considering that the team is rookie laden which had lots of turnovers, they actually knew how to break the press of Adamson. The Lady Falcons type of harassing defense did wonders to them as ball taps and loose balls were created because of that proactive style of defending the Lady Eagles. Give these kids more time to learn from these mistakes and hopefully next year (I hope next round) they can give these teams a run for their money. In the meantime lets pray that the Lady Eagles mature faster and that Coach Haydee Ong will be able to guide them through their maturing process.

Ateneo wins easily over UP

Coach Norman Black called a time out and Ateneo team captain Chris Tiu went to work. First he drives to the hoop, gets a foul and cans two free throws, in the next play he hesitates a drive and then continues it when he sees a clear lane the result was another 2 pts, then on the fastbreak Chris is confronted by 2 defenders, he then stops, puts the ball between his legs and drives strong to the hoop and bang another two points, then finally he fights through another screen and sinks two more his signature jumper from the free throw area and in a wink of an eye the Ateneo Blue Eagles are up by ten 21-11. Then the game was over as the Eagles went on cruise control in the next three minutes and three quarters to secure their fourth consecutive win with a 83-66 rout over the 71^st UAAP Hosts.

With this Photo by Nonoy Yuseco
We can rename the Battle of Katipunan to
"Broke-bakan sa Katipunan"

When the second quarter came to play, the question was who will play good, who will heat up and what plays will be the topic over bottles of beer in the evening. Luckily the Blue Eagles did not disappoint as Ryan Buenafe started with a three pointer and attacked the basket relentlessly to topscore for the Blue Eagles with 17 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists. His output tied the highest points scored by a rookie in the last 6 years, a record he shares with co-SSC Alum Eric Salamat who also scored the same number against also the UP Fighting Maroons two years ago. I have to verify but I think he is the first rookie to lead the team in scoring in a game.

The game was quite predictable when the Eagles opened up a ten point lead with a high of twenty points and all the Maroons could do was bring it down to nine at 51-42 on Arvin Braganza’s three pointer. From thereon it was a game of spurts as the Eagles would rack up consecutive points and the Maroons will rally and bring down the lead to just ten points until the game ended with the Eagles on top. Helping out Ryan on the offensive end was the big guy Rabah Al-Husaini who scored 13 points, Eric Salamat who added 12 and team Captain Chris Tiu with 11 points. The other team captain Yuri Escueta sat out the game after recovering from a fever. Fifteen Blue Eagles played including rookie Tonino Gonzaga who was inserted in the last 2 minutes of the game.

Eric Salamat scored 17 pts
against UP as a rookie in 2006
Now its Ryan Buenafe's turn

Ateneo finished with a nice 27-of-55 shooting clip (49.1%), as against UP’s 23-of-64 (35.9%) mark. The Blue Eagles also proved that they can run effectively, scoring 22 fastbreak points and 17 off of their opponent’s 21 errors. In contrast, the Fighting Maroons managed to score only two fastbreak points. Martin Reyes and Arvin Braganza topscored for UP with 12 markers apiece.

The Battle of Katipunan has been owned by the Boys in Blue this millennium and will probably be padding their 36-25 head to head battle against the Fighting Maroons in the next few years.

Individual Scores:

Ateneo 83 – Buenafe 17, Al-Hussaini 13, Salamat 12, Tiu 11, Salva 6, Baclao 6, Austria 4, Long 4, Nkemakolam 4, Reyes 4, Baldos 2, Gonzaga 0, Chua 0, Burke 0, Sumalinog 0.

UP 66 – Reyes 12, Braganza 12, Co 8, Lopez 8, Agbayani 7, Sison 7, Sorongon 6, Astorga 4, Marfori 2, Fortu 0, Gamboa 0, Hipolito 0.

Quarter Scores: 25-15; 43-33; 70-52; 83-66

ARE YOU BASKETBALL CRAZY?

Gameface.ph – your online portal for Philippine Hardcore basketball, has been the place where hardcore basketball fanatics meet and talk about everything concerning Philippine Basketball. I have come to be a regular member of the Gameface forums and believe it or not I get most of the fresh news in the forums here.

Mhel Garrido aka Bill Kosme together with
Tracy Abad and Joe Buduan

SKycable ‘s Makisig 76, a cable channel whose shows are mostly about horses or horse races is now aggressive in venturing to other programs most specially sports programs. The President of Makisig 76 is Jack Ruby who himself is crazy about the game of basketball fan since he himself worked in the PBA once.

Mhel Garrido is also known as Bill Kosme,
The Philippines' answer to Bill Cosby

You know what brought these two companies together? Obviously the game most Filipinos love - Basketball. The fusion of resources of Gameface and Makisig eventually led to a basketball show named HARBOUR CENTRE BASKETBALL CRAZY. Like all Filipinos we are crazy about basketball, may it be the inter-barangay tournaments in which I believe a lot of us joined, or the intramurals, and even alumni tournaments. That is why in the Philippines, Basketball shows are always welcome because of the wealth of basketball stories around the country. There are so many leagues and mini leagues that it really depends on what you talk about or zero in and the content will follow. Lately the hottest news in Philippine Basketball evolves aroudnt the UAAP, NCAA, PBA, PBL and NBA. Other leagues might be talked about and I believe hardcore Gameface regulars would also want their voices heard.

Former UAAP Courtside reporter from UEa
And is a DJ for Gem 88.3
The Gorgeous Tracy Abad

Makisig Network President, Jack Ruby, further acknowledged, "This new Basketball Show will definitely be for the hardcore fans of the game with a unique non-traditional twist of reportage, analysis, and features only Bill Cosme, Tracy Abad, and Joe Buduan can deliver. This will also showcase Makisig's full support and commitment to the number one sport in the country.”

Gameface.ph's very own and
Basketbolista Editor in chief Joe Buduan

"This is yet another wonderful development not just for Makisig and Gameface but more so for every one who loves the game of basketball. HARBOUR CENTRE BASKETBALL CRAZY is sure to become one of those shows you will never want to miss," declared Henry Abes, President and Chief Executive Officer of Gameface.ph, The Philippines' First and Only Media Portal For Hardcore Basketball. "We are very proud of our new partnership with Makisig 76 and we hope to bring all the fans the same kind of high quality basketball discussions and topics you've gotten used to online."

HARBOUR CENTRE Basketball Crazy will air on Makisig 76 starting on July 21, 2008 at 10PM. Hope to see all you hard court fans in its initial telecast.

Our Lady’s Little Princess 2008

Like any other family mine is not perfect, in fact it was only when we were getting old that my siblings and I became closer to each other. We are six with the older three with kids while me and my other younger siblings without any fruit. Being childless is okay in a way since there are 9 kids in our house. My older brother has been blessed with six lovely kids who we love very much and are happy when they achieve even the littlest of things. Our family has gone through a lot of challenges the past decade and we are very happy we weathered those storms. That is why when the latest challenge came to us, we were certain that we will be able to get past it and at the same time come out on top.

Our family lives in Quezon City and we make it a point every Sunday to be in time for the 9:00 am mass at the Mount Carmel Church in Project 6. I am a product of the Jesuit system and since I have been to numerous Days with the Lord Masses, I took it upon myself to bring my family to the dela Strada Church or even the Gesu for Jesuit inspired masses. But when a change in the Project 6 Parish Priest happened, we found ourselves attending the mass at our own parish instead.

Enter Fr. Aloy Aliño, I honestly do not know where he served last but I believe we are one in saying that we are lucky to have him in our Parish. He introduced himself to the Project 6 community as a priest who cares and gives out one of the best homilies every week. The way he conducts his homilies makes me remember one of my favorite Jesuits, Fr. JJ Jesena S.J whose eloquence has always given me enough to make me live a Christ like week. Fr. Aloy’s homilies are similar, the difference is that he delivers it in such a way that even the ordinary person would be touched by what he shares. Because of this his homilies takes around 30 to 40 minutes which results in the 9 am mass ending a little beyond 10:30 am. But I don’t care, you only go to mass once a week and if for me if I miss his homily it seems like my week is not complete.

Because of this he has spearheaded numerous projects in the parish and one of this is Our Lady’s Little Princess. This project is actually a fundraiser for the church which will be celebrating its 50^th year in 2011. In preparation for that, they are have created this fundraiser and hope that the proceeds in recent years and the years to come would help in building a new building in the Parish. Our family through my mother wanted to join last year with our apple of the eye niece as the little princess. Unfortunately, there was already a representative in our area and so we were asked to defer for another year.

Last April my Mom informed our family that we will join the fundraiser and that our niece, Ma. Angelica “Bujoy” Garrido will be the representative of our Zone and will vie for the title Our Lady’s Little Princess. We immediately set up a target of P 100, 000 for we believe having so many friends chipping in for a worthy cause it will be easy to ask for donations from friends. Unfortunately there were a lot of factors that made the target harder to reach, for one I was sick almost the whole of June and hardly had the time to solicit money since I was trying to cope up with lost time in the office. That is why we owe everything to our mom who moved heaven and earth to solicit money.

The fundraiser had three canvassing dates, one in May, one in June and the final one in July. The first canvassing also had some programs which introduced the candidates to the whole parish. The first night saw all the lovely ladies parade in their casual wear, sports wear and summer wear. The evening also had numerous energetic performances of the Parish Youth Ministry. The second canvassing was talent night of the candidates as the kids whose age ranged from 4 to 12 showcased their talents in singing and dancing.

Come the final canvassing night, all votes/money were turned in and lo and behold we discovered that we were a little off from the target that we set, we ended at P 98,700.00! My mom was quite sad that she did not fulfill her promise to Fr. Aloy that we will raise 100k for the church but on the brighter side, the amount was enough to give our niece the title of Our Lady’s Little Princess.

Life as they say has lots of challenges, a simple challenge like this was made all the more happy because our family came together for one important cause – Our Lord God. I thank my mom for making things happen, more than winning it was the experience of helping each other that made this challenge all the more exciting. I thank my niece who served as the symbol of strengthening our family’s ties which made this challenge all the more enjoyable. As they say, God gives your family lots of challenges, this one is something worth reminiscing in the next few years.

Presenting, Our Lady's Little Princess Ma. Angelica "Bujoy" Garrido and her court of cute gurls.

Agent Zero says " Everybody should visit Manila"

Atty. Dennis Manalo shares the spotlight with Agent Zero

After visiting the Philippines and experiencing the warmth of Filipino hospitality, Agent Zero goes back to the US and mentions his one of a kind experience in the country. His blog about our the many countries he visited singles out the PHilippines witht he title "Everybody should visit the Philippines!" I was lucky to have the chance to see Agent Zero in person and shake his hand after he passed by our section when he was at the Araneta Coliseum to watch a part of the Ateneo-La Salle game. Here are snippets of what Agent Zero said in his Blog.

"..Plus, with the security I had, I felt like I was the President. I felt like I was Obama. I really felt like I was running in the presidential election, especially when I got to meet the U.S. ambassador out in the Philippines. We had a great time talking to each other. We actually went to a college basketball game together. Their college game would be like if it was Duke and Maryland playing each other and you split the crowd in half, 50-50. One side of their gym was blue and one side of their gym was green and everybody was just yelling. "

To read Agent Zero's blog click this: http://my.nba.com/thread.jspa?threadID=5700017915

Good Luck to Agent Zero hope he has an injury free 2008-2009 season and his Wizards will do wonders in the NBA.

ATENEO beats UE, now 3 - 0

High octane offense, straight in your face defense and heart pounding action, the fans were not disappointed with the way things came out as the two only unbeaten teams fought like two true Titans seeking to become the only unscathed team. The Ateneo Blue Eagles and the University of the East Red Warriors engaged in a blink and you’ll miss the action match and after 40 minutes of non-stop action, the Blue Eagles came out as the only undefeated team as evidenced by their 64-58 over the previously unbeaten Red Warriors. Again it was another fourth quarter meltdown for the Red Warriors as the Eagles shut them down in one stretch of the fourth quarter as Ateneo showed their heft and might in securing the early lead in the 71^st season of the UAAP. This win avenged their two previous losses in season 70 as the Warriors were the only team that the Eagles did not beat last year.

The Eagles started with Nonoy Baclao, Ryan Buenafe and Rabah Al-Husaini up front with Jai Reyes and Chris Tiu as the guards. The Warriors on the other hand had Elmer Espiritu, Gino Etrone & Pari Llagas at the frontcourt while James Martinez and Marcy Arellano manned the back court.

The first quarter saw both teams try to be deliberate and set up their offense. Unlike their game in the NSL championship where the Warriors rained outside shots, the Eagles were prepared for the sweet shooting Warriors as they more than often had a hand in the face of its shooters. Elmer Espiritu started things for the Warriors with two quick baskets and a jumper while Nonoy Baclao & Chris Tiu countered with four points each for the Eagles. The Warriors were leading 9-8 for quite sometime as both teams exchanged defensive gems and forced each other to turnovers. Just like the game against Adamson, Coach Norman rotated the Eagles on the floor as the game progressed with Yuri Escueta, Nico Salva, Jobe Nkemakolam, Eric Salamat and Bacon Austria ending first 10 minutes. The quarter ended with Eric Salamat’s four free throws to give the Eagles a 12-10 lead.

The second quarter saw the Eagles rack up some points right away as they raced to a 21-13 lead with Chris Tiu, Nonoy Baclao, Eric Salamat & Rabah Al-Husaini combining to give the Eagles that lead. The Eagles were playing an excellent team game as evidenced by one play which had Jai drop a pass to Nonoy Baclao who upon seeing the double team come passes the ball to a surging Jobe Nkemakolam and the Eagles take a 23-15 lead. Then the Warriors came back, James Martinez nails a three while rookie Paul Zamar beats the shotclock for another UE three and Pari Llagas scored four points inside. Before you know it the Red Warriors took control of the game with a 14-5 run to end the first half on top 27-26. UE was 4 of 9 from the three point area while the Eagles was zero of 2 from beyond the arc. The Warriors also controlled the boards with a 25-15 advantage in rebounds.

The wild and wooly third quarter saw both teams go up and down the court and try to outdo each other as both teams offense switched to high gear. The quarter started with the Eagles racing to a 35-29 early lead once again as Nonoy Baclao and Eric Salamat scored on field goals together with Yuri Escueta’s three pointer as against a dunk shot by Elmer Espiritu. Every time Ateneo would try to break away UE finds an answer to stay within striking distance. Paul Zamar belched a three pointer while Pari Llagas scored on a Marcy assist to put them to within three 35-32. On the other end Rabah Al-Husaini scores on a Chris Tiu assist , and on a putback from a Baclao miss.

In an instant UE counters again with a third Zamar three pointer and a Hans Theile jumper off the fastbreak. Nico Salva counters on the other end with a drive to the hoop and so does Rudy Lingannay. Rabah scores on a putback and Pari Llagas scores off Rabah. Lingganay then strips Bacon Austria of the ball and scores on a fastbreak. Ryan Buenafe drives to the hoop and scores on a hang time twinner and UE returns the favor with a Linganay "stop ball" jumper. In the end of all these wild and wooly sequences the quarter ended where it started - tied. UE caught up and leveled at 47 - all after being down by seven points in this quarter. Like what they say there were no quarters taken and there were none given.

The fourth quarter was highly anticipated by all Blue Eagles fans as the Ateneo defense which they have showed in the past two games goes a notch higher in the payoff quarter. The Warriors missed the services of one of its gunners in Paul Lee as his offense was missed more importantly during their scoring drought. The Eagles start the payoff quarter with two rookies (Buenafe & Salva), two sophomores (Austria & Long) and one veteran in Al-Husaini. UE immediately went to work as Hans Theile scores to give the Warriors an early 49-47 lead.

Ateneo needed another hero for this game and it was the same scoring machine who scored heavily on the Warriors in the NSL title game – Rabah Al-Husaini. The big fellah used his height to stamp his class over the Warriors as he scored eight of his team high 18 points in the fourth quarter and pulled down a total of 17 rebounds plus three assists. This is his coming out game in the UAAP. His supporting cast consists of Nonoy Baclao, Ryan Buenafe and captain Chris Tiu. Nonoy was his usual self providing excellent defense and was pretty much mobile around the perimeter area. He got an all important put back in the final minute of the game to seal the victory. Ryan Buenafe used his daredevil drives to attract UE defenders to double on him so that he can create situations that eventually resulted in easy Ateneo baskets. Chris Tiu was there to stabilize the team as his offense came when the Eagles needed it and gave great advices to other team members once they commit turnovers.

In the three games that the Eagles played they showed improved defense as they shut down all their three opponents in the fourth quarter by limiting them to an average of 13 pts while scoring an average of 24 points. The Eagles are now 3-0 and is the only unbeaten team.

Yesterday the DLSU Green Archers led by Jayvee Casio’s 29 points barged into the win column with a 73-62 win over the FEU Tamaraws. They are joined by the UST Growling Tigers who bounced back as they unleashed their true form with a rout over the UP Fighting Maroons 94-75. Earlier the Adamson Falcons defanged the NU Bulldogs 73-65 courtesy of Mark Agustin’s awesome 25 points game. Adamson is now 1-2 while the Bulldogs are the only winless team. Next stop for the Blue Eagles the hosts, UP Fighting Maroons. Good luck to the Eagles and I hope they get their fourth straight win.