ABL 2009 Edition

A little over 8 years ago I was playing at a high level of basketball during the Alumni Basketball League in the Ateneo. Now, playing more than 5 minutes is an eternity of basketball for me and the primary source of a one week body ache.

But hey basketball is something that is very close to my heart and i really yearn to play even if it hurts all over. I have been looking for sometime now to be able to play with friends since people who i have been associated with in the past know that I play almost everyday back then. 

I have always loved playing in the ABL but unfortunately my busy schedule has prevented me to practive and play again on a top level.  I have been playing just to sweat and for fun the past five years. But then again its great playing with friends, I dont mind sitting on the bench long as long as we are all happy and spent some time together. I hope that next year me and my classmates will get to make a team that will be playing for the ABL.

STI Basketball: DLS-STI forges triple tie

Four time STI Basketball Showdown Champion DLS-STI refuses to give up as their five game win streak remains as they brought down the STI College Taft quintet to a tune of a 117-53 win to forge a triple tie for the last finals slot. More than this win was their 77-75 conquest of STI College Quezon Ave. in game 6 of the tournament which enabled them to catch up on the said team and gain a tie for the last finals slot.

Archie Olmedo was the immovable unstoppable force that the STI College Quezon Ave.  were not able to contain as the DLS-STI center scored 10 of his game high 34 points in the fourth quarter. Olmedo battled through various defenses and got numerous offensive rebounds to give put backs to be able to give the defending champions within striking distance and eventually overtook their opponents.   

It was a sorry loss for the STI College Quezon ave. cagers as they controlled the tempo the whole game as they raced to a 7-0 lead and everyone thought they got the game in the bag. Unfortunately though, the DLS-STI team summoned the spirits of their previous great teams as they played within striking distance of their sister school. The QA cagers led most of the way as they led in all quarters 17-11 in the first, 37-32 at the half and 58-52 by the third quarter.

STI College Quezon Avenue threatened to pull away as Ervin Magistrado answered every triple sank by DLS-STI's Christian Tan. With four minutes left the Quezon Ave cagers raced to a nine point lead 72-63 and were already celebrating when Archie Olmedo resurrected the hopes of the defending champions by doing his thing.  With a minute and 20 seconds left in the game the E. Rodriguez based team finally caught up with their sister school and took the lead 76-75 for  the first time in the game.

The scores

GAME 6

DLS-STI (77)

Olmedo 34, Tan 12, Galang 7, Boncan 7, Mangabat 6, Gochingco 4, Escubio 3, Casio 2, Mangabat 2, Dean 0,

STI COLLEGE QUEZON AVE. (75)

Sarmiento 18, Magistrado 16, Joaquin 12, Abong 11, Trunio 9, Bohol 6, Jacildo 3, Siervo 0, 

Quarterscores: 11-17, 32-37, 52-58, 77-75

STI Basketball: Global City wins in OT.

Marvin Valenzuela is the glue that holds the team together and the sparkplug that makes the STI College Global City dribblers reach greater heights. In one of the best games so far in the eliminations, he was in the bench as his reliever Andrew Oyama delivered the goods for the Global City quintet as the STI College Global City trooped to the semifinals with a pulsating and thrilling 101-95 win over the STI College Las Piñas cagers.  A win by STI College Las Piñas would have shaken the standings with additional three knock out games but the Global City quintet simplified everything with their win.

Providing additional firepower are big men Hyroff Sampayan and Wynard Sultan who literally owned the paint. On the other hand, the STI College Las Piñas team were no pushovers as their never say die attitude almost gave them a berth to the final four. Led by the sweet shooting Fernandez who scattered 7 triples with the most crucial one coming in the last 4 seconds of regulation with the Global City team's Francis Labbao was on the line with a chance to put the game away with two free throws and a three point lead. Unfortunately he muffed both freebies and in the ensuing play Garett Fernandez sank a cold blooded three to send the game into overtime.

STI College Global City thought they were in a walk in the park when they got the upperhand by the first half as the Taguig based dribblers took the first quarter with plenty to spare 25-13.  After that the Global City dribblers slackened a bit and a mini rally ensued as the Las Pinas cagers cut the lead by halftime 45-38. By the third quarter the Las Pinas team got the momentum and used overtook their opponents as Ray Uy, Adrian de Lara and Garett Fernandez conspired to give their team a 26-12 spurt to gain the upperhand 64-57 by the end of the third.

In the fourth quarter Oyama caught fire and the Global City cagers got their act together as they defended well and matched the Las Piñas team's firepower with the their own offensive power. The Oyama combined with John Magsalos to give Global City an 85-79 lead with 30 seconds left.Unfortunately for them the never say die Las Pinas squad scored on a three point play courtesy of Ray Uy and then a three pointer by Fernandez.  In the overtime the Global City dribblers shut down the Las Piñas scorers while Oyama sank two triples and Magsalos and Sultan took care of the inside which resulted in their six point win.  STI College Global City will now meet defending champion DLS-STI in a knock-out. 

STI COLLEGE GLOBAL CITY (101)

Sultan 18, Magsalos 17, Oyama 17, Sampayan 16, Valenzuela 12, Labbao 11, 

Saltiga 3, De Belen 3, Galura 2, Gonzalez 2, Avila 0

STI COLLEGE LAS PIÑAS (95)

Fenandez 25, Rodrigo 23, Uy 19, Alcantara 9, de Lara 9, Lovina 4, Bautista 4, Camerino 2, 

Quarterscores: 25-13, 45-38, 57-64, 85-all, 101-95

STI Basketball: STI Quezon Ave. makes it to final 4

STI College Quezon Avenue showed their spunk as they became the first team to make it to the final four step ladder as they disposed off the stubborn STI College Parañaque team. The Quezon Avenue dribblers ended the eliminations with a 5-2 slate and the top quotient in a three way tie with defending champion DLS-STI and STI College Global City.

The win came after their sorry 75-77 loss to the defending champions which enabled the E.Rodriguez based DLS-STI team to catch up on the standings. But their win against the Parañaque dribblers was not a walk in the park as they needed a big fourth quarter wind up to dispose their opponents.

QA forward Robert Joaquin led the onslaught of the Quezon Avenue dribblers as they cannot seem to shake off the rugged Paranaque squad.  Joaquin scattered a game high 28 points as he scored on isolation plays to give his team more breathing room after the Parañaque team leveled the count with 7 minutes left.  The Quezon ave team also got ample back up from three point shooter Rogie Trunio, Ervin Magistrado and Raymark Sarmiento as the troika unleashed their scoring prowess to break a close game wide open.

It was another sorry loss for the Parañaque dribblers as they end the 9th staging of the STI Basketball Showdown with a 2 win 4 loss slate with most of the losses coming in from 4th Quarter collapses. Chris Capistrano carried the scoring cudgels for the Paranaque team as he scored 26 points. He was backed up by Jeremy Lacorte who sank four three pointers enroute to a 14 point game.

With this win, the Quezon Avenue cagers await the winner of the STI COllege Global City and DLS-STI Knock out game to determine the second finalist. Do stay tuned as the games get more exciting.

STI COLLEGE QUEZON AVE. (95)

Joaquin 28, Trunio 19, Magistrado 18, Sarmiento 14, Bohol 9, Ragundiaz 3, Abong 2, Jacildo 2, Cezar 0, Siervo 0, 

STI COLLEGE PARAÑAQUE (79)

Capistrano 26, Lacorte 14, Panganoron 11, Arogancia 9, Velasco 8, Orna 6, Mañago 5, Larona 0, Sanchez 0

Quarter scores: 20-12, 36-34, 63-54, 95-79

STI Basketball: STI College Balagtas Dominates

STI College Balagtas romped to its seventh straight win and top the elimination round with an Immaculate 7-0 slate in the 9th STI Basketball Showdown at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum. Their incentive is an outright entry to the finals as they await the three last teams who will fight it off for the other remaining finals slot.

The STI College Balagtas team secured their 7th win via a 104-48 rout over the winless STI College Cubao dribblers to gain entry to the finals.

Even though they routed the team from Cubao, they had a hard time fending off the stubborn STI College Global City team. In that game the Global City team opened the game with all guns blazing as they raced to a 29-9 lead at the start as Wynard Sultan and Marvin Valenzueal paced the Global City Attack with fastbreaks that caught the team from Bulacan off guard. The quarter ended with the Global City cagers up 33-16.  

After being stunned with that opening sequence, the bulakeños fought back as Paulo Villadoz, Patrick Pascual and Ryan Pangilinan joined hands to bring back the STI College Balagtas team back to the game. Their defense held the Global City dribblers to 10 points in that quarter as their team effort netted them 28 points to seize the upperhand at the end of the half 44-43.

Just when the Balagtas dribblers thought they had the game in command after erecting a 74-54 lead, the Global City cagers came back through the relentless drives to the lane of John Magsalos and Wynald Sultan. Chowking Yee scored the marginal basket as he gave their team an 86-83 lead after Global City came surging in after being counted out.  It was a preview of things to come as the games become more exciting.

The scores

STI COLLEGE BALAGTAS (86)

Pascual 20, Pangilinan 17, Villadoz 16, Ablaza 8, Yee 7, dela Cruz 6, A. Cruz 5, Querubin 4, Somontina 3, Baliclic 0

STI COLLEGE GLOBAL CITY (83)

Sultan 27, Valenzuela 20, Magsalos 15, Sampayan 6, Oyama 6, Labbao 5, Fajardo 2, Gonzales 1, Avila 1, Galura 0, Saltiga 0, de Belen 0

Quarterscores:

16-33, 44-43, 74-58, 86-83

Slumdog Millionaire dominates the Oscars

I got home and still got to see watch the Oscars. I was quite curious at how Slumdog Millionaire, which has been in numerous blogs everywhere, will fare considering they have 10 nominations. Eventually the movie won 8 including Best Picture and Best Director. The only category they lost was sound editing since they were nominated twice in Best Song.

What was very nice for me was the different way the Oscars introduced the nominees for Best Actress and Best Actor. In order to put class in the introducing the five best actors and actresses in 2008 the Academy brought together ten previous winners. For Best Actress the presentors were 1961 Best Actress Sophia Loren, 1983 Winner Shirley Maclaine, 2001 Winner Halley Berry, 2002 Winner Nicole Kidman and 2007 WinnerMarion Cottillard. For the Best Actor Award the presentors were Academy Award 1980 Winner Robert de Niro, 1982 Winner Sir Ben Kingsley, 1987 Winner Michael Douglas, , 1991 Winner Anthony Hopkins and 2002 Winner Adrien Brody.


Kate Winslet bested Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married) Angelina Jolie (The Changeling) Merryl Streep (Doubt) Melissa Leo (Frozen River) with her one of a kind acting in the movie THE READER. I never really thought that Kate would win. After seeing her in Titanic I never thought she would improve her acting. Her portrayal as a German woman in her thirties whose teenage lover is unaware of her dark secret in the past was really a coming out party for Kate. She was previously nominated twice in a supporting role and this is her fourth nomination in a leading role.

Sean Penn on the other hand joined an elite group as he cornered his second statue with his portrayal of Harvey Milk in the movie Milk. This is Penn's fifth nomination and second Oscar as he previously won one in 2003 for the movie Mystic River. Sean bested notable actors such as Richard Jenkins (The Visitor) Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon), Brad Pitt (The curious case of Benjamin Button) and Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler) It it the fifth nomination for Sean Penn and his second award which incidentally puts him in a tie with other notable greats such as Jack Nicholson.

Lastly, Heath Ledger's one of a kind and different approach to the role of Joker won him an academy award for best supporting role. He was once nominated in the lead role category for the movie Brokeback Mountain in 2005.

Congratulations to all the winners specially the makers of Slumdog Millionaire.

Confessions of a shopaholic

I havent watched a movie in quite a while and am glad that this one is a comedy with something that you can learn a thing or two. The movie has been there for a week or two i think but what got me is the message the movie gave. After the STI 14th NYC's Managing your money topic, the movie is something that I believe would be a fitting example of what the talk was talking about. Rebecca Bloomwood is a classic shopaholic who enjoys swiping away but hides and makes up other excuses when collectors call her. (Sounds familiar!) Imagine having 12 credit cards and not paying up. The movie teaches you a thing or two on the consequences of the mighty plastic and how to stop your buying impulses.


Patricia Field has done it again. After dressing up the characters in the movie version of Sex in the City and the Devil wears Prada she shows her exquisite style and cute colors again to give life to this fashion movie. The casting of the movie is perfect specially with the emerging comedienne Isla Fisher (pronounced as Aila with a silent s) in tow. We remember Isla as the sex starved funny sister of Rachel McAdams in the movie Wedding Crashers. The movie will teach you a thing or two on your spending habits.

Destiny unfolds

I remember in 1998 i get to have some friends from the St. Scholastica's College Days with the Lord who I called Mhel G's angels. Teeners then, Kat Mangahas, Marlyn Acero and Sharine Lim and me became instant friends. Kat was the first one I got close to since she was with me in the music ministry during those times in the Days with the Lord. In one of our marathon phone talks we would share secrets, suitors and other stuff. One thing I remember back then was one suitor of hers who she said was perfect but for one reason "got away!"

Years after, we would just update each other by having coffee or meeting up for lunch or dinner or which ever is more comfortable to have time with. Three years ago during the despedida of Marlyn she also said that she is going to the USA to see what luck she has going there. By this time the Kat I knew back then has matured into a more confident person and is now sure of what she wants and is brimming with conviction in her decisions. One thing I remember her saying was that Darryl is there in the US and I am not sure if our paths will cross again and have a second serving.

Two years ago Kat and Darryl tied the knot in the US and came back here in the Philiippines to get married and share time with their friends. I am just so happy for my friend who has endured lots of pains and heartaches and has grown to be a great wife and responsible mother to their son Drake. As an old school romantic I have always believed that if that a person is really destined for you, whatever the obstacles are love will find a way to bring you together. Same thing is what happened to Kat and Darryl because they were really meant of reach other which just shows that destiny unfolds.

Here is a picture MTV I made for their wedding two years ago in the US.

Nanay Bebe's in Davao City

This is the third time I went to this restaurant and what really attracted me to go back is the "EAT ALL YOU CAN" catch of the restaurant. The last time I was here they never served eat all you can but had a regular entree instead.  Imagine the sight of eating crabs on an eat all you can basis ! Yummy! Lets see the menu.

Kare kare is not good for me so 

I just take a look and think of it 

the last time I tasted it!

This one is grilled blue marlin 

which is a seafood delicacy 

that is always good to go to my plate!

This is my favorite, the beef beefed up 

my plate and appetite. 

It enabled me to offset the time 

i spent in opening the crabs.

The talk of the town, eat all you can crabs! 

Need I add more to the story!

The STI 14th NYC @ Davao City

The STI 14th National Youth Convention was held in Davao City with STI schools from Digos, Tagum, General Santos City, Kidapawan, Cotabato, Marbel, Tacurong and host Davao City trooped to the CAP Auditorium for the annual convention.

Here are the handsome and beautiful ushers that greeted the STI students upon their arrival at the CAP Auditroritum. The event event was flocked by 2000 students and faculty of the abovementioned schools.

For the first time in the convention the host school took the initiative to create their own invocation hymn through a pantomime over ultraviolet lights.  The invocation is reminiscent of the silent chorale of STI College Edsa Crossing.

Ms. Belle Torres, the Chief Executive Officer of STI College Davao, greeted the guests with utmost zest and she welcomed everyone to the city of Durian.

Bill Kosme wowed the crowd once again as he danced to the tune of "Giling-Giling" after the STI College Davao dancers opened the convention with their rendition of the song "Please don't stop the music!"

When the convention started last November, Mr. Spanky Enriquez has added at least 50% more to his topic. Since blogging is very interactive and is always changing. It just shows that the NYC is ever changing to improve its presentations.

We simulated a creation of a blog and our volunteer came from STI College General Santos. The student is Lyka Taban an 18 year old 1st year BSIT student.  Her new blog url is http://lykataban.blogspot.com  I just hope she continues to update it.

Mr.Stanley Dimain started the convention in Baguio and ended it in Davao City. For a veteran speaker it is quite funny to note that it is his first time to speak in Davao City.

Mr. Jojo Recio was his usual bubbly self in sharing tot he crowd his experiences with regards to relationships.  His funny description of real life occurences gave the STI crowed lots to laugh about.

STI College Davao's dance group named Hello World gave a rousing performance with their versatility and comic dancing skills.  Their intermission program was widely received by all the schools as they laughed and marvelled at their peformance. 

Yours truly with the very approachable, beautiful and friendly ushers who are all students of STI College Davao.

All is well that ends well as I take one mor picture with  STI students namely Nona who was one of the dancers who danced with me.

Jack's Ridge Coffee Shop

Desserts and coffee play a big role in making sure that all of us are relaxed. After a sumptous meal at the jack's ridge restaurant, we just crossed by to have a piece of cake and coffee in the nearby coffee shop.

The restaurant even had a nice design as the front door had a japanese statue while inside the restaurant had a stuffed small crocodile that is by the window side. Its a little bit out of theme but nevertheless it still looks nice to see something different.

That is me enjoying my Red Strawberry Cake. By the way the restaurant also has free Wifi access.