... to let everyone know I haven't been killed by Quinito or Ryan Gregorio or Noli Eala. Not yet anyway.

It's just been an awfully busy time at work; my office is celebrating its 20th anniversary, and we're launching a couple of new websites to highlight the occasion. So there's that, and I have to prepare a speech about the sites too. We also have a conference coming up, and I'm part of that too so, yeah, busy. It's too bad, I had a lot of jokes about how the Barroca thing turned into a very ugly situation. Heh.

Anyway, I apologize for the week's absence, which should continue on to next week. Then, hopefully, I'll get back to blogging like a motherfucker.

Meanwhile, do check out Patay ang Butiki, those guys should tide you over for your sports fix.

Quick thought on the Ateneo-UE final: It's a battle between good and evil. You decide which team is which.

Also: this is cool.

Even the Inquirer couldn’t get a straight answer from FEU team officials and members of the team. Coach Glenn Capacio says he doesn’t know where Mark Barroca is, while JR Cawaling says that the superstar guard is out with the flu. A team staff member said that Barroca was suffering from an unspecified injury, even as athletic director Mark Molina and team manager Anton Montinola are refraining from giving any statements at this moment.

Rick Olivares broke the story a couple of days ago and fiercely defended the Smart Gilas co-captain from allegations of game-fixing. Then again, Olivares, who is known to be close to the Smart Gilas and the SBP hierarchy, also fiercely defended the SBP during the Japeth Aguilar issue against insinuations of meddling, and we all know how that turned out.

UPDATE: Barroca’s manager confirms that he’s out of the team, and will concentrate on Smart Gilas (and his studies) instead. Rey Joble gets another scoop. I still hope that FEU officials continue the investigation, both for their sake and for Barroca's.

I am a huge fan of Slate's series of How To Fake Your Way Cocktail Chatter series. I am expressly acknowledging that I am ripping them off in this post. Enjoy.

So your officemates are all talking about the UAAP Final Four over lunch, but you don’t know Jai Reyes from Cristine Reyes? Here’s a handy guide for everyone who wants to be instant college basketball experts.

ATENEO BLUE EAGLES vs. UST GROWLING TIGERS

The skinny on the Eagles: Ateneo has been the best team in the UAAP for the past two seasons, and they’ve been doing it differently from every other good team in college basketball: by playing conservatively. On defense, Ateneo is committed to staying in front of their men rather than gambling for steals, while Norman Black coaches a very conservative offense predicated on getting Rabeh Al-Husseini the ball on the block or Eric Salamat creating off the dribble, then kicking out to shooters like Jai Reyes and Eman Monfort. They don’t force turnovers, but with their hellish interior defense anchored on frontcourt demon Nonoy Baclao, they get enough opportunities to run off rebounds. Ateneo also has the deepest team in the league; if this were poker, you know that Manny Pangilinan’s darlings are playing with the big pile.

The skinny on the Tigers: UST is led by a ragtag band of gunners starring MVP Dylan Ababou, reed-thin hotshot Khazim Mirza, and super rookie Jeric Teng. But throughout the tournament, the Tigers have shown that they don’t have enough ammunition for the big gunfights, collapsing time and again in the important games. They’ll ride Ababou’s hot hands as long as they can, but they’ve always fallen short all season long. There’s not enough reason to think that results in the Final Four would be different.

Conversation starter: “Sure, Rabeh Al-Husseini gets all the ink, but Baclao’s defense and rebounding is the real key to the success of the Eagles.”

Conversation stopper: “Sure, ‘Desperado’ gets all the ink, but ‘New Kid in Town’ rocks and is the real gem in the catalogue of the Eagles.”

My friend Jason from J.walking covers stuff like the recent Ms. Universe pageant with the same intensity that the boys from Patay ang Butiki cover college basketball. He attended Sunday’s cheerdance competition, rooting for the UP Pep Squad, and he gave perhaps the best, most sober analysis of the event on his blog:

UP's routine is a salute to the Iskolar ng Bayan, as UP students are called. There are details that only UP students would know about, and could've alienated the judges; i.e., the Bluebook, the ikot/toki jeepney, the song "Hari ng Sablay," and the cheer "Bayan, Bayan, Bayan Ko." A risky move yes, but one that endeared them all the more to UP folks, if ever that was still possible. So thank you, UP Pep Squad, for taking that risk.

The degree of difficulty in their stunts was so high, and coupled with the many UP icons peppering all over the place, they seemed to have lost focus and wasn't able to pack a lot of punch in a concise routine, which they did in their last two competition pieces. And as mentioned, there were the mistakes, although the TV camera didn't catch the others.

Meanwhile, FEU may have floundered during rehearsals but they perfected the routine competition time, hence they were clearly the champions.

They were inspired by the Sarimanok. (I, together with a lot of folks, have a lot of problem with this because FEU's official mascot is the tamaraw. But that shouldn't get in the way of the cheering stunts they executed perfectly).

Underdogs Ateneo swept the rug under UP's feet after presenting a flawless routine with a degree of difficulty (almost) akin to UP's 2007 championship piece. Grabe, literal na wala silang mali.

He also noted the background of the judges, and how it affected how the routines were scored:

I also noted that the judges, with the exception of Powerdance's Douglas Nierras, were all from nationally and internationally sanctioned cheerleading associations; they would look at the performances at a technical perspective. Hence, I had an inkling on how the rankings would look like.

He also posted video of Ateneo’s and UP’s performance, so go read his post now.