My Cab Ride Last Night

I try not to drive whenever I can. The liberties that the motorists in this city take will never cease to boggle my mind. Not to mention all important self important, self absorbed , all knowing politicians with their 8 to 12 vehicle motorcade. I think an Inquirer columnist ( you know who I mean ) once said, because they are not stealing and spending YOUR money fast enough.

With Dough here, I was taking the taxi more than usual. In fact he enjoyed the reckless ones we rode in a perverse kind of way. Last night Jacque wanted me to meet her in the new neighborhood and I agreed. I actually bought fare to the MRT one way to Cubao then when I saw the huge snaking line up just to get in the turnstile I descended from the station and hopped a bus without aircon. It was one of our cooler nights so it was OK. Plus I enjoyed sitting by myself listening to my talk shows. Which is a totally different fate than what would await me at the MRT. For those of you who do not know, the MRT is cheaper than the bus for whatever stupid reason. We are running such a deficit and we do that. Private bus lines suffer less riders. The sardines on the MRT suffer, too many of them. The country's coffers already looted by politicians suffer.

Feels weird having a meal without taking shots of the food and the surroundings. Anyway when it was time for us to go home, Jacque, Maricar and I looked for a cab that would drop them off in their place and me back where car is parked in Makati.

We found one, this old guy who drove like someone five decades younger and had his music cranked. Too bad Dough left earlier, he would have loved this guy. Weaving through other reckless drivers, other guys getting too close. Buses shoe horning in. But he was a nice guy and I got to the parking OK.

While I was in that cab contemplating my own G force, I reflected on the rides with Dough when he was there. More often than not the cabbie's radio station of choice had the tag line "Hey Bangga!!". In a moment of sheer honesty and candidness, I can tell you, the thought did occur to me.

Ed

bangga, mabangga, ibangga: Word: bangga
Active Verb: mabangga
Passive Verb: ibangga
English Definition: 1) to hit something, to collide with something -- BUMANGGA (verb) 2) to hit, to collide against accidentally, to bump into -- MABANGGA (verb) 3) to ram an object against something, to collide against something -- MAGBANGGA, IBANGGA, BANGGAIN (verb) 4
Examples: 1) Bumangga ang kotse sa pader. (The car ran into a stone wall.) 2) Baka mabangga ang kotse sa pader. (The car might run against the stone wall.) 3) Huwag mong ibangga ang kotse sa pader. (Don't run the car against the stone wall.) 4) Huwag kang
Source: http://www.seasite.niu.edu/Tagalog/

Interesting take on De La Hoya good example of real sports journalism

It's embarrassing to even consider any Pinoy media for perspective on De La Hoya since he in the way of our own Golden Boy. There might be more honest men in the Philippine Senate than there are objective Pinoy media on De La Hoya. Journalism is about being loyal to your story and not your subject. It's about improving perspective and not about cheer leading and making false gods and redefining religion . Right Philippine Daily Inquirer? It's about getting simple words and nouns in a dictionary correct. Right Philippine Star?

In this story De La Hoya gets called out based on his actions. We see different sides and some perspective on the guy. He even puts into perspective what will make our country stop what they are doing Sunday morning Dec 7. He is not calling this match up an ideal one. Read it. Now with the Internet you can see how un apologetically pathetic our local sports sections are.

Ed

http://msn.foxsports.com/boxing/story/8888898/De-La-Hoya's-the-champ-of-cross-promotion

De La Hoya's the champ of cross promotion by Mark Kriegel

Updated: December 4, 2008, 6:48 PM EST 1 LAS VEGAS - He's asking $54.95 to see him fight Manny Pacquiao on pay per view. Still, Oscar De La Hoya feels your pain.

"We know it's a tough economy," he said.

Here, then, was the Golden Boy's prescription for cost-effective pay-per-viewing: Get a twelve pack of the right beer for you and your friends. Next, get a bottle of the right tequila. Finally, to modulate your buzz, grab a can of the right energy drink.

Never mind the aggregate cost of these beverages. Disregard the potential hazard involved with imbibing alcohol and caffeine — that you may very well miss the fight's thrilling moments (and I think there will be some) while in the bathroom. The recommended drinks were among the corporate sponsors for Saturday night's fight between Pacquiao, the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, and De La Hoya, the most bankable. Apparently, each purchase corresponds to a partial rebate on the pay-per-view fee.

Buy them all, said De La Hoya, and "you're practically going to get the fight for free."

He was smiling when he said all this, grinning in that way only the Golden Boy can. And why not? De La Hoya was engaged in boxing's most venerable tradition: hustling. Don King was a hustler. Bob Arum, too. No one bats an eye. But hearing Oscar pitch so brazenly in the final press conference at the MGM Grand, I couldn't help but resent it. And I wasn't alone.

Now, at 35, near the end of his outrageously profitable fighting career, De La Hoya remains a curious case. Call him a sell-out, if you must, but then you're also obligated to acknowledge him as a savior. It's difficult to overstate how much the sport owes him. It's not too much to say he kept the fight game alive.

It was De La Hoya who enabled boxing to move beyond its relentlessly morbid fascination with Mike Tyson. It was De La Hoya who provided the juice in an age completely bereft of heavyweight excitement. What's more, his Golden Boy promotional company represents an extraordinary accomplishment. A fighter as a promoter? In the not so distant past, the notion was laughable.

And yet, I'm still not sure about Oscar. I should like him more than I do. But even after all these years, I never quite know what's real, and what's a corporate tie-in.

Consider the statue unveiled the other day at the Staples Center. Magic Johnson has a statue there. Wayne Gretzky, too. Jerry West does not. Nor does Kareem. Or Wilt. But now De La Hoya makes three. The strange part is, Oscar has fought but once in the Staples Center. It was a decision he lost to Shane Mosley back in 2000. In fact, though De La Hoya likes to be known as "the Pride of East L.A.", he's fought only twice in Los Angeles since 1994. The other occasion was his lackluster decision over Stevie Forbes last May at the Home Depot Center in Carson.

The Home Depot Center and Staples are owned and operated by the same company, AEG. As coincidence would have it, that would be the same AEG that has a stake in Golden Boy Promotions.

The basis for the big bronze figure is not rooted in sentiment. It's corporate synergy and strategy.

There's too much transparent public relations. For instance, at the press conference, Oscar's people — including the parade of Mexican champions he claimed as his supporters — wore shirts or jackets endorsing The Ring. For those who don't know, the magazine is now owned by Golden Boy.

Then there's Angelo Dundee, the Hall of Fame trainer brought in to "work with" De La Hoya. Even Dundee — who showed up at De La Hoya's camp in Big Bear just in time for the big media day last month — admitted "I didn't do any homework." What Dundee could teach Oscar at that point, under those conditions, is anyone's guess ...

I've long thought De La Hoya's finest moment was beating Ike Quartey — going on 10 years now, the night he knocked down a fearsome puncher in the final round. It had real merit, though no one seems to recall the fight. Rather, if De La Hoya's career were to end tomorrow people would recall his bout with Floyd Mayweather.

The promotion was great. Mayweather-De La Hoya is considered a watershed event in the pay-per-view industry. At 2.4 million buys, it easily set an all-time record.

But you can't measure fights merely by financials. (Hey, you don't hear anyone talk about the numbers for Ali-Frazier or Hagler-Hearns). The truth is, as a fight, Mayweather-De La Hoya sucked, lacking for both for action and drama.

I'm not arguing that Saturday night with Pacquiao will be a dog. Actually, I expect it to be pretty good, full of action. But it's not the best fight out there, either. That would be De La Hoya against Antonio Margarito or Miguel Cotto, natural 147 pounders.

De La Hoya is only behaving rationally, as any businessman should. Margarito and Cotto represent considerably more danger and much less money. Pacquiao may be a great fighter, with an immense following. But only one of his 50 fights has been above 130 pounds.

You figure that the Golden Boy (both the fighter and his namesake promotional company) selected an opponent based on a finely calibrated cost-benefit analysis. It's about risk and reward. It's about profit points. It's about cross-promotion. It's like being in the beverage business.

Mark Kriegel is the national columnist for FOXSports.com. He is the author of two New York Times best sellers, Namath: A Biography and Pistol: The Life of Pete Maravich, which Sports Illustrated called "the best sports biography of the year."

Sad Ironic Story

Not sure what I would do if this was me . Almost tabloid like in appearance but you can check my sources.

Ed

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081204/ap_on_re_us/proposal_death

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/390718_proposaldeath05.html

NESKOWIN, Ore. – A romantic marriage proposal on the Oregon coast turned deadly for the bride-to-be when a wave swept her out to sea. Scott Napper had taken 22-year-old Leafil Alforque to Proposal Rock near Neskowin Beach to pop the question at a place that got its name from couples ready to marry. Napper and Alforque had been dating since they met on the Internet in 2005.

But Alforque had arrived in Oregon on a visa from the Philippines just three days before the fateful trip to the coast.

Napper said the tide had receded around Proposal Rock on Saturday when the couple began to walk to it. He planned to propose and give her the ring he carried in his pocket.

About 10 feet from the rock, a wave about 3 feet high suddenly came toward them.

"I turned into it to keep from getting pulled under it," Napper said.

By the time he turned to find Alforque, only 4-foot-11 and 93 pounds, she had been caught by the receding waters.

"She was about 30 feet away, getting swept away," Napper said.

The 45-year-old Silverton man tore off his jacket to get rid of any extra weight, and when he looked up again she was gone.

"That's the last I saw of her," he said in an interview Wednesday, breaking into tears.

Emergency personnel called by a someone on the beach arrived within minutes. His own phone no longer worked after being exposed to the water.

Along with rescuers, he searched for any sign of Alforque.

"I yelled for her," he said. "I was praying to God."

At one point, he saw someone wearing red — the color of her jacket — on the shore signaling for him. But he quickly realized it was a rescuer.

Thick fog and dangerous water conditions hampered the rescue efforts before the search was suspended on Monday.

Her 25-year-old sister, Nova Alforque, said the family hopes the body can be recovered.

"My mother is always crying, day and night," Nova Alforque said by telephone from the Philippines. "She wants my sister back. Even if she is dead, she wants her body to bury."

The Tillamook County Sheriff's Office is routinely checking the beach and looking for possible witnesses, said Sheriff Todd Anderson.

Police don't suspect foul play, he said.

___

Information from: The Oregonian, http://www.oregonlive.com

I just find this quote by Jong Uichico so silly

Warning this is a pure sports story. Well it might have to do with hyperbole. I realize any profesisonal basketball coach knows more about the game than I do. Yet when I see stupidity hoisted in the form of words I can not be quiet. Let's examine the following quote:

It would be a lot easier if Jayjay and Mark are playing, it would have given us at least 30 points,” said Ginebra coach Jong Uichico. “But I have to give it to the guys, who were doing the best they can in filling their roles very well.”

The assumption Uichico makes seem to be so stupid. Basketball is played by ten guys on the floor and five guys per team. Let's say two of your guys get sidelined. To assume you will get 30 points less total is just insulting to your entire team effort. Someone else will get the looks and the shots that those guys will not get by them simply not seeing the floor. Whether its the other three guys who would already be there or the two guys getting the start to fill in for the regulars there will be some sort of compensatory output. Results may be different but you can't just assume 30 points vanishing into the air as Uichico says. Even in winning he seems to insult his own players. I don't even live and breathe basketball like 99% of the males in this country and I still saw through this quote. Anybody else read this differently?

Ed

http://sports.inquirer.net/inquirersports/inquirersports/view/20081204-175968/Ginebra-Kings-too-much-for-Barakos

Ginebra Kings too much for Barakos

Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 05:01:00 12/04/2008

Sports Most Read RSS
Close this MANILA, Philippines—Barangay Ginebra, with Jayjay Helterbrand joining Mark Caguioa on sick bay, still flashed enough firepower to turn back Red Bull, 83-76, Wednesday in the KFC-PBA Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.

Sunday Salvacion and Ronald Tubid combined for six triples, striking hardest in the third period as the Gin Kings pulled away for good at 66-52.

The Ginebra Gin Kings forged a four-way tie for third to sixth places with Rain or Shine, Sta. Lucia Realty and Talk N Text while the Barakos suffered their seventh straight setback and fell deep down in the standings with a 3-10 record.

“It would be a lot easier if Jayjay and Mark are playing, it would have given us at least 30 points,” said Ginebra coach Jong Uichico. “But I have to give it to the guys, who were doing the best they can in filling their roles very well.”

Helterbrand and Caguioa, both nursing injuries, were hardly missed as Salvacion and Tubid took the cudgels for Ginebra to finish with a combined 30 markers.

Former Barako Junthy Valenzuela added 12 points and Paul Artadi contributed 10.

Cyrus Baguio paced Red Bull with 16.

Salvacion’s trey with 3:56 left in the third period gave the Gin Kings their first sizeable lead at 62-45.

Former Gin King Mike Holper scored nine points in the fourth quarter but the Red Bull rally fizzled out in the homestretch.

“I wish we could be complete going to the next round,” said Uichico. “Mark might be back early next year, but the thing is, he hasn’t really played yet, so we cannot use him even if he’s still here. Jayjay hasn’t practiced yet as well.”

Caguioa has yet to play this season with injuries on both knees which are being treated by Steve Lombardo of the Los Angeles Lakers. Cedelf P. Tupas

Rocky Horror Science Fiction Double Feature

This if anything is a great song. Listen to it once and get sucked in by the singing, the melody and it's charm. For those of you even more curious , look up Rocky Horror Picture Show and it's long lasting appeal. And yes this stars a much younger Susan Sarandon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlew7FcXsyU

Ed

Anyone Else Find this Disturbing - again Pinoy's lack of perspective Thank You Inquirer

Please log in here for one or two minutes and tell me what you get out it.

http://www.inquirer.net/specialreports/ThePacquiaoFiles/index.php

First in the lower left corner is this "voice out a prayer for Manny". What idiots in the PDI (Phil Daily Inquirer) . Countrymen and people in general getting killed or in poor health or in opression or poorly educated and we have to pray for someone who will destroy brain cells?? WTH!!!??? Prayer should be for the good of all and the benefit of all. Manny is not a role model no matter what this country makes him out to be. But there are several levels of disturbing here. Look at the messages that will scrawl out in the screen. For me personally this just displays how babaw (shallow) we are as a country. This speaks directly to our values as a nation how we allow politicians to rape this land but we put our attention and priorities here.

What the heck does God have to do with it? Did I miss the 11th Commandment "Thou shall give thy neighbor a concussion"? Anyone paying attention or all got Manny Fever?? Nobody else care about the Inquirer's juxtaposition of Church and Ring ? That's boxing ring.

Are you telling me that those two images above are not supposed to invoke the image below??

Inquirer should be called to task for this but nobody here will. Manny Hysteria in this country will always override IQ and good judgement. Don't shovel the manure in front of me Inquirer because I won't step on it.

Ed

Silly Excess by Filipino Icon

As usual, all the leeches climbing aboard the Pacquaio carabao and riding him for what he is worth. Read the story below and think about it for a minute. Specially the last paragraph in bold.

They don't show the bus but it probably screams Pinoy! As in bombastic, shallow , ingay, KSP, baduy and everything else I rant about here when I talk about local politicians, artistas , noon time shows etc. Then they want Flipino sponsors for something that will travel between Southern California and Nevada and for once local sponsors don't get suckered in. If US firms don't want to be associated with that freak show in their soil why should anybody here in the Philippines sponsor something their target market won't see except maybe the odd camera glance. Joson, you know what R.P. sponsors are missing?? A chance to foot the bill for your baduy excess. I really hope you are left holding the bag. Another reminder Manny is barely a footnote in the crowded U.S. sporting scene.

Ed

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?ArticleId=420176&publicationSubCategoryId=69

Superstitious Pacquiao won't take bus to Vegas
By Abac Cordero Updated December 01, 2008 12:00 AM

Manny Pacquiao does the early morning jog with fans.

LOS ANGELES – Manny Pacquiao is skipping the bus ride to Vegas.

Instead, he will take the customary four-hour drive to Sin City on board his 2005 Lincoln Navigator where he will be joined by his pregnant wife Jinkee and just a couple of relatives or friends.

Top Rank, under Bob Arum, has prepared a customized 30-seater bus, that in the original plan, should carry Team Pacquio, including the boxer himself, to Las Vegas on Monday.

However, there’s been a sudden change of plan.

“We will do what’s normal and what we’ve been doing in the past. I will drive my own car and he will ride in his Navigator,” said trainer Freddie Roach Saturday after Pacquiao’s training.

“Yes, we’re driving. He’s not taking the bus. You know Manny – he doesn’t want to change things. He’s superstitious. So why change it?” added Roach

Pacquiao has taken the Navigator to Vegas since he first fought Erik Morales in 2005, and all his fights in Sin City since then. Normally, he leads a convoy of around 12 to 15 vehicles, mostly SUVs.

In previous fights, there were plans for Pacquiao to skip the four-hour drive, and instead take the quicker and safer trip on board a private jet. But each time, Pacquiao has decided to take same old way.

The six-wheeler bus, custom-painted with huge, colorful images of Pacquiao, and announcements of the coming fight with Oscar dela Hoya, was seen parked at the back of the Wild Card Gym Saturday.

It was huge.

Jake Joson, who is part of the boxer’s management team, said it cost Top Rank $50,000 or almost P2.5 million to turn the bus into an official Pacquiao vehicle for this fight. Dela Hoya has his own.

Joson said Top Rank had offered Pacquiao the rights on the bus, and place any business ads on it as long as he pays for the $50,000. But they had problems finding sponsors, and so they took it as it is.

“Nobody in the Philippines wanted to sponsor the bus because they said it was to be used in the United States. They felt that they were to gain very limited mileage for their products in the Philippines,” he said.

“They didn’t know what they were missing,” he said.

View previous articles from this author.

http://www.inquirer.net/specialreports/ThePacquiaoFiles/view.php?db=1&article=20081130-175317