HRM

I'm not talking about the undergrad course called Human Resources Management but a device used by humans called the Heart Rate Monitor. I got mine in 2002 through L-Time studio. Of course, I got it on sale for P5,000 when the regular price was p7,000. Mine is a Nike Triax C6. It's a useful device as it not only tracks time but as the title of the entry suggest, your heart rate. And speaking abt heart rates, here are some personal facts:
(a) Ideal heart rate for a 38 yr old male:
beginner 110 - 128
intermediate 128 - 146
advanced 148 - 165
(b) Heart Rate Results:
Control standing = 86
After 12 mins run with incline = 173
Cool down after 5 mins = 101.
(c) Max Heart Rate for a 38 yr old male is 182.

The formula for Maximun Heart Rate is 220 less age.

This device is one of my "best buys."

A Win Win For Pacman

Why Pacman is phenomenal? He has champ belts in the ff. weight classes:
1- flyweight (112 lb)
2- super-bantam weight (122 lb)
3- feather weight (125 lb)
4- super-featherweight (130 lb)
5- lightweight (132 lb)
6- junior welterweight (140 lb)

On Sunday, he'll be facing Cotto for the welterweight crown (145 lb). If Pacman wins, he will become the ONLY FIGHTER ever to capture seven world titles in seven weight divisions. If he loses, he'll share the limelight with legendary boxer Oscar De La Hoya who currently holds distinction of having titles in six different weight classes.

Will Pacman Kowtow to Cotto

Here is what the statistic says:

Real name: Miguel Ángel Cotto
Nickname: Junito
Rated at Welterweight
Height: 5ft. 7in.
Nationality: Puerto Rico
Birth date: October 29, 1980 age 28
Birth place: Caguas, Puerto Rico
Stance: Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights 35
Wins 34
Wins by KO 27
Losses 1
Draws 0
No contests 0

Real name: Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao
Nickname: Pac-Man, The Destroyer, The Mexi-cutioner, The People's Champion
Pambansang Kamao ("National Fist")
Rated at Light Welterweight
Height: 5 ft 7 in
Nationality: Filipino
Birth date: December 17, 1978 age 30
Birth place: Kibawe, Bukidnon, Philippines
Stance: Southpaw
Boxing record
Total fights 54
Wins 49
Wins by KO 37
Losses 3
Draws 2

The fight is on! Pacman vs Cotto in October 2009. The catch weight is 144 or 145 lbs. The promoter is none other that Bob Arum who recently said that Pacman is the bset of the best of the best. Pacman is expected to get 65% of the profit and odds will definitely be for him.

My opinion is that "may tulog si Pacman" literally and figuratively. Why? The recent Cotto fight against Cottey when the former won via a split decision but almost nearly got beat up just shows that (1) he is dirty a player and (2) how strong he is when he got a nasty cut in the eyebrow early in the fight but managed to last 12 rounds and win the contest.

Coming into the fight, MP is the overwhelming favorite. The tables have turned and this is the first time in his last four fights where he is facing the underdog. He is on a roll, winning his last 10 fights but will he survive the onslaught of the equally power punching Cotto? We will know in October.

Pacman-Hitman: A win win for DL

May 3, 2009

Just hours before the big fight between Filipino Manny Pacquiao and Briton Ricky Hatton, my thought bubble is that this is a win win situation for me because a win by Hatton would mean I'll be P200 peso richer while a win Manny would mean glory for the Filipinos. I want Pacman to win this fight. Good luck, Manny!

My only 30 point basketball game

My high school friends are probably right when they said that I am a better half court player (3 on 3) than a whole court basketball player. In college during a 3 on 3 competition at our dorm, I scored my only 30+ points in a game. I was just a substitute player then but was in the groove, all my shots were hitting the mark so I contributed 60% of the team's points that night.

During that tournament, I averaged 15 points per game and our team called Gene's Chonggos eventually became the tournament's champion. That was my only basketball accolade.

Golden Boy gets Promoted - to Smithereens!

Manny "PacMan" Pacquiao wins via 9th round Technical Knock Out over the Golden Boy Oscar Dela Hoya. Before today, everybody said it was a mismatch and that the future hall of famer will clobber our pambansang kamao. As it turned out, Manny made mince meat of Oscar.

At the end of it all, it was still a win-win situation for Dela Hoya. While he lost officially in the boxing ring, his paycheck in this fight is said to be in the neighborhood of $30 million to $40 million compared to PacMan's $15 million.

The dream match turned out to be a nightmare for the tarnished Golden Boy.

SBC tromps JRC

Hi Papa!

.

Your alma mater San Beda College completed a historic 3 peat at the expense of Jose Rizal College. They trounced JRC 3 games to 1. I didn't get to watch any of the games but your grandson B5 watched some of the games and kept me abreast. In fact, he gave me the usual blow-by-blow account.

.

Their dynasty is about to expire though as their prized center Sam Ekwe played his last game as a Red Lion. There's no player in their current roster who can fill in the big shoes that the Nigerian will vacate. My assessment is that at the very least, they'll make it to the final four.

.

Keep reading my site!

Ateneo is it!

(September 26, 2008)

It's official, Ateneo de Manila University is the 71st UAAP season king of men's basketball senior edition. The basketball team trounced defending champions De La Salle University two game to none. They were the best candidate to win the award and proved that not even their arch rival can get in the way.

SO STRONG
The Blue Eange team is so strong that they can probably beat a UAAP star player selection. In their player roster is Most Valuable Player Rabeh Al-Hussaini, Mythical 5 guard Chris Tiu, Defensive Player of the year Nonoy Baclao, Rookie of the Year Ryan Buenafe, some non awardee players capable of scoring double digits night after night and then a couple of effective role players.

BACK-TO-BACK
After the euphoria from the celebration has subsided, the next big question is if they can make it back to back. In Y2009, the core team is still intact save for 23 year old superstar Chris Tiu hence they can still power their way to a repeat and probably even a three peat.

Go La Salle!!!

Is Armstrong's arm still strong?

(September 17, 2008)

I'm talking about cycling god's Lance Armstrong who recently announced that he's going out of retirement and attempt to seek his 8th Tour de France title. At age 37, he's no spring chicken anymore. He'll be battling it out with men at least a decade younger than him.

Can he make a comeback in the sport that he dominated? Let's stay tuned and we'll know by during the year of the Ox (Y2009).

Long Time No Post

It's been almost 2 weeks since I last posted an entry in my blog. I'm at a challenging phase in my life were I have to sacrifice certain things that I enjoy doing for a greater good or at least that's how I view it. Mountain biking has to take a back seat. My blog entry is suffering in consistency. Web surfing is limited and no time to practice taking my precious pictures. Practically all my sources of anti stress are taking a breather. As a result, the stress level is at an all time high. Admittedly, I am outside my comfy zone right now and just surviving on a day-to-day basis. I hope months down the road, I can look back at this day at this blog entry and say that - I SURVIVED!!!

PacMan scores an offset

That’s right folks, PacMan scored an OFFSET not an UPSET. Our pambansang kamao Manny Pacquiao won via a hairline against the reigning WBA and IBF Super Featherweight Champion Juan Manuel Marquez last March 16 in Mandala Bay Las Vegas.

MELEE NUMBER 1
In May 8, 2004, a then boxing newbie PacMan knocked out slugger Marquez thrice in the first round alone. The intelligent boxer Marquez recovered to score a questionable draw. Boxing analyst says that the win should have been Pacmans. Apparently, politics is prevalent in the boxing world.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS.
In their second encounter, PacMan KOd Marquez in the 3rd round which left him stunned and attempted to share the corner with his opponent. As in the first meeting Marquez, recovered in the later rounds to give PacMan a good fight. Personally, I thought the fight went to Marquez.

And the new Super Featherweight Champion is Manny Pacquiao! The Pinoys went wild. Half thought it was divine intervention at work. The other half thought it was the boxing official’s way of giving the victory to the real champ. It just took 24 rounds and 46 months to settle the score.

Boston versus Lakers dynasty part 3?

The two NBA’s winningest team include Boston Celtics from the eastern division and LA Lakers from the western division.

BOSTON CELTICS
Boston has 16 world champ rings, the most by any NBA ball club. They accumulated this mostly in the 50s through the 60s during the Bill Russell era. The Larry Bird era of the 80s added more rings for the franchise. The Paul Pierce lead team was not enough to give Boston a title but the recent addition of Ray Allen from Seattle and superstar Kevin Garnett from Minnesota increases their odds of winning the Larry O’Brien trophy this year. This is best proven by the 47 – 12 win loss standing which is the best record in the NBA this season.

LA LAKERS
Breathing down Boston’s neck is arch rival LA Lakers with 14 world champ rings. They earned this during the Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Shaq O’ Neal or Kobe Bryant led eras. KB is the new his airness, scoring at will and bringing his team to victory every night. His Scottie Pippen is in the guise of Lamar Odom but with the recent addition of Pau Gasol from Memphis, they just acquired a third superstar. They own the best record in the west and the second best record in the NBA with a 45 – 18 win loss standing.

They are at it again. Boston won the two games they played but that was pre- Pau Gasol trade. While I’m rooting for LA Lakers, my assessment is that this is Boston’s year.

DH from Orlando

Dwight Howard from Orlando Magic wins the 2008 NBA all star slam dunk contest. Howard, a 6'11" all star center from the second NBA team from Florida won a sweet victory over Gerald Green of Minesota Timberwolves. Green won the dunk contest in 2007.

GREEN OWNS '07
Green, a 6'8" power forward from the T-wolves won last year's dunk contest at the expense of Howard. The only Howard dunk that stood out was an ultra high leap dunk where he placed a sticker of his face on the backboard. I reckon more than half of the NBA players can easily do that dunk.

HOWARD SWEEPS '08
This year though, Howard owned the dunk contest starting from the first round. The first dunk was an off the "rear" backboard throwdown. Actually, I'm not giving justice to the dunk so you'd have to watch the contest on check out this link http://dwight-howard.com/. He got a perfect 10 score from the 5 judges for the first dunk.

SUPERMAN VS. BDAY CAKE
For the second round, Green blew a candle from a small cake placed on top of the ring support before dunking the ball. For his part, Howard wore a superman jersey, jumped from the free throw line and dunked the ball. Frankly, the dunk wasn't as impressive as the first one but enough to put him in the finals.

NO CONTEST SHOWDOWN
The finals was a face off between the defending champ Green and high leaping Howard. Green's dunks were so lousy that I couldn't remember what they were. On the other hand, Howard had 2 creative dunks that's never been seen. The first was a bounce pass, then ball bounced to the backboard using the left hand before throwing it down with the right hand. The second was just icing on the cake: using a small ring as a 'tee' he jumped to the ball, double pump before the throw down. Again, the first dunk was more impressive.

While I didn't get to see the awarding ceremony, there was no doubt it was Dwight Howard who won the contest. It was sealed as early as his first round dunk.

Blown to Smithereens

"Do you play the number 1 position?" I was asked yesterday. The number 1 position in basketball means playing the point guard role. I replied "Yes, that's my role." I played basketball last night, my first time this year as the last game I played was in December 2006.

Pardon my French but I sucked. When I was in college, I scored 30+ points once in a winning effort. In that same street ball tournament, I averaged 15+ pts, had a healthy assist number and decent rebound stats. Yesterday was probably my worse game ever! I played for about 5 minutes, didn't score, zero assist and had a number of turnovers. Being out of shape is an understatement. The experience was so humiliating that it bothers me until now.

It started when I got a call from an officemate inviting me to be a player for the Senior's Basketball Barkadahan. Senior means 35 year old players and up. I politely declined but he insisted that I join. He said he saw me play in the exhibition game last year and he said "Pwede ka pa." Sayang naman yung uniform so I joined.

One humiliating experience is enough. I just have to embrace the fact that I'm no longer geared up for competitive basketball

DLSU's Dramatic Comeback

The 68th UAAP season. The story starts with De La Salle University winning the 68th UAAP men's basketball crown via a 2-1 win over FEU then being stripped of the crown a few months after. It was definitely a humiliating experience for DLSU. The investigation shows that DLSU fielded 2 players with bogus high school records. Whether it was the wrongdoing of the player or the talent scout, as a responsible institution, they should have verified. As a result of the careless move, DLSU was stripped off the title and worse, suspended from the league for 1 year.

The 69th UAAP season. Effectively, DLSU’s suspension happened during this season. To keep their players in competitive shape, they played in "b" leagues. The show must go on since the suspension clearly stated 1 year only hence their basketball program continued. During the 1 year layoff, new players joined the team and beefed up their line up.

University of the East. During the 70th UAAP season, everybody was expecting University of the East to breeze through the series and claim the crown after 22 years of drought. The last crown they had was during Jaworski's era. Despite having a rookie coach in the person of Dindo Pumaren, an ex-La Salle cager, the team had a perfect match of veterans and rookies. The team boast of having 11 players capable of scoring in double digits. The biggest accolade was they swept the elimination round 14 - 0. The last team to sweep the elimination was DLSU en route to a crown during the 90s. The rules have been revised since so a team that sweeps the elims has the glory or just waiting for their opponent.

De La Salle University. And now let's talk about the champion underdogs. They lost to arch rival Ateneo twice in the elims, had a 10 - 4 score card in the elimination, lost again to Ateneo during the playoff game one to force a winner take all match. During the finals, UE was heavily favored. The only good thing to say about the DLSU team was that they had a multi titled veteran coach and finals experienced team. That advantage seemed to be the key to DLSU's success. Lady luck was on their side when they snatched game 1 via a 64 - 63 win in regulation. Game 2 was a display of experience, preparation and motivation. Again, luck chipped in. When the buzzer sounded, the score was 73 to 64 and this paved way to DLSU sweeping the finals.

The basketball analyst were right that the UAAP men's basketball finals will be a sweep. The only difference, it was the underdogs DLSU who completed the sweep.

Pumaren Duel

DLSU def. ADMU, 65 to 60 banners the sports headline last Sunday, September 30. This marked the start of the Pumaren duel. The head coach of DLSU Men's Basketball team is Franz while Dindo is the head coach of the University of the East.

Both Pumaren's played the backcourt position during their younger days. They belong to a family of basketball buffs as the patriarch Filomeno “Pilo” Pumaren used to coach for various teams such as San Miguel in the PBA, U.E and DLSU in the UAAP while the eldest sibling Derick is currently the coach of Talk N Text and used to coach DLSU.

I wonder who Daddy Pumaren would root for on Thurs. If I were him, I'd go for the underdog, La Salle. Go La Salle!!!

FAST FORWARD

DLSU def. UE, 64 to 63 in 48 minutes of action that saw 11 lead changes. The UAAP Finals Game 1 proved that experience by DLSU in the finals plays a big part in a basketball game. The fact that UE, who have 11 out of 12 players that can score in double figures and swept the regular season 14-0 shows that their credentials are only good in paper and they actually succumb under immense pressure. I hope I’m not speaking too soon as game 2 is set on Sunday. At any rate, my mind was set that UE will sweep the UAAP Men’s Basketball Finals and eventually win a crown after 22 years.

Mister Excitement gets excited

Ex-PBA Star Forward Paul “Bong” Alvarez is in hot water. Yesterday (August 21), he was in boxing mode and chose a taxi driver and a lady reporter as punching bags. His name is all over the news again after consistently hugging the sports headlines in the late 80s until the 90s.

Mister taxi driver was all black and blue. It was a mismatch from the start, the 6’1” hunk of a basketball player versus a plump shortie. The next match was with ABS-CBN field reporter Gretchen Malalad. Physically, you would still call it a mismatch as the 5’8” Malalad doesn’t measure up to Alvarez’ height and might. But her black belt in taekwondo did the trick and she got off with a kick and a punch to the face of Alvarez. Poor guy but it suits him as she should have respected the Mister taxi driver and Miss black beauty taekwondista.

The moral of the story: Save while you’re sikat so you don’t have to ride the taxi when you’re drunk. :)

Dub shot

Dub shop was borne out of double two or a street name for twenty two inch wheels (22in diameter). Read Bling! Bling! These fancy car accessories actually doesn't impress me. Here's a 22 year old that's pretty impressive. Yesterday (May 31), Lebron "King" James led his Cleveland Cavaliers to a 107 - 106 win over the motor city boys, Detroit Pistons. He poured in 48 points or nearly 50% of the team's points and almost a triple double. The Cavs now lead the Eastern Conference finals 3 - 2.

The San Antonio Spurs are just waiting for the outcome of the east finals as they annihilated the Utah Jazz 4 - 1 days ago. It was a mismatch from day one. The east finals is a match made in heaven. I'd say this is better than the actual NBA finals as my guess is San Antonio Spurs will just roll over whoever wins in the east.

I'm rooting for Cleveland Cavs. From among the three "active" NBA teams, only Cavs is without a ring. They suffered so much during the Jordan-era. Remember "the shot on Ehlo" referring to the poor soul who had the unfortunate role to guard the Air Jordan.

King James has a lot of mileage in his 22 year old legs. His game last Friday was described to be one of the best in NBA history. In basketball TV, he owned the top 5 highlight plays off the week. Easily, he could have provided highlight for the top ten plays. The question is, if this 22 year old can handle the pressure. A lot rests on his shoulders.

Araw ng Kagitingan in Bataan

It was a perfect day in February 2004 when the ultimate mountain bike ride happened. The trail is called Mt Samat Bataan. The jump off point was Total gas station in Roman Highway in Hermosa, Bataan. As early as 6am, mt bikers started converging and setting up for this ride. Close to forty mt bikers from Manila, Angeles, Bataan and Tarlac joined forces to make this ride special.

It was already around 8am when we started rolling. The trail actually covered 3 towns: Hermosa, Pilar and Bagac. It was a misnomer in a sense because it was called Mount Samat but you won't actually traverse it but instead make it a trail marker. The trail goes around Mt Samat and throughout the ride, the big cross will ALWAYS be on your left.

The trail is about 60 kilometers long, 70% off road and 80% of the ride time is uphill. The highlights of the trail include: a refrigerator cool potable spring, picturesque view of the Bataan Peninsula and a chance to view the natural habitat of our friendly leftist group (NPAs).
The trail is composed of single tracks, fire roads and mini rock climbs, canopy of trees and dig this - a one hour plus downhill. Good thing I was riding a full suspension bike.

A Chip off the Block

My first sport was soccer. I started playing basketball at a rather late age of 14 yrs old. Throughout my teenage days, the only time I beat my father in a basketball game was after I turned 18 yrs old. That's easily 4 yrs of mostly driving to the hoop on my way to victory or rather defeat. My father stands 5'9" while I'm 3 inches below his height. So for the most part, it was posting down low that did the job for him. It's been a while since my father and I played basketball but my guess is I can easily beat him on endurance alone. My son is turning 9 this year and by the looks of it, he's going to beat me sooner than I did my father.

After doing some research, thanks to the power of the internet, I found out that there are at least 26 father and some appearances in the NBA. The famous names include: Bill & Luke Walton, Joe & Kobe Bryant, Mike Sr. & Jr. Dunleavy, Rick, Jon & Brent Barry. In the local scene, we have the ff. PBA players: Caloy, Chito & Joey Loyzaga, Sonny & Dudut Jaworski, Freddie & Paolo Hubalde, Sonny & Junjun Cabatu, Romy & John Billy Mamaril, Freddie & Jason Webb. So who did better? There's actually no established trend. Kobe Bryant is definitely greater than his father. Easily, he can make the list of 60 greatest players if they award one in this year, the 60th year of the NBA. The Big J, my idol Robert Jaworski is incomparable to Junior. I recall the only spectacular shot that the good congressman Dudut made as a player was a back to back 3 pointer reminiscent of his father then I never heard from him again.

So who's better, BoyLac or DyLac? We probably wouldn't know unless we get a time machine and set both age at our prime.