I know Dindo Pumaren isn't the most popular sports personality in La Salle right now. But he once was. When he was playing for La Salle, when opponents couldn't stop him from scoring 30-plus points in rapid-fire fashion, Dindo was the Green Archer version of CP3.
Dindo could score. He could rebound. He could pass. He only became The Bullet when he entered the PBA. But if you can miraculously find a DVD-copy of the 1988 Ateneo-La Salle championship game, you'll see how Dindo, who scored something like 250 consecutive points during one stretch, was truly The Machine Gun. MH
I asked NU's Ray Parks (he finds it weird when random people call him Ray-Ray since only close friends call him Ray-Ray) about the first cheap-shot he ever got in college ball.
He remembers it well: "That was at Fil-Oil against San Sebastian. I was scoring 34 points. (Anthony) Del Rio came up to me and hit me in the balls." Then I asked, "Who was the first UAAP player to elbow you on the ribs?" Ray answered, "Camus." MH
During the SLAM Magazine photo-shoot for Ray Parks, I talked with Petron Assistant Coach Bobby Parks. I proposed, "Coach Bobby, if Coach Ato challenges Coach Chot to a fight, you should challenge (TNT Consultant) Norman Black too." Para PBA Tag-Team Championship na agad. Coach Bobby smiled back (you know, with that trademark Bobby Parks ear-to-ear grin) and said, "Yeah, yeah, why not!"
So guys, if the Reyes-Black vs Agustin-Parks showdown pushes through, who wins? MH
I'm halfway through "Love and Blood: At the World Cup with Footballers, Fans and Freaks" by Jaime Trecker. And it's been a fun read. The book is packed with brutally honest stories about players and quirky anecdotes about fans.
One more reason to read this book: to learn how the United States wrestles with certain ideas (embracing football like the rest of the civilized world, competing at the World Cup level and integrating football into its frenzied professional sports universe) is to be reminded about our own situation.
Consider this excerpt: "One of the great mysteries of soccer is why the world's largest consumer of sports has never had much use for the beautiful game. American professional sports look at soccer with a mixture of awe and fear." Don't you think it resonates? I do. MH
Okay, maybe SLAM PH didn't predict UP's shocker-of-a-win over title-contender FEU yesterday. But the magazine peeps knew that whatever positive thing UP did this season would be big news. Like scoring their first win after 4,000 years. Or winning over the Tamaraws by 13 points (by far, the biggest upset of the tournament).
We entitled our UP article in SLAM PH 150 "A perilous journey upwards"; not because it's impossible for UP to move up, but because UP's attempt to go from nowhere to somewhere is surely going to be compelling stuff. Tama naman diba? Although SLAM PH 151 is already out (w/ Dirk on the cover), SLAM PH 150 (with Allen Iverson on the cover) is still available in Fully Booked Bonifacio High Street. MH
Can Ray-Ray Parks become best NU Bulldog of all time? Or will it be impossible to match Danny Ildefonso's achievements? How about Lordy Tugade? Or if we're talking about number of PBA championships, should Cris Bolado also be mentioned? One guy thinks so, for very geographical and very fortunate reasons: @dino_mars says, "Ako Cris Bolado kasi taga sa amin (Lucban, Quezon). Probably the only Bulldog w/ the most no. of PBA rings. LOL! Good luck charm." MH
