Just some stuff to cap the sports week. Happy weekend everyone!

• Whenever I went out drinking with a boss from my old office and talk turns to UAAP basketball, he would always bring up how dominant Ateneo’s Danny Francisco was even against UP’s Benjie Paras, even though we were both Maroons fans. One of the biggest questions in Philippine basketball history, in my mind, was always how Francisco’s career would have turned out if he didn’t have the career-ending heart condition. Would he have been consistently dominant, like Alvin Patrimonio? Would he have been maddeningly up-and-down, like Benjie Paras? Would he have been the poster boy for wasted potential, like Jun Limpot? Or would he have been a bust like Alex Araneta? It’s a shame that we’ll never know.
  
  In his latest story for Inbound Pass, Charlie Cuna writes about another player who remains legendary for his college exploits: Eddie Viaplana, the De La Salle hotshot who shared the backcourt with “The Bullet” Dindo Pumaren. Viaplana blew out his knee before getting to the PBA. We’ll never know how good he could have been: was he going to be another Caidic? Or maybe he was an Apet Jao or a Joey Guanio. Or somewhere in between, like a Naning Valenciano.


• My buddy Toff Rada argues that basketball is an essential skill for the incoming Philippine president now that the White House is occupied by an avid baller, and details the basketball credentials of presidential candidates Noynoy Aquino, Erap Estrada, Dick Gordon, and Gibo Teodoro. If you could assign basketball teams to each, Aquino would definitely be Purefoods (James Yap, after all, is his brother-in law), Teodoro, the so-called political son of Dandinng Cojuangco, would share his uncle’s favorite San Miguel, Erap would probably be have to take Ginebra because Johnny Walker Blue Label isn’t available, and Dick Gordon is a true-blue Eagle. By the way, is anyone else surprised that all these years, Manny Villar didn’t try to bankroll the UP Fighting Maroons just for the exposure he’ll get? I mean, it didn’t take him long to become the top patron of billiards in the country, and he’s gotten to be close to Pacquiao too. I wonder why he didn’t bother ‘investing’ in basketball.


• Carlos Acevedo of the boxing blog The Cruelest Sport eavesdropped on the hilarious negotiations for the Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather superfight. Seriously though, Bob Arum is reportedly in town to discuss the final details of the fight with the Pac-Man.


• An American boxing promoter in Cebu was arrested this week for bringing an underage girl into a hotel room. Which reminds me of one of Manila Vanilla’s posts from when he first arrived in the country: “Whenever you pass a middle-aged white man in Manila, you're faced with that all-too-common conundrum: Was he a missionary or a sex tourist?”


• Speaking of boxing, did you guys catch the sensational knockout by Danny Green over Roy Jones?

I wrote a feature about UAAP for FHM, and it includes a wrap-up of season 72 and a sneak preview of season 73. Also, corny jokes:

UE Red Warriors

Looking back: UE had a fun run through Season 72, led by the spectacular Paul Lee and the solid frontcourt of Elmer Espiritu, Pari Llagas, and Val Acuña. The Warriors gave Ateneo a good scare in the Finals with a huge game 2 victory, but faded away in game 3.

Looking forward: Espiritu, Llagas, and Acuña will be leaving the team, which means that UE’s front line will be paper-thin, unless coach Lawrence Chongson is able to recruit quality big men. Chongson, meanwhile, has enough guards in his rotation to start a security agency.

Analysis: While both Chongson and fellow Tsinoy coach Alfrancis Chua rock the long hair, the UE mentor should consider asking Chua for hair care advice. Chua has nice, moisturized locks while Chongson’s hair is dry.

Read the whole thing at FHM.

Here’s the “Hitler as a La Salle fan reacting to the Archers missing the Final Four” clip that’s been going around.



It’s alright, but I’m posting just so I could link to the vastly superior “Hitler reacts to JRU’s loss to San Beda” last year. Now that was hilarious.

The Far Eastern University Cheering Squad is this year’s surprise winner of the UAAP Cheerdance Competition. FEU is the host school for the UAAP this year.

The Ateneo de Manila Blue Babble Battalion bagged second place with a Michael Jackson-inspired set. Ateneo hottie Sari Campos won a special award for being, well, a hottie.

The UP Pep Squad, the two-time defending champion, was relegated to third place.

Here’s the thing: I know nothing about cheerdance. I just like watching for the cheerleaders in their skirts.

So I asked my friend Maureen what she thought of the routines, as she was watching the show with her friends. She asked me, “Question, ‘di ba Boom Gonzales is kinda short? And Megan Young’s tall? He’s probably on a platform right now.” That’s when I knew I had the right person for the job.

Anyway, her quick thoughts about what went on this afternoon:

Adamson: “I *think* Adamson were samurais? But it’s like they just decided to overwhelm the crowd with props, everything kept falling. Even the all-important stunts.”

National University: “Inokray ng friends ko, but I said it’s a marked improvement over the last 5 years.”

University of Sto. Tomas: “UST has a fire theme, which I didn’t get until my friend Giya said it was fire theme. The girls are in gladiator sandals, the boys in harem pants, mala-Hammer Time.”

De La Salle University: “My friends said, ‘Ooh, tribal din sila.’ I said, ‘Ha? Mukhang court jester.’ Tama ako, court jester nga. Are they trying to live up to their laughingstock image? At least no spelling errors this year. And the belly-jiggling, what was that all about? The ones they put in the front center weren’t completely toned pa.”

University of the Philippines: “May UP IKOT! I hope it works. OMGGGGGGGGG! ANG GALING! OMGGGGGGGGGGGGG! WALA AKONG MASABI!”

(Note: You can guess which school she came from.)

Ateneo de Manila University: “I like the concept of the MJ tribute, but the execution sucks! Hahaha, sorry! Parang noontime variety show. My friends liked the moonwalk, maybe I missed the good parts while typing. My friends asked, ‘What is AMDG? Ano yun, hindi naman nila school ang AMDG ah.’ She had to Google what AMDG meant.”

University of the East: “BAT MAY JEEP DIN ANG UE?! Is their campus big enough na they use jeeps inside?! Sabi ng taga-Ateneo friend ko, yan daw sinakyan nila going to Araneta. Kups!”

Far Eastern University: “Pwede! They’re doing stunts UP used to do. I just don’t see why FEU has a big bird! Tamaraws nga sila di ba? Sabi ng friend ko dapat nagdala sila ng Tamaraw FX.”

On the winner: “WTF! LUTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! WEIRDEST RESULTS EVER????”


Anyway, to end this post on a happier note, here’s UP courtside reporter Erika Flores, just because.



Photo from UP Fighting Maroons

It’s finally happened: De La Salle University is out of the UAAP final four for the first time since the format was instituted in 1994. Tony Atayde already filed a post-mortem and I’m assuming he’s crying green tears, while TJ Manotoc is already deep into the rumor mills. Are the rumors libelous? Wait, that’s a totally different issue.

(UPDATE: TJ wrote a post on his blog detailing the Franz rumors, as well as some coulda-woulda-shoulda's about DLSU's season, and hope for the future.)

Anyway, reader Justin Janolo, a La Salle fan, emailed a suggestion borne out of concern for La Salle coach Franz Pumaren. Since La Salle has never been out of the final four since he took over, that means Franz has never had a free September, said Justin. That means that Franz has no idea what to do for the rest of the month.

Start a sports blog. Hey, everyone’s doing it already. He can blog about the upcoming Floyd Mayweather-Juan Manuel Marquez fight, post links to a live stream of UFC 103, give his two cents about the Japeth Aguilar controversy, and post funny pictures of Joshua Webb looking like he’s about to cry. He can even do it anonymously so he can talk shit about Bader Malabes without Bader knowing.

Get into running. As everyone knows, running is the new in thing right now. Even presidential candidates are doing it! Franz can go visit The Bull Runner for the list of races he could join this September. It’s really much, much better than basketball… where else can you have athletes competing while listening to Taylor Swift’s “White Horse” on their iPods?

Guest star on ‘May Bukas Pa’. With that well-maintained mustache of his, Franz Pumaren could certainly score a villain role on the hit ABS-CBN show. He can play the evil politician from the other town whose life changes when he meets Santino and his “bro.”

Do an ‘Office’ marathon. Given how busy he has been the past few years on his coaching job, it’s doubtful whether Franz Pumaren is updated with the lives of Pam, Jim, Michael, Dwight, and the rest of Dunder-Mifflin. Franz can stop being out of the loop when the new season premieres on September 17 by doing a marathon of America’s favorite workplace comedy. I could just imagine Franz going ahead and putting Tonichi Yturri’s whiteboard eraser in Jello.

I’m sure everyone has their ideas. Post away on this thread.

Last week’s lookalike poll, meanwhile, turned out to be a runaway for the Junthy Valenzuela-Diego tandem, despite stiff opposition (heh) in the early days from Pido Jarencio and Allan K.