Some sad news came out of Houston yesterday, as always-excellent Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! reported that Yao Ming's career is in jeopardy after breaking his foot in the playoffs.

This is particularly heartbreaking for the first true global sports superstar from Asia, especially with the Rockets on the uptick. Despite missing former all-star guard Tracy McGrady for most of the season, Houston gave the eventual champion LA Lakers everything they could handle in this year's playoffs, before Yao suffered the unfortunate injury.

Yao had already been penciled out of the Fiba-Asia Championships in August, which would serve as the qualifying tournament for next year's World Basketball Championships in Turkey. China remains the heavy favorite, however, with New Jersey Nets forward Yi Jianlian and Los Angeles Lakers reserve Sun Yue. The Powerade Team Pilipinas coached by Yeng Guiao has been preparing for the tournament, wherein the top three finishers qualify for next year's competition.

The weekend brought exciting news from pound-for-pound champion Manny Pacquiao. After he solved all of our country's intelligence and security problems, and before he goes off to beat the shit out of either Miguel Cotto or Shane Mosley, next on his agenda will shoot a new action-comedy film called Wapakman.

But it won't just be any film, because starring opposite Pacquiao will be former WWE Champion Batista, who will playing the baddie in the movie. In a perfect world, their fight scenes would be as awesome as the one between Bruce Lee and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in Game of Death, but if we go by Pacquiao's previous onscreen work, it'll be as stupid as the fight between Bong Revilla and Ruel Vernal in Boy Tornado.

The movie would also star Pussycat Dolls lead singer Nicole Scherzinger as Pacquiao's leading lady. I can't wait for the local showbiz buzzhounds to work their magic and create a rumored affair between Scherzinger and Pacquiao. I can't imagine Jinkee Pacquiao or Lewis Hamilton being too happy about that.

(By the way, Beyonce's first movie role after Destiny's Child was in Austin Powers in Goldmember, and Nicole couldn't find anything better than a dumb Pacquiao starrer? That's pathetic!)

It also seems like the producers are out to snag every world-famous Filipino entertainer, so expect cameos from Journey's Arnel Pineda and creepy 16-year-old singing machine Charice, or at least a duet for the soundtrack.

There's a potential wrench over all of these plans though; Batista recently had surgery to repair a torn biceps, which would put the big guy out of action for four months. While rumors abound that the time off is just a cover-up for a failed WWE drug test, the injury is serious enough that Batista will not be in action for the July 10 Smackdown/ECW house show at the Araneta Coliseum.

It won't be much of a loss for hardcore wrestling fans though, because the past couple of months of Smackdown has featured some of the best wrestling in the WWE over the past few years. After the jump, the sensational ending of last Friday's match between CM Punk and John Morrison, which actually tempted me to go ahead and buy tickets to the July 11 show.

I know there are a million other Pinoy sports items to blog about -- we'll get to all that in a moment -- but I'm in a fighting mood, so please indulge me. Word out of the Purefoods camp is that Ryan "The Genius" Gregorio is staying on as Purefoods coach, and he has special instructions from Purefoods governor Rene Pardo to find a trade to acquire a draft pick in the upcoming draft. Yes, because a draft would solve the team's problems when it comes to players that don't try hard, a stagnant offense, and a perpetually underprepared defense.

Also, there was this fun little nugget from the governor: "Since our campaign ended early, the members of the team are now busy with their 'palengke' tour, which is normally being done by the team during the off season."

Maybe that's the real reason why they keep Gregorio as coach, so that the team would have more time to do their palengke tour.

Of course, Gregorio's buddies in the media just eat up his bullshit, so he's never, ever held accountable for the shitty performance of the team. The worst offender from the end of the season? Why of course, our favorite media personality, Quinito Henson! He's the best!

I could go on, but I might end up throwing my laptop against the wall if I don't stop. So let me just leave with this parting shot, a quote from Ryan Gregorio at the beginning of the Fiesta Conference: "We had problems in scoring last conference. I hope with Allado and Canaleta on board, our inability to score can be addressed."

Well, that didn't work. Maybe next time he could learn how to draw up a fucking play.

Photo courtesy of Ubelt.com

The 85th edition of the NCAA opened with a bang last Saturday, kicking off the college basketball season. Defending champion San Beda dominated Mapua in the first game, 85-52, while last year's runner-up JRU staved off Letran in the second, 65-62. In the third game that wasn't televised, San Sebastian welcomed their new mentor Ato Agustin with an impressive 76-64 victory over Perpetual Help.

San Beda looked about as well as they looked at any other time over the past three seasons, each of which ended up in a championship. The Red Lions were without their three best players from last season, Sam Ekwe, Pong Escobal, and Ogie Menor, but Frankie Lim's boys didn't seem to care. Their frontline was especially productive, with returnees Jake Pascual, Dave Marcelo, and JR Taganas teaming up with new import Sudan Daniel. Coming into the season, I figured San Beda's backcourt might struggle with Escobal, the team's leader, leaving and starting point guard Borgie Hermida still recovering after blowing out his knee in the Philippine Collegiate Championships late last year. After seeing them against Mapua though, maybe it doesn't matter.

Or maybe it does, especially with this Mapua team. Apart from losing their leader and best player, former MVP Kelvin de la Pena, they also lost their coach Leo Isaac to the pro ranks. That would have been bad enough, but their starting point guard Jonathan Banal will also miss the season after blowing out his knee. So perhaps a win over the Cardinals, despite being impressive, should be taken with a grain of salt.

The second game was much more exciting, with JRU eking out a victory over a game Letran squad who came back from being down by as much as 11 points in the third quarter. The Bombers are heavily-touted this season, and with good reason: they have the best starting crew in the tournament, with an intact five from the team that pushed San Beda to the limit last season.

But JRU can also be the most maddening team to watch (and I could imagine, coach). They're surely talented, but they're also very inconsistent throughout the game. They can be brilliant for stretches, combining their athletic gifts with grit and hustle, but then they would suddenly lapse into a coma, playing lackadaisically, missing layups, and settling for long jumpshots.

Letran, on the other hand, is a team in flux. On one hand, they have eight rookies on the roster, but they also have RJ "So Cool" Jazul and Rey Guevarra, the only members of the Smart Gilas RP Developmental Basketball Team currently playing in the NCAA. They have a paper-thin frontline after their three best big guys (Dino Daa, Alvyn Cabonce, and Regin Ranises) graduated, but also have the best coach in the league in Louie Alas, who has never missed the Final Four in seven seasons coaching the Knights.

As a Letran fan, I was ecstatic despite the loss after seeing the second-half emergence of Kevin Alas, the highly-touted Letran freshman who was heavily recruited by Ateneo and La Salle before deciding to play for his dad--you must admit, Letran had the inside track for recruitment. He had the jitters in the first half, but he came alive late in the third quarter, slicing through the JRU defense, harrassing Cagoco up the court, and sparking the Knights comeback.

He's really really really really really really good. He makes me giddy.