Wednesday night. The night after the storm. There's a steady drizzle.
We do laps around the UP Oval. We run over or around leaves and branches. To prepare for the Nike We Run Manila 10k and the Adidas King of the Road 16.8k/21k, some of us do tempo runs. Others do "easy" 7k's.
Upon completion of our running tasks, we start our burger run along Magingawa Street. This was our motivation to run that night. To invade Burger Project. It was the wrong motivation. But motivation nonetheless.
I've been covering badminton matches on AKTV recently with Kennevic Asuncion, Kennie Asuncion, Ronnie Magsanoc and Anthony Suntay. But I haven't played the sport in ages.
I enjoy covering the really good players: World No. 1 Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia, India's superstar in women's singles Saina Nehwal, Chinese dynamic duo Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng and Korean's Batman and Robin - Lee Yong Dae and Jung Jae Sung.
Kennevic is convincing me to play again. He has volunteered to be my Coach. Tsk tsk. Sigurado ka Kennevic? Baka you want to consult Kennie first? Because if this pushes through, ako na siguro ang sisira sa coaching resume ni Kennevic "Mr. Badminton" Asuncion. MH
To prepare for tonight's KO Quarterfinal clash between Gilas and Chinese-Taipei, listen to Snoop Dogg's Drop It Like It's Hot and replace "Drop It Like It's Hot" with "Ja-Peth A-gui-lar". Asked people to try it days ago. I think they're still doing it now. The in-house DJ in the Wuhan Sports Centre should play this after every Japeth Alley-Oop. Go Gilas! MH
Gilas and China will meet again. Dapat. And when that happens, our defense will have to stop Yi Jianlian. If not, talagang hindi ko na siya kukunin for my NBA Fantasy Team next season (whenever that may be). Never ko pa siya kinuha sa NBA Fantasy!
Well, no, that's a lie. I picked him up from waivers years back when he was still with the New Jersey Nets. Two weeks din siya naglaro for my team. It was fun while it lasted. But if you give Gilas a beat-down again, never na talaga mauulit yan. Comprende? MH
It's interesting that a tweet about (ex-Green Archer) Bader Malabes scoring 15 points in the first period for Bahrain against mighty China last night generated more retweets than any tweet about Gilas. I guess Malabes, who wears #7 for Bahrain, truly is THE BADERMINATOR. MH *Thanks to Boss Mhel Garrido for allowing me to use the Bader Malabes photo he always keeps in his wallet.
Ray Parks will be named UAAP MVP. Because he can do everything well for the Bulldogs - score, rebound, pass, steal and block shots. Ray can also trash-talk. And he's just as good at it. In any language. Magaling kasi mag-tagalog si Ray. Proof: when Ray taunted UE's Lucas Tagarda into taking outside shots, Ray would take two steps back and tell Lucas, "Sige, tira mo! Tira mo!" MH
Jay Camero of Pangasinan has been a San Miguel fan since 1998 - the same year Danny Ildefonso of Urdaneta, Pangasinan joined the Beermen. Jay has an extensive SMB collection: jerseys, keychains, photos, clippings etc. He also has this awesome journal filled with his own original SMB artwork:
When I asked Jay why he maintains his kick-ass SMB journal, the 25-year old said, "Sobrang obsession ko San Miguel eh. Napapaginipan ko sila!" MH
Years ago, the PBA issued trading cards featuring the league's top players. During the PBA D-League Finals, a fan approached TV Analyst Ronnie Magsanoc and asked him to sign this relic from the not-so-distant past:
Should the PBA revive trading cards or should the league introduce new modes of fan interaction? MH
How can we recover from Tim Cone's stunning departure from Alaska? By witnessing Homer Se's stunning return to the PBA. Well, baka hindi rin. But you have to admit, every time Homer Se enters a game, when he's out to share fouls and not keep them for himself, it becomes instantly interesting. So if we all pray hard enough, and if Powerade obliges, it might just happen. MH
