1. college basketball season's "soft" opening
it's the time of the year when rivalries are rekindled and rookies are introduced as college basketball holds its "soft opening" with summer leagues such as filoil flying v preseason tournament and the fr. martin's cup. the former opened on the day i was about to leave for legazpi, with two games to boot: ateneo blue eagles vs. letran knights and de la salle green archers vs. san beda red lions. interestingly, both games involved teams who have rivalries in their respective collegiate leagues. what was expected to be a walk in the park for ateneo almost ended as an upset for the muralla-based dribblers, but the defending pre-season tournament champions held on to win, 55-51. the second game served as the "debut" of highly-touted jeron teng for la salle against the defending ncaa champions. the red lions survived a late game push by the green archers to pick up the win, 69-63. with recruits out to find their niches and teams determined to climb to the top, the plot will surely thicken as the games go by. and of course, this is the time to calibrate and rev-up ateneo's engines for its "drive for five" in uaap season 75.
2. road to the pba finals
i have been a fan of the pba especially during the mid til late 90's, but somehow lost interest on it because of college basketball. but because college basketball was on hiatus and i don't have basketball tv or nba premium on tv, and pba is still basketball after all, i tried keeping track of pba games again. the first professional basketball league in asia has witnessed some sort of renaissance lately, as fans seemed to have new-found interest on the rivalries, players, and the games themselves. carrying over the intensity from the previous conference, the commissioner's cup has been interesting so far, as fan favorites ginebra and b-meg (i still prefer to call them purefoods), powerhouse talk n' text, and unlikely contender barako bull are jockeying for position towards the finals. what makes it more interesting is how fans begin comparing players to anime characters, naming monikers, and using social media to turn on some heat to the games. this should be good.
3. phoenix suns lose the eighth seed
one of the teams i adored the most is the phoenix suns - from the days when kevin johnson was point guard, "thunder" dan majerlie was rattling the rim, and sir charles barkley was not yet a basketball analyst to d'antoni's high octane "basket in seven seconds or less" system anchored on steve nash, amare stoudamire, shawn marion, joe johnson, and leandro barbosa, and even until now even with superstars walking on the twilight of their careers. what kept me believing in the suns is the way nash brings the team together and makes individuals better with unselfish play. everyone was counting them out of the playoffs but the improved play of grant hill, jared dudley, and rookie markieff morris through nash's leadership has given them a shot to go to the postseason and take things from there. unfortunately, the suns lost what was the biggest game of their season to the utah jazz, who unseated them from the eighth seed of the western conference with a gutsy win at home. well, that is truly disappointing for any suns fan, but nothing to be ashamed of as they virtually overachieved this season. but where would nash go after this? as much as i want him to stay in the desert, he might have to go somewhere else to taste what former suns have yet to achieve: an nba championship.
4. ron artest is back?!
ron artest, now known as metta world peace, is back. what? in his "celebration" over a dunk, he "inadvertently" elbowed james harden, sending him down to the hardwood and eventually to the hospital for a concussion. the celebration has obviously gone overboard and even if he did not intend to hit harden with an elbow at the back of his head, who in the right mind would swing an elbow outward for a celebration? i know and saw how fists can fly on a celebration to the point of hitting someone else (that's "the truth"!) but the elbow is one of the hardest parts of the human body, and hitting someone with an elbow could just be aggravated assault. oh well, welcome back to the pack, ron artest!
p.s. here's "the truth" and the foiled-basket-celebration-gone-wrong
5. second is not a winner
for the third time in four seasons, team kevin durante will receive a bridesmaid's finish in the annual xavier school faculty and staff fantasy basketball league as i failed to defend my title to a very worthy opponent, adrian dy (aka "the best armchair coach in san juan"). what was a sizable lead dissipated as i tried saving games and my best players got injured one by one. i think my team peaked too early while adrian got his making the stats when in mattered the most. it has been a tough fantasy season for me as i did not do well in the student head-to-head leagues (picking derrick rose this year should be the biggest fantasy mistake). well, october is around the corner (after college basketball season, that is), but in the end, second is not a winner.
No comments:
Post a Comment