Streak Shooter

My copy of the Magic-Bird book. Today is the birthday of former Boston Celtics legend Larry Bird, who remains as one of the NBA's best clutch players. In the '80s, Bird was synonymous to the Celtics' emergence as an NBA power, leading his team to titles in 1981, 1984 and 1986 while also winning the MVP plum during his team's last title run. He also won the NBA All-Star Long Distance Shootout three straight times. Before my flight to the States, I managed to buy a copy of Bird's autobiography Drive which was based on his thoughts that he shared to veteran sportswriter Bob Ryan. I read that book on the plane but since it was released in 1990, it ended on a somewhat hanging note as at the time of its release, Bird had still  not yet announced his retirement due to nagging back problems. For a more comprehensive look at Bird, I suggest you read When the Game Was Ours which was written by his arch-rival, Earvin "Magic" Johnson with the help of lady

Screenshot of the Oakland Fire Last Friday night (Saturday afternoon in the Philippines), the whole of California and even the entire US was rocked by a big fire that struck a warehouse in Oakland that was used as a rave party. A total of 36 people died in that fire which was covered on all Bay Area TV stations the whole day of Saturday until early Wednesday where the search for more bodies ended. As I was watching the reports of the aftermath of the fire, I couldn't help but compare this Oakland tragedy to that of the Ozone Disco in Quezon City which was razed by a similar inferno in March 1996 that killed 162 people. And in both fires, the victims were teenagers who just wanted to have fun. As I mentioned, the Oakland fire involved those who attended a rave party while in the case of Ozone, the victims were celebrating graduation and the start of summer in the Philippines. Although there were fewer victims in  Oakland compared to Ozone, both incidents are eerily sim

Here in the United States, especially in California, television news is basically the same as what happens in the Philippines. The early morning newscasts here start at 4 a.m. compared to that in the Philippines when the news starts at 5 a.m. But there are some similarities between here and there. For one thing, the morning newscasts report on crime as well as the previous night's news. Then the national morning shows come in at 7 am with Good Morning America on ABC, Today on NBC and CBS This Morning. Fox Channel 2 is the only station whose morning newscast runs for six hours from 4-10 am. All the networks then have their noontime newscasts before the daily talk shows come in. Then the news resumes at 4 pm till early evening when the primetime shows come in. The day ends with the late night news at 11 pm followed by the late night talk shows. While watching the news, I couldn't help but notice the presence of a lot of pretty female news anchors who have p

IT'S a cool December afternoon here in California and I've been here for nine months now. I used to be a sportswriter back in Manila for a tabloid in our native Tagalog language before my mother petitioned me at this same time last year to join her and my sister, who have been living here for the past 30 years. The first thing that I had to adjust to once I got here was the time zone. When there is daylight saving time, Philippine time is 15 hours ahead of the time here in our area but when there is no DST, the time gap is 16 hours. Naturally, I had to take melatonin every night to get some sleep. Also, my mom has been teaching me how to do basic household chores like fixing up my bed and clearing out the trash, as well as wiping the dinner table clean after meals. Watching television is what keeps me pre-occupied now while my mother and sister are working. Finding a job is difficult now because I have to keep the house guarded and I have no extra house key. In additi